My partner and I recently found our dream home and immediately rang the agent to place an offer. We were told that bids had already been made and the highest offer was already 8k over the asking price.

I'd heard that some agents under price houses to generate interest and wasn't surprised, besides we really wanted the house and had set ourselves a ceiling which exceeded the current highest bid.

For a week we remained the highest bidder and we began to believe that we would get the house and started subconsciously planning.

Then all of a sudden a bid 4k higher than ours was offered. We hadn't expected the bids to go up in such steep increments and that single bid had exceeded our ceiling. However, we waited, quietly suspecting that the final bid wasn't really genuine and that the agent would come back to tell us that the offer had been withdrawn. It's been a whole week now, and we've been in constant contact with the agent who always tells me that the vendor hasn't made a decision to close the sale but they'll contact me when he has.

After two weeks of painful waiting for a decision, I'm sick of waiting! Has anyone else been in this position and if so, can they offer advice as to how I should proceed?

It's so stressful, I'm considering withdrawing completely!

Twice now we've sidelined the agents and negotiated directly with the vendor. It's in the best interest of the agent to get the highest price, so they aren't on your side. Just phone the agent to keep them informed of decisions you make between yourselves. If you're not part of a chain, play this card for all it's worth. You are therefore a buyer they shouldn't pass up :thumbsup:

It'll probably end up going to sealed bids - you have to write to the estate agent by a deadline and tell them how much you will pay - you have to think about how much the house is worth to you and just go for it. If you win, then that's fine, if not then it's back to the drawing board.

This is something that really winds me up. In the UK the standard procedure is to put in an offer and then the seller decides if it is acceptable. However far too often especially in Sheffield and when the market is rising the agent tells the seller not to decide and to wait for any better offers, turning it in to an auction.

This happened to us last year, in the end the vendor decided they wanted 12k over the asking price, we decided not to pander to their whim as we felt that if the property was worth 12k more then it would/should have been valued at 12k more. It went to closed offers.... This took about a month of mesing about and in the end the vendor took their house off the market as no-one was daft enough to pay it. If i was you i'd start looking at other houses don't put your eggs in one basket. I never believed buying a house could be so stressful. Good luck

you'll have to correct me if i'm wrong, (being frightfully young n all) but wasn't it always standard practice for sheffield to have a starting figure rather than an asking price and for houses to normally go 10% over the asking price???

I agree with dealing with the vendor wherever possible. Ask the agent to arrange a further viewing as you're concerned as to where to put your funiture, or something. When you get to see the vendor explain what's been happening and see if they're aware.

2p worth for nowt. :)

Thanks for all the advice - it's good to know that there are other people out there that know how frustrated I feel right now!

Unfortunately I can't talk directly to the vendor. He's a developer, the house is empty and the agents wont give me his details.

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that we're not going to get it, and besides, even if we do, I'm starting to think if I want to deal with someone who has no consideration for the buyers, particularly with the current surge in gazumping.

You might be better telling the owners that you are withdrawing your offer within 24 hours unless you get a definite answer.

If you see a property you really want, go in with a really good offer and give them 2 days to say yes or no. We got 2 properties like this and it was at a time when prices were shooting up.

Originally posted by vision
You might be better telling the owners that you are withdrawing your offer within 24 hours unless you get a definite answer.

If you see a property you really want, go in with a really good offer and give them 2 days to say yes or no. We got 2 properties like this and it was at a time when prices were shooting up.

Aye i wish we had been a bit more assertive regarding giving the vendor ultimatums, its hard to know what to do for the best.

And as for house prices usually going 10% over the asking price, the vendors we was dealing with wanted 15% more, rather greedy we thought.

I really sympathise with this situation

I agree that it is normally best to talk to the vendor direct.
After all, no one knows the house better than they do and afterall , they are the ones who ultimately make the final decision.I know that agents keep information from vendors in order to hold out for a better offer.
I think it disgraceful that agents are so manipulative.
They say they act for the vendor but often do not even get instructions from them on what they want to do when they receive an offer,often delaying due to either inefficient staff in the office, or a desire to hold out for longer to get more people through the door and push up the price.
This has such a terrible effect on all parties involved.
It is time the law was changed to stop all this happening .Correct me if I am wrong but I would check out the estate agency act .I am sure there is something that says when an offer is put forward, they are supposed to go back to let the person know within a certain time scale.
A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay,whatever the agent says

Originally posted by theadore
you'll have to correct me if i'm wrong, (being frightfully young n all) but wasn't it always standard practice for sheffield to have a starting figure rather than an asking price and for houses to normally go 10% over the asking price???
We paid under the asking 5 years ago

Originally posted by Donna_Row
I'm starting to think if I want to deal with someone who has no consideration for the buyers, particularly with the current surge in gazumping.

That's always been our approach. If you can't trust somebody, why would you enter into a business deal for that amount of money with them? After all - that's what it is

Its a bit late to join this one, I'd like to think I have a point but Im worried it will get buried in the middle of this thread.

Weve just bought a house.
It took us a year, we wre fussy however.

Theres much to think about with house prices.
This is off topic so just bear it in mind OK?

The Sheffield bidding system, grrrr.

Ha ha, we managed to completely cheese off a number of the big agents :)

We saw a number of houses we liked.
For a number of reasons, namely we had no property to sell, and we were not in a hurry, we were relaxed about eventually finding somewhere.

Notice how the agents are always ramping demand and trying to stress you into doing something, saying theres loads of interest? Would you like to put a bid in now? Its in the Telegraph again this week Sir, Etc etc?
All a bit annoying here and not at all like other bits of the country.

Anyway we fancied this nice house.
It was a shambles but we could see the potential.
We put in an offer at 5% less than asking.
That held for a week then we were outbid by someone then outbid again shortly after.

"Would we like to put another bid in?" said the agent.
"No" said we. Just tell us when the frenzys over and we'll see whats what.
They really didnt like this.

As cash buyers we were in a good position.
Arguably our offer was worth 5% less than the asking price if that individual was in a chain.
I have a feeling its the bid thing thats important.
An agent has a legal responsibility to pass on an offer to the vendor with their circumstances but not a bid.

Stupidly this house went for 15% over asking price.
The agent told me another cash buyer bought it, good luck to them, but that the other three interested parties did not even have their own houses for sale?

How stupid is that?

The vendor wanted a quick sale.
Instead of me and the other cashy bidding it was ramped up by the three folks who werent even selling their house.
I dont know if the buyer knew this or if he was just indoctrinated in the philiosophy here.

So there you go.

Dont bid.
Put in offers, they have to pass these on.
And tell the agent you'll wait a while before offering too.
Oh and make sure you know who you are in competition with.

Chill out, relax and it will happen to you too :)

Good luck

d

why dont you try doing a land registry check on the new builds, or see if you can get a copy of the plans (floorplans) which might have the architects details on them - usually a good step to finding who the builder / owner is ;)

who is the agent BTW.

Found out today that it's going to best and finals this week, so I suppose I'll know either way by Friday.

Never thought about doing a land registry check 1man, will give it a go I think!

The agent is Haybrook, I haven't heard any horror stories about them so hopefully they'll be up front with the vendor and emphasise our lack of chain and ability to complete quickly.

Went through the same thing myself and it was hellish! Even when the house went to closed bids it took 2 weeks to get an answer and I really was at the end of my rope! The house we intended to put an offer in as back up was sold in this time and the stress was horrible.
We eventually bought a house I love just as much for under the asking price. Although I was devistated at the time I am so glad now I didn't totally blow my budget.
That 'dream' house was off the market for all of 2 weeks in the end before it was back at a lower asking price. I think that the person who eventually had an offer accepted was turned down for a mortgage as the house went around 15k over the asking.

Not looking forward tio the next time I can tell you!

Good luck Donna :)

It is so sad that we all have to go through all this stress,just to buy a house.
What other purchase in our lives do we make that is made to be so stressful.?
From my experience over the last few months, I have learned so much .
You can tell a lot about a person offering by getting to know them .Psychology comes in to it.You have to get the person sussed out and really get a feel about them as a person. and whetherwhen they put in an offer, they are really going to go to the wire to complete.The people who we are buying from are great and we are still negotiating with them as I write this.
The agents can get miffed if the buyers and sellers talk to each other, but if the agents provided excellent customer service, we would not have had to do this in the first place.
25% of transactions fall through prior to completion.
Watch how many times you see a SOLD sign, only to see it taken down again a month later. If you can really get all the facts about the person offering from the beginning, it can save a lot of time and heartache,phone calls and sleepless nights.
Yes, that is all part of buying and selling.
Surely, it should not be?

Originally posted by 1Man&hisBMW
why dont you try doing a land registry check on the new builds, or see if you can get a copy of the plans (floorplans) which might have the architects details on them - usually a good step to finding who the builder / owner is ;)

who is the agent BTW.

If it's 'underpriced' to create interest, my money's on Blundells.

Sealed bids are bad news you could loose you dream house for £500 and never know.

Wait in the office and see how many bids come in, sometimes its just you and one other person!

Good Luck with the best and finals this week.
Any news yet?

Oh god, this has been so stressful.... long story here, get prepared!

We put our best and final offer of £125k in yesterday which was £1k less than the alleged highest bid. To us, the house simply wasn't worth anymore. I recieved a phonecall later saying that all best and final bids had come in at £125k and would I like to up my offer to help the vendor choose me over the other bids. This completely clarified my suspicions that the sudden bid from 122 to 126 wasn't a genuine bid. If it was, surely the vendor would have chosen that over the ours and the other alleged bidders. I called their bluff and told the agent that we wouldn't be offering any more.

I phoned them this morning to find out if a decision has been made and they said that the vendor still hasn't decision. I asked if he was holding out for 126 and they said, "no... he wants 127 and won't back down but you could increase your offer" at which point I became infuriated and said, "theres absolutely no way that I am upping my offer, the house simply isn't worth 127 and I suggest if the vendor had wanted 127, he should have put it on the market for that in the first place!"

In the meantime we'd come accross another house that we liked but were waiting to see the outcome of the one we were bidding on. I called the agent for that one today to request a second viewing and enquire on the current bids only to be told that they'd had three offers, all at the asking price! Which leads me to believe that the problems with the Sheffield property market, the things we all moan about, are due to the stupid people in Sheffield that go in straight at the asking price! Everybody goes over the asking price in this city because they are too stupid to bid under like everyone else does in every other area of the country!

Rant over..... as you can probably tell I am not best pleased!

You have all my complete and utter sympathies!

The housing market is a nightmare at the moment and it doesn't help when estate agents seem to be incompetent at valuing houses correctly - but that's another story!

I found the best way of putting in offers on a house you really want is to find out the best last offer and state - 'IF' we were to offer the vendor a certain figure (several thousand above the last offer) would they be prepared to take the house of the market?

This way you are able to find out just how much the vendor wants for the property without actually making an offer. They will either say yes and it's pretty much yours, or they will say no and you can leave it as it is but keep a close eye on the price over the next few days. If nothing changes, state the same thing again - due to no-one else willing to offer more money, 'IF' we were to offer the vendor a certain figure (several thousand above the last offer) would they be prepared to take the house of the market?

This way you are showing the vendor what they could have but you don't place an offer which means it's less likely other buyers will be able to beat you.

Worked for me! :heyhey:

You do have my sympathies, Donna - it took us two attempts to sell our last house (spread over 18 months). The first time we failed not out of any lack of interest in our house (we'd had 3 high offers) but because the house we were bidding on went over the AP and we had to find something else quickly.

We lost out on three houses in a row, and Reeds Rains - I'm not afraid to name and shame! - were USELESS, sending us details of places that were too small, in the wrong area, etc. They were constantly hassling us to close the sale. They even pressured us to move into rented.

I agree that vendors and buyers should talk to one another if possible - the fact that it narks off the estate agents should only encourage you to do so! :)

We finally sold in 2004 with Blundells (who were OK, but didn't always keep us informed of offers - felt like we were doing all the chasing) and bought through ELR, who were good. ELR seem to be the only agent in the city who will price houses near to what they expect them to go for, rather than under-pricing to generate viewings from people who can't afford the property. We offered £5k under the AP, thinking this was cheeky, but it was accepted.

I agree that ELR are very professional.
I have yet to have any bad experiences with them.
They always phone me for feedback on houses that we have viwed.And I can tell you, we have viewed a lot!
Their website is also the best, IMHO.It is very factual.
I think that it is much better to have all the facts to enable you to make a judgement and prevent timewasters.

Their photos in the property guide are also good quality

Your spot on about people always going straight in at the asking price. When we got this one I went in under the AP and they came straight back and said the vendor wanted the full amount. I said fine if certain repairs are done and it comes off the market today. 5 minutes later it was a done deal. After all the hassle with the other one I was quite shell shocked. I checked thier site that night and sure enough it was off their site.
The moral is that it can and will happen :)
Then theres just the hell of paper work, mortgages, surveys and moving to get through but thats another story....
Donna I really hope things go your way

We found out yesterday that our offer has been accepted! :) We had to go a little higher than we had planned for but we really really wanted it and reckon we've already saved a packet on renovation costs that we would have had to fork out for if we'd bought any of the other houses we were looking at.

Thanks for all your help and advice - god knows I was in a right state about it and all your comments made me realise that I wasn't the only one to go through all the waiting!

Reading all this makes my stomach churn, hopefully you will all start to sell privately then we wont have frustrated buyers and we can all be open and honest with each other, there is no reason to use an estate agent in Sheffield,we have sold more properties in Swallownest than ANY estate agent and many of our clients had tried an agent first, I am not saying we are the answer for everyone, just that there are other ways now readily available.
It makes me so angry to see what goes on.