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AIBU?

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Original poster

Best and final offers

27 replies

CrazyBirds · 18/06/2019 23:11

Hi

This morning we made an offer on a property we really like (FYI this is in England). This was forwarded to the vendor and subsequently rejected (and we received an email confirming this) and we were told another higher offer had been made by another couple and also rejected. Later in the day we made a revised offer just short of the asking price. This was not forwarded to the vendor (I assume) because the other buyers had, by then, offered full asking price and the vendor was considering their offer. We then made one final offer of a few K over the asking price. We did not receive email confirmation to say it had been forwarded to the vendor, but instead had a call at 5pm asking us to make a "best and final" offer by 10am tomorrow so that the vendor can avoid a bidding war. Now, am I right in thinking there was no indication of a bidding war at that point, because the other buyers hadn't even been asked if they wanted to up their offer? It seems unfair that their offer was being considered but our higher offer wasn't, and the vendor now wants us both to make an even higher offer by 10am tomorrow. AIBU to think this is just a ploy to guarantee more money? Why would they care if there was a bidding war? I'm very confused by this as I have never heard of "best and final offers" being made other than in Scotland.

OP posts:
TheRealShatParp · 18/06/2019 23:15

We had to give our ‘best and final offer’ when buying our house in 2015. I often wonder if there were even anyone else making offers.

Seren85 · 18/06/2019 23:18

We were asked to make a "best and final" offer on our house. I said that we had and to either accept or reject it. It was accepted. I wasn't prepared to offer more than we thought it was worth even if someone else was. If you do think it is worth more, make the offer. If not, walk away.

ZippyBungleandGeorge · 18/06/2019 23:19

Just repeat the offer you made today if that's your best and final

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 18/06/2019 23:21

I often wonder if there were even anyone else making offers.

Yes, I'm wondering this myself.

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ThePants999 · 18/06/2019 23:22

Best and final is very common, and YABU to expect "fairness" from an agent who's being paid to get the highest offer from their client. Ploys to get more money are their JOB.

ThePants999 · 18/06/2019 23:22

Er, highest offer FOR their client, oops!

Cloudyyy · 18/06/2019 23:24

YANBU! I hate this too! We are trying to buy a place at the moment and it’s a nightmare. Other annoyances include group viewings, “accidental” clashes with appointment slots (so we all know there are other people viewing the property ), and ‘offers in excess of X’.

whoosit · 18/06/2019 23:26

Its quite common where I live (Yorkshire.) I think its best to decide what you are happy paying for the house and then if it goes over you wont feel you've missed out. We missed out on a house we really liked but had set our top price and when it went for more than that had agreed we didn't think it was worth more. So basically, ignore the notion of a bidding war and offer what you think you would be happy to pay for the house. As I said it's common in my area and i think is designed to reduce gazumping or a lot of faffing about with increasing offers.

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 18/06/2019 23:33

We were asked to make a "best and final" offer on our house. I said that we had and to either accept or reject it. It was accepted. I wasn't prepared to offer more than we thought it was worth even if someone else was. If you do think it is worth more, make the offer. If not, walk away.

We love the house and it's in a great location for schools/station..but it isn't perfect...so we had in mind a maximum we would bid up to if the other buyers wanted to up their offer....however, being forced to make a "best and final" offer (when we have no idea whether or not the other buyer is even going to up theirs) is really putting us off now.

OP posts:
Original poster
CrazyBirds · 18/06/2019 23:35

and i think is designed to reduce gazumping or a lot of faffing about with increasing offers.

Surely anyone could come along and gazump us unless they agree to take it off the market following the "best and final" offers. Can we ask them to take it off the market?

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whoosit · 18/06/2019 23:36

Instead of being 'forced' just offer what you want to pay. Make your own decision about what the house is worth and stick to it so you wont be (too) disappointed if you're outbid.

whoosit · 18/06/2019 23:39

Yes you can ask them to take it off the market and you should do. But they might not and don't legally have to although most estate agents would. If not I'd be quite firm with the estate agent/seller.

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 18/06/2019 23:41

I have emailed the estate agent to ask what happens if one party withdraws from the offer process...i.e. will they inform the other buyer before they make their best offer?

I think for any more money we'd be looking at a bigger house, so we don't really want to offer much more than we already have, so yes, we may just offer the same as we did today.

OP posts:
BackforGood · 18/06/2019 23:42

But surely your 'best and final' offer, is the offer you have made. Just let them know that.

Vendors still don't always go for the highest in ££ necessarily - some will be more swayed if you are already sold / are ftb / have cash, or, you just seem "like a nice young family" (I know, not the best business sense necessarily, but there are still a lot of people who have a huge emotional investment in their home and like the idea of it going to a "nice young family"). Yours might already be above the other offers anyway.

As pps have said, you have to understand that the vendors are paying the estate agents to get them the best deal - they don't work for you.

Pipandmum · 18/06/2019 23:46

You don’t have to increase the offer you have already made. I sold a house to ‘best and final’ because there was a lot of interest. I got three offers with a £75k spread, the top one £40k over asking. Each offer came with a letter explaining their circumstances and why they wanted my house. Nice as that was it didn’t sway me - I went with the middle offer as they had their house under offer and were quite a ways through the process, whereas the highest bid did not have theirs under offer, and it was so far over asking I thought their bank wouldn’t value it as high.
It’s nerve wracking as no one wants to pay over the odds and you don’t know at what level the other bidders are at. Just reiterate your offer if that’s what you’re comfortable with and leave it at that.

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 19/06/2019 00:39

Oh, and just to add to the confusion, we received an email from the estate agents (about an hour after being asking to make a "best and final" offer) with details of various conveyancing solicitors, setting out our house sale details and our purchase of the property in question based on the last offer we made today! Surely they would only send this if our offer had been accepted?!

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PocaNinja · 19/06/2019 11:36

It sounds very suspicious!

TrixieFranklin · 19/06/2019 11:41

This is Purplebricks, right?

Seeingadistance · 19/06/2019 11:43

Could it be a simple case of emails going astray or arriving out of sync?

I’d contact them to confirm that your third offer had been received and considered by the vendor. It sounds as if it has, and they’re happy with it, so all going well, you’ve got the house!

Phone and ask!

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 19/06/2019 12:31

Seeingadistance

Could it be a simple case of emails going astray or arriving out of sync?

I’d contact them to confirm that your third offer had been received and considered by the vendor. It sounds as if it has, and they’re happy with it, so all going well, you’ve got the house!

Phone and ask!

I emailed them this morning asking for clarification. We still hadn't received confirmation that the offer was passed to the vendor, and their response says "It has been passed to the vendor.." rather than "it was". They sent a longwinded response saying the deal had almost been tied up with the other buyer when we swooped in with our first offer. This can't be true, unless what they told me yesterday was a lie. They said the other buyers' offer had been rejected. We went in with a low offer and it was rejected. Went in with a higher offer and were told the other buyers' rejected offer had been higher, therefore no good. Then they phoned to say the other buyers had just offered the asking price, at which point we then offer a few k more. There was no mention of almost done deals at any point.

So, the overall feeling is that they are playing us. My other half has seen the property for 10 mins and we were told we couldn't have another viewing. I'd seen it twice and really loved it, but he wasn't prepared to up our offer when they wouldn't even allow him a second viewing.. so we've backed out. Just finding it so stressful really. As much as I loved the house I think if we were to spend much more on it then we'd prefer to spend it on something bigger. We upped our first offer by 25k in the end and that wasn't good enough despite being over the asking price, so I think someone is just being greedy.

OP posts:
Original poster
CrazyBirds · 19/06/2019 12:36

TrixieFranklin

This is Purplebricks, right?

It isn't but I'm guessing from your comment that it's a common tactic of theirs?

OP posts:
helpmum2003 · 19/06/2019 12:45

@Crazybirds I think you've made the right decision. They are messing you around and it's not worth the stress. I wouldn't trust them at all. I would like to tell them that also but maybe wouldn't in case another house came up with that agent 😂😂

Seeingadistance · 19/06/2019 12:49

That’s a shame, but I think you’ve done the right thing. Sounds like far from trying to avoid a bidding war, they were trying to provoke one!

Original poster
CrazyBirds · 19/06/2019 12:50

helpmum2003

Crazybirds I think you've made the right decision. They are messing you around and it's not worth the stress. I wouldn't trust them at all. I would like to tell them that also but maybe wouldn't in case another house came up with that agent
😂😂

Indeed!

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Noodledoodledoo · 19/06/2019 14:06

We recently sold a property which had a lot of interest so we went to best and final offers to enable us to make a decision. As above it wasn't to provoke a bidding war, it was sold at a guide price and we were getting offers way over it.

Also agree we didn't go for the best offer, we went for the best and least hassle offer - taking into account chain/mortgages etc.

Sadly it took 3 buyers due to things unrelated to the offers, (decided they didn't have enough money for the renovations, lost job) before we finally sold.