"Offers in excess of" for property

[MotherHubba]

FTB, in a dilemma...

Seen a house which is listed as in excess of £x. I rang the estate agents and turns out someone else has already made an offer for in excess of the price. I really like the place - and DH/I are cash buyers with no chain...

What is the protocol for these cases? How much more would you expect to offer?

Thanks!

How long is a piece of string??

Offer what you feel is fair to pay. Don’t get caught up in an imaginary bidding war. Decide what it’s worth to you only. There will ALWAYS be another house if this one doesn’t work out.

Sometimes it's the estate agent playing one buyer off against another in order to get a good commission on the sale. Surely if someone had already offered in excess of their price then the buyer would have accepted the sale. It usually means that's the lowest they're prepared to accept. You being a cash buyer with no chain puts you in a very good position, so I wouldn't go much, if any, above the price.

• Sorry, seller would have accepted, not buyer

How does it compare to others of the same price?

Being cash buyers with no chain may justify a few grand to the seller or they may not care. We are thinking of moving and I would take a slightly lower offer from someone without a chain, depending on where we were with buying elsewhere.

Drop your contact details through the door, if the seller is still living there. Explain your cash position and the price you are offering... tell them the agent is making it difficult for you to make a sensible offer and you just want them to know that you exist!

Offer whatver you are comfotable with, asking price and no chain is a good offer if they are in even the slightest rush...

I would start off about £5k under the figure quoted if you love the house and let the vendors reject it before going back at asking price.

Apologies - the seller has actually accepted the previous offer - which means that technically we may be gazumping but it really is our dream property.

I think the EAs are awaiting final paperwork through anyway so have said they will show be round.

What is the protocol in this case? Genuinely clueless...

Thank you for the very helpful messages

Oh! Then you have a dilemma. If the property is now SSTC then yes, you would be gazumping... and you are on your own with that one. How much do you want to offer?

That they are still showing round means the sellers are open to it... they stop viewings if they are not!

We sold ours as Offer Over. We ended up with £45,000 over the baseline BUT we only marketed for 2 weeks and kept everyone informed. We knew ours would sell fast so could do it. As a PP said offer what you want to pay, every situation and person is different so no one can really say how it will go.
Everything with our sale was very easy and nice, only unpleasant person was the only one to offer under the baseline, and got snotty we didn't accept it as they were first time buyers. So were the people we eventually sold it to!

House we bought there were two of us sold and offering asking price, they went the first come wins route. There are so many ways to buy/sell houses it's almost impossible for anyone to know what will happen for you, just try it and see!

If you love the property and don’t want to lose it then offer the top end of what you can afford, but personally I would just look at other properties. It’s only spring - properties have only just started to come on the market

If the buyers have accepted an offer then you shouldn't try and gazump. That just bumps the price up an did unfair on the buyers whose offer had been accepted.
Tell the estate agents that if the deal falls through you are very interested and ask if they will contact you. Sales often do fall through. Meanwhile keep looking. There will be something else out there that you like.

It may be your dream property, but gazumping is a really shitty thing to do. You can try and justify it to yourself by thinking that's all fair in love and war, but the reality is that you'll be causing a lot of pain and distress.

There is ALWAYS another house OP. Don't be the gazumper. If the sale falls through (they often do) then you can make an offer then, not before.

I agree with the others - don't be the gazumper.

If you gazump, be prepared for Karma to come and smack you in the face

It’s very unlikely it’s SSTC if their buyer is in a non proceedable position and if they are proceedable with an above asking offer you’ll probably need to be a long way above to beat them.

I’d be nervous about gazumping, because I’d assume the seller would screw me over too, if someone else came along.

I had offers over of two bidders, one was 15000 over and the other 16000 over (on the same day, popular neighbourhood). I chose the one who could complete the quickest (within 2 weeks, cash buyers). That they were the highest bid was just a coincedence, I would have accepted them for less just because it was such a sure thing amd quick.

There was no gazumping in my case, they both bid before I spoke to the estate agent.

Let the EA know you are very keen so that, if the sale should fall through in the next couple of weeks, they will contact you. Lots of sales fall through for a range of reasons.

Thanks... I am going to see it but will let the EA know that I am very keen and no chain/cash buyer. Is it worth giving a speculative offer?

The place is on for sale at oieo 475 - the absolute max really is 500 for me. Do I do it?

You haven’t responded to people saying don’t be the gazumper. Are you happy to be the person who causes massive upset for someone who has had their offer accepted and has likely spent money on a survey?

Why would you do that to someone?

She doesn’t have to answer to anyone!