I wonder if you wise mumsnetters could answer that age-old question - have I been unreasonable?
We put our house on the market at £5k below the price suggested by the estate agent because we were worried that his valuation was too high. The idea (accepted by the agent) was to encourage viewers in the hope that, once inside, there might be a few who would like it enough to put in higher offers.
The house went on the market on Monday, and by today we had received two offers. The estate agents said they would put the offers in writing and send them to us, but basically both were from first time buyers, and both had offered the asking price (although one had asked if we would include kitchen appliances that are not fitted in the price).
So far, so good. I expected to be able to consider the offers and let the agents know how we wanted to proceed tomorrow - or maybe sit on them for a couple of days to see if there was any other interest over the weekend. Instead, at teatime I received a call from surveyors instructed by the buyer who had asked for the appliances if they could come tomorrow to do a full structural survey. I was surprised, as we had not yet received her offer in writing, let alone accepted it.
When I spoke to the estate agents, they said that, if they receive an offer of the asking price, they accept the offer. In this case where there were 2 offers of the asking price, they told the offerors that the first one to get a survey 'wins'. They said the the nuyer who had asked about the appliances was the first one to find a surveyor who could come the next day, so they had 'accepted' her offer. I was flabbergasted! When I said that, in pure financial terms, her offer was less good because she wanted more for her money, they hedged around this and said 'oh, that's just a request, I'm sure she would pay you extra for the appliances if you wanted'. - well, I guess I would have known that if I'd actually seen the details of her offer as promised.
Quite apart from the fact that I cannot be at home tommorrow for the surveyor (so they will have to wait until at least next wednesday in any case) it is of absolutely no benefit to us to chose the buyer who can organise a survey at breakneck speed - the estate agents might just as well have asked them to run an egg-and-spoon race as a tye-breaker. We haven't found a property we want to buy yet.
I would have preferred interested buyers to be encouraged to differentiate themselves in a way which is more important to me - cash! I suggested to the agent that the two parties be asked if they would like to increase their offer, and then we would consider their best offer. The estate agent wasn't into this, however, because they said it was the same as gazumping.
In the end, the agent suggested that we raise the asking price by £5,000. I was worried about this, as I thought this would be more irritating to the two potential buyers than asking them if they wanted to offer more because someone else had come in with the same offer. It might result in them both pulling out because they were cheesed off, or couldn't afford an extra £5k.
Anyway, I succumbed to the suggestion in the end, and the agents said that they wanted to give the buyer who had 'won' the survey race the first opportunity to raise her offer by £5k - if she did, she would win. If she does not offer the extra £5k, they will go to the other people and ask them if they want to increase their offer. If neither come up with the extra, they will continue to market the house with the new price and look for other buyers.
This all seems highly unsatisfactory to me - I don't like the idea of giving the two prospective buyers the kind of ultimatum they will now be geting, and I think this starts things off on a bad foot. But I did expect the agents to work for their commission and get us the best price - not just take one from the person who (I suspect, reading between the lines) they feel sorry for because she has viewed a few properties with them and had disappointennts in the past.
I know I was stupid and naive not to ask the estate agents how they would deal with multiple offers, but do you think it was unreasonable to ask them to go back to the propsective buyers?