Are the estate agents likely to tell me how much another prospective purchaser is offering?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

Or do they keep it close to their chest?
We saw a house last week and may be able to put together a low cash offer, which the agent knows, but the agent said they have some other people who were likely to make an offer.
If their offer is high we can't compete but I guess it might not be.... Is it worth me asking them? Or do they never pass on info like that?

I think they sometimes exaggerate in an attempt to increase their commission.

Call me a cynic.

They won't tell you what someone else has offered.

They may say they have offered "considerably more" but you'll be left to guess what that might be.

you mean lie?

They shouldn't tell you.

I see Lynette, thanks.

Bibbity - when you say shouldn't, do you mean ethically/legally they're not meant to? Or that they probably won't?

"Some other people who are likely to make an offer" isn't worth worrying about IMO. It's more than likely a lie optimism on their part.

Offer what you can afford and think it's worth, if possible go a bit lower so that you can raise your offer. If someone else offers higher, well it doesn't really matter how much higher if it's more than you can afford. There's no point crippling yourself with debt, there will be other houses.

Don't ask the estate agent about other offers, especially if they are only in the EA's imagination as yet. You will look overly keen and anxious and they will feel that they can push you hard on price.

If you're a cash buyer (do you mean without a chain or you actually have cash in the bank?) then the seller might go with your lower offer to keep out of a chain.

I'm not sure about the actual law, perhaps there isn't one, but it would be against code of conduct. I know most people would snurk at the idea of Estate Agents even having a code of conduct.

Estate Agents will want the vendor to accept the "safest" offer. Ie. the one that is least likely to fall through (usually the one with the shortest chain). Their commission is safest in those circumstances. And they should advise their vendor to accept the safest offer too, but vendors usually just hear the ££££££ figures.

25 - 30% of sales still fall through, so it is foolish not to find out as much as possible about the chains involved when competing offers are on the table.

this is really helpful, thanks....

see Bran, I am so naive - I was assuming that this other offer was effectively in the bag but of course it isn't - she just said they were visiting for a second viewing, were in a position to proceed, and were very likely to make an offer.

They had an offer previously which was withdrawn when the buyer got cold feet after survey - there is structural work to do.

we are kind of hoping that the same will happen with this one so that the seller will be more inclined to accept a lower one.
Given the state of the market we are not intending to stretch ourselves, particularly since the house has work to be done on it - I don't trust any renovation project not to cost at least 50% more than originally projected.

I think they'll tell you if it's at the asking price, or near asking price, but not much else.

We put in a cash offer, no chain, for our current house at less than the asking price, and it was accepted over an asking price offer from people who needed to sell their house.

Cash offer, so therefore no chain puts you in a strong position. Estate agents always make up tell you about 'another buyer' ime. One thing I remember reading online recently is that if you are not embarrassed about how low you offer is, it's not low enough!

If someone comes along with a higher offer which the buyer (not the EA) wishes to accept and you are unwilling to offer anymore then I guess you mark it up as experience. Given the current conditions it may well come back on to the market. Good luck

Estate agents will not usually divulge what other offers have been made.

TBH cash offers I have made for houses have been treated by estate agents as 'a safe backstop' which they then use to push other buyers up even though those buyers have a house to sell.

Problem is tat estate agents know that most sellers go for the highest offer regardless of whether it is cash buyer or someone who still has a house to sell. Most sellers will only go and make an offer on another house if they have an offer in the bag but no matter how uncertain that offer is.

For most people they just will not move house at all unless they get the amount they need to buy their 'target dream home'.

Cash offers dont seem to make any difference round where I live, loads of house sales fall through when the buyer doesnt get their house sold. Indeed, I know some houses that have been on the market years with multiple offers falling through as buyers were really just dreaming about how much they could realistically get for their own house.

I have heard rumours that in recent years estate agents did divulge to friendly developers what other offers had been made on renovation properties. The developers then come in with a cash offer at the last minute which is just over the highest alternative bid. The understanding was that the developer would then informally agree to resell the property (usually split up as flats) through the same agent. The agent makes double commission out of the same property.

thank you.

this is all so helpful.
I keep looking at the internet listing of the house to see if it is 'under offer' yet

Very sensible view on the cost of renovation too. Just do what you would do anyway. And make sure your first offer is too low and rejected!

Depends how 'in' with the agent you get. In our town there is one who will tell me within a grand or so, one who sometimes does and 2 that are pretty cagey. We mostly have bought off the first!
we did lose out on a house earlier this year to a cash buyer even though offer was same amount as they wanted fast sale so you may be in luck.
Also had one call yesterday saying they were now willing to accept an offer I made over a month ago! (they were too late, had already offered on another)
You will never know til you try! Let us know how you get on.

Ok.... so this embarrassing offer I'm going to make , is there a value in doing it sooner rather than later?

The house was on the market from January, then came off the market a couple of months ago when they thought they had a buyer, and has been back on for 4 weeks now. According to village gossip (dh did a v good job of winkling this out) the seller is keen to sell because of a divorce. The house is empty.

We had been talking about making the offer in a couple of weeks, mainly because I'm visiting my parents who may be willing to loan us some money (we can do it without though, depends on how big a mortgage we want). Since they're only likely to accept a low offer if they're desperate, is there any rush? Or should we just get on with it in case another low-offering cash buyer comes along?

dh is making the offer today.
We were, like, 'You do it!' 'No, you do it!'

Good luck - fingers crossed for you!

thanks NoseyNooNoo.
Good luck with your house buying too.

Think you are right to do it now. It may be they want to think about it and see if anyone else offers then come back to you.
Let us know how you get on!

I don't expect they will want to think about it .
But that's ok - we can always go (a bit) higher .