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Original poster

Best and final offers by tomorrow morning Friday 13th

24 replies

vinoandbrie · 12/06/2014 16:41

Please can anyone offer words of wisdom / practical advice.

We've offered on a house, and been told it's us against one other person. We've been asked for best and final offers by the morning.

We offered 10 below asking, other party offered asking.

What would you do / offer? We would love to secure the house!

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titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 17:00

What price would you be happy paying? And what sort of % of the value is 10? Think what price you could offer that would make you think YES we got it if you're sucessful, rather than EEK we're pay far too much and getting cold feet. So if the original asking price had been £5k more would you have paid it? £10k? £15k? At what point would you think nope, much as we love it we just don't think it's worth that. And how long will you be there? Will another similar house come up? Can you really afford to pay more?

We originally offered 10 below, the other party offered asking, so we then offered 10 over. So yes, we've overpaid but it doesn't bother us as we'll be there for years and no other house has been as desirable to us or even come close.

Also, i'd put your final offer in an email setting out why you're a good buyer and commited, etc, it might swing it your way.

Original poster
vinoandbrie · 12/06/2014 17:12

Thank you, really useful to think of it in this way. We would plan to be there 20 years(!) right until DDs (currently 4 years and 8 weeks) are grown up.

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titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 17:19

That was our thinking. Yes we're overpaying by £10k (actually £20k according to the surveyor but they're often conservative). But since xmas when we started looking no other suitable house has come up, they're either lovely houses in the wrong area or our preferred area but not great houses. So longterm this is the house for us, and hopefully in 20 years time it'll have gone up by £20k :-)

Just try and stay a bit objective, no point going in with a crazy high offer than deep down you know is not worth it.

And really spell out your position, that this is going to be your longterm family home etc. Are you stc or renting? Are you happy to move quickly? Do you have a mortgage lined up?

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 17:22

I should add that we're buying in the £300k-400k price bracket so £10k over asking is not a big percentage of the value. If you're buying a house for say £120k then obviously £10k under/over etc is a much bigger deal and needs more thought!

Hooliesmoolies · 12/06/2014 18:34

The other thing is when you write your offer sell yourselves! Explain your chain (if you have one), if you don't - emphasize it. If you are strong buyers (chain free etc) then some sellers will take less money if the sale will go smoothly. Do you have your solicitors in place? Get as much sorted in advance as you can - and if you haven't organised it yet work out who you will use and put that down.

I'd tell them it is the most you can offer (for what ever reason), but that you love the home, it will be your long term family home etc. When we bought our sellers had another offer the same as ours, but they preferred us because as soon as we had walked in we loved the house, and the other buyers had been playing it cool. Good luck!

TheLeftovermonster · 12/06/2014 18:34

We are, or will be paying 10 over. Same price bracket as titchypumpkin. There are very few houses in our area for sale and everything is going for at least 10 over or more.

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:43

waves at monster

glad it's not just us then :-)

and yes yes to what moolies said, in our e-mail we emphasized how it was going to be our longterm family home (the other buyers weren't a family as far as we know), we were renting, had our mortgage agreed, already knew what solicitor we'd use, were very committed to the purchase, as it was an older property we were ok about minor stuff coming up on the survey as we expected it. Don't know if that's what swung it for us, maybe the other buyers didn't increase their offer over asking, but we didn't want to go just £1 or £2 grand over in case it ended up being a bidding war, we wanted to just put clear blue water between us and he other buyers and secure it. And we didn't play it cool either, we told the agent when we viewed it was towards the top of our budget so we couldn't afford a bidding war, but stressed that we really did love it and very much wanted it. i think the time to play it cool is when you're not going to be heartbroken if you lose out, and we would have been so didn't see any point in putting on a poker face

good luck, it's a tense time isn't it! You need nerves of steal! :-)

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:44

steel ffs obviously, no one is going to be stealing anyone's nerves!

Original poster
vinoandbrie · 12/06/2014 18:45

Thank you, thank you!

We will be chain free as we are exchanging (fingers crossed) with cash buyers on our house in the next two weeks. We will then move into my MIL's place on a temporary basis, which is obvs v kind of her.

We do have a solicitor in place, hadn't thought to mention that, thank you. Our mortgage is lined up but we will be paying mostly in cash, which I hope may help as well.

Have had a glass of wine now. Husband is so pissed off with the situation he says part of him wants to walk away.

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titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:51

yes do mention the solicitor, we mentioned it along the lines of we already have our solicitor lined up so they can get the ball rolling as soon as our offer is accepted.

and on the mortgage front, definitely mention that although you need a mortgage you have a lot of equity, as that will make you more attractive than a buyer with only say a 10% deposit (who might then unexpectedly not get their mortgage when they make the full application as seems to be happening quite a bit).

Basically you want to show that you are really serious and ready to get the ball rolling NOW with no messing about. You'll come across as committed and will be more attractive as a buyer as a result.

With best and final they don't always necessarily go for the highest bid alone, it's the whole package. Not point accepting a higher offer from someone who hasn't sold yet, might struggle to get a mortgage and hasn't even thought about solicitors yet, etc

Good luck

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:52

if you want me to pm you the email we sent the agents let me know

earlyriser · 12/06/2014 18:53

This system is very common in Scotland but you would be expected to offer up to 30% over the asking price (when the market was at it's peak)!

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:55

crikey early, how are you ever meant to decide how much to offer with prices going that much offer. Annoying really, if they are after 30% higher why not just price it 30% higher to begin with??

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:55

I mean over not offer!

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 18:57

OP maybe draft the email before finishing the bottle ;-)

i'm imagining an email along the lines of "dear luffly agenty man, we really REALLY luffs that house, pretty pleasely can me and mr vino buy it, we really really wants it. lots of love vino XXXXXXXXX"

PausesForSoup · 12/06/2014 19:26

Definitely send an email stressing how committed you are to buying that particular property. We have been sent a list of best & finals by our EA today & there is very little to separate them. We are more interested in finding the buyer who looks least likely to pull out of the sale than the one who offers the highest bid. Would love to have emails from the buyers expressing their commitment & strength of position (Hoolie's suggestion of mentioning that it would be a long-term family home would decide it for me as that is what the house has been to us)

Original poster
vinoandbrie · 12/06/2014 21:20

Again thank you so so much.

titchypumpkin I'd be ever so grateful if you could share your winning email via pm.

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voiceofgodot · 12/06/2014 21:26

We did this with a house we loved. We told them that we'd fallen in love with it, could really see our twin daughters growing up there, etc etc (all true)... the agent told me afterwards that it was my email that really swung their decision as we had offered less than somebody else. Who knows if that's even true, but if you love the house then go for it. Btw, my husband also wanted to walk away and was highly suspicious, but having to give best and final offers did not lead to a 'oh but could you just go a bit higher?' situation, as he feared...

earlyriser · 12/06/2014 21:38

I have no idea titchy. As it is sealed bids, it can also mean that you can lose a property by having a bid £1 lower than the highest bid or you offer 15k more than the next highest bid. Total nightmare!

titchypumpkin · 12/06/2014 23:00

i've pm'd you a cut n paste of the email we sent the agent, goog luck for tomorrow, let us know how it goes!

Original poster
vinoandbrie · 13/06/2014 15:01

So.... we went £14,001 over asking. The other guy went £15k over asking.

We were told that if we match the other guy, we get the house, as we are in a better position.

We said yes. We got it! Thank you all for your great advice, and especially to Titchy and her winning email!

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titchypumpkin · 13/06/2014 15:11

YAY!! I've just logged in to see if there was any news. So pleased for you :-) Hope it all goes smoothly and you're very happy in your new home!

lessonsintightropes · 13/06/2014 17:56

Yippee! Have been lurking in hope Grin

Original poster
vinoandbrie · 13/06/2014 19:15

Thank you so much, we're thrilled here!

Have cracked open the bubbly. I know it's a bit premature, but we are just so happy :)

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