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Original poster

Sealed bids heartbreak. Can I counter offer?

16 replies

sellotape12 · 24/04/2016 19:48

After weeks of searching, we found a dream house that we could just afford. It had dropped in price and the agent implied the seller would take another reduction. So we offered somewhere in between.
But yesterday it went to sealed bids (one other couple) and we lost.

I feel heartbroken. It sounds silly but it is hanging over me like a grief.

Do you think there is anything I can do to claw it back? We were only given 3 hours notice to bid and panicked. But we can actually offer her over the asking price.

Would it technically be gazumping if I tried to counter offer just 24 hours after it happened? It's not like they would have exchanged solicitor details etc anyway.

OP posts:

OurBlanche · 24/04/2016 19:52

Until there is a signed contract anything could happen....

JT05 · 24/04/2016 19:58

Sorry you didn't get the house. It is not always price that counts, the other couple may have cash and be ready to proceed.

I'd have a talk with the selling EA and see if a counter offer would make a difference. Nothing is set in stone until exchange.

Do not give up hope, we have just bought a house that came back on the market after a SSC that fell through.

Palomb · 24/04/2016 20:04

If their offer has been accepted then it would be gazumping. Imagine how you would feel if the shoe was on the other foot.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 24/04/2016 20:07

I'd go back and ask if I could increase.

RNBrie · 24/04/2016 20:11

Did you not realise you can offer over the asking price? The whole point of sealed bids is that you offer the most you can afford/are willing to pay.

You can always put in another offer and see what happens. But if they accept your higher offer then you know you are dealing with an unscrupulous seller which would make me nervous about proceeding. They could easily accept an even higher offer later in the process.

Natad00dle · 24/04/2016 20:25

I would talk to the EA. If you can't make another offer, house sales fall through all the time. If that happens maybe they could contact you rather than put the house back on the market?

PigletJohn · 24/04/2016 20:28

Wait a month or two, and keep looking. Buyers drop out for all sorts of reasons, and you will be the first to get a call if it goes back on the market.

On the other hand, who knows? You might see a better buy tomorrow. Until the day you move in, you never know.

Lighteningirll · 24/04/2016 20:35

We had this happen with our 'dream house' we offered over asking price and lost it I cried for a week then dh found another house which we now live in and LOVE. Agents rang us just after we found d house two to say house one had come back on and gave us first refusal so it does happen but keep looking you never know.

namechangedtoday15 · 24/04/2016 20:43

The process should be that it's a one - off process. You bid the most you're willing to pay and set out your circumstances, and the vendor decides which is the "winning" bid. The EA / vendor should not be re - opening the bidding (which is effectively what you're asking) after the deadline. I'd actually be quite perturbed (would worry i couldnt trust EA / vendor) if I was "allowed" to bid again as what's to stop the other couple (or another couple) making even higher bids weeks down the line which might be accepted when you've incurred legal / search / survey fees.

Having said that, we've "won" sealed bidding processes twice. First time we pulled out about 3 weeks down the line so it's not necessarily over yet.

QuiteLikely5 · 24/04/2016 20:51

If you love the house that much yyy to ringing the agent tomorrow and increasing your offer. Gazumping happens all the time for this very reason

Original poster

sellotape12 · 24/04/2016 20:53

I know, I know - I would hate it if it happened to us, but I also feel misled by the agent.

He strongly inferred I should go lower. When I made the original offer he said we were in the stronger position. So when it came to best and finals, he also suggested we might not want to increase at all. Now I feel foolish - he set an expectation in my mind of a certain price.

The truth is I wish we had given it our real best offer. I may talk to the EA tomorrow and explain the situation. I can't imagine finding anything like that again. It ticked all of the boxes but my naivety got to me.

Has anyone been through his? What was your experience? Did it work? Did it make the agent not trust you? Or perhaps you were on the other side of being gazumped.

My DH wants me to forget it and move on.

OP posts:

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 24/04/2016 22:03

Our house went to best and final offers. There were 3 buyers involved. Two of them offered over the asking price, we chose the lower offer because they seemed like the safer bet of the two. When the EA told the highest bidder that she'd been unsuccessful, she immediately came back with a higher bid. We were not impressed (and neither was the EA) and it only confirmed our opinion that we'd chosen the right buyers.

Don't do it. If the sellers are willing to accept a higher offer despite the sealed bids process, then you don't want to try to buy from them. They'll probably just screw you over later on in the process (once you've paid out money). If they're decent sellers, they'll probably just be annoyed that you decided that the last and final offers bit didn't apply to you.

I know you feel the EA misled you, but still your DH is right. You missed out on this one and in future you'll know to go all in for best and final offers.

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 24/04/2016 22:14

On the other side, we viewed a house that we were told had come back on the market because of problems in a previously agreed sale. Our EA suggested it because they were trying to find us something to buy to keep our own sale progressing. We put in an offer (which was higher than the sale that had apparently run into trouble around financing) and waited, and waited.

Turned out that the sale hadn't run into any trouble at all. The totally unscrupulous sellers were trying to use our offer (which we'd given in good faith) to extort more money out of their buyers. The sellers were sitting on contracts and just had to sign them and exchange them. We only found all this out when they finally deigned to turn down our offer.

Interestingly, the sale may have actually fallen through now (although, who knows). The EA phoned us recently to ask if we were still interested but we've managed to find another house to buy in a private sale. Even if we hadn't, we totally wouldn't be interested because clearly they'd happily do the same thing to us that they did to the other buyers.

Hideous all round really, and we feel pretty horrible that we were duped into being part if the whole gazumping thing. We did specifically ask the EA what the situation was and that it was definitely properly on the market before we viewed the house. If they'd told us that there was an ongoing sale, there's no way we'd even have viewed it. Although, I'm not sure our EA knew because the sellers were using two agents and the sale was through the other agent.

Allconsumingshitstorm · 25/04/2016 17:03

Put in a higher offer. Ea obliged to pass it on. Buyers can only say no. I naughtily did this to buy my current house (I'd lost out on sealed bids, put some savings in morally probably wrong...)

FishOn · 25/04/2016 17:06

Yes it's gazumping, and IMO very wrong

DorotheaHomeAlone · 25/04/2016 17:16

Just put in your best offer now. Gazumping at this stage is completely harmless and fair play. It's not like they've spent money in fees or survey yet. Just go for it.

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