estate agent lying about another buyer

[ChipmunksInAttic]

hello,
we have been looking to buy a house for ages and last weekend viewed a beautiful house. it was pricey but we are so fed up with house hunting that we immediately put an offer on the asking price. the EA called and said even though we offered the asking price, there were other viewers on the same day and he has to give them opportunity to have a say. at the end of the day, he called to say there is another buyer offering slightly higher than the asking price, they are also first time buyers like us, so he asked if we’re going to increase. we made a 5k increase, and the next day he called again, apparently the other party increased again. I had a disgusting feeling and felt being lied to, so did not make another bid. I said we can’t go any higher.

Then he said as they are giving more, vendors will accept their offer 99%.(why not 100%?) Same day he called again, saying he asked the other buyers for proof of deposit and waiting on that. he said he’s going to let me know first if they can’t prove their finances.

Now, I have a feeling that he will call me tomorrow and will say they couldn’t prove their finances so we still have a chance. The question is, if that happens, can I decrease my offer, as I had increased the bid only because of that other bidders? It doesn’t make sense to me to pay more than the asking price where there are no more rivals, but would it be disrespectful to the vendors? what would you do?

encouraging unethical practices

In this particular situation, nothing posted by the OP has suggested this, so are you just making a general comment, rather than anything related to this example?

there have been other comments and examples above, mentioning how people were actually lied to by estate agents when buying their houses, Mildura. Are you an estate agent? ;)

examples above,
Looking back through the initial responses, almost everyone (apart from Tiddle) called it wrong!

Are you an estate agent?

Whatever gives you that idea?! :-)

I own a little estate agency office. Been at it 16 years, completely independent, don't sell mortgages, don't sell conveyancing services.

The vast majority of estate agents make the rest of us look bad!

There's an unsold house near me which we offered £2k over asking but was told it went for £20k over asking.

A year later it came back on for 3 months. Now showing as not on market rather than sold. I've lost faith in the seller/agent so had no interest in offering again. No sale = they lost out.

In that case, I wish I had opened this post earlier and got your advice before saying no to them Mildura! :)