Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

best and final - do estate agents make up rival offers??!!

51 replies

AssamTea · 10/02/2022 07:45

Have accepted an offer on our house and have found somewhere we really like.

The property we'd like to buy has been on the market for 5 months. We were the first people to put in an offer anywhere near asking (although was still a way off) but this was rejected. We've been gradually increasing our offer over the last couple of weeks but sellers have been holding out for asking price. Which is their perogative of course. No other offers in the meantime as far as I'm aware.

We can afford the asking price (and a little over), but with stamp duty it's nearly all of our savings.

Just after we made out last offer another buyer has apparently popped up with an offer above ours and it's now going to best and final.

Feels like we've messed up our strategy in that if we'd offered asking a couple of weeks ago i think we would have got it accepted. Whereas now we feel compelled to offer over the asking price. And probably still won't get it...

I'm trying to not be too attached as I know from previous selling/buying that it's daft to get to attached to a property as this stuff is never guaranteed. But there's very little else in our price bracket in the area and this place would have been such a good solution for the reasonably complicated life situation we will have for the next few years.

I'm slightly suspicious about this other buyer and the timing of the offer when we've been the only people making serious offers up to now. Feels like it might be a strategy by the estate agent to get us to finally show our hand, but they can't just make up other offers, can they???

Not quite sure what I'm asking here... maybe just some psychological tips to get through what might be a stressful few days..???

We're planning to make an offer over asking price that will use up most but not all of our savings. Does that sound like the right strategy at this stage?

OP posts:
Pac35 · 10/02/2022 07:49

This happened to us, apparently once they had accepted our offer, another buyer put in the same offer & we had to 'bid' for the highest price. So we ended up adding another 15k. I do wonder if it was all a total scam and there wasn't another offer. We're selling/ buying again now so I'll see what happens this time!

WheelieBinPrincess · 10/02/2022 07:50

I think you probably let it drag on too long and the estate agents want to chivvy along some property action.

We suspected a made up offer too (although I’m sure it’s not allowed?!) so we said ok we’ll walk away then. Lo and behold our offer was then met by the seller (under asking price)

Would you do that?

WheelieBinPrincess · 10/02/2022 07:50

*sorry, proper action

Original poster
AssamTea · 10/02/2022 07:58

@WheelieBinPrincess I think you are absolutely right - we let it drag on too long. I'm a bit unclear about whether it's illegal for estate agents to make up offers or just against usual codes of practice. If the latter, I suspect anything goes if they want to get things concluded! Ah well. We'll know for next time (20 years hence....!).

I don't think we are prepared to walk away unfortunately - we like it too much, and have time constraints and not many other options.

OP posts:
Choux · 10/02/2022 08:02

It could just be a way of the agent getting you to hurry up and close the deal. When I bought I made two offers on consecutive days and was then asked if I could add just a little more which I did that day. So my third offer was accepted and it took two days even though the seller was in Australia.

The agent wants it sold. Am sure second bidders are sometimes made up. Even if they are real there is no guarantee they will pay the asking anyway. I'm surprised the sellers didn't counter offer after your second offer.

Advice:
1 have chat to agent to find out all you can. Are the other party coming through same agent or is it the vendor saying there is a second party interested? Are the other interested party chain free? In a hurry to complete? Have vendors advised how much they would find acceptable?

2 Find another property with same agent that you might be interested in and go and see it. Ideally a slightly cheaper one. Tell agent you were very keen on the first property but if there is now competition you need to accept you may not get it and so you want to keep looking. If the other buyer is fake then the agent will start to sweat and may give you more info on the quiet as to what is acceptable to the seller.

Original poster
AssamTea · 10/02/2022 08:07

@choux yeah, we've been trying to get a sense of where their compromise point is each time. But they have always just come back with "asking price". even the estate agent has sounded mildly frustrated that they haven't been willing to make any counter offers in response to ours...

OP posts:
cluecu · 10/02/2022 08:08

You could try and find out what terms that Estate Agent works to. For example when we sold our house, our EA worked to a flat fee so the price that the property sold for wasn't relevant to them, as long as it was sold.

Choux · 10/02/2022 08:14

[quote AssamTea]@choux yeah, we've been trying to get a sense of where their compromise point is each time. But they have always just come back with "asking price". even the estate agent has sounded mildly frustrated that they haven't been willing to make any counter offers in response to ours...[/quote]
Some sellers cannot afford to sell for less as they need the max out of it to pay the mortgage back and get a new place. If borrowing criteria has tightened or their earnings have fallen they need x on the sale to be able to afford y on a new place.

Even if they have been their years they may have remortgaged for improvements or fancy holidays and new cars so they actually have little equity. So they may be stuck there unless they get top dollar.

The agent may have more detail which can help you decide how high to go with your next offer.

Daisydoesnt · 10/02/2022 08:14

I think an EA making up a bid/ buyer would be an incredibly risky strategy; if you were to turn around now & say you're walking away then they would have some serious explaining to do to their client, the vendors! But who knows.

Sadly I think you have let this drag on too long - with every week of negotiations, the chance of another buyer coming along goes up. Sorry.

If you really like the house and there's little else coming on to the market that suits, then you may have to come to terms with the fact that to secure it you are going to have to use up your savings (as you put it). Although I'd also point out that it's nearly the middle of February, and in normal times the market really starts to get going next month and into April/ May. You might find that something better comes along? Good luck!

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 10/02/2022 08:17

I’m pretty sure it happened to me - just annoying that I could never prove it.

Some EAs are up to all sorts. Apologies to any honest ones here, I do know you exist, but I say this only after personal experience of extreme dodginess, and after hearing someone else (a developer) boasting of his ‘arrangements’ with EAs.

Original poster
AssamTea · 10/02/2022 08:21

@daisydoesnt @choux all very good point.

And you’re right the EA would be in a right fix if we pulled out and there wasn’t anyone else. So it most probably is a real offer - it’s a lovely house so we’ve been surprised we’ve been the only ones offering up to now.

I didn’t realise that spring might warm things up a bit. That will be helpful to reflect on when we are v depressed about it all this weekend!

OP posts:
WheelieBinPrincess · 10/02/2022 08:24

You might have to come to terms with using your savings for your best and final. It’s hard, I know!

PurchaseQn · 10/02/2022 08:29

Our property went into best and final. The estate agent was honest with us and the bidders about it all.

It went into best and final because we got four offers. The EA didn’t tell the buyers what these offers were (three were at asking price and one was under) - he just told them that there had been several offers so it would go to best and final on x day.

The buyers could have bid under asking price - whatever their genuine best and final offer would be.

As it happened, one went at asking price, three went over. I didn’t choose the highest offer, I chose the buyer who was a combination of most ready to proceed and most keen.

Daisydoesnt · 10/02/2022 08:36

OP I found this graphic helpful when we started looking!!

best and final - do estate agents make up rival offers??!!
Undecicive · 10/02/2022 08:39

I'm not sure why people go into a haggle. We live in a competitive area, whenever we viewed a property we decided on the final price it was worth for us. (Apart from one occasion when husband tried to negotiate and offered 10-15K lower than we agreed, then put our final in.)
Sometimes it didn't get accepted and sometimes it did. I don't have the energy for a lot of back and forth and I definitely won't fall into the trap of estate agents inflating prices artificially. I don't trust estate agents, they're trying to sell at the highest price and don't care who buy it.

Another time we were trying to sell, told the estate agent how much we wanted for it, they enthusiastically sent over two people who viewed and offered 75k and 100K below what we said. That was very annoying and since we were in no hurry to sell we took it off the market and told the bloke why.

GoBrookeYourself · 10/02/2022 08:41

Happened to us as well. House was on the market for nearly 3 years, we put an offer, got rejected, increased it a bit and got told someone had put one in just above us price wise so we increased ours. I was suspicious too but we loved the house. Makes me fume thinking about it though, because there’s no way to prove it! I hope you get the home- remember, in the grand scheme of things does a few extra thousand really matter if you can afford it and IF you pulled out on principle, would you look back in a few years and regret it?

greenlynx · 10/02/2022 08:58

Unfortunately your strategy turned out wrong, it gave EA time to get another buyer. We were in a similar situation when no one was interested in the house and the agent was so excited about us, we came for the second viewing next week and she was completely different person, she was barely polite, told us about another party interested. It was true what’s more it was a cash buyer who offered 7% over asking. We would never offered this. I strongly suspect that EA has used us to take out so much from them. They do it when they plan viewings one straight after another so buyers can see each other.
I wouldn’t ask EA how far you should go, you should go as far as comfortable for you considering potential works and your circumstances, especially if EAs know your financial limits. Someone suggested booking to view something else only cheaper, it’s a good strategy but it might be in their interests. It would mean selling 2 houses from their list. Send them a calm signal that you are ready to work away from the current house and from their agency completely.

Mildura · 10/02/2022 09:04

Looking at it in terms of financial gain for the agent, it really is pretty unlikely.

Taking a £500k house, the firm of estate agents will likely get 1%, (or maybe 1.25% if they're lucky), so £5000, the individual might get 10% of that - £500.

An extra £20k nets the firm an additional £200, and the individual £20.

It really is not worth all the aggravation and effort of inventing phantom bidders.

That's not to say it never happens, but I think it is very rare.

SheilaFentiman · 10/02/2022 09:07

Agree with Mildura. Getting the sale matters way more than a minor price difference.

Undecicive, the agent is obliged to tell you about all offers, even if they know they won’t be acceptable, so not sure why you were annoyed with the EA.

TheFlis12345 · 10/02/2022 09:09

We found out our estate agent has made up all sorts of crap when we moved in and became friends with the vendors and the neighbours!

Rrrob · 10/02/2022 09:11

Ours did (we found out afterwards). He told potential buyers we had an asking price offer on the table. They made an asking price offer that day.

seaduck · 10/02/2022 09:15

I think this happened to us as FTB. Made asking price offer when there wasn't loads of other interest and suddenly another offer appears. It went to "best and final", we upped our bid by £500 as we were already stretched to the limit and couldn't go higher. We still got it! I'm convinced the other offer was made up.

Cluckingtell · 10/02/2022 09:31

I think people talk and EA who play silly games get a reputation for dishonesty - thinking of one London estate agent - no one trusted them.

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 10/02/2022 09:31

Also happened to me house had been on for months and months I sold mine specifically to buy the house - mine sold v quickly. Put offer in and suddenly there were 3 other offers on it. I put in asking price along with the other buyers and offer accepted as I was in the best position. I then had to pull out due to a lot of survey issues and it went to the buyer who had missed out so they were telling the truth. Just go in with the best offer you are willing to make if you love it that much.

Mildura · 10/02/2022 09:33

@seaduck

I think this happened to us as FTB. Made asking price offer when there wasn't loads of other interest and suddenly another offer appears. It went to "best and final", we upped our bid by £500 as we were already stretched to the limit and couldn't go higher. We still got it! I'm convinced the other offer was made up.
Why?

Another £500 makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to the agent, genuinely might only be 50p-£1!

Swipe left for the next trending thread