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Original poster

Any tips to find out what the other offers are?

31 replies

platerspinner · 17/04/2022 22:00

I'll start by saying I know the agents can't tell me, vendors have said they'll come back to everyone with a de idiom on Tuesday after the bank hol. We know there are 3 other offers currently and final viewing is taking place tomorrow so possible 4.
Price is offers in excess of £550k, our offer is £575k. On the viewing the agent told us there's one at asking price and one over. Another offer has come in since ours.
My plan was to call the agents tomo to see if I could ask questions like are we in a strong position / would an extra £5k help.
We really don't want to lose the house but also don't want to overpay, such a hard balance to strike. Any tips for how to phrase my questions for maximum info?

OP posts:
dubyalass · 17/04/2022 22:16

It's so hard, isn't it. I offered £265k on a place that was offers over £250k, and it went to someone who offered "considerably more". But of course they "couldn't" tell me how much. It's bollocks, they can, they just choose not to.

That said, I don't think there's any harm in asking if your offer is favourable. I wouldn't ask if it's the highest, because an unscrupulous agent may lie to try to get you to offer more. It is at least helpful to know someone else has offered the asking price and no higher! Also two or more of you may have offered similar amounts, in which case it comes down to who is most proceedable.

Fancypants2022 · 17/04/2022 22:29

I think you run the risk of becoming preoccupied with others and lose sight of your own position. All you can do is offer what you can afford / what you feel it is worth. It sounds like they might go to best and final offers - just be very careful not to offer an amount that you might regret later.

Original poster
platerspinner · 17/04/2022 22:52

We've written an email to the agents saying how we love the house etc in the hope they might pass the info onto the sellers and create more of a 'narrative' round our offer, our buyers are coming from rented so no chain below. DH and I have agreed £580k is our walk away price

OP posts:
mummabubs · 18/04/2022 05:14

@dubyalass

It's so hard, isn't it. I offered £265k on a place that was offers over £250k, and it went to someone who offered "considerably more". But of course they "couldn't" tell me how much. It's bollocks, they can, they just choose not to.

That said, I don't think there's any harm in asking if your offer is favourable. I wouldn't ask if it's the highest, because an unscrupulous agent may lie to try to get you to offer more. It is at least helpful to know someone else has offered the asking price and no higher! Also two or more of you may have offered similar amounts, in which case it comes down to who is most proceedable.

Estate Agents actually can't tell you what any other offer is, it's prohibited in their professional code of practice. (Annoying as it is!) It's frustrating OP but all you can do is offer what you think the house is worth to you combined with what you can afford. Good luck x
grotsnags · 18/04/2022 05:22

All you can do is offer what you can afford / what you feel it is worth

this.

I hate the practice, we were out bid on a house recently & the people who won actually bid against themselves when they were already winning.

ukborn · 18/04/2022 06:28

They can tell you but it's not in their sellers best interest is it? Do not call them and ask if an extra £5k would help - are they going to say no we don't want to achieve an even higher sales price? Of course not.
I lost out to a cash buyer last summer snd the agent led me to believe we were neck and neck on offers. Well it's now on the land registry and it went £25k LESS than what I offered. It doesn't always go to highest offer but proceedability too.
I have sold myself to best and final snd the accompanying letters did not sway me - it was offer amount and who could proceed, and I accepted an offer in the middle of three due to the latter.

grotsnags · 18/04/2022 07:03

Well it's now on the land registry and it went £25k LESS than what I offered. I

tbf that could have been negotiated after a survey.

grotsnags · 18/04/2022 07:06

I reckon the house we lost out on will be downvalued by the mortgage company & survey & will be renegotiated by the buyer & go through for a bit less.

grotsnags · 18/04/2022 07:07

There was a house I saw last year that I didn't bother to look at as way over budget. It sold for 130k under its listing price!

gunnersgold · 18/04/2022 07:19

I'd have offered a weird amount like £577 . I imagine there will be quite a few for 575 .

Heronwatcher · 18/04/2022 08:19

I once saw something (maybe from Kirsty and Phil) that said you could try making an offer of x OR 5k over any other offer on the table up to a maximum of y (which would be higher than x). I don’t know whether most estate agents would just put y forward anyway though! TBH if you absolutely love the house then the only thing you can do is go to your maximum budget, but if you do that now then the estate agent will probably just use it to talk the other offers up, so your best bet might be just to sit it out and remember it’s only bricks and mortar.

Original poster
platerspinner · 18/04/2022 09:01

Do you think we go up to 580k now then? Agent did say give us your best and final offers on Monday. I guess we could be beaten by a cash buyer or a family that are currently renting, although it's kind of a middle ladder family home so I'm hoping most will be in a similar position to us but maybe with a chain below them and it might put us at an advantage

OP posts:
Fancypants2022 · 18/04/2022 11:15

Yes I would - if you submit 575 as your best and final there is definitely no way to up it. If 580 is your limit then offer that. Then you know there is nothing more you can do. If you get it then you are paying what you are comfortable with, and if you don’t get it then at least you went to your max. You couldn’t have done any more. Best of luck!! Let us know how you get on

Kyrae · 18/04/2022 13:33

Remember, if you're getting a mortgage, to make sure you can afford to pay the price you offer if the house is under valued, so if it's up for £550k and you offer £580k and it's under valued by £30k, do you have that money spare in a bank account? Though if your loan to value is good sometimes they'll still offer you a mortgage :) Good luck!!

Original poster
platerspinner · 18/04/2022 15:06

Our mortgage allows us to spend £600k we just think there's some compromises with this house that means we think anything over £580 would be us overpaying for it, DH and I agreed to set a level early on in case of a bidding war so we didn't get caught up in the moment.
I called the agent and had a chat, the agent who showed us around is away so gave me another's details and first thing she said was oh you're the people that are at £575, then went on to say she thinks we've given the vendor a price to be excited about and we're in a strong position and 'up there'. I'm taking all that as positive that we're the or one of the highest offers at the min

OP posts:
dubyalass · 18/04/2022 15:50

Estate Agents actually can't tell you what any other offer is, it's prohibited in their professional code of practice. (Annoying as it is!)

Not true. I have certainly been told in the past what other offers existed when making an offer myself. Some sellers give permission to disclose. See 9g here: www.tradingstandards.uk/media/documents/commercial/codes-of-practice/residential-estate-agents.pdf

resuwen · 18/04/2022 16:49

Even if they can, why would they? The agent acts on behalf of the seller. Their job is to secure the sale at the best price possible. This involves pitting competing buyers against each other.

Kyrae · 18/04/2022 17:39

Do you mean you have a mortgage in principle for £600k? If so, that doesn't mean they'd definitely lend that much on the house you're looking at unfortunately, they'll only lend what the house is worth according to their mortgage survey. So for example if you paid £580k for a house worth £550k on their survey and you were paying a 10% deposit of £55k, they would lend you £495k, and you'd have to find the other missing £30k. Hope that makes sense :)

MenopausalMimi · 18/04/2022 17:53

Friend of ours just lost out on a property where the agent clearly gave info to one of the buyers!

I think the only way you can do this is put your best foot forward but know there will probably be some underhand moves somewhere! It's such a horrible process - good luck!

Original poster
platerspinner · 18/04/2022 18:08

Thanks @Kyrae all understood, we're planning to take £25k out in cash to do some bits to the house so if needed there would be money spare but again this is partly why we've set a £580k limit for ourselves on the house. A friend recently had their buyers surveyor down value the house but luckily their buyers rejigged their mortgage and it worked out

OP posts:
evilharpy · 18/04/2022 18:21

We're currently househunting in Northern Ireland and I was very surprised that all the agents have told me what the current highest offers are on every property I've seen.

Aria20 · 18/04/2022 20:55

We viewed a house offers over 575, we initially offered 579 but straight away estate agents said there was a higher offer on the table. We asked how much higher and she said we'd need to go closer to 6 to be in with a chance so we offered 595. She then came back to us the next day and said if we can match the other offer of 600 it was ours as we had a FTB buying ours and the property is being sold chain free so would only be the three in the chain, and they knew we could meet the sellers desired timescale of 8 weeks as we already had solicitors and mortgage in principle ready etc.... also the other offer was in a longer chain so wouldn't have been able to complete as quickly. We matched the 600 and fingers crossed we'll be exchanging soon!

Original poster
platerspinner · 18/04/2022 21:19

@Aria20 you think they would have valued you're position enough to accept the 5k less! Anyway congratulations I hope it all goes smoothly and you're in your new home soon

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Aria20 · 19/04/2022 06:40

@platerspinner I know lol considering it was offers over 575 it was already 20k over! But I suppose people want as much as possible. We accepted a 3k less offer from a FTB on our property.

SpidersAreShitheads · 19/04/2022 07:20

We’re in the middle of buying a house which was marketed at £250k. Went to sealed bids and we won with a bid of £267,500. We thought we were bidding way over but the house was worth it - turns out we barely squeaked through as the highest offer but the feedback was that it was our reason for buying that persuaded vendor to pick us.

Just waiting to exchange now! Will keep my fingers crossed for you today.