Did the EA make this up?

[whatafineday]

We told agent after viewing that we would make an offer by email today. The property has been on the market for two weeks and no offer made yet. Then two hours later the agent called to say they have just received an offer. Buyer situation exactly like us. He used the phrase near asking price. But the offer has not been accepted yet as they know we are keen and would like to get ours in before making any decision. I could stretch to asking but hate to be pushed into doing so by a phantom. And since most listings these days seem to be overpriced....Any ways to find out if he's bluffing? From your experience, if there is really an offer, would the EA just say the number instead of describing it as near asking? Thank you

"Any ways to find out if he's bluffing?"

Not really. An "offer" can come from anywhere. Including the estate agents best mate or grandad. Or even be genuine.

If the house has only been on a week or so, then yes it is probably more likely to be real. If the house had been on 5 months then it would be a different probability and maybe something of a coincidence. No guarantees of anything though.

Issue is sellers are normally testing the market with their initial price. If they get offers with their initial price within a short time of first advertising, it is showing them that the market is good for that price, so trying to negotiate down on a property that has only been advertised a couple of weeks is futile (or would be if I was the seller). To get a lower price you have to let the market beat some sense into the sellers through lack of interest/offers.

I would decided what it was worth to me and ignore the noise in choosing what to do.

Ask for proof in writing of the other offer.

I didn't think they were allowed to tell you the details of other offers.

By details I mean the amount of the other offers.

It's probably tosh. Just make the offer you want to make and see what happens.

I would tell him if he has had a good offer you will bow out and let the other bidder have it.

I’d leave it and see if the property changed to SSTC in the next couple of days. If not, submit your offer.

I would submit your original offer as planned.

This is really solid advice and what I would say if I were much more eloquent 👍🏼

There's no way to know for sure but if it's only been on the market for 2 weeks it's unlikely that they will take much below the asking price anyway. I wouldn't increase my offer based on this other offer - if it exists they will probably go to best and final anyway.

All the EA’s I’ve dealt with have delighted in telling me other offer amounts.

Anyway by writing I mean ask them to email to confirm the conversation.

Only way to know is to call their bluff. You have to be willing to lose the house though.

I think it's pretty standard for an EA to say they've had offers 'near asking' and I don't think they have any obligation to tell you how many/how much.

If it was me I'd treat it as bluster and offer what I thought the house was worth. If it's not enough then you might lose the house. If you offer more now you might get the house and then spend the next few years wondering if you'd been had and overpaid.

They are not supposed to tell you the exact amount but in this case, they haven't - they have just said it is "near asking price".

From experience, I don't think that reputable estate agents actually lie @whatafineday though they can be economical with the truth. I would be inclined to believe that they have received an offer. If you also offer close to the asking price, their reaction will tell you whether you have offered less than the other party. If you have then they will tell you that you will need to offer more to secure the property. Their job is to get the best price they can for their client.

I would offer close to the asking price (if you can afford it) and take it from there.

There's no way of knowing. Just offer what you want to pay.

When we viewed our house it had been on the market for about 10 days with viewings done by the owner. When we spoke to them they said there were no offers yet but there had been interest. The following morning after our viewing we put in our offer and were contacted later that day by the estate agent who said there had been another offer made that day - wouldn't tell us what it was but did we want to revise our offer based on the fact there had been another offer. We did raise our offer because we loved the house and fortunately got it as it turns out there was a genuine other offer on the table but it did make us doubt though whether there was really another offer based on the timings of when we viewed/offered

Offer what you were going to offer. If there are other buyers and they have offered more - they deserve the house!

Just stick to your original offer. If they decline, whatever the reason you can still offer higher. Unlikely they will accept the other offer without giving you a chance to come back unless they asked for best and final from you straight away.

Estate Agents should not be telling you precise details of other offers (buyer confidentiality) but they are not going to risk losing a sale on the off-chance. They want the property sold and off their books asap, doing weeks of viewings and everything else costs them money.

People on Mumsnet are very quick to suspect EAs of underhand tactics. But this property is on the open market and could attract an offer at any time. It's only been two weeks! Do you think you are the only people who've viewed the property?

Twice we've bought houses and been told that there had suddenly been other offers. Both times, we upped our offer and bought the house. Both times, the sellers later told us there had been no other offers at that time.
Ignore this for now and stick to your guns

Hmm. I would be suspicious because of the timing but it is perfectly possible that it could be a genuine offer.
I would do what @Ccvyvyan suggests and ask them to confirm this in an email. They are not allowed to invent offers so, if he is reluctant to do this, it would suggest that they were just bluffing.

You could say something like:
Many thanks for showing us around x house today. As you know, we loved the property and have been seriously considering putting in an offer. However, I understand that the situation has changed since the viewing and that there is now another 'close to asking price' offer on the property. In viewing of the falling/ slow market, we would like a little time (a day) to discuss whether or not we would still like to offer as we are reluctant to enter into bidding wars with another party at this time. (or you could just offer what you think it is worth and not move from that if you prefer)

If they confirm the offer, then it will be genuine but if they start bluffing, then you can place whatever you think is reasonable.

The tactic we are seeing loads of EA use is saying that there are offers but actually when I’ve probed deeper those offers are from people who still need to sell and therefore don’t really mean anything. But of course they’re still technically offers.

They will say ooo make a conditional offer to the parties who haven’t sold and want to make an offer and then use this to bump up other proceedable offers.

Of course they could be genuine but you will never know. As previous posters have said, offer what you think it’s worth and then move on.

The EA told us they had other offers on the table, also close to asking, and wouldn't tell what they were, so we offered what we were willing to pay and it was accepted immediately.

The seller then went quiet for weeks so we pulled out. They had accepted a higher offer without telling us.

I don't know what happened with that but it never sold

What is this nonsense of ‘buyer confidentiality’?! First off they are estate agents, not lawyers or doctors. Second if they tell you in an anonymised way then there’s no breath of confidence. Estate agents don’t tell people so they can bid up prices and play dirty. Pretty simple.

If an estate agent intends to disclose the exact amount an offer is, they must warn prospective buyers this is how they operate so OP would know if it was possible to get the exact figure. They must also disclose all offers from all buyers for the rest of that sale so the OPs offer would then be disclosed to the other potential buyer if they made one. It’s in the property ombudsman code of conduct too so any decent estate agent should work this way!

Also someone else said about seeing if it goes to SSTC in a few days, our house didn’t go to SSTC for a few months after we offered. Most agents round here leave it as for sale for ages to collect leads for other properties they’re marketing and cover their arse in case a sale falls through.