Advice for best and final offers please!

[Lurtz]

Hi everyone!

New here but been lurking a while. I hope someone can offer me some best and final offers advice, please. We are first time buyers and have never had to do this before.

Brief info on the situation:

• FTBs and have our deposit, MIP, surveyor and conveyancer all ready to go. We've been looking for the better part of a year and just haven't found the right house that gave us a good feeling until now.
• Our dream house came on the market last Monday. We viewed it on Saturday (first slot they gave us, think they were trying to cluster everyone as they do). We absolutely fell in love with it, it is perfect for us. It needs some work but location and plot couldn't be better which is the most important thing for us. The house is also chain free and they are looking for a speedy sale.
• We offered the asking price straight away, we were hoping they would accept pretty quickly. They said we would have a decision on the following Monday. Didn't hear anything so rang on Wednesday to see what was going on. Told as there has been "a lot of interest" they are doing best and finals which need to be submitted by noon on Monday (over a week after we submitted our offer).
• However, currently there is only one other offer. Not sure what range it is in. They have a few more viewings booked this weekend.
• We really, really don't want to lose this house and honestly we thought in this market they would jump at our asking price offer. I'm feeling a bit strung along and now realise we should have put a time limit on our offer as they have likely been using it to try and get more offers.
• The asking price was our max offer, but wondering if it's worth adding £500 to tip us a bit ahead in case someone else also offers the asking price?

Honestly finding this situation quite stressful and it has really taken away the excitement of finally finding a house we absolutely love. I worry that even if our offer is accepted they would happily gazump us at the drop of a hat 😮‍💨 Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thanks!

The asking price was our max offer, but wondering if it's worth adding £500 to tip us a bit ahead in case someone else also offers the asking price?
I think that £500 is neither here nor there, not enough to tempt anyone. Can I suggest sticking to the original offer - stressing that it's the max available - but bigging up non-monetary factors - chain-free, can go with their speedy timetable, etc.
Bearing in mind yesterday's interest increases and that you are at the very top of your budget, have you stress-tested your finances?

I agree with pp.

We've just had our offer accepted because we were in a better position than the other buyers (even though we offered less). Being chain free is a huge plus.

I think that £500 is neither here nor there, not enough to tempt anyone. Can I suggest sticking to the original offer - stressing that it's the max available - but bigging up non-monetary factors - chain-free, can go with their speedy timetable, etc.
Bearing in mind yesterday's interest increases and that you are at the very top of your budget, have you stress-tested your finances?

Thank you - what would be the minimal amount you would suggest adding that may be "worthwhile"? We read that for best and finals it's better to offer an odd number to tip yourself above another person, which is why we were going to add £500+ some change, but maybe it's neither here nor there.

And yes, we have stress tested our finances, this is max we are comfortable with and still being able to save for home improvement with higher interest rates ☺️

I agree with pp.

We've just had our offer accepted because we were in a better position than the other buyers (even though we offered less). Being chain free is a huge plus.

That's great to hear, thank you. Have written a short paragraph about our situation along with docs to back it up so hopefully that will help us massively.

Have written a short paragraph about our situation
Do you know anything about the vendors? They sometimes fall for soppy stories about how much you love their house, you are locals, etc.

Do you know anything about the vendors? They sometimes fall for soppy stories about how much you love their house, you are locals, etc.

We've been thinking about this - the vendors are 4 siblings selling their parents' (and childhood) home. Though outdated, the house is clearly well cared for and has some interesting workshops, clearly someone was very into car mechanics and watch making. We really want to maintain the house as it is, just update it a little and fill the workshops with our own hobbies. Is it worth a shot sending a message to let them know about us, our plans, and even ask them if they would be willing to share some history (we are genuinely very interested)? Would this turn any sellers off?
Letters aren't really our thing, but if it doesn't hurt I could definitely put something together.

We really want to maintain the house as it is, just update it a little and fill the workshops with our own hobbies. Is it worth a shot sending a message to let them know about us, our plans, and even ask them if they would be willing to share some history (we are genuinely very interested)?
I hope that they would find it charming.
Maybe don't ask yet about the history because it could come across as a bit presumptive; do a vague, hopeful, future-tense "we would love to know more".

You have to oversell your position in the offer letter. I used this format, and in our situation we really stressed our LTV, where the deposit was coming from, the strength of our financial situation and likelihood that MIP would become full offer (we both worked for the lender, which was handy).

Offer details of the solicitor and say they are ready to go, waiting for instruction. Assuming the vendors will want a quick and easy transaction, stress that you do too. I wouldn’t mention anything about a survey at this stage. You could attach your MIP.

Then offer what you think it’s worth. Incidentally our last attempt at offering on a best and final we lost out to cash buyers despite our offer being the highest. Position is your strength here.

From this website: https://www.garrington.co.uk/best-and-final-offer/

Be clear on the following points and try to highlight how these align with a seller’s plans:

• Ability to proceed – are you in a chain-free position, under offer or needing to sell?
• Plans for financing – will you be getting a mortgage, what is the loan to value, or are you buying with cash?
• Timescales – not all sellers are in a hurry so this could be to indicate you can move a the sellers pace.
• Personal circumstances – A little note about why you want to buy the property is often well-received as it can indicate your commitment.
• Amount offered – lastly the figure you are willing to pay

If you have a solicitor in place and ready to act on your behalf, including their details further shows readiness.

With selling a parents house, there might be one who wants to do the sentimental stuff and one who doesn’t and just wants the most money.

I would probably sell your position. So I would highlight FTBs, you’ve spoken to a surveyor and they have availability in the next 10 days. You aren’t prepared to go above asking price due to interest rates at the minute but you have stress tested yourself at asking price and are happy you can afford it, which is why you cannot go higher. You are absolutely committed to this purchase. Then you can probably add you love the plot and want to use the workshops for your hobbies. The location is great because x, y and z. I think showing your commitment is the way to go. It’s unstable at the moment (I know, I’m in the middle of it) and someone committed at asking price would have been more interesting than someone who would get spooked going over asking.

I wouldn’t offer over asking because if they haven’t accepted your offer now, there may be a sibling that is reluctant to sell the family home and it could be a long drawn out process.

As first time buyers I would be stressing that you won't be faffing around with millions of surveys and asking for price reductions due to work needing to be done unless something really unexpected shows up.

That is what would put me off choosing a first time buyer above a non first time buyer.

Thank you all SO much, you have really brought up some fantastic points and I think I have put together a strong case.

I will let you know next week what the outcome is 😩🤞

Are you hoping to bring up children in the house? I would mention this if so as it may well have been the vendors childhood home and love the idea of other children growing up there

It’s not eBay 😂 if you offered a random odd number I would think it was the max mortgage you could get and that would spook me in this market. The sellers will have all offers put to them so £500 is not going to swing it, it will likely come down to position.

As others have said you need to stress your position, that you’re not going to renegotiate unless something major comes up on the survey and that you’re still committed if interest rates rise.

It’s not eBay 😂

Interesting, so many sources mentioned offering a random number 🙈 glad I asked here first! You make a very good point!

I have stressed we will not negotiate unless the survey brings up something major comes up, but that our expectations are realistic. Honestly, we love the plot and location so much it would take A LOT (like house is literally about to fall down in a strong wind) to turn us away. Even then, I'd probably just buy a camper and live on the land - have considered living in a camper many times before anyway 😂

Did you get the house?

I'm in the same position, chain free, was told my offer of 10k above asking (offers over 300k) was 'very good' then told there are two similar offers and it's going to best and final offers tomorrow.

They've said I'm I a strong position and have asked if I want to increase my offer, but it's tricky. Of course I could throw 10k on and just ask for a reduction after the survey, but that's not a wise move unless the survey shows major issues.

They're keen to sell soon as it's been empty for 18 months (ex rental) and already fallen through after the survey (previously listed for 325k).

I previously lost out on best and final offers where a couple were happy to throw as much as needed to get the property and do any repairs.

Hi! Yes we did get the house!

We took the advice here and just stuck with our initial offer of asking price. We did write a note too, it may not have had any sway but I'm glad we did as it led to us meeting the sellers and them telling us all about the history of the house, sharing photos and memories with us.

Best of luck - I hope it all works out for you!

Wow that's great! I lost the last house that went way over asking price and I was told my offer was very appropriate but sadly the successful buyers were happy to go at least 10k above and didn't care about any remnovations as they had money to throw at it. So it went well above what much bigger better properties had recently sold for.

So having to go through that again terrifies me. My colleague suggested sticking with my offer and looking at online estimated values of similar sized homes already renovated I'm tempted to.

I could already be the highest offer, or be only 2k below the highest, but most proceedable which could sway it (I took a lower offer on my home for this reason, but in the end they pulled out last minute as they saw something else and I just settled for a much lower offer). Alternatively I could be 5k+ below an offer not quite as proceedable but a better return on investment for the landlord selling it...

I imagine some people would just put in a crazy high offer with the aim of knocking a lot off after the survey, knowing that the landlord is keen to get it sold.

Hardly slept last night and have to confirm final offer tomorrow AM.

It should be that you make an offer and vendor has to accept or decline within a day to stop so much messing around. Then it's a gamble for the seller, not just the buyer (although appreciate buyers can just pull out).

I'm sorry to hear you lost the last house you wanted, I agree with you that there should be a better way of doing all of this, the whole process is incredibly stressful. Even once we had our offer accepted we were worried about being gazumped or something coming up.

We did stress in our letter that we understood the house was old and would need work, and would not look to reduce the price after the survey. Looking back, I'm pretty sure we could have offered less and still got it (I'm not actually sure there were any other serious offers on the table), but hindsight is 20/20 and we were so desperate to move. There also hasn't been another house we'd have preferred come up in the past year so it still feels like the right decision.

Just make sure you're happy with your offer and won't regret offering too much. It was probably a bit easier for us as we were only putting down a 10% deposit so we needed our lender to agree with the value.

Honestly, there's not much you can do. Just stick to the offer YOU are comfortable with. If there's someone who's willing to throw a lot more money on the house, you couldn't beat their offer anyway.

Sometimes you are bidding against yourself. DH and I put an offer through some time ago and they came back to me saying that someone else had offered extensively more - even if we offered 5k more unfortunately we couldn't get it. I said shame and that was that. Then after a few hours they got back to me again saying that the house was still on the market and if we wanted to offer more and get closer to asking price we could. Where had the other offer gone?! Either they were very naive FTBs offering much more than they could afford, or the other offer was made up just to push us to offer our best and final straight away, without wasting anyone's time. We confirmed we couldn't afford to offer more than that and the seller still decided to wait for a better offer, despite mine was close to what they wanted (3% under asking).

Well I upped my offer by 5k, thinking that it's still 'only' a price that's 5% over the offers over price, and started thinking how all the bigger, renovated nearby homes costing less (semi vs detached) might not come to market, or might have so much interest I'm in a bidding war, or might involve a complex chain (this is chain free).

Short story is they've accepted and it's such a relief. Literally didn't know what to do with myself tonight after a year on rightmove and zoopla sold websites 😄

As long as you are happy with your offer, then everything is fine! Congrats and good luck!😊