What's a good "Best & Final" offer??

[BlueBeam]

Looking for some insight to calm my nerves / make sure we aren't making a huge mistake.

Tale as old as time.. we've seen the 'dream house', but unfortunately it's also a fair few others dream house too, so here we are in a best and final bid situation.

The house was marketed £20k under our initial budget. The estate agent has been tight lipped, but I understand from them that there have been over 10 offers, "some at asking price, some over".

We've had the conversation about what the house is worth to us etc. and have essentially decided that we can go £25k over asking (using additional savings) and feel fairly comfortable with this.

Thing is, I have no idea whether this is ludicrous either way - is this ludicrously over what people would normally offer at best and final? Or, is it ludicrously under what it would take to get our offer accepted?

I totally get that this is a how long is a piece of string question, but I guess I'm just curious to know what other people think.

If you offered £25k over asking, would you feel confident that would secure it up against multiple other bidders?

Would you feel you needed to offer more?

As a seller, is it in line / more / less than you'd expect from a best & final offer?

If of interest - our position is we have sold our property, however our buyer needs to sell (they shouldn't struggle to do this and have several viewings for this weekend - so may be a complete chain by the time we have to submit our bid but for now incomplete), so we are aware we are likely competing with others in a better position and are hoping our bid reflects this.

What % of the total price is £25,000?

Context needed.😊

Sorry, that would help wouldn't it!!

The property is listed for £340k, we would offer £365k

For me, as the seller, I'd be looking at your situation above the numbers. Are you ftb/ cash/ rented/ in a chain/need a mortgage? Some of it you can't control.

And where to offer is impossible. Offer your highest offer and if it isn't enough then move on - you'll never then wonder 'should we have gone £5k higher'

I think this is why we are worried and prepared to go to what we feel is a very high offer - our position isn't the best, although not the worst either (mentioned above we have sold our property, but our buyers need to sell although they are in a property that historically wouldn't struggle to sell and have multiple viewings). Mortgage etc. is in place.

I guess that's what I'm wondering. How much money is worth more than a stronger position to people? And is what we are considering a high offer even really a high offer lol.

Also as an aside, we bought our current house in 2021 and found ourselves in 'best and final' situations on two other properties before we secured this one, and were bemused when we later checked land registry and saw we had only been outbid by £1k and £2.5k! (We were at the time cash buyers!).

It's not great that your buyer has yet to find a buyer so the bottom of the chain isn't closed yet.

The property market is sluggish at the moment so people selling a house with 10 offers (wow!) will want to sell to someone in a strong position.
For this reason, I would offer the highest price you can - which seems to be 365k - but they still may not accept your offer if someone else offers close to that and they are a FTB or are otherwise ready to go straight away.

Your own house should not really have been classified as Sold until your buyers are in a position to proceed. Personally, I would still be accepting viewings but that's up to you of course.

You're essentially gambling in a situation like this. I know of some people who came second in a "best and final" situation and the people who got the property had offered nearly £100k more than them!
You can't change your position in terms of chain etc, and you can't know what you are against in that respect, so you really have to put that to one side and just offer the best price for you personally. Don't go over what you can afford or what you genuinely think the property is worth to you. Focus on finding the price that will make you feel you did everything you could reasonably do to get the property. If you get it you should never know what the second offer was, so you can just pretend you squeaked them out by £10 if that gives you peace of mind!

You have made me feel so much better, thank you.

We'll put our best foot forward and per your suggestion, assume we only won by a tenner if we do!

We're comfy with the amount we're submitting, and if we lose out then it's not through holding back or lack of trying, so you are absolutely right.

‘…,.there have been over 10 offers, "some at asking price, some over".’…..

Wow! The market’s on its way up already! I predicted this would happen post budget and it appears to be the case.

Maybe check what properties in the area have sold for recently to make sure you aren’t overpaying.

If it’s the house of your dreams and you would kick yourself if you lost out to others then put your highest offer in as long as you can afford the amount and as long as you have an idea of what similar houses in the area have sold for.

No one can predict what others will do with their offers so it’s not an easy thing to advise on.

A nice letter for the owner I think always helps as they may have an emotional attachment to the house and this could give you the edge over others.

Let us know what you decide and good luck 🤞👍

I missed the bit where you mention your buyer hasn’t sold their house yet, so you aren’t technically sold, I would be surprised if they even consider your offer. You can still try but with 10 offers on the table you aren’t in a strong enough position. Good luck all the same if you do try,