Best and final offers

[Busbygirl]

I’ve just put an offer in on a property but estate agent called yesterday to say it’s going to best and final offers.
There’s only 2 offers on the table ( mine and the other one).
I feel the whole process isn’t transparent anymore and this has been designed to try and bump up our offers.
I know there’s nothing wrong with it but thought this was used when there were multiple offers?
I like the house I’ve put an offer in on, but I’m put off now. I’m a cash free, chain free buyer and have been looking for a house for months so don’t feel like backing out.
What’s the best way to offer under this system? Stick with my offer or go higher?

@Busbygirl

This thread on moneysaving expert may help? (albeit it's from 2023)

It is normal for an EA to suggest “best & final” even when only 2 offers on the table.

It is designed to get higher offers because the EA works for the Seller.

No one can tell you what to offer. It depends what you can afford and how much you like the house. I would personally increase my offer if I could afford it and would be very disappointed to lose the house.

In your offer email you should also list any factors that make you a good buyer. For example if you have nothing to sell, already have a big deposit or a buyer for your current property.

We bought our house last year and it went to best and final. I went to the top of my budget as I didn't want to lose it...we will never move again and I wasn't prepared to lose it over £20000. I'm so glad I did.....this house is perfect for us and felt right from the day we moved in.

That’s really useful thank you.
I was lying awake last night thinking our offers are probably similar atm so the estate agent wants us both to increase quite a bit.
Not sure I’ll do this as I like the house but don’t want to pay too much for it.

@Busbygirl I always think this is underhand, designed to push the price up. I think a calm approach is needed here, because it’s easy to get swept up in the competitiveness of the situation. So take stock and have a clear plan of what you want.

Think about how disappointed you would be if you lost the house, how long you envisage living there, and crucially, can you afford to increase without it impacting your lifestyle. If you increase by a lot, might you kick yourself for possibly over paying?

I would do my sums, then increase a little, and stick to it. I’d then be prepared to walk away, knowing I hadn’t been compromised financially and will find another property.

Don’t get swept along in a “must have house at any cost “ scenario.

You’re in a strong position, but do what’s right for you. In a nutshell, think with your head not your heart. Good luck.

Your in a strong position as a chain free cash buyer. I would be prepared to consider a lower offer from you if the other potential buyer had a property to sell and a mortgage to achieve. A lot of sellers have realised the market is tough and that the chances of a completed transaction are complex. Sellers are also becoming aware that values may fall if they have a failed purchase and have to start again next year. Offer what you are comfortable with and no more. Particularly take in to account that overpaying during a period of market uncertainty could have lasting implications.
Some would over bid and then adjust the offer downward close to exchange after other interested parties have moved on. That's a crappy trick and may or may not work but unfortunately it is happening.

Nothing ‘underhand’ about it, unless you think the sellers are running some kind of philanthropic organisation designed to pass on houses cheaply to deserving purchasers or something. They want as much money as they can get from selling the biggest asset most of us will ever have. That’s in the nature of selling a house.

We had this in our first house purchase and I am about 99%certain that there was actually no other buyer. We ended up increasing our offer by about £450 and we got the house.
I would just offer what you want to. The buyers will choose the people that are in the best situation for them rather than the highest offer. You can submit a letter too, so you could write about why you are moving and why you want the house.

We were the sellers in this situation. We had 3 offers so went to best and final. We absolutely took into account the position of the buyers as well as their offer.

If I liked the house I'd stick with my original offer but restate my position and start relooking elsewhere.

If I'd put in a low offer to assess the situation I would now offer whatever I feel its worth.

If I loved the house, and it had something unique about it, I might consider slightly overpaying to seal it as the money should repay itself in happiness living there.

Can't blame the agent, he's working for the seller.

You have to decide whether you love the house enough to pay more than you want to, or whether you’d be prepared to keep looking. If you like it, but don’t love it, I probably wouldn’t get into a bidding war. If you love it, go for it, but make the offer an odd number, rather than a round number.

It must be pretty special as it’s a buyers market just now. You are in a good position OP and a sensible vendor would take that into consideration.

In the current market it must be a very special property to be going to best & final.
I’d be wary tbh esp as prices are dropping & times have changed massively from 2023.
You are in an excellent financial position, don’t get drawn in, if you love it though, just pay what you’re happy with.

The house I am currently sat in went to best and final when we bought it- there were supposedly 3 other offers on the table. No idea if that was true or not but we wanted the house so we offered at the top of what we could afford for it, plus an extra £250 (we read somewhere that adding an extra odd amount could set you apart from the same offer- don't know how true that is!) If we weren't bothered about whether or not we got this house we wouldn't have done that. Only you know how much you want the house and how much you're willing to spend.

I don't think it's underhand though, the EA works for the buyer and they should be trying to get the best price for them, that's their job.

Edited to add @augustusglupe- it depends a lot on market. Where we live everything goes to best and final because it's a very in demand place.

Yes me too. We live in the most expensive area of the NW.
All of a sudden though the market has changed.
Obviously if OP loves the property then you pay what you think it’s worth & can afford.

Not at all. Buyers often put in a low first offer to test the lie of the land. ‘Best and final’ says ‘What are you prepared to pay if you really like it?’

We where buying a house and got gazumped, the EA warned there was another couple interested and we ignored it and felt it was a tactic as they couldn't seem to get their story straight (couldn't seem to decide if it was a probate, corporate repossession, care fee sale or family home with buyer being chosen by the owners, it swapped and changed in every conversation with them).

Turned out it wasn't a tactic and we lost that house (luckily before we spent any money on it though).

I waited 7 months (had bought and moved into a different house in that time) for the public sold prices to finally update. The EA said we got gazumped by 20k and would have to offer more than that to 'gazump' them back (which we didn't) turns out it was actually £8k we got gazumped for.

We got gazumped on another property almost identically (same misinfomation on the sellers situation, although to be fair we had offered £15k under on that one as it was above our budget). Then 4 months later (just as we where about to exchange on our house we bought) they phoned back with a 'congrats they have now decided to now accept your offer'. Turned out the gazumper had pulled out, it was a lovely house but we had to tell them it was simply too late, they then sat on the market for months and I will be curious to see what it eventually sells for.

We also offered on a house that had loads of interest and went to best and final but we where top of budget already so didn't offer more.

I ended up with matching best and final so that didn't help😂
But yes I absolutely took into an account the situation of the buyers before accepting.
You offer what you think it's worth and what you are comfortable with.

You just have to offer what you are willing to pay for the house. If you lose it because someone else goes much higher, then that it that.

My last house sold under best and final offers with only 2 interested parties. We did end up with a very high price as one couple had been looking for a property like ours for a while and missed out on several. So they wanted to be sure they got it. They probably overpaid slightly, but that was their choice.

This happened to us twice, first time we went 20k over, but they accepted the lower offer as the other bidders were in a better position to move quicker than us, even though we were the highest bidder. Then the 2nd time we had offered 10k under asking, then went to best and final, and I said we are not getting into that again, we was in a strong position to move quickly, in a short chain (FTB brought ours) so we stuck to our guns! We got our bid, but they took our offer anyway due to the shorter chain we had. So in both scenarios the highest bigger didn’t count!

Not the same as best and final but we paid what the sellers wanted for the house even though it was more than we offered because we wanted the house. We probably overpaid by 10K but I don’t regret it at all because I love this house so I don’t look at it as we paid too much we paid what we thought it was worth to us. So it depends on how much you really want the house and what that’s worth to you.

I sold to best and final. Of course the sellers/Ea want the most money - that’s hardly a surprise!
My house was listed (I thought too low) at £945. Good amount of interest so EA said best and final. One bid was below ask so immediately rejected. Next was £976 from buyers who were under offer through the same agent - so double commission and double the incentive for them to make sure the sale went though. Final was just over £1m but they had just put their house on the market. I took the £876, which was actually what I thought it was worth in the first place. Proceedability trumps price.

We were asked if we wanted to do best and final and I said no. We just went with who seemed the better buyer (and turned out to be an ideal buyer who didn’t try and knock anything off).

Thank you everyone for your advice. I’ve offered £5k over my original offer, which I can afford and also means if I get the house I’d have no more rent to pay.
It’s a very popular area in the NW, few decent houses have come up in the last year so I don’t really want to miss this one.
If I don’t get it, it wasn’t meant to be.
I’m not convinced there was another offer and may have just bid against myself. I do think there needs to be more transparency around this system as you just don’t know if the estate agent is being truthful. It’s a horrible approach to making an offer, I’d just rather negotiate openly.

Same (and it wasn’t even £20k, it was about 1% of the value of the house). We’ve been in about 18 months now and I absolutely love it.

BUT there were loads of houses we viewed before which also went to “best and final”, and we didn’t want to play that game so walked away (we were looking for 3 years, mostly in the post-Covid boom, and so many houses were just ridiculously overpriced).

My offer was accepted so thanks all. I offered £5k above my first offer, £5 k below asking.
Reading between the lines the other offer was similar to mine which was why it went to best and final but the other purchasers didn’t budge. Wish I hadn’t now as I was in a better position but it’s easy to be wise in hindsight.
Still think it’s all underhand and it was just a way of getting me to unnecessarily raise my offer (the vendors wanted me anyway because of my circumstances).
Think the system of best and final should all be regulated more.
Thanks all, I’m pleased my offer was accepted so that’s the main thing.