Can Letting Agents Do That

Orchid · 28-02-2014 4:37pm #1

I am in a bidding war for a property with two other bidders. Up to today we have been increasing our bids by 1-2 k since last Friday. Today the letting agent has emailed to ask what was our highest and final offer. My husband called him for clarification and he advised he will not be disclosing any more bids and he will be closing the deal next Wednesday. We will need to put our final and highest bid and he will be in contact with the highest bidder.

I was wondering if that is done? It seems so unfair and how will I know someone hasn't been tipped off. The house is a repossession and I can understand if the bank wants to close it quickly but my understanding of a tender which is what this becomes is you put your offer in a closed envelope and not email it to the company email. Any thoughts?

subway · 28-02-2014 4:41pm

theres no regulation so they can do what they like.
you have to decide if you think you are being played and if the property is worth it.

i would suggest you dont have any option, but to trust them, if you want the house

username123 · 28-02-2014 4:42pm

Make the offer you are prepared to pay and leave it at that. If they dont contact you then what it is selling for is higher than you are prepared to pay.

Orchid · 28-02-2014 4:44pm

subway wrote: »

theres no regulation so they can do what they like.
you have to decide if you think you are being played and if the property is worth it.

i would suggest you dont have any option, but to trust them, if you want the house

No wonder our property market is in the state it is and was the source of so much trouble for the economy...

Orchid · 28-02-2014 4:47pm

username123 wrote: »

Make the offer you are prepared to pay and leave it at that. If they dont contact you then what it is selling for is higher than you are prepared to pay.

We will but what worries me is if they want to sell it to someone they know what's stopping them from tipping them off. It just feels very unfair. The lack of transparency is very frustrating to say the least.

username123 · 28-02-2014 4:50pm

Orchid wrote: »

We will but what worries me is if they want to sell it to someone they know what's stopping them from tipping them off. It just feels very unfair. The lack of transparency is very frustrating to say the least.

They want to sell it for the most they can so they can get the best commission.

There will be transparency after the fact in the property price register. You could ask them to issue you their highest bidder ultimatum in writing, make your bid in writing and if it turns out afterwards that they sold t a lower bidder - sue them. But its a lot of hassle.

Youre playing into it by even worrying about it. Make your bid, leave it at that.

MarkR · 28-02-2014 4:52pm

Sounds like they are trying to squeeze you for every penny, not very fair I think. Even if they don't tell any other bidder what your max bid is, the buyer is going to get the top money out of it.

subway · 28-02-2014 4:56pm

Orchid wrote: »

We will but what worries me is if they want to sell it to someone they know what's stopping them from tipping them off. It just feels very unfair. The lack of transparency is very frustrating to say the least.

if they wanted to sell it someone they know, they could do plenty of things.
even if they let the other person know your bid and they outbid you by 100eu, the same would have happened in a normal bidding situation.

the only risk here, is that you overpay. how far are you from your max now?
if its sealed bids at 50% of what you think its worth, i would be worried, as there is such a gap as to where the other bidder could pull out.
if its 95% then you arent risking too much really

Orchid · 28-02-2014 5:35pm

subway wrote: »

if they wanted to sell it someone they know, they could do plenty of things.
even if they let the other person know your bid and they outbid you by 100eu, the same would have happened in a normal bidding situation.

the only risk here, is that you overpay. how far are you from your max now?
if its sealed bids at 50% of what you think its worth, i would be worried, as there is such a gap as to where the other bidder could pull out.
if its 95% then you arent risking too much really

Well we already reached the price that another similar property in the same estate sold for in Nov 13 which means it will be unwise to go over more than another 5- 6 k which is probably what we will be doing.

It's true they are trying to squeeze us out of every penny they can get.

It seems to be a seller's market again. We have been in bidding wars for every property we have liked with at least two other bidders since November 13...

MouseTail · 28-02-2014 6:56pm

There is some merit in this method of bidding. This is what happens by law in Scotland. It does away with suspected and actual phantom bids, the nonsense of €1k bid increments, and it offers the best outcome for the seller.

davo10 · 28-02-2014 7:20pm

OP I have experience of final sealed bid offers. I put in my bid along with a letter from the bank saying I have approval for this amount, this is important as it showed there would be no messing about with the finance. It worked.

odds_on · 28-02-2014 7:25pm

If you want to go bidding, try the auctions - otherwise inform the EA at first meeting that you are not interested in a bidding war.

Unfortunately, it seems that you have fallen in love with the house - a definite disadvantage on your part as you will keep going higher.

Orchid · 28-02-2014 11:21pm

odds_on wrote: »

If you want to go bidding, try the auctions - otherwise inform the EA at first meeting that you are not interested in a bidding war.

Unfortunately, it seems that you have fallen in love with the house - a definite disadvantage on your part as you will keep going higher.

I am indeed and if we don't get this one I'm definitely not getting into bidding wars again. We love it and we keep getting higher. It's funny how you go up by 1 or 2 k and you say to yourself "just one more k is not that much" ... Soon enough we were above asking price and 25k over our initial offer in the space of a week.

It would have been much better if the law was everyone puts in their highest offer in a sealed envelope and that's it.

dinnyirwin · 01-03-2014 12:52pm

Orchid wrote: »

I am indeed and if we don't get this one I'm definitely not getting into bidding wars again. We love it and we keep getting higher. It's funny how you go up by 1 or 2 k and you say to yourself "just one more k is not that much" ... Soon enough we were above asking price and 25k over our initial offer in the space of a week.

It would have been much better if the law was everyone puts in their highest offer in a sealed envelope and that's it.

When you give the EA your highest and final offer, letting them know thats it, no more bids from you. Then thats the same as putting it in a sealed envelope.
The EA works for the vendor, not you. People seem to want the law to stack the cards against the person thats paying the agent for the service.

It should be no surprise that someone selling anything wants the highest possible price they can get for it.

I have a method that I use myself to cut out all this bidding war antics. Im not going to mention it here because it works while the EAs dont know im using it. If they knew it then they would see my hand.

Find yourselve a strategy that works for you and stick to it.

Can Letting Agents Do That

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