Strategy to avoid bidding war?

J

jonnyhotspur

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The History:
We've been looking for a 4 bed house since Christmas. We looked at one on Monday that was on the market for 3 weeks (Advertised Asking price was 390k ). We really like the house and EA told us that there was an offer of 425K on the table. The house needs to be decorated from top to bottom but I reckon that it has great potential and slightly undervalued.
We had a second viewing last night. The EA told us the offer was still 425K from a 'Sale Agreed' couple. He also told us that the vendor had already moved out. We're mortgage approved, not selling our own house and ready to go asap.
Today we made an offer of 425K and told the EA we could sign contracts as soon as possible. He is contacting the vendor.
The Strategy:
If the EA comes back and says that we need to up our offer do we:
1 - Up it by say 1k and probably get into a bidding war
2 - Ask the EA what is a realistic price that the vendor is looking for,and accept on condition that the house is taken off the market
Or have I been watching to much of Kirsty from Location, Location, Location and a bidding war is inevitable.
We are willing to pay 440K
 
I was bidding on a site with old house on it a mile or two from where I live. I was going to completely renovate the place to move into and hopefully live there for life.

The house went on the market at 165k. We got into bidding war with another buyer that basically went like this.

We offered 165k

3rd party bid at 175k

They offered 177.5
We offered 180k
3rd party bid came in at 190k
They offered 191k
We offered 195k
They offered 196k
We offered 200k
They pulled out.

After they had started going up in 1k increments we tried (successfully) to blow them out of the water by offering our top bid which was 200k and we thought the deal was done. (on a Friday 13th I might add).

Unfortunately a local farmer came in on the following Monday and blew us clean out of the water with a bid of 207.5k (serves us right I guess)

He now has it back on the market for 245k having reduced it from 275k. Hope he never sells it.

My advice therefore would be to go in pretty strong early on to try and avoid this crap of people outbidding you by 1k. If there are others who are interested but have tight finances you might scare them off.

Also, be very sceptical about what the agent handling the sale is telling you. He could be bouncing bids off the wall to get you up higher. Pretty sneaky thing to do but I know for fact it happens.
 
kill all of mankind :confused: sorry but 2 of my friends have had the same problem recently and the estate agent has told them its been investors with deep pockets against them each time and they had no hope against them.
 
We tried the "come in with a large bid" option and ended up in a bidding war, just at a higher price! Be careful ;)
 
Having said that, it might work if you told them you'd withdraw the bid within 24 hrs or so... might try that one ourselves in the future. But it would mean being very strong and following through with the withdrawal...
 
Re: house prices

Talk about crazy prices. A bungalow near us is sale agreed . The one next door to it is now on sale for 100,000€ more .
 
I would also try and blow them out of the water with a high bid. If you start bidding in increments of €1k people can run away with themselves and before they realise how many times they've increased their bid by €1k they're €15k over their max figure! I would def. inform the EA that because of your strong position the offer is not to be used as a stepping stone and is only valid for 1 week - thereafter you'll withdraw your offer and look at alternative property.
 
im in one now... help!

party 1 bid 317500...
we bid 320000
they bid 321000 (gits)
we bid 323000
they (today) bid 324000
we are considering bidding 326000 but are unsure whether thats enough or whether we really should continue. its a really nice house but this bidding war crap is stressful as were FTBs... and theres stamp duty to be paid which limits our ability to furnish the place.
 
morpheus said:
we are considering bidding 326000 but are unsure whether thats enough or whether we really should continue.
Click to expand...

Nobody knows.... Don't get caught in the bidding infernal spiral to satisfy your ego (nobody likes loosing!).
Set yourself 2 figures:
1- how much are you willing to pay for THIS house?
2- how much can you really afford?
and stick to it..

morpheus said:
and theres stamp duty to be paid which limits our ability to furnish the place.
Click to expand...
Sometime it is wise to step back a bit and think as to whether buying now is the right thing for you to do or not..
 
Hi - we bought our house last June - finally moved in in October.
For what it's worth here's our story: We were also anxious not to get into a bidding war - we had already sale agreed our own house and didn't have loads of months free to be looking - we just wanted it done and dusted asap.

So we put a bid on the house - previous offer was 525 - we bid 535. They went to 536.

We decided that we weren't going to get messed around so we went back to the EA and said 545 final offer - this offer is valid for 3 days only thereafter we take it off the table as we do not have time for this to drag on. This is what we thought the house was worth and the figure we were willing to pay for it

We were true to our word and 3 days later we called back to enquire if they were willing to accept - EA tried to get us to extend the offer for the remainder of the week but we held firm and said no - they accepted that afternoon.

Didn't stop the vendor playing silly beggars down the road putting loads of clauses on our sale agreed but we were happy as it meant the worry was over for us.
 
There's no need to give such generous timelines - it is sufficient if you put your bid in at 9am and say you'll withdraw your bid, and your interest in the house, if it is not accepted by close of business that day. Tell the EA you've a bid on another house already.

All the EA has to do is get on to the vendor, and each bidder, and ask them what they want to do. They don't need a week to come back to you.
 
Ok, im putting a final bid on and i am stipulating that I will withdraw my interest in the house by close of business tomorrow.

Im sick of this bidding crap, we've had enough stress getting this far. Sure if we dont get the house (and its a peach all the same) maybe its just not meant to be.

Pity my partner has set her heart on the place, she fell in love with it the minute we started viewing.
 
last offer is in, im begnining to suspect there is no other bidder... if he comes back and says that the other party pulled out, does my offer still stand, should i say no it doesnt, im now only offering 322 cos theres no1 else interested??? or should i just take it?
 
your only offering €2,000 over your original offer of €320

spread that over 20 - 35 years its not much and for the house that your girlfriend instantly fell in love with? you'd be mad to turn it down if they wanted to sell at that price!
 
don't make the first bid and if time is on your side keep your counsel as long as you cand and come in after there have been a few bids
 
They bid 330 so we bailed.

Well, i said our offer stood until tuesday afternoon and then we were withdrawing.

I think now that a third party DID come in, ah well, back to the drawing board.

On a lighter note, we looked at a house in skerries, 3 bed detached with sea views, its in an estate which in past history was a bad address to have. We viewed it and it was tiny, and then the estate agent said you know its only 335 because this is a council estate... as if we were to be happy it was SOO cheap... my opinion was it was miles too small, i climbed into the so called "attic room", hit my head off the ceiling while still on the ladder and almost put it through the skylight.

Some people will build, AND SELL, anything these days.
 
Hi morpheus,
Better luck next time - horrible thing to have happened. I'd love to know if there is a legit way of finding out if there actually is a genuine other party bidding?

I know a case where a wreck of a house had been on sale for some time. A bid went in & suddenly there was another interested part. First person withdrew. A day later the EA came back saying that second party was pulling out & was first person still interested?
 
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