How does the offer process work when buying a house in the UK?

**SorenLorensen** · 19 March 2014, 14:58

Originally posted by Daventry View Post

We are told they can't disclosure the offer so we don't get a chance to top it.

So it wasn't your best and final offer then?

**Daventry** · 19 March 2014, 15:03

Originally posted by SorenLorensen View Post

So it wasn't your best and final offer then?

That you can afford more doesn't mean the property is worth it

**jmo21** · 19 March 2014, 15:06

Originally posted by Daventry View Post

That you can afford more doesn't mean the property is worth it

So it was your best and final offer on that property then.

While frustrating, it is presumably to bring an end to the sale as quickly as possible, otherwise you'd have people bidding in increments of £500 for weeks on end.

**northernladuk** · 19 March 2014, 15:09

What are are you looking for? I believe it's utter mayhem in London due to the market and all sorts of underhand shenanigans going on. In more rural areas there aren't that many buyers so you would expect a offer to be accepted anywhere between 15% below and asking price.

It's also not up to the agent to accept/refuse offers. They are just the agent. You can report agents for accepting/refusing that haven't spoken to the vendor about it. They just pass the information on and the seller says yes or no. The agents are on pretty low margins so an extra £500 isn't going to pay for the extra time spent. They just want a sale and then move on. They are not your friend.

**Daventry** · 19 March 2014, 15:20

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

What are are you looking for? I believe it's utter mayhem in London due to the market and all sorts of underhand shenanigans going on. In more rural areas there aren't that many buyers so you would expect a offer to be accepted anywhere between 15% below and asking price.

It's also not up to the agent to accept/refuse offers. They are just the agent. You can report agents for accepting/refusing that haven't spoken to the vendor about it. They just pass the information on and the seller says yes or no. The agents are on pretty low margins so an extra £500 isn't going to pay for the extra time spent. They just want a sale and then move on. They are not your friend.

Yeah it's in London. I work here and my wife and I can't put up with long commuting - transport in London is a mess, I see problems reported in trains/tube every morning - so looking for a 2-bed flat here.

Once again apologies for this rant. This was my first offer ever. I thought it'd be crazy to offer 375k when the asking price is 325k. I mean - it'd make me mad to know they'd have sold for just 335 or 340.

Now I have learnt the lesson.

BTW - if I pop by another estate agency and ask how much are flats in that are being sold for -will they tell me just the asking price or actual price paid by the buyers?

Thanks.

**Power Mortgages Ltd** · 19 March 2014, 15:21

Originally posted by Daventry View Post

In this case with this agent, the process is:

1 - Submit the offer on Monday. They give a guide price from X to Y and we offered the top - Y.
2 - On Tuesday we're told they have loads of offers and owners have told them to ask everyone to submit their best and final offer. We do increase ours by 10k.
3 - On Wednesday we're told there was a better offer and the property is gone. We are told they can't disclosure the offer so we don't get a chance to top it.

Is this the process with all the agents?

No, this is not the standard process with all Agents but is a practice being employed more often by Agents at the moment for points already made in this thread (to enable progress to be made otherwise new slightly higher offers would continue to come through).

Whilst you are correct when you point out a higher offer benefits both the Agent and the vendor, there has to be a line drawn somewhere otherwise when the lender comes to value the property for mortgage purposes they are likely to not agree with the offer price being reasonable and the property then gets down valued which could mean the sale falls through.

Estate Agents only get paid when the sale goes through so in their eyes the quicker it goes through the better is it for them.

Unfortunately such is the market at the moment in and around London that Agents will always find ways to drive up prices and full and final offers as well as open houses where offers are submitted on the day (whilst you are surrounded by a number of other people interested in the property and more likely to get caught up in the hype) are becoming more common.

When it comes to Estate Agents, as NLUK has said, they are not your friend, do not trust them. They are not regulated so can, and often do operate outside of the legal rules (not passing on offers etc). Unfortunately that is just part of the house purchase game which has to be played (dealing with Agents).

**Daventry** · 19 March 2014, 15:26

Originally posted by Power Mortgages Ltd View Post

No, this is not the standard process with all Agents but is a practice being employed more often by Agents at the moment for points already made in this thread (to enable progress to be made otherwise new slightly higher offers would continue to come through).

Whilst you are correct when you point out a higher offer benefits both the Agent and the vendor, there has to be a line drawn somewhere otherwise when the lender comes to value the property for mortgage purposes they are likely to not agree with the offer price being reasonable and the property then gets down valued which could mean the sale falls through.

Estate Agents only get paid when the sale goes through so in their eyes the quicker it goes through the better is it for them.

Unfortunately such is the market at the moment in and around London that Agents will always find ways to drive up prices and full and final offers as well as open houses where offers are submitted on the day (whilst you are surrounded by a number of other people interested in the property and more likely to get caught up in the hype) are becoming more common.

When it comes to Estate Agents, as NLUK has said, they are not your friend, do not trust them. They are not regulated so can, and often do operate outside of the legal rules (not passing on offers etc). Unfortunately that is just part of the house purchase game which has to be played (dealing with Agents).

To make things worse we have oversea investors buying with cash... no way to compete with them.
A team mate have just told me of a colleague of him who lives in Dubai and just bought a flat in London as an investment.

But hey, instead of stopping them it's better to use taxpayer's money to finance the Help-To-Buy scheme!

**Power Mortgages Ltd** · 19 March 2014, 15:27

Originally posted by Daventry View Post

BTW - if I pop by another estate agency and ask how much are flats in that are being sold for -will they tell me just the asking price or actual price paid by the buyers?

Thanks.

They cannot disclose the price which has been agreed whilst the sale is going through but if it has sold already (and the buyer has already completed the purchase) then they may tell you but that is likely to be information from around 3 months ago when the offer realistically was first made so in London terms, that is old information - it would probably sell for more now.

I have a client who had an offer accepted on a property in London around 5 months ago and submitted an application. They vendors were still looking for a property to buy themselves so it hadn't completed and he was just waiting for them to find somewhere to move to themselves. The vendors recently pulled the sale and wanted to remarket the property for around 15% higher than the price my client agreed initially as they feel the price agreed is not the price they could get now.

**Daventry** · 19 March 2014, 15:33

Originally posted by Power Mortgages Ltd View Post

They cannot disclose the price which has been agreed whilst the sale is going through but if it has sold already (and the buyer has already completed the purchase) then they may tell you but that is likely to be information from around 3 months ago when the offer realistically was first made so in London terms, that is old information - it would probably sell for more now.

I have a client who had an offer accepted on a property in London around 5 months ago and submitted an application. They vendors were still looking for a property to buy themselves so it hadn't completed and he was just waiting for them to find somewhere to move to themselves. The vendors recently pulled the sale and wanted to remarket the property for around 15% higher than the price my client agreed initially as they feel the price agreed is not the price they could get now.

So... I'd better find a chain-free property. This one wasn't, so the "winner" might be up for a last surprise...

How does the offer process work when buying a house in the UK?