Home buying: estate agents' approaches to managing multiple offers

[demyan1]

I am a prospective first-time home buyer, and a second-time finder-myself-in-a-situation where (a) according to the estate agent, the seller gets more than one asking-price offer for the property, (b) the estate agent asks me "How much more can you offer?" and refuses to give any guidance.

After the first time this happened, I asked my brother, who bought a house a decade ago, and was involved in a bidding skirmish then, whether this "blind bidding" was "normal". He said "no" - in his case, the agent let each bidder know how much the other side offered. So I dismissed my experience as a fluke. The second time made me reconsider.

Without getting into a discussion on which approach is "better" - let's leave auction theory to economists - can I just solicit responses on whether people encountered this insistence on "blind bidding" from the estate agents they have dealt with?

Thank you.

[northernladyuk]

I am a prospective first-time home buyer, and a second-time finder-myself-in-a-situation where (a) according to the estate agent, the seller gets more than one asking-price offer for the property, (b) the estate agent asks me "How much more can you offer?" and refuses to give any guidance.

After the first time this happened, I asked my brother, who bought a house a decade ago, and was involved in a bidding skirmish then, whether this "blind bidding" was "normal". He said "no" - in his case, the agent let each bidder know how much the other side offered. So I dismissed my experience as a fluke. The second time made me reconsider.

Without getting into a discussion on which approach is "better" - let's leave auction theory to economists - can I just solicit responses on whether people encountered this insistence on "blind bidding" from the estate agents they have dealt with?

Thank you.

When I sold my last house two years ago, this was the process and it appeared to get a high sale price. The Agent (who of course works for the vendor) was very good at playing off the bidders against each other. As a price discovery exercise for the vendor's benefit, it's hard to beat. A rubbishy experience for buyers.

[doconline]

I am a prospective first-time home buyer, and a second-time finder-myself-in-a-situation where (a) according to the estate agent, the seller gets more than one asking-price offer for the property, (b) the estate agent asks me "How much more can you offer?" and refuses to give any guidance.

After the first time this happened, I asked my brother, who bought a house a decade ago, and was involved in a bidding skirmish then, whether this "blind bidding" was "normal". He said "no" - in his case, the agent let each bidder know how much the other side offered. So I dismissed my experience as a fluke. The second time made me reconsider.

Without getting into a discussion on which approach is "better" - let's leave auction theory to economists - can I just solicit responses on whether people encountered this insistence on "blind bidding" from the estate agents they have dealt with?

Thank you.

Yes, I've had a similar thing. First house I bought, put an offer in, was accepted and told house off the market. Estate agent called back an hour or so later to say there had been another offer of the same value from someone who had seen the property before. So were asking for full and final offers. I stuck to the original offer and it got accepted. Not sure if the agent was trying to pull a fast one and get a bit extra for the seller, or there really was another offer on the table. They just told me, 'the seller still wants to go with you as you put the first offer in'. Bought multiple times since and not had it again though, so can't say if it is a regular occurrence or not. I understand that Estate Agents are trying to get the most for their clients, but leaves a bit of a sour taste and loses the buyers trust.

Could also have something to do with property location and how hot the property market is in that area? Are properties being snapped up quickly in the area?