Final bids in, any hope?

VonVix

Got a call from the estate agent this morning that he wanted all final bids to be in by 1pm, 1pm came and went, we rang and he told us that someone else had a higher bid, and that it was a close one to ours.

We're first time buyers so have never dealt with a situation like this. Is it a strategy? Is it straight up that we've lost out on the house? Would it matter if we could have bidded higher than the person who apparently was marginally ahead of us?

Experiences please.

Wesser

Best and final bids. A well known strategy to bring things to a close quickly.
If you could have bid higher... Why didn't you?
Because you wanted to get the house for less.
That's what the EA is Hoping for. That everyone puts in their highest bid possible and the sale closed fast .

cruizer101

There is nothing stopping you from bidding higher again, they may not accept it but there is nothing illegal.

VonVix

Wesser wrote: »

Best and final bids. A well known strategy to bring things to a close quickly.
If you could have bid higher... Why didn't you?
Because you wanted to get the house for less.
That's what the EA is Hoping for. That everyone puts in their highest bid possible and the sale closed fast .

The house was already bid at significantly over the listed price by us, we had hoped our bid would have been enough to seal the deal. The EA couldn't disclose what the other bid was.

TomOnBoard

BAFO is a standard part of contract negotiation across the business world and is often used by EAs particularly when a forced sale on behalf of a financial institution is involved.

It is what it is basically: Your best offer (bid) must be made before the close of the auction and normally, the seller would accept the highest offer, unless conditions were attached to that offer that the seller would not accept. For example, if a house was being sold "as is" and bidder A submitted a €300k BAFO for cash, while bidder B submitted €310k subject to survey and mortgage approval, the seller might accept bidder A's BAFO, even though B's was €10k higher. The conditions that B placed on his BAFO could be thought of by the seller as being too onerous and likely to prolong the sale process.

If this is your first foray into the bidding process, look upon it as a good sign that you lost out as it shows that you didn't go mad which is often the temptation for first timers. By the time you've missed out on another few, you'll be experienced enough to win one at a price you can stomach.

Above all, never regret that you didn't go higher. Always let the head dictate these things and never let the heart get involved!

TomOnBoard

cruizer101 wrote: »

There is nothing stopping you from bidding higher again, they may not accept it but there is nothing illegal.

If EA set up a BAFO sale with a known end- time, he would have to be very careful about accepting a higher bid after that time. If word of that got out, his reputation could suffer! Although that assumes EA has a reputation he cares about!!

Claw Hammer

VonVix wrote: »

Got a call from the estate agent this morning that he wanted all final bids to be in by 1pm, 1pm came and went, we rang and he told us that someone else had a higher bid, and that it was a close one to ours.

We're first time buyers so have never dealt with a situation like this. Is it a strategy? Is it straight up that we've lost out on the house? Would it matter if we could have bidded higher than the person who apparently was marginally ahead of us?

Experiences please.

It is only when you lose a few bidding contests that your ability to value houses sharpens enough. It would not be surprising for you to drop out of the picture and in a fortnight receive a phone call from the same agent telling you that the other bidder had cancelled and that if you rushed to was office within two hours the house is yours at your bid.

endacl

Claw Hammer wrote: »

It is only when you lose a few bidding contests that your ability to value houses sharpens enough. It would not be surprising for you to drop out of the picture and in a fortnight receive a phone call from the same agent telling you that the other bidder had cancelled and that if you rushed to was office within two hours the house is yours at your bid.

‘Thank’s for the call. I’ll be down next week to buy the house at my last bid, less 10%’.

Samuel T. Cogley

Happened to a friend in Edinburgh. He got pissed off and bid some ridiculous figure like 345,678.99 and ended up winning it by the 8.99.