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Selling a property - etiquette surrounding offers

bartman100bartman100 Posts: 544
edited April 2018 in The cake stop
I'm selling a property for the first time. It's been on the market under a week and I've had 12 viewings with another 6 pending.

The property was marketed as 'OIEO'

I've got 6 offers on the table. I can make a good decision on who's to accept based on the amount, their speed of movement and their deposit size.

The conundrum is, do I push it until end of the week (by which time all viewings will have ceased) and risk offerers losing interest or do I strike while the iron is hot, given that I think the best offer is bang on the money, although I think the interest levels could start a bidding war which could realise 10k more?

What is the etiquette here? Do I say to the bidders that many offers have been received and they must give me their best and final offer by x date? I don't want to lose good offers already on the table.

The Estate Agent will be open on Saturday and can feedback then. My feeling is to wait until COP friday and then assess all offers and confirm Saturday morning.

With so much interest, I want to avoid Gazumping.

This question answers itself really; just thinking out loud and wondering what experiences others have had.

Posts

  • dinyulldinyull Posts: 2,979
    Think a lot will depend on where it is your selling.
  • singletonsingleton Posts: 2,466
    Also depends on you and your personal views on what is right or wrong in this situation.
    Personally, once I accept an offer, then that's it. Done.

    So, if it were me, I'd be inclined to tell the estate agent to make everyone aware that there's lots of interest, to let everyone know your decision date and your decision criteria (highest offer wins, highest offer ready to move wins, highest offer with no chain wins etc) and then be ready to make a decision when that date arrives.
  • veronese68veronese68 Posts: 26,712 Lives Here
    I would wait until all viewings that have already been arranged are done, that's reasonable. I would consider telling the agent to let people know that it is not an auction and that any offers will be taken as best and final. I wouldn't be happy being pressured into a bidding war on a house and so wouldn't want to do that to someone else. I think you are right to try and avoid gazumping, I'd also think the kind of person that does that would then have no qualms in quibbling over any little detail after a survey is done.
    Hopefully if you treat prospective buyers right they will be reasonable further on in proceedings.
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  • FishFishFishFish Posts: 2,152
    I agree with Singleton. Depersonalise the situation by letting the agent do what you are paying him for. There will be buyers who actually want the house and will be prepared to up their price if they realise they might lose it.
    ...take your pickelf on your holibobs.... :D

    jeez :roll:
  • ballysmateballysmate Posts: 15,903
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
  • diamonddogdiamonddog Posts: 3,426
    Ballysmate wrote:
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
    This, having sold my UK house 6 months ago and maximum was 11 viewings over 3 months.
  • kingstongrahamkingstongraham Posts: 25,478
    If you haven't accepted an offer, then there is no reason not to tell the others what the highest (acceptable) offer is. They can decide whether to beat it or not. I reckon until they get a survey, there's no commitment on either side.

    Always worth remembering that every £ more you get is money you don't have to earn. And that the individual estate agent is incentivised to get the house sold, not to get the absolute best price - an extra £1,000 to you is only worth his commission out of the 2% (or whatever the estate agent charges) of that.
  • bartman100bartman100 Posts: 544
    Ballysmate wrote:
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
    This has crossed my mind. But, Bristol is red hot at the moment and this not an especially high value place. Lots of first timers, cash buyers and BTL interest.

    Thanks for the advice though folks - appreciated.
  • webboowebboo Posts: 5,859
    Ballysmate wrote:
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
    I don’t think we had 18 viewings in total on the 6 houses we’ve sold. :(
  • bartman100bartman100 Posts: 544
    Webboo wrote:
    Ballysmate wrote:
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
    I don’t think we had 18 viewings in total on the 6 houses we’ve sold. :(
    You could sell a brick censored house in central bristol for 100k at the moment.
  • surrey_commutersurrey_commuter Posts: 18,497
    bartman100 wrote:
    Webboo wrote:
    Ballysmate wrote:
    18 viewings in the first week?
    Has the house been considerably under valued?
    I don’t think we had 18 viewings in total on the 6 houses we’ve sold. :(
    You could sell a brick censored house in central bristol for 100k at the moment.

    undervaluing is not a problem - if you get two or more buyers bidding against one another then you will end up with more money.

    Listen to whoever said not to lose sight of the value of £100k

    Don't cancel the pending viewings
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