My bidding war!

So today i went and had a look at an IP i was highly interested in. The property required alot of work, including new kitchen, new bathroom, new laundry, new flooring all round, new gutering, alot of drainage work, exterior needed to be properly rendered - shocking doggy job and the list goes on.....

It was on the market verry undervalued for obvious reasons at 320k. After inspecting it i put an offer in of 310k. I was told a higher offer was made, i then put in offer of 315k, again higher offer made, i then put in 319k - was told at this point my offer was the highest and it would be put to the owners....

I got a call back from the REA saying that another 4th party has since come into play and put an offer in, and i now get one last shot at putting an offer in as do the other interested buyers, the party with the highest offer would get the property. I offered 330k. I got a call back from REA saying that another party had put in a higher offer and i missed out.

Now i am ANGRY!!! For an agent to do this it is illegal! It was an bidding war going on for most of the morning and hence in this situation the house should have gone to auction....

Would you report the agent?

The house had massive potenital, and after renos would have given me an instant high CG, not to mention the FANTASTIC rental return!

Nika.
 
How do you figure this? :confused:

Sounds like pretty standard practice to me :rolleyes:

The selling agent is doing his best for the vendor to get the highest price.

No it's not. For an agent to turn around and say, right you get one last chance at an offer and that's it - that is illegal.

If he wanted an best price he would have let me put in another offer.
 
That is the chance you take when you make lowball offers when a property is obviously worth far more.
If you really wanted the property you could have paid asking price and got it signed immediately, until it is signed the agent must work for the buyer to get the best price possible.
Also helps if you are right in front of the agent to watch him make the call etc.
 
Regardless of what my inital offer was I am simply saying, i should have been given the opportunity to be able to make further offers - not just be told i get one last chance and that's it.

As for what part of law was broken - All i am able to tell you is when i spoke to my conveyancer she had told me straight out that what had went on was illegal and the property should have gone to auction.. I gues she would know what section of what act was breached..
 
I see your point Nikolina, however, what if the owner of the property instructed the real estate agent to do this?

Property owner - "I dont care how you get it, I want X amount ASAP. As soon as it gets to that amount, agree to it and sell"

Just a thought.

Cheers

Mick
 
I see your point Nikolina, however, what if the owner of the property instructed the real estate agent to do this?
Property owner - "I dont care how you get it, I want X amount ASAP. As soon as it gets to that amount, agree to it and sell"

Exactly what I was thinking :cool:
 
I had the same thing rung in on me. 'There is another offer, one last chance,. As it was I won out but I question whether there was actually another offer or if it was just a way of the agent saying - no sale unless you go higher. In rerospect I should perhaps have walked away but it still worked out ok, but I still wonder if it's an agent trick or whether there was truly another purchaser in the wings.
 
I got a call back from the REA saying that another 4th party has since come into play and put an offer in, and i now get one last shot at putting an offer in as do the other interested buyers, the party with the highest offer would get the property. I offered 330k. I got a call back from REA saying that another party had put in a higher offer and i missed out.

Nika, legalities or ill-legalities aside for a moment, just because an agent says something does not make it so. Nor does it mean that you have to abide by a set of his made-up rules that he is seeking to have you & the other prospective purchasers abide by.

What do I mean by that? Only this, that is to say, there is nothing wrong with you having a copy of the contract correct? (as the agent needs to have one on file before the property can be liseted). Get a copy. This contract will contain the vendor's name & address as well as that of his conveyancers/solicitors. That information is invaluable to you.

What do you think you might do with it, if you have been outbid? This is one strategy: The agent will be signing up the highest bidder (not you). If I were you, I would be hoofing it around to the vendor to say what the agent has done and whatever offer he comes back with on a contract, you will offer more. Sit with the vendor and await the agent's arrival. I kid you not. :p How much do you want this place?

There are other strategies. This is only one. Not every strategy works every time. Play by your own rules. ;)
 
I had the same thing rung in on me. 'There is another offer, one last chance,. As it was I won out but I question whether there was actually another offer or if it was just a way of the agent saying - no sale unless you go higher. In rerospect I should perhaps have walked away but it still worked out ok, but I still wonder if it's an agent trick or whether there was truly another purchaser in the wings.

It can be either. The trick is in knowing which one it is ;)
 
This is were im happy I have sales experience. Stick with the facts and dont let people bully you into playing by their rules.

Good luck with further purchases Nikolina, you seem to have your head screwed on straight.

Cheers

Mick
 
The property should have gone to auction.

You expect the vendor to pay for an auction when they have 4 interested parties without needing to auction, bidding each other for the property.

The vendor was fair to you and each other party - put your best offer in!

IMHO your conveyencer was suggesting property should have gone to auction so all parties could bid against each other.

If you saw good value adding possibilities then others did too.


We've been out bid on a few properties in our time too.


Sheryn
 
Would you report the agent?

Who would you report the agent to even if it was illegal? Fair Trading wouldn't care and neither would the REI. No one has been ripped off, apart from your missed opportunity.

No it's not. For an agent to turn around and say, right you get one last chance at an offer and that's it - that is illegal.

If he wanted an best price he would have let me put in another offer.

We did exactly this 2 years ago when we had 3 interested parties in our PPOR. Agent told them to all come back the next day with the best (and final) offer. It was the right way to approach it as we got $10K over the asking price.

Regardless of what my inital offer was I am simply saying, i should have been given the opportunity to be able to make further offers - not just be told i get one last chance and that's it.

You wanted to play games, the agent and vendor didn't.
 
Highest offer

If the REA told you you had to put in your last and final offer, why would you be upset if you were outbid?

This does seem fairly standard, we missed out on one property this way. ie We were told you have to put in your absolute best offer, and it turns someone elses best offer was 25k higher than ours.

I had contemplated bidding higher, but heck looking back at it it definitely was not worth the extra 25k the other party bid :) At the end of the day the vendor won out of that deal! :)
 
Last edited:
If the REA told you you had to put in your last and final offer, why would you be upset if you were outbid?

This does seem fairly standard, we missed out on one property this way. ie We were told you have to put in your absolute best offer, and it turns out we were beaten by 25k. I had contemplated bidding higher, but heck looking back at it it definitely was not worth the extra 25k the other party bid :)

At the end of the day the vendor won out of that deal! :)

I guess i learn't my lesson. I'll know for next time! Plenty more properties out their... :D
 
Nikolina
If they were genuine bids then the agent should have kept going because his job is to secure as high price as possible.
However, he didn't get back to you so it could be that for whatever reason he wanted to sell the proerty to someone else (a mate of his perhaps?)
I think it's worth complaining to the manager because it could be a case of a dodgy deal.
 
Back
Top