should i ask ea what the highest offer is?

[newby]

I am a first time buyer and i have found a repossessed property. I have made an offer to the estate agents which has been declined due to a stronger offer from a third party. Is it advisable to ask what the other offer is? or is it a mistake to do that particularly for repossessed properties?

[AshfieldFOCUS.com]

No harm in asking...

Most repo mortgage companies want to realise the highest value so that they make as much money as possible.

A local property to me is a repo. I have seen in the local paper that the property in question has had an offer of £xx,xxxx and other offers are invited. I also know (from another agency dealing with it) that the mortgage company in question are northern rock.

So, it can't hurt to ask.

Good luck.

[newby]

i took your advice and asked the esate agents, but was informed that he wasn't willing to disclose that, since it had not reached what the vendor has looking for. He did however mention that an offer of 130,000 should seal the deal for me, my current offer is 122,000. i was thinking of going in at 127,000. any opinions???

[gordano]

You could also try other sources to buy properties at big discounts such as simple2buy website ... in this market I would shop around to find the very best deal ... estate agents, internet, etc.

[AshfieldFOCUS.com]

Something I did a number of years ago and it might not work immediately...

I was looking for a house. It was for sale at 45K (it is now worth about 150K, so it was a number of years ago). I put in an offer of 40K and it was rejected. I upped my offer slightly to 42 and again it was rejected. I told the agent "When" not "If" "they change their mind, get back to me". Sure enough, within 15 minutes, they changed their mind.

This was mid 90s, shortly after the property crash. I hadn't realised at the time, they were desperate to sell. I stumbled upon finding out that they were negative equity. Oh well, they say that the profit is in what you buy at, not what you sell at.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is to go up in small increments. They might say yes. Also, it might be worth leaving it a short while before you up it again.

I would probably offer 125. What is it currently up for?

[AshfieldFOCUS.com]

I have thought more about this...

Perhaps the agency is telling a fib and there really is no offer on the table. Ask them to put your original offer forward (which I think they have a duty to do anyway). Go into the agents office and wait while they put it forward. (You might be lucky and speak to a different agent who might just tell you the current offer if there is one)

You could also possibly ask them who owns the house. You might even be able to guess and go direct to see if the agency have forwarded your offer.

[Kaz]

I have found recently when trying to buy a repossession that the EAs don't deal directly with the lenders but have to go through the 'middle man' agency. On 2 occasions my offers have not got past the agency until they decide it's high enough to pass on to the lender.

Also, once the offer has been published in the local paper and the time period to put in a higher offer has passed, the EAs won't tell you what the offer was despite the fact that it was public knowledge a few weeks before. It appears that it's your tough luck that you didn't happen to see it in the paper.

Lenders also seem to be getting tougher on low offers and seem to be prepared to stick it out for longer to get a better offer.

I've also just had the experience of having received the contract for a repo, discovered that the lender had put in a clause prohibiting the new owner from selling it on i.e. marketing the refurbed property for 3 months. I had to pull out as it would only have taken 1 month to refurb and I couldn't afford to sit on it for 2 months and have the added risk of it being burgled and all the new stuff removed.

For this reason, I've just asked an EA who the lender is on a property I'm interested in, so as to avoid the same thing happening again, and he said he wasn't allowed to tell me that.

[property investor]

when buying any property it is advisable to get a sum in mind that you want to pay for it, if 122 was not your highest offer and you have the money and the property is worth it.

[Darth Marty]

I fail to see why any Agent would not disclose the highest offer in the case of a repo as it will undoubtedly be in the paper once accepted anyway. Smacks of a bad agent Id say. Agents are allowed to disclose offers but some choose not to.