Selling a property by bids

[lady_p_gold]

Sadly my neighbour died recently, he lived alone and the property was sold by the estate agent but by 'bids over a certain amount received by such and such a date'. Obviously this then prevented a long delay for the beneficiaries I presume. How does this system work, does anyone have any knowledge of it, and what might be the downside, as I assume you would not have to sell if you did not receive a high enough offer ???

[raysparx1]

Hi lady p, They do this a lot where I live, it normally says offers by informal tender, offers must be over �----- whatever they expect as a minimum, this is mostly done if a property requires quite a bit of work,they normally go for quite a bit over the minimum price, it seems to me it is the easy opton for agents as they aren't sure what price to put on the property, so let the public decide what it is worth.

it also normally says offers by a certain date.

[buildersmate]

If we are talking England & Wales (and not the Scottish method), the exchange of contracts and completion works exactly the same as with a 'normal' house sale - nothing is committed by either party until exchange of contracts. It merely speeds up the front end to get to the highest bidder quickly and by a declared date.
It also depends on an estate agent with integrity because there's nothing (legally) to stop an underbidder from going back once he knows he didn't win and upping his bid.

[lady_p_gold]

Thanks guys !!! Will give it some thought :)

[flyciderman]

you could of couse sell by "formal tender" this would mean that once the tender is accepted the purchaser has as it were "exchanged contracts" in the same way as when to sel at auction

[dolly pond]

Its just to give everyone a chance to go for the house, also boosts the price, but it could backfire as most people hate sealed bids, and its old fashioned where i work, and its discouraged.