Selling your home can be an emotional rollercoaster — but it’s only half of the journey. The other half is just as personal: finding your next place to call home.
Whether you're a first-time buyer or already on the property ladder, understanding how estate agents handle offers, especially in high-demand situations, can help you make more confident decisions. At Robinson David, we believe in transparency, fairness, and staying true to our core values: honesty, integrity, and reliability.
1. The Non-Proceedable Offer:
You may find your dream home before you've sold your own, or even before it’s on the market. That puts you in a "non-proceedable" position. While some Gloucestershire estate agents may disregard such offers, we believe every offer is worth considering. After all, it's the vendor's decision.
If your offer is strong, a vendor may be willing to wait. Even if not accepted, it registers your interest, and may still come into play if a proceedable buyer with a lower offer appears.
2. The Proceedable Offer:
This is the ideal position. You're either chain-free (typically a first-time buyer or investor), or you’ve accepted an offer on your own property, and your buyer's position is secure too.
Even if your sale is in progress, we’ll check the full chain to confirm that you're genuinely proceedable. This helps us present your offer accurately and gives you the best chance of success.
Let’s break down the different scenarios you might encounter when offering on a property.
The Straightforward Offer:
You view a property, make an offer, negotiate if needed, and it’s accepted. This is the ideal route — simple, clear, and calm.
Being proceedable often gives your offer more weight, even if it's not the highest. Vendors appreciate certainty, and we're here to help navigate the details.
The Rise of Bids (and the Misconceptions Around Them):
Since 2020, multiple-offer scenarios have become more common, particularly when homes are priced attractively or in sought-after areas. In these cases, some agents have encouraged aggressive 'bidding wars'. Tehcnically, they're not 'bids', they're still offers, there is a difference. However, the similarity between this strategy and bids in an auction is so close that this is what it became known as.
Let’s be clear: at Robinson David, we do not encourage bidding wars.
We believe this approach is distasteful, creating confusion, stress, and, most importantly, unnecessary risk for both vendors and buyers.
So What Is a ‘Bidding War’?
A bidding war happens when buyers are pushed to repeatedly increase their offers, often beyond what a property is actually worth. This might boost the sale price temporarily, but it creates longer-term issues.
For example, lenders conduct mortgage valuations to ensure a property is worth the agreed sale price. If the offer is too high, the valuer may issue a down valuation — meaning the mortgage lender won’t fund the full amount. This can derail the sale entirely.
From 2020 to 2023, when lenders relied heavily on desktop or drive-by valuations, many inflated prices slipped through. But that’s no longer the case. Today, most valuations involve in-person visits and far greater scrutiny, which is why we focus on accurate pricing and balanced negotiations for the benefit of both buyers and sellers.
Sometimes, offers arrive after one has already been accepted. We don’t encourage further viewings at that point, but we can’t prevent previously-interested parties from submitting a late offer.
As estate agents, we’re legally obligated to pass all offers to the vendor, no matter the timing. We understand that this can be frustrating, and we do everything possible to manage it fairly. Our aim is always to secure a buyer early, without unsettling the sale later.
When interest in a property is particularly high, we pause forwarding offers temporarily and gather all the details from every potential buyer. Once we have a clear picture, we present this to the vendor and discuss the options.
If there are several offers, especially at similar levels, and we want to avoid the chaos of a bidding war, we may give each interested party one final opportunity to submit their best offer. Everyone gets the same chance, with no pressure or repeated rounds. This allows the vendor to make an informed choice, not just based on price, but also position, intent, and timescale.
Once an offer is selected, that’s it, which means that it's important that buyers make themselves available for contact during this period, especially when there are many offers on a property and things could happen quickly, or be at risk of losing out. We then move forward and support both parties right through to completion.
However, this still doesn't mean that we won't receive further offers, even if not encouraged, which we are still legally obliged to forward to the vendors, and ultimately it is the vendors decision as to what they'd like us to do.
It's vital that you know your limits and accept them, too. When you find a property that you fall in love with, it's easy to get carried away and over-stretch yourself. When offering on a property, go in with a maximum in mind, and be strong enough not to exceed this maximum.
It's also important to be prepared for the possibility that you do not achieve the property, as this outcome can be emotionally crushing. However, we believe that everything that is meant to be will happen, if you miss one property, another will come, and we will help you to find it.
At Robinson David, we treat every buyer and seller with respect and fairness. We know how emotional this process can be, and we work hard to keep it as smooth and clear as possible.
We don't play games. We don’t pit people against each other. And we don’t believe in squeezing extra thousands out of buyers just because we can.
We are proud to be trusted Gloucestershire estate agents who care deeply about doing things the right way — for everyone involved.
If you’re buying, selling, or just starting your journey, we’re here to help.
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