The diary of a renovation: Chapter 2, Highest and best

Our new home: permanently barred to us?

Making an offer…

It turns out we weren’t the only ones interested. In fact, there were at least 10 people who had indicated to the agents they wished to make an offer. While this was incredibly disappointing, we decided we just had to throw our hats into the ring.

Sealed bids

The agents duly wrote to us with instructions about how to submit a ‘highest and best’ offer, in the form of a sealed bid to be opened just a few days hence with our offer price, how it was to be financed and a letter putting our case as ‘suitable buyers’ - all very clubby. There were to be no conditions - such as a survey (which we knew would be awful anyway!) or searches. In other words, the only chance we had to make Goose Green ours was by making the offer unconditional.

We had financing in place, which effectively made us cash buyers, and my offer letter highlighted our excitement about having the opportunity to live in a village where we were well-known and had contributed to local life already as (in my case) a singer (and in Richard’s case) a speaker on renewable energy - as well as being the son of a much-loved resident of the village.

We assured them that our lawyers were ‘on it’, and that Goose Green satisfied our nascent green fingers. We also made it quite clear that we would take the greatest care in restoring the long-empty grade 2 listed house to its former glory.

Our offer

Our offer was well above the asking price (north of 6%), which was probably far more than the house in a non-pandemic market was worth, given its poor condition. But hey-ho, the market wasn’t exactly normal and, in any case, it gave us confidence in the valuation of our own home in desirable Stockbridge.

I hand-delivered the offer to the sellers’ agent in Sherborne, in the hope that by presenting a keen face in their office it would stand us in good stead in the ensuing bidding war. Having spent ten years as a Realtor in Canada, I was regularly involved in managing such battles, and knew the stakes; however, I had never been involved in one on my own account and it was nail-biting to say the least!

The following day we found out that we had not been successful and that the auction had been won with a bid in excess of 10% over asking. We felt horribly deflated; the home we had set our hearts on was now barred to us. We had tried so hard, convinced that this house was meant to be ours.

However, we bravely resolved to put this experience behind us and to continue our search.

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