"Mike Mitchell" wrote
| And it is simply not fair for the system to allow the kind of
| practice to go on where the buyer simply does not know beforehand
| what the vendor is willing to accept.

But the buyer knows exactly what the vendor will accept. The vendor will
accept OFFERS OVER £XXX.

If there is more than one offer at closing date then it is probable the
vendor will accept the highest, but not always certain.

Far clearer than the English "shall we offer below asking price and see what
happens" guff.

Even if the system disadvantages the buyer in some way, most buyers will be
sellers next time around. The system does not have such effect on first time
buyers as most of those are buyign smaller properties or new build, which
are more likely to be offered at fixed price.

Owain