I had no idea this was going on.
LOL I can’t believe the realtors would not get rid of the mushrooms growing out of the wall before offering a showing to prospective tenants LOL
They know people are desperate, and are pulling the noose tighter
I can see the landlord:
"You WILL pay extra for this toxic mold, inedible mushrooms, and rat roommates, BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT NO OTHER OPTIONS. Now place your bids.
Highest bidder earns the privilege of sleeping with rats & scraping mold.
The rest of you, prepare your cardboard boxes for the streets which have HOMELESS rats in even greater quantity than the recesses of these apartment walls.
Mwah-ah-AH!"
It’s London, they know it will get let no matter how bad it is.
If they ban bidding wars, landlords will raise the listing prices above what they think it’s worth.
Then next year we’ll be hearing about empty apartments with crazy asking prices.
Some people would rather earn no money than some money. It’s weird and what happens commonly in Buenos Aires. I think it might be the sunk cost fallacy.
For investment property, the rent determines how much you can borrow against the property.
Long term it’s sometimes better to leave empty for a while than take the valuation hit.
Is “a while” 5 - 10 years? We’re not talking about leaving it open for a season, but rather for years and years on end.
You’ll more likely end up with a Dutch auction situation, where they start high and slowly drop the price until someone takes it.
You should just immediately dismiss a property when they tell you there are other offers. If enough people do this, in the long term it will make the landlords reconsider. Easier said than done, i know
edit: grammar