For those of you who are looking for a home, have you ever been to a property launch? The process is like an auction – silent auction whereby you put your best offer before a nominated date and time in sealed envelope and the agents opens these bids in front of the vendor.

The vendor then reviews all the bids and will obviously select the highest bidder.

Now, I’m looking for a property and actually went through the process of submitting a bid and found the whole process favouring the vendor and it was a waste of time. Firstly, there was a price range advertised as part of the property launch so obviously some people would choose the lower end unless they are desperate to win the property. I was one of them. So I submitted what I thought was a reasonable price and paid a deposit. I waited for a few days and received a call back saying that although I was the only person who submitted a bid the vendor declined it as it was too low and whether I wanted to increase this bid (what the?). According to the bidding contract this was acceptable as it stated the vendor has the option of rejecting or accepting the offer.

And that’s the reason why I hate property launches.

Does anyone know of useful tips and hints for property launches?