How do I win a sealed bid battle?

A vendor’s selling agent will instigate a process of sealed bids if a property has several interested buyers (in Scotland this is standard for property sales). Each buyer puts in a blind offer by a set date and the vendor chooses the winner.

“Sealed bids are the quickest, cleanest — and the most brutal — way to sell,” says Jo Eccles, director of Sourcing Property, the buying agent.

At the height of the boom, a quarter of London properties were sold through sealed bids. Now they are making a comeback, but what can buyers do to ensure success?

1 Make sure you understand the process. You will normally be given a set marketing period within which to view the house (anything from a day to