The estate agent asks whether you want to bid more. How do you respond?

You have made an offer and the estate agent calls. Someone else would pay more, attach fewer conditions or complete sooner. First ask what the seller wants from you: an explanation of your offer, a new offer, or an answer to a counter-proposal. Then get out your own maximum and your conditions.

That call can be an ordinary negotiation. A sealed-bid process works to different rules about sharing information. In Radar's research of 23 February 2026, bidders said they had changed their figure or their conditions after a phone call. To judge your own situation, you need to know how this house is being sold.

Look up which bidding procedure was agreed

Check the invitation, the sales information or the bidding portal. Was there a closing date, with everyone making a single proposal? Or were you negotiating with the seller without a shared end date?

Since 1 February 2026, NVM agents have worked to the Protocol Transparant Bieden Woonruimte, the transparent bidding protocol for residential property. The sales method determines, among other things, who sees bids as they come in and what information is shared.

These are NVM arrangements. With another agent, ask which rules they follow. Ask too whether any departures from them were announced in advance for this sale. The name of the bidding portal does not tell you all the rules.

Ask exactly what is expected of you

If the agent says your offer is not high enough, ask what you are being asked to respond to. Is there a counter-proposal from the seller? Is a new round starting? Or is the agent asking you to explain your financing or your completion date?

In a sealed-bid process under the NVM rules, the agent may ask you to explain your own bid. Information about bids received from others should not be shared in the process. If it is unclear, ask how the phone call fits the agreed procedure.

You could email, for example: "We agreed this was a sealed-bid sale with a closing date. Could you confirm whether there will be a new round, who is taking part in it, and when the new bid has to be in?"

Keep that reply with your offer. You can then find the new arrangement again if the order of events is disputed later.

Set a higher bid against your own limit

Put side by side what you were willing to pay for this house, how much you can finance and what money you want to keep for after the purchase. A message about another bidder does not change those amounts by itself. How to set your first limit is in how much to bid on a house.

A higher bid does not automatically mean a higher mortgage either. Your income and the valuation of the house both limit what you can borrow. So have someone work out what the increase does to your mortgage, your monthly payment and the money you put in yourself. You then know which part of the increase you have to cover and how much of your savings is left.

Look at your conditions separately from your figure. Without a financing condition, your purchase agreement does not give you that agreed way out if your financing falls through. Whether there is another way out depends on your situation and your contract. So have someone explain what dropping it means for you before you agree to it. How the conditions work is in dissolving conditions.

Things can still change after the closing date

A late bid does not in itself mean the agent is breaking the rules. In a sale between private individuals, the seller can still consider a new bid as long as the purchase agreement has not been signed by both parties. The NVM protocol describes several ways forward, such as a new round or continuing with the new bidder. The seller can also reject the late bid. The agent has to inform the bidders involved as the protocol requires.

So ask which choice has been made and what that means for your offer. Do not assume without confirmation that every earlier bidder may bid again. If you already had an agreement, also read your offer has been accepted, what now.

If things go differently from what was announced, keep the invitation, your bid confirmation and the messages about the change. Afterwards, the bidding log can help you compare the recorded bids with those arrangements.

What to do now, after the call

• Ask whether this is a request for an explanation, a counter-proposal or a new round of bidding.
• Have any changes to the procedure confirmed in writing.
• Judge a higher figure and changed conditions separately before you respond.