From a buyer’s perspective, the tender process is like a secret maze, it’s a nightmare because there is not the transparency of the auction process. Tenders are typically, confidential – sealed bids, locked boxes, security measures, closing dates etc. Furthermore, other than the agent advising you what the estimated selling range is, there is no means of gauging what level of interest the agent has in the property or what the reserve price is. At least with auctions you get to see who you are bidding against, face to face! And it is for this reason it is not uncommon for the successful tender to be significantly higher than the next highest bid (that’s if there are any other offers) because of the fear of missing out. Imagine how uneasy you would feel if you found out afterwards that you were the only buyer who submitted an offer? The most disturbing aspect of the tender system is what occurs after the tender process has closed. If the highest bid is not accepted and there are other bidders what happens? Does the agent deal exclusively with the highest bidder, conduct a board room auction, ask all buyers to re-submit their best offers or is it a matter of who is the 1^st buyer to pay the price ? The answer is all of the above…What a nightmare!