Need Advice Fast - Bidding-Up Situation

[Alison M.]

Hi all, I could use some advice from those who have been in this situation.

I am trying to get a particular parcel under contract with an out of town seller. My goal with it is to wholesale it to a developer in the same town who I already know.

I find myself in a bidding contest with one other entity, and I have good reason to strongly suspect it's the developer I want to wholesale to! I am sure the seller doesn't know we know each other, and I don't think the developer knows I'm the competition. Everyone is acting in good faith so far, as best I can tell.

So - what would you do in this situation? My thoughts are that I can:

1. Keep bidding and hope to be the last person standing, then wholesale to someone else since I will have beaten my client out of the deal;

2. Contact the developer (who I want to work with in the future) and clarify if it's him, and if so negotiate a finder's fee to get out of the way so he can get the lot before the price gets higher;

3. ????

Thanks!