advice on bidding ??

horgan_p

ok so today we saw a nice 3 bed detached house around 30 mins commute from work.
when i made the call to arrange to view the house last tuesday the auctioneer told us that the house had been for sale since the week before xmas ( daft.ie tells us that the house has been for sale for the last 50 days at least)
the lady showing the house told us that they have an offer of 280k ( sorry i should mention that the asking is 315k)
he also said there wasnt an offer on it at that time.
on further investigation we discovered that the property isnt in the front window of the estate agents office.

so then what i think is going on :

1) the property has been for sale for quiet a while ( the fact that it has been relegated from the front window) + the daft.ie listing
2) the "offer " is a spoof , the EA is trying to encourage bids from 280k onwards
3) we should make an offer of 280k and let it sit with the auctioneer for 3 weeks .

any ideas / advice ??
thanks

Paulw

No harm trying, but if I was you, I'd ignore the fact that you were told about the offer. When you phone, try to speak to the first person you dealt with, and put in an offer of 275k, and see what happens. If they come back right away and say there is an offer of 280k, then you just adjust yours to 282k.

skelliser

heres my two cents!
i would go back to the EA and say the following:
" im not gonna get into a bidding war cause i dont need the hassle so my offer is 270/275"
see what he says to this, probably will push for 280 but stick to your no bidding war story. hopefully he will say he will pass the offer on to the owner to get feedback.
then wait for the EA to call you back, dont call them

Cantab.

Whatever you do, don't let ANYONE know how much you have to spend...

The_Conductor

Personally- I'd go fully 20% below the asking price- play hardball- its a buyers market. I don't know which area you have in mind- so its a bit difficult to try to advise as to what a reasonable offer is (i.e. they may have already reduced their asking- is it possible to try to see how long the property has been on the market, and perhaps more interestingly- whether this is their first estate agent, or whether they have had others).

jdivision

Yep, offer 20 per cent less. If they say there's a higher offer or come back a few days later I'd let it slide for a few days. I predict you'll get another phone call after that trying to get you to bid more after the other bid miraculously disappears.

horgan_p

smccarrick wrote: »

is it possible to try to see how long the property has been on the market, and perhaps more interestingly- whether this is their first estate agent, or whether they have had others).

sounds good - how would i begin to put this info together ?

mastermind2005

No - what u say is i have another property in mind also, and id be willing to offer 20% less than the asking and you are approved and ready togo. let them stew a few days and ring and ask if there interested...

They say yes, well and good, but if they say no... leave it a week or two and ring back and ask have they reconsidered your offer you will know by there reply if there going to let up or not...

dont believe anyting the EA says... They are known liers! thats what they do... they want more money for the property so they get paid more commission... and they dont care what it costs you.

thesteve

Check out http://www.irishpropertywatch.com/ and you will see how long it's been on daft, the prices, etc...

horgan_p

irishpropertywatch will only tell my if the house has been reduced in price , not how long its been in the market. i know the price hasnt been dropped (yet);)

SimpleSam06

horgan_p wrote: »

ok so today we saw a nice 3 bed detached house around 30 mins commute from work.

How long will you have the job/will the job be located there as opposed to how long you will have the house?

horgan_p

i am self employed and my OH is a civil servant, so the jobs wont be moving anytime soon

horgan_p

update :


the auctioneer rang me this am before i got the chance to ring her .
she informed me that a "new bidder" had arrived and the price now stood at 295k.
i reckon she's lying because :

1) the new bidder didnt exist on saturday.
2) if someone was going to bid surely they wouldnt have jumped 15k on the first offer ??


i really hate being lied to......:mad:

The_Conductor

I would tell the auctioneer that your offer stands- and then do nothing whatsoever for a few days- and wait to see what happens.

Paulw

horgan_p wrote: »

she informed me that a "new bidder" had arrived and the price now stood at 295k.

You should just go back and say that you'll offer 275k and anything above that would really be a push for you. So, they can think about your 275K or else you'll look elsewhere, and that you've seen another few premises over the weekend that will match your requirements and are around the 275k mark.

Let them stew on that.

janmc

It does sound a bit suss, but I think you should put in an offer of what you think is fair (prob 280 based on your post) and see what happens. Some estate agents are notorious, but I think the majority are ok.

A Random Walk

horgan_p wrote: »

she informed me that a "new bidder" had arrived and the price now stood at 295k.

The oldest trick in the book, have a read of askaboutmoney's mortgage section to see lots of similar stories like this. House doesn't receive a bid for 6 months yet a new buyer mysteriously appears when you put in a bid.

If it was me I wouldn't pick up the phone for a week and would let the EA stew. When you do answer the phone tell her you were busy looking at other houses as you're anxious to make a quick buy (you might even consider lowering your original offer at this point). It's your call as to how much you want this house and how much you're willing to risk losing it.

soupie

Just my two pence.

i would stick to the £275k and say we are very interested in the house but even £275k pushes our budget. i would also say that I have made two similiar offers on 2 other houses in the area and that you'd happily take any one of the three. If its still on the market a week later i would be surprised if a bidder exists.

Failing that this is not something I have done or would do, but I know of someone who has cut out the middleman and knocked on the door of the seller and explained they where looking to bid £275k but that it was not enough and ask if they would be interested in selling privately they dont lose a agent fee so it might meet there requirements, worth a go but i wouldnt have the balls to do it

horgan_p

i think the waiting game for a week or 2, i will keep viewing though.

i think she shot her bolt by saying 295k, it would have been far more believable had she said 285 or thereabouts

walter321

horgan_p wrote: »

ok so today we saw a nice 3 bed detached house around 30 mins commute from work.
when i made the call to arrange to view the house last tuesday the auctioneer told us that the house had been for sale since the week before xmas ( daft.ie tells us that the house has been for sale for the last 50 days at least)
the lady showing the house told us that they have an offer of 280k ( sorry i should mention that the asking is 315k)
he also said there wasnt an offer on it at that time.
on further investigation we discovered that the property isnt in the front window of the estate agents office.

so then what i think is going on :

1) the property has been for sale for quiet a while ( the fact that it has been relegated from the front window) + the daft.ie listing
2) the "offer " is a spoof , the EA is trying to encourage bids from 280k onwards
3) we should make an offer of 280k and let it sit with the auctioneer for 3 weeks .

any ideas / advice ??
thanks

Having bought and sold in the uk for many years and have witnessed some very strange goings on with estate agents/auctioneers little tricks of the trade, if i was you, if you were keen on this property and knowing that the property market for most of europe and the usa has hit nearly rock bottom, i would offer what you can comfortably afford and leave it at that, telling them that the offer is only open/available for x amount of weeks...and let them stew on it...and look around for something else in the meantime.
Good luck!

ntlbell

Leave it for now and call her on Monday morning advising her you're ready to move on another property.

DonJose

walter321 wrote: »

if you were keen on this property and knowing that the property market for most of europe and the usa has hit nearly rock bottom

I would say we have a lot further to go until we reach the bottom of the Irish property market. Our economy revolves around multinational companies and construction. There is too much uncertainty at present. The dollar and pound are nearly all time lows against the Euro which isn't good news for Irish exporters. Poland will be the next tiger of Europe and if they had any sense they would reduce their corperate tax rate to match that of Ireland, they already have a better educated workforce than the Irish. I can still see house prices dropping a further 10-15% over the next 2 years. Does anybody here not remember the 80s

Anyway I would say stick to your offer. You'd kick yourself if prices dropped another 10%.

miju

horgan_p wrote: »

i think she shot her bolt by saying 295k, it would have been far more believable had she said 285 or thereabouts

i would tend to agree. if you ask me by the sounds of it there wasn't even a first bidder but was a way for the EA to reduce the price but without officially reducing it if you know what I mean.

The_Conductor

DonJose wrote:

I can still see house prices dropping a further 10-15% over the next 2 years. Does anybody here not remember the 80s

Anyway I would say stick to your offer. You'd kick yourself if prices dropped another 10%.

Prices have dropped by 17% in the greater Dublin area in the past 12 months, and it is accepted that there are further interest rate increases on the horizon in the Eurozone (which is priced in to the strength of the Euro versus the pound and the dollar) so- personally I think it is entirely wishful thinking that prices would only drop another 10-15%. If you said 30%- I'd be quizzical- but I wouldn't disagree. I remember the '80s well- rampant inflation, rampant interest rates and no-one had tuppence. We have the inflation- interest rates are pretty much conquered- but its increasingly the case that people don't have the tuppence once again. People are beginning to cop that this is an extremely expensive country- and we do not have commensurate wages- so something has to give.

mastermind2005

smccarrick wrote: »

Prices have dropped by 17% in the greater Dublin area in the past 12 months

whats your source?? out of curiosity?

BobbyD10

Good topic.

smccarrick wrote: »

Personally- I'd go fully 20% below the asking price- play hardball- its a buyers market.

Say you where looking at a 2-bed apartment in Dublin South(16,18) for €375k, would the 20% mark apply here.

Depends on different areas I suppose.

horgan_p

well we are looking in cork so maybe different rules apply

astrofool

So, Dublin South, anything between 300-600, what would you go in at? -20%? Would you bid 480k on something on at 600k? (presuming it's been on the market for 2 months, so the price is reflecting the lowered market). 375k would mean 300k bid? Where would you expect to settle at? -5/10/15% to get the property?

I think the big thing will be getting seller's to lower their expectations more than anything else, that will hurt a lot of EA's as they want to start shifting properties, but get low ball bids.

horgan_p

ok so i rang the EA today to make an offer , i had barely gotten past hello when i was told the property was now at 300k!!! a jump of 20k in 48 hrs.i informed the EA that my offer stood at 280k and that if the "bidders" dropped out that they were to ring me and let me know. i followed it up with an email saying the same thing (just to get it in writing). so i guess thats where i'll leave it for a couple weeks or a month.


any comments on how i dealt with the situation? twas my first bid ever and just wondering if i dealt with it "right"?


any tips on what i could have done better?

DonJose

horgan_p wrote: »

well we are looking in cork so maybe different rules apply

Not sure what part of Cork you are in but prices are definatly dropping there,

In the last week alone there have been 47 price drops in Cork, the highest drop being 22%, a house which dropped in asking price from €450k to €350k, see link below,

http://www.treesdontgrowtothesky.com/DaftPriceChangeReports/12.01.08.htm

The above link is only this weeks price drops, for the full list see link below

http://www.treesdontgrowtothesky.blogspot.com/

DonJose

horgan_p wrote: »

any comments on how i dealt with the situation? twas my first bid ever and just wondering if i dealt with it "right"?


any tips on what i could have done better?

You are doing the right thing. I'm in exactly the same position as you. I returned to Ireland 18 months ago and have been renting ever since, I've seen homes I am/was interested in dropping from €600k to €475k and they are still for sale. Wait a year at least and see how the economy is. One thing you can be assured is house prices will not rise. Consumer sentiment is at a low across Europe (15 year low in Germany). Share prices in some banks (Anglo Irish Bank for one) have dropped by 50% over the last year. A lot of fixed rate mortgages will end soon and people will be paying a lot more money they can't afford. Nobody knows how bad things will get so hold on, you will regret paying €300k and see your neighbours selling for €250k or below.