Offer made but EA says higher offer made.

up4it

I would be interested in your views on the following...

We put an offer of 92,500 euros on a reasonably priced 100k house that had been on the market for 2 months in a rural area. No other offers had been made. This was rejected, so later we made another offer of 96,500 euros which we felt was a very good offer. The EA said the vendor would think about it over the weekend.

On the Monday the EA contacted us and said that another buyer had offered the full 100k.

From previous experience we are very wary of EAs and do wonder if there is another offer or not. Would someone offer the full price in the current market? Or, whether it is just a ruse to get a higher price?

Your views and relevant experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Snakeblood

up4it wrote: »

I would be interested in your views on the following...

We put an offer of 92,500 euros on a reasonably priced 100k house that had been on the market for 2 months in a rural area. No other offers had been made. This was rejected, so later we made another offer of 96,500 euros which we felt was a very good offer. The EA said the vendor would think about it over the weekend.

On the Monday the EA contacted us and said that another buyer had offered the full 100k.

From previous experience we are very wary of EAs and do wonder if there is another offer or not. Would someone offer the full price in the current market? Or, whether it is just a ruse to get a higher price?

Your views and relevant experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Anything is possible. My natural inclination is to shout ruse. Do you really want *that* house? Would another one do? Prices are falling countrywide still, so if you're not tied to that house, have a look around and see what else is about.

Bigcheeze

Unlikely the EA would risk losing the sale for the sake of about €50 in commission.

If a couple of people are interested but not bidding, then it's not unusual for one bid to prompt another.

nicol

up4it wrote: »

I would be interested in your views on the following...

We put an offer of 92,500 euros on a reasonably priced 100k house that had been on the market for 2 months in a rural area. No other offers had been made. This was rejected, so later we made another offer of 96,500 euros which we felt was a very good offer. The EA said the vendor would think about it over the weekend.

On the Monday the EA contacted us and said that another buyer had offered the full 100k.

From previous experience we are very wary of EAs and do wonder if there is another offer or not. Would someone offer the full price in the current market? Or, whether it is just a ruse to get a higher price?

Your views and relevant experiences would be greatly appreciated.

I'd be very surprised if someone had offered the full amount first time of asking. Of course the 'other' bidder could have put in an earlier, lower offer that was rejected but I'd honestly think the EA would have mentioned another bidder after your 92500 offer if there really was one.

Sounds like 2007 tactics by the EA.

bobbyg

nicol wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if someone had offered the full amount first time of asking. Of course the 'other' bidder could have put in an earlier, lower offer that was rejected but I'd honestly think the EA would have mentioned another bidder after your 92500 offer if there really was one.

Sounds like 2007 tactics by the EA.

I think it is hard to jump to a conclusion about the asking price being met without all the information. If other houses in the area are asking 150K then it is quite likely that the €100k asking price was met.

I think there is a general perception amongst people that if a house is asking €x amount then they should bid €x amount less 10%-15% but sometimes there are houses that are actually reasonably priced (in comparison to others in the area) and may actually reach the asking price.

up4it

Yes, we do like the house as it has a couple of acres with it.

But we were not really prepared for someone offering the full price. we are still not sure how to proceed with this one!

nicol

bobbyg wrote: »

I think it is hard to jump to a conclusion about the asking price being met without all the information. If other houses in the area are asking 150K then it is quite likely that the €100k asking price was met.

I think there is a general perception amongst people that if a house is asking €x amount then they should bid €x amount less 10%-15% but sometimes there are houses that are actually reasonably priced (in comparison to others in the area) and may actually reach the asking price.

Agreed but I also think it's a bit strange that this other bidder appears over the course of a weekend after the OP increasing their offer. I just thought that it's sounded very like tactics that were employed by EAs throughout the boom.

antiskeptic

nicol wrote: »

Agreed but I also think it's a bit strange that this other bidder appears over the course of a weekend after the OP increasing their offer. I just thought that it's sounded very like tactics that were employed by EAs throughout the boom.

If I was interested in a house in the present market I might not be rushing to make an offer since elapsed time = dropping prices. My interest would be registered by the EA since my having viewed it.

Which means that if another makes an offer, the EA will be "keeping me in the loop" by telling me about it. Giving me a chance to poo or get off the pot.

Nothing untoward in it that I can see.


It's only a few grand more to make a 100+ grand bid. If you want the house then it'd be a shame to lose it for what is, a relatively piddly amount of money.

zac8

Estate agents tend to shut up shop over bank holiday weekends so it would seem a bit odd that somebody made an offer yesterday. It's also very unlikely they were doing viewings over the holiday weekend.

nicol

antiskeptic wrote: »

It's only a few grand more to make a 100+ grand bid. If you want the house then it'd be a shame to lose it for what is, a relatively piddly amount of money.

Relatively piddly but if the EA is messing them around and they get into a bidding war with imaginary / real bidders they could end up paying in excess of 10K more that they had originally bid for the property (92,500).

I agree with your first option, express an interest and wait and see.

Snakeblood

antiskeptic wrote: »

If I was interested in a house in the present market I might not be rushing to make an offer since elapsed time = dropping prices. My interest would be registered by the EA since my having viewed it.

Which means that if another makes an offer, the EA will be "keeping me in the loop" by telling me about it. Giving me a chance to poo or get off the pot.

Nothing untoward in it that I can see.


It's only a few grand more to make a 100+ grand bid. If you want the house then it'd be a shame to lose it for what is, a relatively piddly amount of money.

I don't really see 7500 as being piddling even in relative terms. Besides which of course, the presumption would be you have to beat the previous bid, and who is to say the other bidder (if they exists) won't want to bid against you?

up4it

Zac: Exactly, the agents do not tend to work weekends at all in that area. Let alone Bank Holidays. So that did make us more suspicious about this other offer.

mikemac

Rural area, with a couple of acres. Do you think a neighbouring landowner is after the house?

Like a retired farmer handing over the farm to the son and then moving down the road?

And then merge the land

If the other buyer is local and knows the EA they don't need the office to be open to make the offer

up4it

MikeMac: I gather the other bidder is not a local person but you are right that the local farmer is interested in the land.

up4it

Thanks for any replies. We have still not decided how to proceed and will probably sleep on it.

It is always in the back of our mind that the market is still falling.

stepbar

TBH I suspect the estate agent is trying to squeeze a bit more from you. I mean if you were willing to go to 96.5k why wouldn't he / she not chance a counter "bid" of 100k?

This is exactly what I would do - Say to the EA that you are putting a time frame on the offer i.e. 24hours, otherwise same is withdrawn. If after that he / she is not playing ball, move on.

If the property is still on the market any longer than a 1 month, you'll know that that the EA is full of sh1te. At that stage I'd be asking around to find out who the owner is and putting in a direct bid. I wouldn't be dealing any further with the EA.

Mind you in saying that (and seeing the property is in a rural area), I'd be landing on the back street of the vendor and negotiating a deal Of course that only works if the vendor is local (more likely if the property is in a rural area).

There's SFA shifting at the moment - you only have to look at the central bank lending stats each quarter. Of course, not everyone purchases a house with a mortgage but it gives a good indication of where the market is at.

mari2222

properties still predicted to drop 1% per month for next 18 months or so.........relax, don't bid against yourself!

up4it

Update: The EA rang this morning and said that the seller had accepted the 100k offer. I said to give me till the end of today to think about it.

edanto

Sounds like they can tell how much you want the place and are putting a bit of pressure on you. Personally, I think they're bulsh1tting, but it's not for you to risk your dream home on my long distance and faulty bullsh1t radar.

plys

edanto wrote: »

I think they're bulsh1tting, but it's not for you to risk your dream home on my long distance and faulty bullsh1t radar.

+1. OP, only you and yours can make the call, but I get the sense that the EA is trying to get your heart to overrule your head. It's very difficult to remain objective in such a scenario. Some would say it is pointless to try to...

The real question is - how much is this house actually worth to you?

Snakeblood

up4it wrote: »

Update: The EA rang this morning and said that the seller had accepted the 100k offer. I said to give me till the end of today to think about it.

Is it worth it to you? If it is, then get it and don't look back. If it's not, or if you think there are better alternatives out there, then hold fire.

And there's generally some other house that will fill the need. Best of luck, whichever you choose.

Idbatterim

what if you put in an offer of say 101k, 102k etc and EA comes back and says other party has put in higher offer again. IF you put in one final offer Id nearly tell the EA not to bother getting back to you IF you have allegedly been outbid again. do you have mortage approval OP?

up4it

Thanks for all advice given. It is much appreciated.

I will keep you updated of any new developments.

edanto

Guessing that you didn't get back to them with an improved offer then. Good luck with the thinking about it - it's a damn difficult decision.

Hopefully there are a few other properties/sites in the area that you would consider as alternatives.

If you want, you could tell the EA that you are putting in some other offers and need a firm answer one way or the other by close of business tomorrow.

up4it

Well the update is that we did put an improved offer in so it is a case of wait and see. It is a lower price house after all so although prices will drop we will not lose too much.

If things still do not work out then we will walk away without any regrets! In fact, we may still walk away anyway.

athtrasna

Have you tried contacting the homeowner directly? Might not be possible but it might clarify whether there is actually a full price offer on the table?

Ray Palmer

athtrasna wrote: »

Have you tried contacting the homeowner directly? Might not be possible but it might clarify whether there is actually a full price offer on the table?

If you did this the owners would be breaching their agreement with the EA by discusssing the details

Jumpy

Reduce your offer to 94k. Tell them if there is another "offer" it goes down to 92k

ShadowHearth

Op, I was in similar situation few months ago.

We were viewing a house for very good price. Viewing was at 19:30 evening and we were not the only ones who were looking at it at the same time.
There was already bid on that house. That couple which was viewing with us puted 5k on top of that offer. Next day we bided 5k more, but after 10 mins EA called back and said they went up another 3,5k eu....
It was great house even for that price, but it was way more then we were willing to pay...
After few weeks we found one more house with different EA. Which was cheaper, better location etc. All was grand and we puted down a deposit. After few days I get a phone call from previuos EA: " how are ya! Remember that house you were bidding on? The other party could not secure mortgage in bank, so they passed on it. Do you still want it?" I loled and said: " sorry, I already putted down deposit on other property".

My current EA is very nice fella. We had a wee chat about it, and he did knew about that house and that bid war. He admitted that Market is in **** and houses are not selling, but every now and then there will be some one odd property that will attract **** loads of attention from nowhere!
He even had one of such properties himself. It was a bid war between 4 or 5 parties. After which he got accused by one of the parties for faking biding war. He got reported and had a check on him, but it was all legit. Then fecker who accused and reported won bidding war, but after few weeks he could not get a mortgage in bank...

I know there is a mindset that properties are falling in price and no one is buying, but properties like op is buying are quite in demand if they are in good condition. So I wouldn't go and say: 100% bull**** from EA.

I am I'm the middle of buying one now too, even for less then ops price!

up4it

I would like to contact the owner directly but the property is empty at present (though in good condition) and evidently the owner lives in the city. I have thought of posting a letter to try and contact them that way.

up4it

There was another property we were very interested in with a different EA. When we enquired about it we were told a different story each time. ie. It was sold, it was sale agreed and that someone had just put an offer in on it but would not tell us how much. Because of the EA not being straight with us we walked away without putting an offer in at all.

Though, that is one of the reasons we take anything the EA says with a pinch of salt.