Making an offer on a house

Gers_punto

Hi Guys,

So i have gotten approval on a mortgage so know exactly what i have to borrow if i need it.

I have found 2 houses that interest me. i am going to look at them on Wednesday, However when it comes to making an offer on the house if i like either, is it a shoot straight in and make an offer well below asking and hope for the best or would that just irritate the seller ??

What would be my best approach on making offers

Ri_Nollaig

As someone who has also been looking for the past few months and viewed/bidded on a number of properties. All I can say is its not like any other purchase really. As cliched as that sounds its true.

For starters each house has to be looked at individually and you must decide yourself what is the most you want/can pay for it, keep that in mind and don't go over it. You can get a rough idea of what other sales went from by using the property price register but even then you don't know the circumstance the buyer/seller were in at that time plus the condition of the house.

If its just for sale, a low ball bid will probably be left there for a long time, so if you aren't in any rush then that might be fine but don't be surprised if you hear nothing back on it either. Going in "strong" and offer asking might secure it within a week if its the place you really want, plus the EA will happily tell anyone else who rings to view it that someone has already put the asking in on it. They will of course still show them the house as it could lead to a bidding war but it might turn some people off before they have even viewed it.

Basically, "how long is a piece of string"/luck in the end. I would never be worried about offering "too low" but just don't be expecting the seller to bite you hand off to get it. Also don't be surprised to hear a "counter bid" as been put in once you do bid on a place. There may very well have been people on the side line hoping to get it for cheap but only upping their bid once they hear someone else is on the scene.

Of course then there is the stories of 'phantom bids' true or not, who knows... All I can say is, if you have a price in mind keep to it, if you get it below that price all well and good but if it takes the asking then so be it.

Good luck

iguana

I think right now your strategy will depend on what part of the country you are buying in, as different geographical markets are varying greatly.

MarkN

If it's in Dublin and isn't an apartment, an offer below asking probably won't be entertained at the moment.

rtron

Ensure the offer is subject to Surveyors report, and you reserve the right to lower the offer should anything turn up in the report that would devalue the house.
Also reserve the right to lower the offer if the sale process takes more than 6 months (I wish I had done that).

The house I bought had to get some work done to it before I could buy it. Although the seller paid for the work to be done, I had to wait a year to be able to buy the place with planning permission etc... So my offer was fair price when I offered it, but a year later was too much.

Marchbride

If its in Dublin?? Your bid if lower or asking will most likely be ignored!! From my experience (bidding on 20 houses) not one was remotely close to asking. All at least 10k over and in my case.. I am now 'sale agreed' at 80k over asking! So don't have any high expectations when you see an asking price. That's the starting point. Best of luck with your house hunting

fatbhoy

Gers_punto wrote: »

Hi Guys,

So i have gotten approval on a mortgage so know exactly what i have to borrow if i need it.

I have found 2 houses that interest me. i am going to look at them on Wednesday, However when it comes to making an offer on the house if i like either, is it a shoot straight in and make an offer well below asking and hope for the best or would that just irritate the seller ??

What would be my best approach on making offers

Ask the estate agent what the current maximum bid is, then bid €1,000 higher. Otherwise if there is no bid, try to find out how much similar properties went for recently (use the Property Price Register etc.) and make your bid according to what you disover.

Gers_punto

Its in Co. limerick..

1 house has been for sale for 2 weeks the other has only been listed on the auctioneers website so dont really know how long it has been for sale

What I gather from some of the replies is that the asking is a guidline and I can expect to pay over aswell as under.. hopefully the former wont insue as there are a number of houses availible in each property and juding by the property register afyer vat is added the last 2-3 in each development have sold for 5-10k less than asking

dubrov

MarkN wrote: »

If it's in Dublin and isn't an apartment, an offer below asking probably won't be entertained at the moment.

There are plenty of houses for sale in Dublin with outrageous asking prices. I'm talking back to boom time peak prices.

Personally I would not pay any attention to asking prices. Sale price can be way under or over it. The property price register is the only reliable source for pricing

Robert McGrath

Gers_punto wrote: »

afyer vat is added the last 2-3 in each development have sold for 5-10k less than asking

Bear in mind that the vast majority of secondhand houses on the PPR had no VAT charged on the sale.

If you're doing your sums on previous sales, make sure you're not adding VAT where it's not necessary!

P. Breathnach

MarkN wrote: »

If it's in Dublin and isn't an apartment, an offer below asking probably won't be entertained at the moment.

It's not just houses. I have looked at a number of apartments in Dublin over the past few months. Every one in which I have been seriously interested has gone over asking price - in one case about 40% over.

dubrov wrote: »

There are plenty of houses for sale in Dublin with outrageous asking prices. I'm talking back to boom time peak prices.

There are some properties with unreasonable asking prices. I suspect that not all of them are genuinely for sale.

Personally I would not pay any attention to asking prices. Sale price can be way under or over it. The property price register is the only reliable source for pricing

The PPR is helpful, but in Dublin prices have risen a good deal in the past year, so you are unlikely to get a property for the same price a similar property achieved a year or more ago. In the areas where I have been looking, I'd make a rough estimate that prices are about 15% higher than this time last year.

dubrov

Someone already started a thread comparing asking and sale prices.
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057181666/1/#post89746172

The thread is based on real data so excludres hearsay and estate agent/media talk.

Looks like most sales go through below the asking price to me.

I still think it is crazy to use the asking price as a frame if reference for the value of a property

iguana

Gers_punto wrote: »

Its in Co. limerick..

I'm currently sale agreed on a house in Limerick so I can tell you what my recent house hunting experience has been. Very, very little is selling and house prices are not in anyway going up. There is very little lending happening locally and a huge amount on the market. If you are in any way flexible about the house type you are looking for, it's your market, so try to stay calm and level headed about any house you want to bid on. I found that the best thing to do was to take my time, look at many houses and put a low bid on any that you would potentially buy while making your strategy known to the agents. That way you are making the best of the fact that we have a reversal of the situation that is happening in Dublin atm. Instead of multiple bidders bidding against each other on very few houses, you have multiple houses being bid on by a small amount of purchasers. Work out your top price for what the property is worth to you before you start bidding and when you are negotiating remind yourself not to pay more than the property is worth to you.

It's not all plain sailing. Some sellers are delusional. In my search, I was looking at very established areas so a lot of houses I looked at were being sold by sibling groups following the death of a parent. A common issue I came up against was cases where 1 sibling had a very unrealistic minimum price they would sell for and the other siblings didn't want to rock the boat. If you find yourself in that type of situation, I suggest just leaving your maximum price on the table and telling the agent your offer is only good until you go sale agreed elsewhere, then continue your search.

Santa Cruz

iguana I am not familiar with the Limerick scene but your second paragraph is bang on. In executor sales there will always be one family member not in touch with reality. Often they have their own agenda to stop a sale. It will be up to the other family members to get things moving. They can compel the sale to go ahead if they want. Best thing is to put in the offer and give a deadline forresponse. If unsuccessful move on elsewhere

Gers_punto

The houses we are looking at are all new builds within a housing estate or development.

Would this make purchasing any easier. I.e if I offered Asking would it be accepted quicker..

Gers_punto

So we viewed 2 properties and have fallen in love with 1..

I done my homework and suggested to the estate agent that they have been sitting a while is there much movement on the price and without missing a beat told me the 1 three doors down sold for 20000 lower than asking. I knew this as I had looked it up on the property register. He went to state that they were advertised at an unrealistic price and that the developer would defiantly sell for the same deal to us if we were interested.

Does this sound too good to be true ? Could be be off loading the houses with the view of something happening in the market ? Should I make an offer 25000 lower than asking or would I be pushing it. Although the house that sold for 20000 under asking sold over 6 months ago

Villa05

Gers_punto wrote: »

So we viewed 2 properties and have fallen in love with 1..

I done my homework and suggested to the estate agent that they have been sitting a while is there much movement on the price and without missing a beat told me the 1 three doors down sold for 20000 lower than asking. I knew this as I had looked it up on the property register. He went to state that they were advertised at an unrealistic price and that the developer would defiantly sell for the same deal to us if we were interested.

Does this sound too good to be true ? Could be be off loading the houses with the view of something happening in the market ? Should I make an offer 25000 lower than asking or would I be pushing it. Although the house that sold for 20000 under asking sold over 6 months ago

Co. Limerick prices are still falling. REA (real estate alliance) released a survey earlier this year and they put the property market in 3 different categories


1. Mad - Dublin
2. Rising - Cities and large population centres with good employment prospects (mainly Galway, Cork and Dublin commuter areas)
3. Static or falling: They specifically put Limerick (including Limerick City) in this category.

Be careful where you do your research. also note the report is from an estate agent (who have offices in Limerick). It is in their interest to paint as rosy a picture as possible,

Put in an offer below the last selling price

Villa05

Here are some results from an auction of Limerick area property http://www.realestatealliance.ie/LatestNews

Note Lots number 1 €114k and number 6 €95k - Houses are identical, yet there appears to be a gap of €19,000 (-20%) in the eventual selling price.

It shows how important it is to keep your feet on the ground, be prepared and patient