How to stop under bidder??

foxhill

Friend of mine, is going through same. first bid was 225k, after counter bids now stands at 235k and waiting other party's answer. EA'll come back to him on Monday. EA agent asked my friend to send copy of approval i.e. proof of funds, which he emailed to EA. he has approval of 254k from bank. does that mean EA now knows 'my friend' can pay more than 235k and may try to raise the bids 'some how'!?

obviously this guy dnt want to draw full approval amount and he is trying to keep monthly payment small and easy affordable, by buying small house as their needs.

I think its silly to let EA know if you can afford much more than current bid.
Wondering, is it normal to handover your approval letter to EA or what are other best practice to let know EA that you r NOT a 'phantom bidder' but NOT let EA know how much maximum you can afford?
(sorry to hijack the thread)

Easyliving

From all the advice here, I think our next move is to up it by a few grand which will be our last offer and only put it on the table for 24-48hrs.

Easyliving

foxhill wrote: »

Friend of mine, is going...

I think its silly to let EA know if you can afford much more than current bid.
Wondering, is it normal to handover your approval letter to EA or what are other best practice to let know EA that you r NOT a 'phantom bidder' but NOT let EA know how much maximum you can afford?
(sorry to hijack the thread)

They should of just blocked out the amount. All the EA needs to know is proof of approval.

amdublin

Easyliving wrote: »

From all the advice here, I think our next move is to up it by a few grand which will be our last offer and only put it on the table for 24-48hrs.

I really think you have to cut it off - and either get the house or don't.

Put the offer in on Monday afternoon and say I'll be withdrawing it close of business Wednesday.
Put it all in writing.
And then withdraw it! Don't let them give any excuses "oh the seller is on holidays uncontactable" We have mobile phones etc

This house is either for you and this will ensure you get it. Or it is not and you will lose it over this, but save yourself days and days or weeks of further agony and not get it anyway.

amdublin

Be firm! Tell the EA you've had enough of the messing. That you will be sending over your last offer and it's on the table until ________.

Good luck!

Geniass

foxhill wrote: »

obviously this guy dnt want to draw full approval amount and he is trying to keep monthly payment small and easy affordable, by buying small house as their needs.

Yeah - it's a bit like showing your cards in a game of poker.

To mitigate it your friend might want to mention he's a bid in for another house.

Duckjob

foxhill wrote: »

Friend of mine, is going through same. first bid was 225k, after counter bids now stands at 235k and waiting other party's answer. EA'll come back to him on Monday. EA agent asked my friend to send copy of approval i.e. proof of funds, which he emailed to EA. he has approval of 254k from bank. does that mean EA now knows 'my friend' can pay more than 235k and may try to raise the bids 'some how'!?

obviously this guy dnt want to draw full approval amount and he is trying to keep monthly payment small and easy affordable, by buying small house as their needs.

I think its silly to let EA know if you can afford much more than current bid.
Wondering, is it normal to handover your approval letter to EA or what are other best practice to let know EA that you r NOT a 'phantom bidder' but NOT let EA know how much maximum you can afford?
(sorry to hijack the thread)

Your friend should now go out and buy himself a nice saddle so the EA can have a nice comfortable ride.

You should NEVER, EVER disclose your offer amount to the EA. As EasyLiving said, black out the amounts. Photocopy the approval, black out the amounts and then photocopy the photocopy and send that to him/her.

All they should need to see is that you gone through the process with your bank and got approval - this separates you out from the tyre kickers.

foxhill

Thx Guys. I think this whole process of forcing people into bidding war is shambles. selling a house should be like any other product. seller has a price, seller makes % profit and sells his home. where as this current housing market is like a ponzy scheme, to make some rich quicker and when crash looms, leaving Tax payers to pick the tab.

If the bidding has to b done, the ad should say clearly 'by auction'. not by 'private treaty'. They should do the auction in the presence of every interested party. Not EA comes back and forth and buyer has little knowledge, if exists other party or not. If my friend asks EA to show other bidders, I suppose EA can show few approval letters from their drawer!

MarkAnthony

Easyliving wrote: »

From all the advice here, I think our next move is to up it by a few grand which will be our last offer and only put it on the table for 24-48hrs.

OP is there anyway you can walk? Going in hard only really works in certain situations.

It very easy for me, sat in my armchair with nothing invested, to say do X,Y,Z personally though I'd leave it for a few days and then up it by a very small amount. Hopefully this will send the signal to the vendor that you're tired playing this game and they'll make a decision to go.

I think going in with a high offer at this stage will only encourage them to play silly buggers. If I was a betting man I'd say that after you put in that higher offer you'll be told it's going to best and finals, another little trick to have a purchaser to bid against themselves!

Kinet1c

The other bidders may be going up in smaller bids as they're close to their budget limit. I'd be inclined to be looking at other houses while this is ongoing as it doesn't look like it will have a quick resolution, even if you do give them a deadline.

James 007 wrote: »

No, I would throw an extra €10 grand on the house, let the other bidder out bid you and then walk away. Even if they walk away, you just put some thought into it, and then walk away. Just tell the estate agent that another property has taken your interest.

Please don't do this. Given the OP's looking at a very specific area, the EA likely has (or will have) more properties in the same area. Bids on future properties could be ignored as they will be seen as time wasters.

seamus

pablo128 wrote: »

How about trying to find the other bidder, and offering them 2k to basically f. off? They have 2k more for their deposit, and you get the house. Win win.

Even if you could find them, the other bidder would then just take your €2k and use it to bid against you.

The one tough lesson we've learned in the process is that playing hardball when you have little leverage is next to impossible unless you're a great bluffer. Making a final and expiring offer really just encourages the estate agent to put the screws on the other bidder and get them to counterbid quickly.
Especially if you're at the top of your affordability, making an "ultimate" bid is giving the power to the vendor to decide. It can work of course, but it very often fails because there is another bidder there, who may not be close to the top of their limit at all.

Shrewd bidders will especially smell blood if the bids are going up in €1k increments. This usually indicates that a bidder is nearing the top of their limit and is doing their best to scare off the other guy without hitting their limit. In the OP's case, the other guy is probably throwing a few hundred euro on top in the hopes that the OP will go away.

What we have found gives you real control is to give yourself options. Bid on multiple properties at the same time, and let all of the estate agents know that you're doing it.
Not only does it mean that you don't let yourself get too invested in one property (you know if you lose one, you have other options), but it also tells the estate agent that they don't have a captive bidder.

"I'm going to go sale agreed on another property tomorrow if I don't get this one". Words that often cause EAs and vendors to suddenly become very decisive.

castle2012

We where bidding on a house just before Christmas . Bidding started at 140k and finished at €168. We bidded big at the start. When we got to 150k we started putting small bids in . The other bidder must of felt we where running low in money. They slapped 10k on at €152 to bring it to 162. We then put €1 k on to €163. They came back with €2 k to €165. We then slapped €3k on to €168 and knocked them out .
It was very frustrating at the time . The 168 was our limit all along.

Easyliving

All points are valid and thanks for the advice. It is a really though one and really luck of the draw. Everyone has a strategy and hopefully ours works out, we're in two minds and from what everyone is saying it's either:

a. next bid go in high and hard with a time limit
b. wait it out and look around so we're not so invested in this place

We'll see how it pans out but it is really frustrating. It's hard enough to save, get approval and get in a place where you can actually buy a house without all of this messing on top.

MarkAnthony

Easyliving wrote: »

All points are valid and thanks for the advice. It is a really though one and really luck of the draw. Everyone has a strategy and hopefully ours works out, we're in two minds and from what everyone is saying it's either:

a. next bid go in high and hard with a time limit
b. wait it out and look around so we're not so invested in this place

We'll see how it pans out but it is really frustrating. It's hard enough to save, get approval and get in a place where you can actually buy a house without all of this messing on top.

The very first thing you need to do is work out your limit. If you're near that (you mentioned borrowing) I'd personally go back to the EA and say X is our best and final, let us know in the mean time do you have any similar properties in the area.

You also strike me as having got invested in this one place, it's very easy to do. I reiterate that you are probably best walking if you can. Of course there are many reason why you might not be able to do that, I don't expect you to display them here for all to see, I just wanted to point it out one final time.

Easyliving

Well we got the house. Same bidding situation continued and we eventually jumped it by a few grand and that killed the other bidder.

mad m

Easyliving wrote: »

Well we got the house. Same bidding situation continued and we eventually jumped it by a few grand and that killed the other bidder.

Congrats, well done.....Goodluck with your new home.

James 007

Easyliving wrote: »

Well we got the house. Same bidding situation continued and we eventually jumped it by a few grand and that killed the other bidder.

Assuming of course there was another bidder. Once a mate of mine had several bids on several houses. He had a bidding war on one house which went all the way to €532,000, he lost out that day. Three weeks later he was in another bidding war for another house with different estate agent. He eventually outbid the other bidder, on a Friday evening, a better house and closer to the city in my eyes when I had seen both brochures, however the strange thing was his bid was accepted at his max. €532,000, :rolleyes:, god bless those celtic tiger prices too.

Easyliving

Cheers.

No way to tell James but we're happy enough and will finally own a house.

ted1

Easyliving wrote: »

y jumped it by a few grand and that killed the other bidder.

I cringe when I see this..

Mr.McLovin

ted1 wrote: »

I cringe when I see this..

why?

he was victorious and slaughtered his opponent...

beertons

Well done OP. It's your house now, that's all that matters.

Mr. Incognito

In the UK once an offer has been accepted it freezes the price of the house against other bidders for a period of time.

Badly needed here.

The best way to sort is offer a fair price and tell the EA when the phantom bid eventually materialises that you have had an offer accepted elsewhere and you are not upping your price.

Most of the time that works unless there is an actual bidder.

Mr. Incognito

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Most of the time that works unless there is an actual bidder.

Yeah, and if there is an actual other bidder, he gets told that you've dropped out and it goes sale agreed to him. And if you try to re-enter the vendor has to decide if you are the messer and if he is better sticking with the sale agreed bidder....

There are no set ways of doing this. A lot depends on your impression of the EA. Is he a shyster or does he seem straight to you (some are!).

wil

Mr.McLovin wrote: »

why?

he was victorious and slaughtered his opponent...

Sad, unless he was buying on Fury Road.:mad:

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah, and if there is an actual other bidder, he gets told that you've dropped out and it goes sale agreed to him. And if you try to re-enter the vendor has to decide if you are the messer and if he is better sticking with the sale agreed bidder....

There are no set ways of doing this. A lot depends on your impression of the EA. Is he a shyster or does he seem straight to you (some are!).

That is why there is need for some form of regulation and transparency so all bids are genuine and you are not bidding against seller or EA. Under bids would make me suspect being squeezed for every drop a real bidder can muster without frightening out of the deal. A final last fling, "killing" the phantom bidder, is the result the EA is counting on.

Fair price, set limit, they seem to be able to achieve this in many other first world countries.

boogaloop

Congrats OP, hope you will be very happy in your new home. Would you mind saying how long the whole process took from first bid to sale agreed in the end?
Also, did you end up going much above asking price and/or much above your own limit?

Best of luck

Easyliving

boogaloop wrote: »

Congrats OP, hope you will be very happy in your new home. Would you mind saying how long the whole process took from first bid to sale agreed in the end?
Also, did you end up going much above asking price and/or much above your own limit?

Best of luck

Hi Boogaloop,

It's been about 6 weeks so far and we are sale agreed 2weeks. We are 8k over asking and right on our limit. However location, timing and other factors have worked out in our favour.