EA Does Not Accept "Matched Offers"

I recently viewed a house and was told by the EA that an offer of, say, €250k had been already made.

I went back to the EA later and said that I would match the offer but since I have no property to sell and the vendor wanted a "quick sale" I hoped my offer would be accepted, yadda, yadda.

The EA replied saying they do not accept "matched offers" and if I wanted to be considered, I'd have to bid €251k.

Is this general practice??

farrerg

Deleted User wrote: »

I recently viewed a house and was told by the EA that an offer of, say, €250k had been already made.

I went back to the EA later and said that I would match the offer but since I have no property to sell and the vendor wanted a "quick sale" I hoped my offer would be accepted, yadda, yadda.

The EA replied saying they do not accept "matched offers" and if I wanted to be considered, I'd have to bid €251k.

Is this general practice??

Never heard of this, seems odd, surely you can bid what you want and it's up to the vendor to decide who's a safer bet

Agent Smith

offer €250,001 and Advise you have no house for sale

o1s1n

For the sake of a grand would it not make more sense to be the higher offer anyway?

3DataModem

Offer 249000

farrerg

farrerg wrote: »

Never heard of this, seems odd, surely you can bid what you want and it's up to the vendor to decide who's a safer bet

That was my reasoning, but it seems that the vendor will never hear of my offer, only the final highest offer ... unless, of course, I am the final highest bidder.

Agent Smith wrote: »

offer €250,001 and Advise you have no house for sale

EA knows this and the next step is to make a higher offer or no offer at all. If I don't make a higher offer, the vendor will not receive my offer or know that I have no house for sale, etc.

o1s1n wrote: »

For the sake of a grand would it not make more sense to be the higher offer anyway?

Sure, I just wondered if anyone had heard of this forced raising of bids and if it's normal with all EAs or just this one.

3DataModem wrote: »

Offer 249000

Essentially what it means is that, with this particular agent, the vendor will have no idea of all of the offers or the circumstances of the purchaser, just the final one, and I thought this was strange. So I'm prepared to pay what the other buyer has offered but the vendor could be stuck in a sale chain for months and never know he had another buyer who could close quickly.

MouseTail

Matched offers are generally only accepted if the late bidder is a cash buyer.

ted1

o1s1n wrote: »

For the sake of a grand would it not make more sense to be the higher offer anyway?

No. It wouldn't , if the E.A presented the 2 bids to the vendor , the vendor will take the one that is most secure.
Why throw away 1k + whatever the other guy try's to beat you with.

Matching a bid prevents price wars

P. Breathnach

ted1 wrote: »

...
Matching a bid prevents price wars

Vendors and EAs like price wars.

davo10

Today's buyers will be tomorrow's vendors, buyers don't like bidding wars, vendors love them. We all want to buy for the lowest price but when it comes to selling, I've never met a vendor who wants to sell for the lowest price that can be achieved.

Unless you are a cash buyer, what possible incentive would the vendor have for accepting a "matched offer"? Why would he/she not just acknowledge the first offer and inform the second party to increase or take a hike? The first offer is already on the table and for all the vendor knows, it could be more likely to progress to completion. Also many vendors instruct EAs that only bids which are over 2-5k above previous offer will be considered.

davo10

ted1 wrote: »

Matching a bid prevents price wars

What? Two matched bids are made, vendor considers which one to accept, both have mortgage approval and vendor knows neither, third party comes along and offers 5k more and also has mortgage approval, hmmmm, which one will vendor accept?

The_Conductor

Matched offers only tend to be accepted from cash buyers.
If you're in a chain- or reliant on mortgage approval- not a hope.

ted1

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Vendors and EAs like price wars.

Which is why they don't like matched offers

ted1

davo10 wrote: »

What? Two matched bids are made, vendor considers which one to accept, both have mortgage approval and vendor knows neither, third party comes along and offers 5k more and also has mortgage approval, hmmmm, which one will vendor accept?

What if no 3rd party comes along??

davo10

ted1 wrote: »

What if no 3rd party comes along??

Then the seller goes with the first offer as the second bidder has nothing extra to offer unless they are cash buyers. Simples.

davo10

ted1 wrote: »

Which is why they don't like matched offers

So why would a seller accept the matched bid over the initial bid?

ted1

davo10 wrote: »

Then the seller goes with the first offer as the second bidder has nothing extra to offer unless they are cash buyers. Simples.

The ability to close and not been in a chain, did you miss the point where the OP said that he does not have to sell a property

the_syco

ted1 wrote: »

The ability to close and not been in a chain, did you miss the point where the OP said that he does not have to sell a property

He also didn't say if he was a cash buyer.

davo10

ted1 wrote: »

The ability to close and not been in a chain, did you miss the point where the OP said that he does not have to sell a property

You consider having to sell one property to buy another a chain? Try living in the UK where there might be up to 10 buyers in a chain. A buyer who is also selling a property will have a good history with the bank and will likely be releasing capital with the sale, a new buyer may have no history of mortgage repayments so it may take banks longer to release mortgage funds. As stated above, if you have cash then a matched offer appeals to some (not all) sellers, if you also have a mortgage then the matched offer really isn't worth the price of the phone call as the op has found.

ted1

davo10 wrote: »

You consider having to sell one property to buy another a chain? Try living in the UK where there might be up to 10 buyers in a chain. A buyer who is also selling a property will have a good history with the bank and will likely be releasing capital with the sale, a new buyer may have no histot ry of mortgage repayments so it may take banks longer to release mortgage funds. As stated above, if you have cash then a matched offer appeals to some (not all) sellers, if you also have a mortgage then the matched offer really isn't worth the price of the phone call as the op has found.

we'll have to agree to differ.
I've seen many sales fall through becuase the buyer couldn't sell their house on time or their sale fell through. etc
any time where a person has the funds or mortgage approval without having to sell their house will normally always be a faster and safer sale.

in Ireland you can also have 10 or more buyers in the chain. i don't know why you think that the UK is special.

davo10

ted1 wrote: »

we'll have to agree to differ.
I've seen many sales fall through becuase the buyer couldn't sell their house on time or their sale fell through. etc
any time where a person has the funds or mortgage approval without having to sell their house will normally always be a faster and safer sale.

in Ireland you can also have 10 or more buyers in the chain. i don't know why you think that the UK is special.

Sales fall through here (on the sellers half) not because of chains, but because sellers loose patience and realise that in a buoyant market other first time buyers/trader uppers/investors will often offer more. Don't be kidding yourself, unless you are a cash buyer or know the seller, matched offers are a non runner.

spaceHopper

Unless they are close to a final price you are wasting their time the first bidder could easily increase their offer. If you want to buy the house you probably need to go up by more than a grand

johnp001

The EA has a legal duty to pass on all offers.
Make your bid in writing and be assured that it will be passed on.
There is no onus on the vendor to choose a bid based on chronological precedence rather than another factor. They are not even obliged to choose the highest bid so if you believe your situation is very good (lack of chain, low leverage) then you could be in a position to make an offer lower than the current that might be preferable to the vendor.
Estate Agents and Auctioneers licensed by PSR operate under a code of practice:
Code Of Practice

2.4: Duty to Client
Property Services Providers should at all times
• Act in the best interest of their clients and with integrity and fairness to others.
• Promptly and without undue delay inform clients, or their representatives, of any offer made on the property covered by the agreement or letter of engagement.

If the EA informs you they will not inform their clients of your bid then you could inform the PSR of this breach in the code of conduct.
Take anything the EA says (especially anything they say that would require you to bid higher) with a pinch of salt. Chances are your matched offer is being passed on to the vendor.

davo10

johnp001 wrote: »

The EA has a legal duty to pass on all offers.
Make your bid in writing and be assured that it will be passed on.
There is no onus on the vendor to choose a bid based on chronological precedence rather than another factor. They are not even obliged to choose the highest bid so if you believe your situation is very good (lack of chain, low leverage) then you could be in a position to make an offer lower than the current that might be preferable to the vendor.
Estate Agents and Auctioneers licensed by PSR operate under a code of practice:
Code Of Practice



If the EA informs you they will not inform their clients of your bid then you could inform the PSR of this breach in the code of conduct.
Take anything the EA says (especially anything they say that would require you to bid higher) with a pinch of salt. Chances are your matched offer is being passed on to the vendor.

Many vendors instruct EAs/take advice from EAs to only accept/inform of bids that are a minimum €1-5k above the previous bid. The vendor sets the rules on bids, not the EA. As for taking EAs info about needing to up bid "with a pinch of salt", tell me how you would know when it is necessary to up a bid or do you just wait until you see the sale agreed sign ?

davo10

davo10 wrote: »

The vendor sets the rules on bids, not the EA.

Thanks for the feedback folks. The above appears to be the case, according to the EA now.

johnp001

davo10 wrote: »

Many vendors instruct EAs/take advice from EAs to only accept/inform of bids that are a minimum €1-5k above the previous bid. The vendor sets the rules on bids, not the EA.

If the chronological order of unaccepted bids is the most important factor to the vendor then they are foolish. If a matched bid is really a better bet for selling the house (and the EA getting paid their commission) then the EA will recommend this bid. Notwithstanding that when you make that matched bid that they will spin any yarn to get you to increase it.

davo10 wrote: »

As for taking EAs info about needing to up bid "with a pinch of salt", tell me how you would know when it is necessary to up a bid or do you just wait until you see the sale agreed sign ?

You don't know and you can't know. It is important to be aware that the EA will bluff with no hand, they do it for a living. If you were to take everything they said at face value then the only way to be sure of getting your house is to throw more money at them until your bank manager tells you that you have to stop.
My point is that if you believe your matched bid is better than the current bid then you should let it stand regardless of whatever the EA says to get you to bid more.

gaius c

o1s1n wrote: »

For the sake of a grand would it not make more sense to be the higher offer anyway?

Seeing as a grand means so little to you, could you post me a cheque for that amount please? :P