Softening house market?

Auctioneera is an absolute cod. It's all the pressure of a real auction without the obligation of the follow through - it's a recipe for bad faith bidding.

I actively avoid Auctioneera listings. The couple of viewings I went to the agent was forcing the bidding number card thing into my hand even though I had expressed no interest in the property. In one case I was heading out the door of a busy viewing and he followed me out to give me the card.

Why is this bad? Well, it creates a feeling of urgency for those that are interested by making it seem like there's more competition than there likely is.

It's also feels, like mentioned above, more like an eBay auction, complete with last minute sniping. But it's not an auction, and thus bids are not binding. So you get craziness going on in terms of bidding wars that may or may not be genuinely reflective of bidders' real convictions as there's no protections against bad faith bidding. I'm entirely unsurprised that some of the worst bidding wars, and subsequent insane sale agreed prices, I've seen have been Auctioneera listings.

I genuinely can't believe it's legal, as I believe genuine property auction bids are binding. It feels like it's exploiting a loophole (or more likely flaunting soft regulation) by having a timed auction format.

Throw up an apology there as your next post.

If an estate agent gets a name for that, hes going to lose a lot more than e150, it's really not worth it. I've bought 6 houses, 2 from the same agent, Ive become friends with him since, I'm also friends with other agents that I have spolen to about a property they had for sale, or one that I was buying. Ive yet to see anything resembling the kind of complicated fake bids going on.

Ive bought from incompetent auctioneers, where I had to get a friend (auctioneer) to ring them, even to get a viewing from them. I've had a deposit taken for a house when I've found out that the house was no longer his listing. I've had buyers ask for 10k more the morning of close, I've had buyers hold off for 3 months to sign, because they wanted the bank to knock e700 off their debt (foreclosure).

But these are just down to incompetence on the part of the auctioneer, or silliness on the part of the seller-other than the auctioneer that took my deposit lol.

People aren't getting into ridiculous bidding wars but decent properties that are ready for occupation are still being snapped up for big money

Just a note that 3-4 months is a pipe dream given the situation today when it comes to the planning board. My wife and I have been at sale agreed stage on a property since May of this year on a property that has been waiting on the board to meet and rubber stamp retention for sheds that have been on site for 10+ years and are completely innocuous (rural property, sheds not even visible from anywhere outside of the property).

Retention was filed for in January.

First, they said it would be ruled on in June. Then they said September. Then they said October. Then they said November. Now they say 'soon, but we can't tell you any date specifically' even though the statute states that if they don't make the ruling within the timeframe allotted (now long since past), they legally must give out a new date for the ruling. Note that the chairman and vice chairman of the board just stepped down amidst accusations of wrongdoing.

In short, An Bord Pleanála is basically broken in its current state and if you need to wait on planning permission for anything expect to be waiting until the end of next f*ng year if you kick off the process at this point. Plan accordingly.

Just a note though...if you're a cash buyer, you don't have to wait for planning retention to come through. You can just buy the place. I wish I was a cash buyer, I'd have paid the cash and we'd have moved into the house months ago...but since we're relying on BOI for a mortgage, we cannot close the sale without the planning retention being approved because of BOI's requirements around the mortgage.

House sales, in particular how they are dealt with by professionals have changed a lot since the last boom/bust.

Lots of solicitors and engineers have gotten sued for not carrying out proper checks; if as a seller you don't have your house prepared properly for sale, there will be delays and maybe it'll fall through.

I used a very pernickety solicitor and asked him what would he want to know if he was acting for buyer and to proceed as such.

Things like mapping, deeds, planning, spousal consent, tenancy termination all have to be sorted prior to going sale agreed if you want a smooth sale.

I sold in Cork recently which has a particular problem with subsidence. It is typically caused by a water leak in water supply or drainage system (which will wash away the fine materials under your foundations over time) and most engineers will recommend a drains survey to cover themselves. Rather than being told at contract stage that I had a leak (and would then be under time pressure to fix it or sale fall through) I got survey done before house was put up for sale.

There was a mapping query, in spite of a very recent survey by a very well known surveyor, but dealt with immediately.

Where people are nervy your best bet is to be up front and get everything out in the open.

Expand on the EA experiences there. Always good to be reminded how slimy a lot of them are.

Buying and selling and the process has taken a very long time through no fault of either party; however our own estate agent has made it very difficult as they have put us under massive pressure to move even though we would be homeless and they were well aware of that.

I am pretty sure they have lied and manipulated the closing dates as the solicitors have no knowledge of them when asked.

It's as if they act for the purchasers and everything they ask for (multiple viewings at inconvenient times, works to the property) is demanded and they throw a strop when they are told no and get accusatory and threaten us not so subtly with the purchasers pulling out. I am concerned they are going to manipulate the closing dates again and leave us with very little time to pack so I was thinking of paying their commission and sending them on their merry way once contacts signed. They might cause a fuss cos they seem so buddy buddy with the purchasers but that's tough.

Has anyone had a situation like this? I know I should have gotten rid of them and the demanding purchasers ages ago but was caught in the trap of not being able to bid without being sale agreed. I know they're generally scumbags but this lot are not even civil to me now.

Was in a similar position last year, as we were closing found there was a lean on the property for a water pipe access to an adjoining property built on a field that had been part of the original folio of the property we were intending to buy. We had zero idea where the pipe actually ran, the vender made zero effort to enlighten us as I suspect they were too elderly to even remember!

We were cash buyers but backed out as if we wanted to sell in the future we'd have to resolve the folio issues for any mortgagee buyers. The bloody estate agent was trying to pressure us to close, even saying the old lady had just shampooed the carpets especially for us etc.... Pathetic.

Agree with you. I imagine when we’re in a position to look back we’ll see the housing market change began in April/May when the number of properties for sale started heading upwards. The data is just starting to reflect that.