Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

Has anyone else noticed this? I've looked at a number of properties not long on the market and once asked, the EA will say they have an offer of the asking price amount. My own theory is they're just trying to put a floor on bidding above the asking price or don't want to say 'no offers yet'.

What would they stand to gain from doing this, apart from putting off potential bidders?

We were first viewing on our property and immediately bid €20k over asking before anyone else had seen it. I don't think it would be rare for most places to have an offer at asking straight away, depending on where in the country you are and what the asking price is.

I got a 4 bed semi-d in Dublin, near my kids schools, their friends, and our extended family. Exactly what we wanted.

They got a bungalow in the middle of nowhere, and are already talking about selling up.

Jealous indeed.

During a chat with our solicitor yesterday, he mentioned that the seller paid the entire property tax for the year, but we would have to pay them them the balance from when we buy the property. So say we close in September we pay them back 4 months worth of property tax. Is this a common thing ?

Yes, we had similar when buying.

Have to say, the EA's I've been dealing with are straight upfront when there are no offers. You can see them coming in when the platform is online.

However, there is yet another house in the Celbridge area that we are also bidding on, but you can't see the offers online. Bidding is via email which i am a little suspicious of. They could tell you anything. They have a name very similar to another reputable EA, and when I phoned, I was on to the reputable one who warned be about the other one, making it clear they had absolutely nothing to do with them whatsoever.

If we don't get sorted with a house soon, we are going to have to stay put, and keep polluting the environment.

its sickening. I've never seen anything like this before. I have bought and sold 4 times in my lifetime and am now on my 5th time! I am also semi-retired and sold my house in Co Meath last year, moving South West to Kerry to be closer to my daughters. I thought I got a decent price for my house last September (320K) but have found it impossible to get anything down this area for the same price in as good condition . Most are ex-rentals and even so the prices go up in multiples of €5K a few times a day!

I had bought a B2 rated house in North Kerry last November and discovered it had NO insulation whatsoever, rising damp and water ingress from a "hidden" rotten window upstairs which had been blocked on the inside. I managed to get out of the sale on breach of contract grounds but since then have searched everywhere (Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Cork) and have never seen anything like the price inflation this time round. Prices are no longer cheaper in rural areas, its a level playing field everywhere.

I finally got Sale Agreed yesterday on a little gem (3 bed semi-detached) in a small private housing estate of 10 houses on the crossroads of the Dingle Peninsula and the Iveragh Peninsula.... 17 mins from Killarney, 16 mins from Tralee, 5 mins from Killorglin. I can't tell you how relieved I am and I NEVER want to go through this process again. Its frightening now, I feel so many houses are being bought by councils, charities, online bidders from abroad, there is huge competition. God help any young couple trying to get a start (and I've 2 kids in that age group). Its dog eat dog out there.

Should be two months if its September, September 2023 and October 2023. If you actually end up buying after 31st of October 2023, say the 1st of 2nd of week in November, the seller has to pay 12 months and then buyer reimburse for those 12 months

Went Sale agreed at the end of May on a house. Sellers solicitor sent on the paperwork and contract end of June and our solicitor referred back with more questions. We didn't get a response then until end of July with more documents/ planning permissions being sent to us. Our solicitor has referred back again with more questions. Recently the estate agent has contacted us on behalf of the sellers saying they are frustrated at how long its taking and what's the hold up. If the Estate agent is to be believed the sellers have also discussed putting it back on the market but he's talked them down for now. This has us very stressed especially when we are doing everything we can on our end to push this through. Any advice or experiences of your own would be much appreciated!

How far away from Dublin did you move as a matter of interest?

We moved to the midlands, Co Offaly, about 40 miles from dublin city centre.

I found it strange, maybe he was hoping the estate agent was going to exceed his expectations and tell him he could make even more than he thought.

Any other time I saw Chinese people at viewings they were just pottering around like everyone else.

Yes, and the Indians too. We are looking to buy around Celbridge/Maynooth/Leixlip area, which is near where I work in a public job, taxed to the gills.

These non-Irish people are mostly professionals working for big multi-national companies not paying tax on this Island, hence can afford to pay larger salaries to those employees, much larger salaries than those of us paid by the government. It is not an equal playing field and this issue is creating a major part of the problem. Gardai/nurses/teachers etc are being priced completely out of the market.

Exactly my thoughts.

Honestly between vulture funds and Chinese buyers, will local people be able to buy much!

That is their issue over there. And keep there. In China.

The indigenous person doesn't give a fxxk where Chinese investors need to invest.

Irish people need a roof over their heads. Who cares about their (Chinese) 'terrible investments'?

An Irish Government policy needs to be put in place protecting the Irish citizen first and foremost.

Next election will see a major outage of FfGg. Waste of space, the lot of them.