Boots-on-the-ground buying, how are you finding it?

That's a really bad strategy...

The adjective "murderous" comes to mind.

I bought my house in 2022, so I've been out of it for two years, but anecdotal stories from friends and family trying to buy something would suggest to me that things are just as they were a few years ago.

After the lockdowns and the money printing to fuel them, the amount of cash out there is eye-watering.

I'll let you know id it works for us. I have a long list of bids that didnt work. A very long list.

My friend bid 20% over for his house and got the house with no other bidders after suffering the same bloodbath for his 2 years of looking that we are now suffering. He is happy. And he is now sitting in that house almost 3 years and thinking he got a bargain, plus he is not €70k lighter in rent either. He said it was worth it to him. :)

If when we started looking we had bid 20% over asking on any of the houses and got it, we would be better off than we are now.

About to put 3 bed semi on the market in Kildare and not sure what to expect as haven’t sold a house in 17+ years.

There is very little for sale (22 in large enough area) so hoping it’s relatively straight forward.

Even though we were planning to stay out and have a break from looking until March, we have been told of a lovely 2 bed house that has come on the market and went to see it yesterday. The agent said only 2 other couple have seen it so far as it only came on the market Friday and both have bid asking price. I think we are going to try out the new strategy and go straight in at 20% over asking. Going to make the phone call today.

Looks like we can afford a bit more now because I got my bonus and a pay rise this month. My Dad is also now resting some money in my account so it looks better :) Main thing is to get a bid accepted first though.

Just off the phone with the EA. Another couple had bid about 5% over asking this morning already. We put in a bid 20% above asking with him. He is going to the vendor now. I assume what he really means is he is going through the underbidders and then the vendor :)

I told them it would be our one and only offer and i wanted to hear back today. Dont know if that will sway them but its a big move for us to offer that much and we might change our mind tonight anyway. No word yet anyway :)

No. We were looking at the phone all yesterday and nothing. We nearly phoned them but decided that would make us seem desperate.

I think the EA knows, if you are bidding 20 percent over asking price for a house just on the market?

This is an OK strategy only if you're relatively sure this is a long-term home.

Unless you have a substantial deposit, you're putting yourself in negative equity on day 1 of home ownership.

This won't (really) matter if this is a lifelong home. If this is a starter home and you plan to trade up at some point, I would strongly advise you to reconsider.

It seems to be happening now. Fingers crossed it does. Either way it will be less money than we were paying in rent by a long way. And no more issues trying to find somewhere we can move back in together now instead of with our respective parents as we are now. Also has a garden and parking in the front drive. It suits us for now and gets us out of the rent trap. If we ever need to trade up we can worry about that then. I have a feeling this time next year we will be looking at prices around that house and thining we got a bargain at that point. It would have worked out that way the last few years anyway. For instance if we had of paid 20% over houses or apartments we were looking at last year it would probably be the same as they are going for this year. And we would have a year less rent and one year knocked off the mortgage at this point.

I really hope this doesnt fall through., Been a long time getting a bid accepted on anything.

Deadly, fair play to you. I find myself weirdly invested in this now.

Well, I went through multiple bidding wars and it's a stressful experience, and pretty crushing if/when you eventually have to admit defeat. Paying a premium to avoid this isn't the worst idea I've ever heard.

The acid test is your reaction when you hear the words 'sale agreed' from the EA - if you were delighted, then you've done the right thing.

Great news. Is it in Dublin?

Is the house a walk in or work needs to be done?

Best of luck with it.

we've been looking for a 4 bed between Sandymount and Killiney on a budget of 950k, absolutely nothing out there.

we looked at one, it was 900k recently done up, but didn't suit us, the same house 2 doors down was guiding 800k but wasnt down up, they said they priced it on the 900k one. they didn't consider that the 800k one needed 300k to bring it upto the same condition as the 900k one, pure madness.

a few we have looked are 3 beds, with garage conversions been sold as 4 beds. so little stock available. also competing against cash rich Asians or ex pats coming home from Middle East with cash

As for estate agents, some place like Hunters will advertise a property for 800k to get people in the door but wont accept offers less than 950...

It’s 300k per bedroom in these areas. Might get something in Dun Laoghaire hinterlands.

Id look stillorgan off the n11 corridor on that budget, maybe even D14.

EAs putting houses up deliberately under the valuation is one of the many things that EAs do that should be prohibited. Putting a house up undervalue gives hope to people who in reality cannot afford the said house, creates bidding wars and ultimately wastes times for people. It's cruel.

A good example of this:

Unless I'm missing something, that apartment is listed wildly below its value.

I wouldn’t see that as sinister at all. By accepting bids on two properties from the same buyer he is misleading at least one of his vendors. By all means make it clear that you are interested in either but, for example, he couldn’t let one go sale agreed with you while you keep bidding on the other. This is one of the reasons why so many “sale agreed” don’t proceed to a transaction.

That’s a guaranteed strategy not to win! In some ways, if you have a limit you are better waiting to see where the initial bids go. A jump from asking to 20% over would make some people hang out for even more rather than take it off the market. Putting your highest bid in at the beginning is rarely going to succeed.