Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

Which is exactly what the vendor is paying them to do. EAs don’t need to create a herd mentality in Ireland, the shortage of properties and the number of buyers who can afford to pay does that.

How can an EA possibly know in advance what 5/6/7 bidders are going to bid? And even if they did, what difference would it make? The highest bidder in the vast majority of sales, gets the property, irrespective of what the guide was. Asking prices are just some arbitrary figure used for marketing, and ultimately, it is the vendors decision whether to go with that price when advertising.

Vendors would argue that EAs are doing a good job if they achieve the highest possible price for their property. Every property is exceeding asking because there are lots of buyers, and not enough properties, asking price has nothing to do with that.

Banks really should have a form signed by mortgage applicants stating that they understand that EAs are paid by/work for the Vendor and are not there to help the applicant buy at a fair price. The lender really shouldn’t be lending large amounts of money to anyone who can’t grasp that concept.

Which is exactly what the vendor is paying them to do.

At the expense of buyers and the overall market.

If an Estate Agent in Australia has to resort to conducting itself illegally to get the 'best' price, it says a lot about the industry itself.

To go back to my original point, estate agents here do it, knowing that they want as much interest as possible in a house they are selling, to drive up the price for the vendor.

Its backhanded and has ethical and moral questions around it.But given you have no issue with it, I wont change your mind on it. I guess you wouldnt condone phantom bids either, after all, isnt that what the vendor is paying for?

Because housing is not a luxury or optional item. And it's supply is largely controlled by the government.

Why don't we commodify water or even completely deregulate things like mobile phone or electricity networks? Sell them off to the highest bidder and then give the buyer free reign to do with it what they like?

Exactly!! Housing are not in the same category as fine art. Most houses are standard roof over your head nothing fancy.

The EA’s job is to get best price for seller

Given this is the trademark response when Estate Agents resort to dirty tricks, would the same people condone phantom bids?

After all 'The EA’s job is to get best price for seller'!

Someone surely isn't putting forward an argument that an educated guess could not be made at what a property will sell for. And someone mentioned used cars? Like really? EAs are professionals who are in the market as part of their job. There was a house there lately on Rathdrum Road in D12 with large (for those houses) side access, where anyone looking at that road, and anyone certainly in the business knows that in this current madness, this property will reach 400k. EA set asking price of 299k.

There are plenty of roads I'm looking at and I can tell you how much the properties will sell for, or more accurately, I can tell you the minimum what they'll make. The PPR is there also. It's not as if there's a shortage of buyers, ffs.

So what value to EA's have then if there the market and bidders will set the price.

Slap any ol price on a house, and let the market decide, am I right?

They market the property, arrange viewings, answer questions related to the property, assess bidders, act as a conduit to relay bids to the Vendor, and advise the Vendor etc.

Again, if a buyer wants to bid above what they think a property is worth, that is up to the bidder.

Is this news to you?

That line does not extend to what is just an arbitrary advertised price. The guide price has virtually no bearing on what buyers will bid, if you raise it, there is nothing to stop buyers going above it.

When referring to Australian legislation, perhaps you should take a bit of time to look at housing stats there, prices are booming, so I’m not sure why you think it makes any difference. In a shortage, buyers will bid more, the asking price doesn’t matter.

The going rate is approx 1.5%, which given the average house price is approx €340k, means the fee is approx €5,100

Not bad for a glorified secretary who doesn't know about about how to value and correctly price a house. What the **** are they trained in so?

The Australian market is made up of many different markets. House prices in places like Adelaide and Perth are doing well, but Melbourne, not so well.

But the reasons for that are more to do with tax incentives for investors, high migration levels, and a shortage of housing, as well as much easier access to credit than here.

However, under-quoting is against the law there and for very good reasons. I believe they are not the only jurisdiction to ban this.

It is a well-known practice used by shady real estate agents. You support shady practices it appears.

This goes back to my question about phantom bids. You would have no issue with it once they get the 'top price'.

It seems the king of the transition here is the seller and the estate agent with the buyer having little to no protection.

No wonder Estate Agents are looked upon with so little esteem and worth, given the view that they are leeches, in an industry that thrives on vagueness, poor protections and little transparency.

they are selling higher than guide price because of a lack of supply and huge demand due to rents…..you could also argue that inflation has creeped into buyers thinking so if they put off purchase price will only rise…the same thing happened with houses prices after the euro was introduced…maybe it’s just correlation but the short supply is definitely a causation.

Let’s not forget it was common practice to bid under asking when there was a choice due to more supply…. Does Op want that made illegal as well.

Ok so by same logic Tesco club prices should be illegal… they are for essentials and similar marketing techniques used…. At the end of the day if you think the price is right you buy if you don’t you either look elsewhere for better value. If you’re way off the mark then you either overpay or end up never buying because you believe houses should be at 2012 prices.

The real issue is lack of supply and huge demand due to rental situation.