A friend has been watching a property in Dublin 5 with a view to bidding. The house needs work- prob 150k min. EA has set the asking price of the house (475k) at about 100K more than the ask price (and subsequent sale price) of houses in the same estate in the area over the last year ie it seems a tad overpriced.
Anyway, the first offer went in at 350k, the next at 390K and now its at 430K - 3 enormous leaps…over 3 days. Its puzzling to me that subsequent bidders would be bidding such large jumps in price and so soon into the process. I’ve told my friend that I think it sounds a bit odd like there’s a ghost bidder at work ie is the owner trying to maximise the price by bidding themselves.
I don’t want to lead my friend astray so I was wondering if anyone knows about the incidence of ghost bidding in Dublin and is there any recourse on it?
I have to say, i have put a bid in on a house today but was shocked I wasn’t asked for anything more than my name.
I actually challenged the EA asking how he or I know if the under bidder was capable of purchasing at his offer, or even if I was merely bidding up the place.
“We’ll find out when the bid is accepted” was his reply.
For fook sake, literally nothing has changed in the last few years, including my bidding on a house when I truly believe we are in a bubble.
You can drive yourself crazy thinking about ghost bidders, it’s better not to bother and try to bid on the basis of recently achieved sales prices of comparable properties in the same area. Of course it will also drive you crazy to bow out when the price goes beyond what you consider fair value but that’s the skill of buying houses! It’s a very rough game.
You are possibly making the biggest purchase of your life, and you do it over the phone !!!
If you want to be taken seriously i think you should put it in writing or email it at least.
I’m not that surprised or suspicious by the bidding on that house. €350k was under the previously achieved price of similar houses in the last year. The first serious bid was €390K but that didn’t take into account the full rise in Dublin house prices over the last year. Also I’m not sure if the OP is saying they know it went from €390k to €430k in one leap (they just mention it was the next bid they heard). There could have been normal 5k - 10k leaps all the way to €430k? If other houses went for €375 a year ago and we add the average 24% increase in Dublin houses in the last 12 months - it shouldn’t surprise if the house settled at around 465k (less if the €375 was achieved less than 12 months ago).
I’ve been bidding on houses recently (unsuccessfully ) and some of the estate agents have mentioned that they have to keep a register of all bids with details of who, how much and contact details. I normally have to give this information and they often like to ask if I am a cash or mortgage buyer and who I bank with.
trifides you should tell your friend to contact the estate agent and ask if they keep such a register and can he see it.
It’s quite common now to be able to call an EA office and just ask for the lastest bidding. Often the person who takes the call, not even the resonsible EA, will just check on the computer for you.
I dont know what section of the market you are interested in but i have never and i mean never seen jumps of more than 5k. 18 counter bids in 2 days. BS
I’ve seen bids >5k plenty of times and it is not that unusual if the initial bids are well below asking and subsequent bidders believe the true value is closer to asking
bidding up slowly in small increments can be a poor strategy in a rising market, it also keeps other bidders involved and makes it hard for them to walk away
I’ve done >5k when a property’s asking was a good bit below market value, and there were many bidders. If you’re pretty certain the bidding is going to get to at least as far as some number, you may aswell jump to it and discourage some of the others.
) and some of the estate agents have mentioned that they have to keep a register of all bids with details of who, how much and contact details. I normally have to give this information and they often like to ask if I am a cash or mortgage buyer and who I bank with.