We have been looking for a 4 bed detached property in scd for 6 months now and finally found one we like. Asking price is €595K and after 10 days on the market, 2 open viewings & no offers we offered €520k as a first offer & reflecting work needed to the property.
After another 5 days we rang the office for an update and spoke to another employee who informed me that there were no offers on the property. Shortly afterward the original EA rang and said that he received an offer that morning of €575k and that this figure was the bidders absolute max budget indicating a higher offer from another party may secure.
Originally, the EA mentioned that they expected to get close to the asking. We are, however, suspicious that a) they said there were no offers & then b) suddenly have an offer in the region of asking on the same day we looked for an update. Our experience to date is that interested parties will bid in quantities of 5-10k on the previous offer until the house is sold.
So, the killer question is would you believe the offer of 575k is genuine?
I would, but then I’m not one of the “EAs are satan” brigade. It’s entirely possible that the offer did come in and the other employee didn’t know about it. Few (if any) EAs have a database of offers that is updated in realtime!
The real question is not whether or not the offer is genuine, it’s do you want to go above 575k? If not, say thanks a mill for the update and walk.
Thanks for the response, however, there was sufficient time for an internal update at the EA given the time that had passed. Can’t help but be a cynic given the complete lack of transparency and the large absolute sum in the transaction.
We’ve already considered your question of what we’re willing to spend but that’s not relevant to us as what we are trying to discern is whether there’s a trend of “suspicious”/“phantom” offers or if we are over-analysing?
Would appreciate some more views/experiences out there…
It’s 50:50. We’ve been sniffing around a house in Dublin6. Went to see it three times. Despite numerous viewings by lots of people we were told there was one offer only on it. We thought that there was not. Its just gone sale agreed; we were wrong. I agree with Dotty2012 - ask whether you think that 575k is acceptable to you for this particular house.
I would say the offer is genuine. The EA could easily have gotten the offer on his/her mobile earlier that day and may not have been able to log it on the system so colleagues in the office wouldn’t know.
I really don’t think they’d risk losing you as a potential buyer by completely making up there is a significantly higher offer on the table - then again I wouldn’t put it past some EA’s!!
For what it’s worth, I have heard similar stories from other potential buyers of EA’s where a member of staff in the office (normally a receptionist) with access to a bidding log confirms that the buyer has the highest offer, but the EA claims there is another bid.
Phantom bids in Private Treaty Sales, just like “taking bids off the wall” at auction are well documented, not illegal but questionably ethical practices of the EA/Auctioneering fraternity.
The suggestion of having someone “view” the property to test the water is worth considering.
Readytobuy, tell them your offer remains on the table at present. If the other bid isn’t genuine they’ll be back to you, if it is, it’ll shortly turn sale agreed. Seems like you don’t value the property that high so it would be immaterial to you. If I was a betting man, I’d wager they’re lying.
The cardinal rule is to trust no one. Then you won’t be dissappointed or frustrated. Set your limit and maintain your search for alternative properties.
No one knows for sure if the EA is telling the truth and those proferring opinions that they think he is telling the truth are either EA’s themselves or ?
Regardless , the 575k milestone remains. If true , well and good. If false , it just means that in order for EA to allow you to close the deal you’ll have to step up. This could be down solely to the EA or the Vendor not particularly interested in selling for below. The EA has indicated that the game is at 575 and is prepared for you to walk for less.
So if you’re interested , step up. If not , or don’t believe , then walk or make a lower bid. Either way in me experience the EA will not reduce from 575k but would reather let it sit for 6 months and grow hair rather than reducing. The annoying reality is , that if it does sit for 6 months and the EA decides that 575k is not realistic , thereby reducing it to say 520k , they will in all probability not get in contact with you again anyhow.
I’ve a friend who’s an EA and she constantly gets asked by (the few) people interested in bidding on houses how to avoid a bidding war, that they’re interetsed to purchase the house, but not interested in getting involved in a bidding war. You said the same. It’s pretty simple - if you don’t want to get involved, ask what’s the minimum they’re prepared to accept, and offer that amount - they either accept or they wont… If you do ask, and offer an amount less than that, then its you who changes the rules to that which you didn’t want to play in the first place.
If your query is “how do I secure the house for the least amount possible?”, then that’s a different ball of wax…
If you dont want a bidding war, dont get in a bidding war. You dont try and use your offers to feel out where the vendor is at, you just ask the EA and take it from there.
I don’t get why if there was only a bid on the table of €520k (yours) would someone offer their complete max of €575k? Sound dubious to me, but people do strange things.
If you were to bid and get the place for €580k, you may never know if you’ve been swindled out of €60k. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
There are some decent EA’s and some not so decent. It’s a horrible job, particularly in this climate. I’m not an EA, but I am heartily sick of the paranoid 16 year old type of postings on the forum recently.
Was interested in a house in late 2010, kept an eye on it for 6 months approx, number of price drops no bids. Made an offer in early 2011, was asking 560k, I offered 400k. Put offer in writing, no word back from EA so called him after a couple of days and he informed me there was another bid of 470k. So after 6 months of nothing someone outbid me within a day by 70k. The other bidder upped his bids in increments of 10k till he got to 500k (EA was looking for 520k, i left my bid at 400k). House sale agreed then sold within a couple of months.
I think the EA was more surprised by this persons actions than i was. You will come across some irrational behaviour out there and I wouldnt automatically put it down to EA BS. As per previous advice, have the figure your prepared to pay and walk when it goes past that, you wont have to worry about bidding wars of phantom bidders then.