Possible false bids on a house?

W

WhatsGoingOn

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Hi,

I am interested in buying a house. I know the house has been on the market for a few months, so was planning on bidding 10% under the asking price. The asking price is 570,000, so I was planning on bidding 520k. When I went to look at the house the Estate Agent said the house is on the market 2 weeks (which I know is not true) and that there is a bid of 550k on it. I have a feeling this is also not true. Can you get Estate Agents to prove that there is a bid on the house? (I'm sure you probably can't, but just asking in case anyone else has had a similar experience)

Thanks.
 
Hi there,

The only way I would do it is to call the EAs bluff and say you're not interested at that price, be honest and tell him you heard the property has been on the market a while - see the reaction. Worth a try.
 
Or tell the auctioneer you are interested in another house as well and that you will put in a bid for the other house as it's better value.

Brendan
 
Or tell him that you're disappointed as you were planning to bid "just below" the current bid. But seeing as this won't be of any use, you're heading off to bid on a different property in the area. See how long it takes for the alternative bid to vanish.
 
Scream hysterically down the phone. Break down in tears. Tell the agent that this is the property for you, your dream property and that you would literally kill to get it.

Then bid 521K. No point appearing too eager.
 
Maybe the owner has told the Estate Agent that he will not consider anything under 550K, so the EA has told you that there is a bid of 550 to sort out those who he can really sell to. The owner may be very calm and willing to wait to get his price. There is no way you can tell if it's a real bid. You can still tell the Estate Agent you would be interested at 520K and if the sale at 550 falls through to come back to you. If you really want the house you'd better bid 551.
 
Ignore the EA altogether. Go straight to the owner and tell him that you are being messed around by the EA, that he has told you lies and here's your bid. If its not an owner occupier leave a letter in the door outlinging the position.

The EA won't like it but so what. He's not your friend and neither are you paying him. He's just an overpaid salesman employed by the vendor and he contributes nothing to you.

Murt
 
Brendan said:
Or tell the auctioneer you are interested in another house as well and that you will put in a bid for the other house as it's better value.
Brendan
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If there are indeed other properties for sale on the same street/area, I would certainly use this for leverage. One of them will be willing to negotiate.
 
I thought that I read here somewhere on another thread some time ago that you are entitled to see the 'bid book' or was I just dreaming.....

I know that I had a bid of 150K on a small investement property a few years ago and the lady who bought it claims that she got it for €129K... seems very odd to me...
 
Just tell the EA that your bid of 520 stands, and to get back in touch if the 550 bid falls through.
 
Brendan said:
Or tell the auctioneer you are interested in another house as well and that you will put in a bid for the other house as it's better value.

Brendan
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone.
Was thinking of doing what Brendan said beforehand, so will probably go ahead with that. I will ask the EA to let me know if the bid falls through because I am still interested, but not at the current price (which is true).
 
Have read that if the EA is legit or registered,they have a bidding book which they write the bids into and you can request to have a look at them!
 
mad m said:
Have read that if the EA is legit or registered,they have a bidding book which they write the bids into and you can request to have a look at them!
Click to expand...

This is not true - just a delightful urban myth. They are under no obligation to produce evidence to a potential purchaser of the reality or otherwise of an alleged bidder.

mf
 
Just be straight with him, tell him you have been monitoring the market over the last number of months and you know that it has been on the market for x number of months. Explain that you know that he is trying to do his job, but you are a serious client and when he is ready to discuss a serious offer on the property to contact you and you may negotiate a price or not whichever the case may be. TBH he seems naive to try and say its only on 2 weeks if it has in fact been on a number of months because most people do now monitor their area of choice.

Regarding proof of bids, if you have reason to believe he is being dishonest you can report it to IAVI IPAV whichever he is a member of and they may ask to see the record of the bids as members are required to keep on file the date name and price of each bid for each home
 
MrMan that's fantastic, so if the professional body come calling the EA just writes in his brother in law's name with the correct bid and date :)

If the house has been for sale for some time then maybe this is a new EA who has been selling it for 2 weeks.
 
MrMan that's fantastic, so if the professional body come calling the EA just writes in his brother in law's name with the correct bid and date
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Its not foolproof, but how can bids be kept in a manner that will keep people happy, it would be fair to say that any thread whereby somebody is in a bidding war people straight away assume that the EA is using dirty tricks instead of the far more likely scenario that more than one person likes the house!

If people make assumptions i.e whats the point, they'll only make up a name then the situation is never going to improve and the actual dirty dealers are never going to be rooted out.
 
Dont see what the problem is here ? You're interested in the house but only if it's at 520k so offer 520k and if the EA says there's a bid of 550k then walk away or offer higher. Its immaterial how long the house is on the market apart from the fact that you want to feel you've got a bargain.
 
MrMan said:
Its not foolproof, but how can bids be kept in a manner that will keep people happy, it would be fair to say that any thread whereby somebody is in a bidding war people straight away assume that the EA is using dirty tricks instead of the far more likely scenario that more than one person likes the house!

If people make assumptions i.e whats the point, they'll only make up a name then the situation is never going to improve and the actual dirty dealers are never going to be rooted out.
Click to expand...


I suggest you use APTI (www.apti.ie) If anyone reads my previous posts they will see that I suffered at the hands of a dishonest estate agent but if you believe that all estate agents are the same then this is a fundamental mistake, keep the faith and you will find a nice home within your budget just as we have. Regards, Jamie
 
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