Bidding against yourself

3

3-bed-semi

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Hi, I am currently bidding on a house. I think I am bidding against myself. I have a deposit on a new house but would prefer this 2nd hand house. The auctioneer said that he was going to put the bids received to the owner & recommend my bid despite it being lower than one of the other bids.
She also said that she was going to give me another opportunity to bid once the owner made his mind up, i.e. before telling the successful bidder.

1. Why would he recommend my bid?
(The other bidder is not selling another house, so 2 straight forward buyers)

2. I thought the owner would only want to hear the highest bid (where both were straight buying customers).
(If I was selling my house I would only want to hear the highest figure, as I said the other buyer is ready to move straight away, as are we, although I reckon the other buyer is fictional)
3. There was meant to be a viewing last night done on the house, I was there stalking the house, no viewing took place. But magically a new bidder has joined the race. I only put my bid in a 4.30pm yesterday.
Any opinions?
 
This happened to us when we were bidding on a house the estate agent said there was another bidder but he would push it our way because we were ftb and ready to move and he said if we put a bid of x amount in the seller would accept we said no way and then that changed his tune so i wouldnt trust them but then again you just dont know. Other estate agents seemed honest enough about the bids on other houses
 
Any other agent I have dealt with so far seemed to be quite honest about other bids, but I just got this feeling from this particular agent.
 
Very same happened to us.
We bid on a house from €230K all the way up to €265K and our bid was eventaully accepted. Compared to the 'other persons' bid of €260

Then we decided about a week later that we had bid too much and told the estage agent we were withdrawing. He asked us how high was the highest we could go so we said €245K and it was accepted.

Now, having thought about it we decided we had been conned (how did it drop to 245 when the other bidder had bid 260 a week before) and went back and reduced our bid to €225 and guess what.
It got accepted again and we went through with the sale.
We nearly cost ourselves €40K because the estate agent could see how much we liked the house and took advantage of it.
 
All I can say to that last poster is WOW!

I'm about to put a bid on a house and this scares the bejaysus out of me!
This house must have been on its own as if it was in an estate you would have a good idea of the value from previous houses going for sale there.
 
Fair play to you minion for having the courage to reduce your bid and risk losing the house. I've seen advice on these boards a number of times saying that you should decide what the house is worth to you and don't bid above that level - just goes to show that this is true!
 
I wonder would it be possible for people to provide the names of the estate agents involved in such scenarios.

For example, if minion was able to include the estate agent's name and company in his/her post I don't see how this could be libelous as it is merely a factual account of actual events. The reader would then be in the position to make up their own mind based on the facts as to whether they would like to deal with that estate agent should they encounter them in the future.

I think this would require close monitoring by the mods to ensure no libelous comments or made, but if it is done on a purely factual basis I think this could provide a very useful service to the AAM reader.
 
The very best thing I did was I put a booking deposit on a new house that I really liked as well. We were originally looking out for one of these houses a few weeks ago, one eventually came up. So if I lose the above 2nd hand house I don't care as much now, I'd be very happy with the new one.
When the agent rang me I told them the truth (which must have been a shock!) that I wasn't prepared to go any higher on the house as it would eat into my renovation budget. If I couldn't renovate it I wasn't interested in it. The new one would require no renovation (OK all the floors but you know what I mean).

I like this 2nd hand house a bit better though, more space, & 20k cheaper, that's including stamp duty. I'm expecting a call at 4pm on Friday, my next thought now is to follow Minion's route....don't know if I have the guts though
 
I used another agent a few years ago for an apartment, but the only estate agent i ever bought a house from was propertyteam in swords. Thats not libelous is it.
 
It seems to me that it is often the case that there may be one more bidders. A selling agent is working on the vendors behalf, and with any experience will know the body language of his one or many purchasers.

Therefore if you are entering such a situation:

- work out in advance just how high you will go;
- if there is a number of you and its going up in dribs and drabs, be prepared to 'trump' with a final offer;
- leave it at that and tell the Agent, thats it, no more.

Often you have no idea whether there are 'phantom' players or not.

But you have to know the max before you start. And dont get into nonsense of being in love with the house. There are 1.4 million of them.
 
Feel strange defending estate agents, but "phantom bidders" can also be:
- people who change their mind (or see something else they prefer).
- people who don't like the results of a survey & withdraw the bid
- people whose mortgage application is rejected.
- people who've been bidding simultaneously on multiple properties.

The bidding process when selling by private tender is not binding.
 
Hi,

Just in response to Tiger who was stating a case for the estate agents.
Myself and my girlfriend were looking at a house in Naas and we made a gid of
230,000 on it but the estate agent told us that it wouldn't go for less than 235,000. I rang the following day and asked had there been a bid and they said there was a bid of 232,000. So I said fair enough and put a bid of 233,000 on it because we wanted it. Rang a few hours later, bid was gone up to 234,000.
Then I got my girlfriend to phone, pretending to be someone else and she was told the bid was at 233,000 (my bid). So apparently the first cousin of Harvey the Rabbit had outbid me. This was a prominent estate agent in the middle of Naas.

So be under no illusions my friends.
 
Estate agents are just like any other salesman, they will tell you what you want to hear, make up any type of scenario to either get a higher commission or to get some commission quickly.



When I buy property, I just switch off and make my own mind up and do my own homework within the area. Estate agents, Car salesmen, Property Agents, Travel Agents, just about any sales agent all want commission and will do anything to get it. This include lying through their teeth

It is an unregulated, onerous process, which has no transparency, what so ever and can leave the buyer very open to abuse , which from my experinec is wuite often the norm rather than the exception.
 

WGT, I have no doubt that your story is not uncommon. I found the experience when dealing with estate agents myself unpleasant. But I do know people who went sale agreed on a property and then subsequently withdrew for some of the reasons I listed.
 


Ahhhh, have just picked myself up off the ground after reading that, minion, It must be one very very special house that you didnt walk away from these idiots, I would have strung them along while I looked elsewhere and then have told them to get lost at the last minute. It is very hard to believe there was another bidder that fell out and even if it was so, they left the price stand at a price made up of a bid that no longer existed, insane.
Did you go back and confront these people after you purchased? (I know you cant prove anything but at least let them know how you feel)
 
ref this thread, what about auctions? They are becoming increasingly common, even for 2bed properties in certain parts of Dublin. At least at an auction you can see that you are not just bidding against yourself - or has anyone ever known of "plants" at an auction?
 
I'd worry about this - it would leave ourselves open to agents registering to slam their opposition and/or promote themselves. The only way I'd see that this could work would be if posters were to publically identify themselves, i.e. not hide behind pseudonyms.

Note that it's very easy to slam to agents, but remember that the agent's job is the get the maximum price for the vendor.
 
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