golden mean said:
Also, as one who has experienced selling a home, I too started out with the idea that EAs put in phantom bids etc but, once I had seen it from the other side I realised that most of them don't have that much imagination. They are basically out to earn their commission for as little work as possible and don't forget that a few grand on the price makes little or no difference to what they earn, but might delay it into the next accounting period and make their results look bad!
...remember they want what is best for THEM, not for the vendor.
I'm beginning to believe this is true. We are currently selling for the first time in Ireland and are not sure that the EA is acting in our best interests.
House on market for €275,000, within a week two interested parties had gone up to €295,000 and €296,000. We accepted the lower offer as they had loan approval and the higher bidder was in a chain and had only just gone sale agreed. The EA took the property off the market, i.e. off myhome.ie and told people calling that the property was sale agreed, but didn't get a deposit from the buyer. The buyer pulled out a week later and when the other bidder was contacted, he dropped his offer back to €275,000.
I got a friend to call the EA today with an enquiry about the house and they got the whole long convoluted story that there were two bidders, the price was up to €295,000, one pulled out and the price is back at €275,000 again. I think this is very unprofessional / negative of the EA to tell potential new buyers that it had been sale agreed and the sale fell through - why didn't they just say that it's new to the market and there is a current bid of €275,000?
Is it also normal practice to take a house completely off the market when just a verbal offer has been received? Surely this wouldn't be wise if a deposit hadn't been paid?
We've gone with a large nationwide EA and are astounded at the way in which the sale is being handled - although, never having sold in Ireland before - perhaps this is the norm?