Bidding on House & EA

Hi

I am just looking for some advice on dealing with estate agents. There are a few similar posts, so forgive me if my question has been answered previously.

My husband and I have found a house that we both love. The asking price is 390K. We are not first time buyers, however are not chain buyers as we will be renting our apartment. I have equity from the sale of my own property, so we are ready to go, with mortgage approval.

I made an offer of 370K, which was refused. The only response I got from the EA was that they weren't interested in my offer. I asked how low they are willing to go and she said that they are not.
After deliberating, we upped the offer to 375K. She said she would put it to them but didn't sound very interested in our bid. At this point there are no other bidders and to her credit, she has not pulled one out of the sky either. It appears that this property is an asset that the current owners are disposing of. It's currently rented to a relative, so they are not selling to buy.

I guess our final offer would be 381 to avoid paying too much stamp duty. I keep reading that it's a buyers market etc and that we should stand firm etc..
Because I haven't done this before, I was just wondering how to really play the EA? How long should you wait before bidding again? When do you place your final bid and how do you go about standing firm with them?

If anyone has experience of dealing with these guys who has bought a house that they really wanted and managed to get a bargain, your advice would be most welcome.

Thanks!

Why not just tell them €375K is your final offer and see what happens? You can still hold other bids up to €381K in reserve regardless.

Thank you.

I guess I will wait until they come back.
Everyone tells me that it's a psychological game with the Estate Agents, do you have any tips for dealing with them?
Also, given that the market has slowed down, do you think that the Estate Agent would be advising the vendor to take 375? She said that they mightn't sell if they don't get their asking price, but is that a line they all spin? (I guess every case is different, but isn't it in the interest of the EA to shift a property)?

Thanks

stick with your price hold tight and keep looking in the area. If the EA comes back again just say you are viewing other houses or that your going away for a week and turn your phone off. Play hard ball! be tough and hold out.

I'd hold tight. Check and see if there are other similar houses in the area and what they are selling for. Your in an ideal situation as you have your property sold and your living in a property that you are going to rent out so no rush in moving. Don't be afraid that you will lose this house. I'd ring back in a week or two if you haven't heard from them and see if they have an update, let them think that you have found another house that you are going to bid on.
Play them at their own game and best of luck.

Nancy1 said:

Thank you.

I guess I will wait until they come back.
Everyone tells me that it's a psychological game with the Estate Agents, do you have any tips for dealing with them?
Also, given that the market has slowed down, do you think that the Estate Agent would be advising the vendor to take 375? She said that they mightn't sell if they don't get their asking price, but is that a line they all spin? (I guess every case is different, but isn't it in the interest of the EA to shift a property)?

Thanks

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Tell them you want an answer in 48 hours or offer will be withdrawn as you are interested in another property.

guys thanks for the responses. It's great to get a different perspective on it. I've put in the offer so will wait until I hear or if I don't I will call and say I want to know as I am looking at another property and have negotiated a good price.

It just ain't easy!

Thanks again...

Nancy1 said:

guys thanks for the responses. It's great to get a different perspective on it. I've put in the offer so will wait until I hear or if I don't I will call and say I want to know as I am looking at another property and have negotiated a good price.

It just ain't easy!

Thanks again...

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Best of luck and remember "Whats for you won't pass you"

Nancy1 said:

Everyone tells me that it's a psychological game with the Estate Agents, do you have any tips for dealing with them?

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To be fair, the decision is down to the owner not with the EA.

EAs can play games to try and get a higher price (phantom bidders etc.) but if the owner isn't interested in a price, the EA can do very little to make them accept an offer. The EA only makes money from the deal if the sale goes ahead, so I wouldn't be surprised if they want the offer accepted as much as you do.

Sorry, i don't believe that for a second...
The EuroMillions jackpot of 115 million was for me, but then Dolores McNamara won it..

Next time maybe ;0)

foxylady said:

Best of luck and remember "Whats for you won't pass you"

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1. Opening offer was too high and then coming back immediately means the vendors have got the impression that they are offering great value and should sell for around the asking

2. EA has clearly picked up that you really want the place and can go very close to the asking price.....you are not financially stretched. They have figured they could get 390 from you etc

Remember the vendor probably was hoping the place was worth more. Vendor may just be placing a value on it ie they could be selling it to the relative. Most EAs would guide you to €381k at this point to sell and get commission and EA knows you would do this in a second...there could be another agenda.

If withdrawing the offer add the comment that you are really nervous about the market but leave the door open for EA to contact you as you do want to buy it.

Play them at their own game and best of luck.

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Unfortunately its not a game and as satanta said they don't have the final say. the problem you could be facing is the asking price might be low to pull in bids and the vendor may have stated a very exact min price requirement. EA's seem to take all the stick, but if people only realised how often vendors move the goalposts they might view things with a slightly differnet perspective.

On all property bids the main thing is to keep it at a comfortable level and don't go chasing a property as a 'dream' buy. i wouldn't advise putting a time limit on the offer unless the property has been there a considerable amount of time or unless you were actually going to withdraw and move on should it not be accepted. If you make the ultimatum and the offer is still not accepted and then go back in, it makes you look a bit foolish and also shows that there may be more to be gotten out of you.

As a rule now if a decent offer is made and a property looks like stagnating I would advise a vendor to seriously consider it, but the vendor will have the last word.

thanks Mr. Man,

You seem to giving advice from a EA point of view, which is great.
I am not pursuing this house as the dream buy, I am letting the head take over here but it does tick all the boxes for us.

From your point of view, if they came back and rejected the offer of 375, should we hold back for a while and then offer the 381 or make the offer as our final offer, take it or leave it. The house has been on the market since the start of June and there have been no bids at all. (Although it is the summer, which is generally slower anyway).
Do you think at an asking price of 390K they know that if there are non FTB, they most likely will bid to 381 and they would happily take that?
Although, as you say it's the vendors expections?
Our FA was saying that they would have to take that into account and are not likely to squeeze the extra money out of second time buyers, purely because of the stamp duty. He said the house would more than likely fetch closer to the 390 if priced enough over the stamp duty threshold.

I do know that another house in the area has dropped the asking price by 20K and the same houses are on sale without any offers for the last number of months, so the market in the area has slowed considerably.

Many thanks for the informative replies. It's good to get a variety of advice...

Hi Nancy1

To be honest I would hold back altogether for the moment because i would be guessing that they are of the mindset that the summer months like you said are slow and are hoping for their house to take off in September. You are right in that market activity is slow in the summer months, but this time i would feel that when activity picks up it won't mean that prices will be pushed up, more so that bids will come in on property that have been stagnating over the summer months like the one you are intersted in.

My advice on this one is to remove your offer from the table and sit back until the end of September and see has there been any movement on the property. If the house still hasn't attracted an offer they may be more inclined to listen and I would go back in with a lower offer c.€365,000 and see how they feel. This might seem risky, but you are in a strong position and are close to forcing yourself into a weak position by upping your offer. If the EA was encouraging you to up the offer to 381 it might suggest that the vendor would accept that, but to me it sounds like they have a figure in mind and won't shift their mindset. Another 6/8 weeks with no offer on the table will at least make them rethink their values and another consideration is that in the next 3/4 weeks you may see more properties coming onto the market as we tend to advise people to try and hold off putting property on till September. hope that all reads ok cause I know its easy to pass on advice, but i really do feel that your best bet is to go cold on this property until they lower their expectations or you see something nicer for less cash!

Those cheeky monkeys.
They are not "interested" in our offer..

Ok, next tactic..
Sit tight.. let them stew, as mr. man says there will be plenty of houses out there in September. If the house is still available in 6 -8 weeks, then we'll see if they have lowered their expectations.
I'm not going to panic and up the ante, that is playing into their hands.

thanks mr. Man for the great advice!!

hope it turns out to be great advice anyways!

I'm sure it will.
If not for this house, for others. I'm not that experienced. I was watching location location last night and all the things you said, they were saying, so you obviously know what you're on about.
Even with regards not to chasing a house and how we'd only price ourselves out of it.

Thanks!

Just to add:

Making statements like "take it or leave it" or "I'll withdraw the offer in 48 hours" are poor strategies, in my opinion. If they say no, and you subsequently approach them again, you're in a weak bargaining position.

What I'd do:

Leave your current offer on the table: even if they reject it, say it's still there. Then sit back and do nothing. Leave it a few weeks, and use the time to look for other possibilities. Then give them a call and ask is there any interest in them accepting your offer. If the answer's no, then ask are they willing to drop their asking price again. If they won't budge, then leave it another couple of weeks, and so on....

They'll eventually get the message you aren't willing to pay the asking price, in which case they'll either drop the price or take it off the market (assuming they haven't sold to someone else in the meantime).

ang1170 said:

Just to add:

Making statements like "take it or leave it" or "I'll withdraw the offer in 48 hours" are poor strategies, in my opinion. If they say no, and you subsequently approach them again, you're in a weak bargaining position.

What I'd do:

Leave your current offer on the table: even if they reject it, say it's still there. Then sit back and do nothing. Leave it a few weeks, and use the time to look for other possibilities. Then give them a call and ask is there any interest in them accepting your offer. If the answer's no, then ask are they willing to drop their asking price again. If they won't budge, then leave it another couple of weeks, and so on....

They'll eventually get the message you aren't willing to pay the asking price, in which case they'll either drop the price or take it off the market (assuming they haven't sold to someone else in the meantime).

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I wouldn't go chasing them - you are showing too much interest (i.e. are prepared to pay more). If they are interested in your offer, they will come to you. They will come to me, master? Yes, Lord Vader, they will!

Hi there,

I think in the current climate, to say the are not interested is being very arrogant, the very least they could turn around and say they'd meet you half way - a drop of E10,000-E15,000 in the present housing market is not too much to ask - then again everyone's circumstances are different it they may have the house pitched at a low price. I have my property for sale at the moment and if someone put an offer in I'd at least negoitate and try and reach a common ground, I'd be the first to admit hard though it is that it is a buyer's market. If I was in your position, sit tight and say at the moment you are not in the position to go any higher. Wish you all the best, if its for you, it will be - there are ALOT of houses out there, make the most of it and shop around.