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Estate agent mind games?

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  • 17-04-2014 10:58am
    #1
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭


    I rang about a house last Wed that we like and was told (not by negotiator) there were no offers (house on market 3 weeks) we put a low offer in that Thurs and low and behold the EA rang back last Mon evening with another bidder? offering 3k more I said I would get back to them. They rang yesterday and I said I had to discuss it and would get back to them on Thursday (my error I should not have been definate about day) anyway they EA rang again at 10.10 this morning I let it go to voicemail as my husband is saying we should wait until Tues (after Easter) let them stew so to speak. I am getting a whiff of deparation of the EA to move this along quick but we don't want to be rushed and get into a crazy bidding war like the old days where rationale goes out the window. I keep thinking it may be a ghost bidder that EA are making up as there were none for 3 wks or maybe they just rang everyone who viewed it after our offer and someone saw bid so low and put a bid on. What move do you think we should do we are going to put a bid on as we are still in budget do you think I should put it on today or wait till Tues :confused:


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    #2
    Barely There
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,481 ✭✭✭Barely There


    'Ghost Bids' are an urban legend. The EA would rather sell the house today at the price you offered than drag it on for a few weeks to get an extra few k's for the vendors. At the % the EA gets, it's just not worth the hassle.

    If you want the house and believe it is worth an increased bid, then do so.


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    #3
    No Pants
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,347 ✭✭✭No Pants


    Barely There wrote: »
    'Ghost Bids' are an urban legend.
    Really?


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    #4
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,140 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    is there an estate agent legislation/ code of practice re of 'ghost bids'?


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    #5
    Bigcheeze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,858 ✭✭✭Bigcheeze


    The reason there's another bid is that your bid forced other people who are interested to either sh1t or get off the pot.

    When I was selling my last house I had the EA telling me lots of people were interested but had no bids in the first month. Finally someone bid and I had three bids within 48 hours. Sale agreed a week later.


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    #6
    Barely There
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,481 ✭✭✭Barely There


    No Pants wrote: »
    Really?

    Yes.


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    #7
    The Megaphone
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭The Megaphone


    Barely There wrote: »
    'Ghost Bids' are an urban legend.

    You are either an EA or the son/daughter of an EA ;)


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    #8
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Deciding gonna let them wait for my bid on Tuesday nothing will be doing over Easter anyway. They will be closing at 5.00 in all fairness I couldnt see the seller wanting to close today. The EA I think is just being pushy they rang me yesterday after I said I would get back I told them I would ring them again and they rang again today at 10am it's like back off :mad: am trying to sort out stuff and I dont want to put a bid on until I am ready they can hold out now till Tuesday. Many's a time a bid would be put on and an EA can leave you hanging for days so they can wait now.


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    #9
    MouseTail
    Registered Users Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭MouseTail


    I don't understand your strategy, you said you would decide by Thursday, and now you are ignoring calls til Tuesday. If I were the EA or vendor, I would conclude you were no longer interested and proceed on that basis. I doubt the EA is playing mind games with you, €3k is worth about €30 to them.


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    #10
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    I defo intend to ring them early on Tues as nothing is going to be done between now and Tues. We know our budget and will not rise above it luckily we are in a position we can go quite higher that whats on the table at the moment so we will wait and see what the story is next week.


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    #11
    The Megaphone
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭The Megaphone


    miss choc wrote: »
    I defo intend to ring them early on Tues as nothing is going to be done between now and Tues. We know our budget and will not rise above it luckily we are in a position we can go quite higher that whats on the table at the moment so we will wait and see what the story is next week.

    How about this - when you call the EA on Tuesday, start off by apologising for not calling him -mention that your mother-in-law insisted ye to go look at another property...

    When he asks about it and what you thought of it - laugh it off saying it was way too close to her for your liking...

    Its all about the mind games...


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    #12
    foggy_lad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    miss choc wrote: »
    Deciding gonna let them wait for my bid on Tuesday nothing will be doing over Easter anyway. They will be closing at 5.00 in all fairness I couldnt see the seller wanting to close today. The EA I think is just being pushy they rang me yesterday after I said I would get back I told them I would ring them again and they rang again today at 10am it's like back off :mad: am trying to sort out stuff and I dont want to put a bid on until I am ready they can hold out now till Tuesday. Many's a time a bid would be put on and an EA can leave you hanging for days so they can wait now.
    It looks like Estate Agenst are trying to hold auctions for houses by getting buyers to get their bids in asap!


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    #13
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Yeah they are quick enough to leave you hanging so figured one day more wont hurt them I will let them know on Tues and make up some lame excuse I can be civil to them but not all nicey nicey :) at the end of the day they just want a sale and hopefully that they can put your house on their list to make more money. The number of EA I used to get saying they would give me a free valuation and all the perks of selling with them whilst I was viewing houses.


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    #14
    Hillybilly4
    Registered Users Posts: 609 ✭✭✭Hillybilly4


    Dying for an update!


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    #15
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    We put in another bid in yesterday EA came back with higher bid gonna wait today and chat with hubby and leave it hanging till late tomorrow don't want this moving too fast. We want to look at another house tomorrow too so trying to be calm re the bidding lot of people got fingers burnt bidding too quick and too high in the tiger days.


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    #16
    No Pants
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,347 ✭✭✭No Pants


    miss choc wrote: »
    We put in another bid in yesterday EA came back with higher bid
    So the other "bidder" didn't even think about it and just raised the bid right away? Highly dubious.


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    #17
    NewRunnerRoy
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭NewRunnerRoy


    How is it the estate agent playing mind games here? They have informed you of offers above yours and tried to get an idea of your position before a long weekend to report back to their client.

    If anyone is playing games it is you.


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    #18
    limnam
    Registered Users Posts: 9,152 ✭✭✭limnam


    put your bid to them advise them it's your final bid and is live for 5 days and for them only to get back to you if it's accepted.

    Then move on.


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    #19
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Previous poster yes that is a sensible way of looking at it I dont want this over and back crap as op said it was very quick for the other bidder? to come in, it's hard to tell if there "is" another bidder and EA or seller are just biding their time. We can afford to go a bit higher there are limited houses out there in our area and the ones we like go way high so hard to walk away on the ones we do like that are within our price range we have budgeted carefully and done the sums so hopefully either this house or the one we will go to view tomorrow.
    So so the saga continues for another day.


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    #20
    GavMan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭GavMan


    How much higher are the other bids?

    If they're just 1 or 2 grand, they're probably genuine. If they're big like 5 or 10 grand, I'd be sceptical.

    I do believe ghost bidding does take place but an EA is probably not going to ghost bid a grand or 2. That's only 10 or 20 quid extra to them in commish. There's no point to it. But if an EA thought they could squeeze an extra 20 or 30 grand out of you, that's 2 or 300 quid typically. A little bit more worth his while...


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    #21
    Bigcheeze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,858 ✭✭✭Bigcheeze


    limnam wrote: »
    put your bid to them advise them it's your final bid and is live for 5 days and for them only to get back to you if it's accepted.

    Then move on.

    Crap strategy.


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    #22
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    We bid then they went up by 3k we went up by 2k then today they went up by 2k EA told us they have viewed the house duh probably just to convince us that there is a genuine bidder which tbh think there is. Just weird on first viewing loads then no bids for 2 wks until we started ball rolling. At least it's not jumping in 5/10k in a matter of hours like the scary old days.


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    #23
    No Pants
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,347 ✭✭✭No Pants


    Bigcheeze wrote: »
    Crap strategy.
    What exactly is crap about it?


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    #24
    lau1247
    Registered Users Posts: 2,129 ✭✭✭lau1247


    GavMan wrote: »
    How much higher are the other bids?

    If they're just 1 or 2 grand, they're probably genuine. If they're big like 5 or 10 grand, I'd be sceptical.

    I do believe ghost bidding does take place but an EA is probably not going to ghost bid a grand or 2. That's only 10 or 20 quid extra to them in commish. There's no point to it. But if an EA thought they could squeeze an extra 20 or 30 grand out of you, that's 2 or 300 quid typically. A little bit more worth his while...

    I would be cautious and wouldn't rule out ghost bidding.. Few grand here and few grand there.. a bit of back and forth and suddenly you might have 15-20K over the original bid price..

    I'm sure by this stage EA would be smart enough to keep the increase reasonably modest just to bait people in.. that's just my opinion

    West Dublin, ☀️ 7.83kWp ⚡5.66 kWp South West, ⚡2.18 kWp North East



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    #25
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    so hard to tell I would like to think they are not doing that as have a good reputation but they are estate agents who am I kidding :) they are only in it for themselves and hoping you will sell your house with them. If it's a slow seller they may be doing just that as well as dredging up the people who viewed it weeks ago.


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    #26
    TheDriver
    Registered Users Posts: 12,414 ✭✭✭✭TheDriver


    Just keep to your max, increase slowly and stall a few days. Also look at other houses and keep options open


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    #27
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Yes not ringing them today only putting a bid on when they ring me and looking at another house this afternoon too.


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    #28
    acer911
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭acer911


    Ok so look at it this way, say the estate agent charges a 2.5% commission on a house. Value of the house is €350,000. Thus if they sold the house they would get €8,750. If you initial bid was at this level and as you are saying it increased by 3k, then 2k, then 2k then after a week the price is at €357,000 – commission €8,925. An extra €175 for the estate agent for all that extra work, pushing out the time-frame and all the while running the risk of losing you as a bidder for the house and having no fall back – thus no commission as the “ghost” bidder isn't buying the house.

    In reality there is not too much of an incentive for the estate agent to work in the favour of the seller as the first offer will nearly always be best for them to take – they get the cash in and don’t have to go through any work of dealing with bidders and showing other's around the house, that is assuming the price isn't increasing in tens of thousands per bid.

    So looking at it purely from an impartial view and using basic common sense I would say the existence of a “ghost” bidder in your case is low.
    Hope this is of help to you.


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    #29
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Thanks makes me feel a little better tbh they are reputable and a lot of houses around the areas are selling with them we bought the house we are in now off them no problems. Put in another bid at lunchtime so we will see.


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    #30
    limnam
    Registered Users Posts: 9,152 ✭✭✭limnam


    acer911 wrote: »
    Ok so look at it this way, say the estate agent charges a 2.5% commission on a house. Value of the house is €350,000. Thus if they sold the house they would get €8,750. If you initial bid was at this level and as you are saying it increased by 3k, then 2k, then 2k then after a week the price is at €357,000 – commission €8,925. An extra €175 for the estate agent for all that extra work, pushing out the time-frame and all the while running the risk of losing you as a bidder for the house and having no fall back – thus no commission as the “ghost” bidder isn't buying the house.

    In reality there is not too much of an incentive for the estate agent to work in the favour of the seller as the first offer will nearly always be best for them to take – they get the cash in and don’t have to go through any work of dealing with bidders and showing other's around the house, that is assuming the price isn't increasing in tens of thousands per bid.

    So looking at it purely from an impartial view and using basic common sense I would say the existence of a “ghost” bidder in your case is low.
    Hope this is of help to you.

    An estate agent will basically do what he's told


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    #31
    miss choc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭miss choc


    Seller is in for a long wait if they think they will get to asking price. Though bidder might be happy to keep going up and up we have a limit though and will walk away at the moment we are ok. Mind games can drive you crazy :rolleyes: I guess if the other bidder backs out and there is no other offers only us they have the choice of taking our bid price or taking it off market for a while, it's all a waiting game now.


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