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A buyers story - The joys of dealing with estate agents!

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    #62
    GER82
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭GER82


    swirlser wrote: »
    Just wanted to share what I think is an amazing story with you folks, with a message to both buyers and sellers...

    A friend of mine finally got sick of paying rent earlier this year and decided to buy. Hes reasonably clued in on the market (in fact thanks to him I sold my house in Aug '06 :pac:) and even though he was confident theres still room for a drop in price and a long, long road to recovery he just got fed up of rent and landlords and wanted a place for himself and his family...

    Ill get to the more interesting part now! He set his sights on a house with an asking price of 325k, obviously he had no intention on paying that price as other practically identical properties in the area were listed at 275k - and thats asking. But he was keen on the 325k property (kitchen was nicer and back garden was already done to his liking etc), so he made an offer of 250k and the estate agent pretty much laughed it off (agent rang next day to say offer was declined). He figured he would see how an offer of 250k would go on the house up the same street, it was accepted!

    Still actually keen on the 325k property, he decided to call around to the house and see if he could contact the owner to find out what sort of money he wanted now that he felt more confident that the asking price on the 325k property was genuinely inflated. The owner himself answered the door and was completely unaware an offer had been made at all!! While he wasnt delighted with the offer, he said he did see the house up the road for 275k and was going to contact the estate agent about adjusting his asking price. There was some back and forth, and thanks to the fact that my friend had an offer accepted of 250k on the virtually identical property he actually got the 325k property at 245k!

    Another interesting tid bit, the 275k property had its ad changed to 279k and *UNDER OFFER*! (Different estate agents from the 325k home)

    So, we have an estate agent trying to push up the price with the ad change and UNDER OFFER with the new higher price displayed - not that shocking tbh. But the 1st estate agent that took it upon themselves to reject an offer without even letting the seller know!! Really?!

    I cant honestly get my head around that!

    Sellers - get your neighbour or friend to call your estate agent and see how they are handling your property! (How long before call back/are they willing to view the property at a time that suits you etc).

    Buyers - shop around and HAGGLE!! It is still very much a buyers market and estate agents will continue to say that we've leveled off and its a great time to buy, meanwhile independent experts are saying the complete opposite.

    Use your own head, the worlds economy is still in the dog house and unemployment numbers here are still dire - how anyone can make a claim that house prices have hit rock bottom and keep a straight face is beyond me. I do honestly believe theres further to drop in prices, but if your seeking a HOME for yourself good luck to you and dont get caught up in estate agents lying through their teeth about the markets being not nearly as bad as reports make out and that the very property you are eye-balling has lots of interest.....

    That has given me some optimism!
    I'm looking at a house in a Dublin commuter town. It's valued at 350k- it's advertised as a 4 bed. However, it's a 3 bed. It's on the market for over a year. We would not be willing to buy at that price as its outside our budget. However, we have fallen for this house big time! Has anyone any idea of what we should bid for the house? How to ask the auctioneer what bids are on it or what to say! Our budget is 300-310k
    Many thanks, Geri.


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    #63
    Snakeblood
    Registered Users Posts: 4,466 ✭✭✭Snakeblood


    GER82 wrote: »
    That has given me some optimism!
    I'm looking at a house in a Dublin commuter town. It's valued at 350k- it's advertised as a 4 bed. However, it's a 3 bed. It's on the market for over a year. We would not be willing to buy at that price as its outside our budget. However, we have fallen for this house big time! Has anyone any idea of what we should bid for the house? How to ask the auctioneer what bids are on it or what to say! Our budget is 300-310k
    Many thanks, Geri.

    Offer them much less than 300. If it hasn't sold for a year, it's wildly overpriced. And check the register to see what things in the area are selling for.


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    #64
    GetWithIt
    Registered Users Posts: 2,081 ✭✭✭GetWithIt


    GER82 wrote: »
    That has given me some optimism!
    I'm looking at a house in a Dublin commuter town. It's valued at 350k- it's advertised as a 4 bed. However, it's a 3 bed. It's on the market for over a year. We would not be willing to buy at that price as its outside our budget. However, we have fallen for this house big time! Has anyone any idea of what we should bid for the house? How to ask the auctioneer what bids are on it or what to say! Our budget is 300-310k
    Many thanks, Geri.
    I was recently looking at a 4 bed which was really a 3 bed. I offered 3/4s of the asking price.


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