Estate agents telling you "there is an offer on that of €....."

Tigger

As was mentioned on another thread the estate agents of Ireland would have you. Slow e that there is an offer of 10% below asking on every house on the market. Seems to apply equally to rentals; so I propose that we simply adopt the answer " oh well plenty more fish in the sea"

Zamboni

Irish people don't know how to haggle or negotiate.
Estate agents rely on this ignorance.
Know your limit for a property, make your offer.
Don't get attached and be prepared to walk away.
Ignore any information about other bidders because they are utterly irrelevant.

zulfikarMD

Tigger wrote: »

As was mentioned on another thread the estate agents of Ireland would have you. Slow e that there is an offer of 10% below asking on every house on the market. Seems to apply equally to rentals; so I propose that we simply adopt the answer " oh well plenty more fish in the sea"

Put the offer which you think is best. Forget about asking and offers received by EA.

P. Breathnach

zulfikarMD wrote: »

Put the offer which you think is best. Forget about asking and offers received by EA.

I strongly agree with the second sentence.

I'd quibble with the first. In my opinion, it is a good idea to offer a bit less than you are prepared to go. You might get lucky. If you don't, there is room to increase your offer.

EmerBaggott

As a soon to be first time buyer how much of a difference should I at first offer/put a bid in. For examole the house is advertised as being for sale at 330,000. What should I start off with as an offer? Cherts everyone

Slydice

Congradulate them on having the offer. Tell them that if the offer falls through, that you are interested at a level of [insert the amount you were going to offer, maybe minus 5k or 10k)

Tigger

EmerBaggott wrote: »

As a soon to be first time buyer how much of a difference should I at first offer/put a bid in. For examole the house is advertised as being for sale at 330,000. What should I start off with as an offer? Cherts everyone

more detail would help

P. Breathnach

EmerBaggott wrote: »

As a soon to be first time buyer how much of a difference should I at first offer/put a bid in. For examole the house is advertised as being for sale at 330,000. What should I start off with as an offer? Cherts everyone

The asking price is not a magic number. You can find two very similar houses with very different asking prices because one seller is wildly optimistic and the other is realistic.

One house advertised an €330k might achieve a final price of €300k+; another might get little more than €200k. You need to consider a good number of properties on sale, even ones that you would not be seriously interested in, so that you can get a feel for what is a realistic asking price. That realistic price might be 25% below what is actually being asked by optimistic sellers.

My guess is that properties tend to sell for about 90% of realistic asking prices.

Your opening bid should normally be a bit below what you are prepared to pay. That gives you some bargaining room. Don't increase your offer too readily.

Milk & Honey

P. Breathnach wrote: »

T
My guess is that properties tend to sell for about 90% of realistic asking prices.

Then the asking prices are overstated by 10% and are not realistic. It is only by putting bids on a few houses and seeing which ones are successful that an ability to value can be developed.

ToxicPaddy

Unfortunately most EAs are still talking through their a*se about prices and supposed offers.

Decide your budget, stick to it and place your offer.. if the EA comes back with the "oh I've just had another offer" and its above your budget, walk away.

My family are in construction and property, the amount of times they heard this line and caught EAs trying to pull a fast one never ceases to amaze me.

One house in particular is a prime example, a family member put in a one time only offer for 20% below asking as the asking price was crazy, EA actually laughed at them and claimed a much higher offer was received.. 3 years later, house still on the market for exactly what the offer from by family member was. They have approached them 4 times to see if they are still interested.. idiots!!

P. Breathnach

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Then the asking prices are overstated by 10% and are not realistic.

They are realistic in the sense that they are in the right ballpark.

It is only by putting bids on a few houses and seeing which ones are successful that an ability to value can be developed.

So by the time you have bought about ten houses you might be expert? An expensive learning strategy.

riclad

LOOK at ten similar houses for sale in the area, same size,spec, no of rooms, that,ll tell you if sale price is realistic, some area s houses go for 200 to 300k.
SAY house is 300, i,d offer 250, 260 ,no need to be embarrassed about bidding too low.
ITS a buyers market.
JUST because they have a 280k, mortgage on the house does,nt mean its worth 280k.
You have to think how much will i be happy to pay for the house,don,t
go above that number.

noxqs

Estate agents always lie.

Always.

Look at their whole profession - it's not just pitching its "the truth with modifications"..

"A stones throw from <x>" .. With a trebuchet.
"Lovely house in need of minor repairs" .. Would be easier to bulldoze and build new.

etc.etc.

I'd believe a Dublin gangsters alibi story in court before I'd believe a single word coming out of an Estate Agents mouth. Phantom bidder - In this market? 9 times out of 10.

Milk & Honey

P. Breathnach wrote: »

They are realistic in the sense that they are in the right ballpark.

So by the time you have bought about ten houses you might be expert? An expensive learning strategy.

There is no need to buy them. Some bids will succeed, some will fail. After making bids and seeing the houses sold for a higher figure it is easy to become very accurate. That is what i did. I was able to value houses in particular locations to about 1.5%.

riclad

Most houses gone down 50 per cent since the peak price,some country areas even more,,theres no need, to make bids on ten houses,look at myhome.ie ,daft.ie ,advertised price is just what the seller thinks ,i might get.Especially if you have cash,its a buyers market.
IN A certain area there may be a shortgage ,eg if you want a 4bed house in rathmines ,you may need to pay abit more.

Lantus

"A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it."

There is no such thing as too small or large and offer on a property. Each property has it's own story like its area, length on market, how eager seller is to complete and what mortgage value they need to cover OR how much of a hit they would be willing to take in terms on debt carried forward.

Do some research and look at comparables, how many properties have sold recently and in what condition, what else can you get for your money a mile or 5 miles away?

Any % is by default just a very very very rough guide. Aiming 10, 20, 30 or even 40%+ under the asking price is fine in the current market if you think it's justified. All they can say is no.

There are hundreds if not thousands of people trying to sell or looking to sell. People might not even have their house on the maket because they may feel like it's not worth it. If I had a an area or estate in mind I'd be inclined to leafet drop just on the off chance someone was interested. You never know.

zulfikarMD

I have been looking for 3 bed semi-detached in Dublin 15 (Castleknock, Laurel Lodge, Carpenterstown, Luttrellstown) area for quite a good time with no luck. Made reasonable offer on couple but EA not seem to bother about cash/mortage and trying to get near asking price. Some EA's are exclusive to that part of Dublin and they seem to be worst to deal with.

Nabber

When viewing houses ignore the, there is a bid in on this house, in fact if you question the estate agent on it you'll find that they will drop the issue.

The last house I went to view, the estate agent told me there was a bid in for the asking price. When I told her I had no interest in the house anymore as I would not bid anything close to the asking price, she then told me 'But I don't think he is a serious bidder, to which I replied 'I don't think he exsist'

The problem with alot of people is, they forget it's their money. I always put a bid in that is atleast 25% less.

As for the 'lies' from the estate agent. If you buy a house on their word. Well then you only have yourself to blame.

riclad

IF you are the highest bidder, at some point your bid will be accepted.Whether a phantom bidder exists or not.With the net,myhome.ie etc its easy enough to see whats a fair price for a 3 bed semi in an area.IF the estate agent says ,i got bid at asking price,well its risky for him.IF hes lying ,you, may decide to drop out.And he ,s lost you as a possible buyer.
Offer 270 as a first offer.if you think its worth 270.
if you offer a fair price,that the seller is happy with ,you,ll probably be accepted.ITS Like poker,i think in most areas now there,s maybe 2 serious bidders on the average house.
silffikarMD i,d advise you to bid on 1 house ,each week, eventually you,ll get accepted by someone who wants a quick sale, if your bid is realistic.