Bidding on house

vgrainge · 04-09-2012 9:10am #1

I’ve a bid on a house, for 5 weeks I’ve being highest bidder until recently. Now a new bidder has bid 6k more which i taught was a very large sum to increase by in this day and age so obviously taught this was the ea and a Phantom bidder. But now ive heard that the people who bid are genuine but do not have mortgage approval yet.
Just wondering what course of action I should take?
Thanks in advance

Ritchi · 04-09-2012 9:14am

If they don't have mortgage approval, you can't be sure how genuine they are. I'd let the EA to let you know when they have confirmed that they can prove funds, and hold tight until then.

Also let them know that you are ready to move quickly, they may of of advantage to them depending on their circumstance.

vgrainge · 04-09-2012 9:21am

Cheers Ritchi...thanks for the advice...will do that, ea was saying if we offer a little more the house would be ours! But think ill wait it out just like you said.

D3PO · 04-09-2012 9:34am

Id echo what Richie has said.

Stick to your bid tell the EA the offer remains on the table for 2 more weeks and point out that you have approval and are ready to go. In this day and age a seller woudl be mad to accept the increased bid from somebody without approval.

If they dont come back to you in two weeks move on to anothe rproperty. Plenty more out there.

killers1 · 04-09-2012 9:38am

I think I'd suggest the opposite to Ritchi to be honest. Why wait around till the other bidder is in a stronger position to push to price up? Take advantage of the fact that they don't have finance arranged and tell the EA that your offer is valid till the end of the week and ask do they want to accept your 'ready to go' offer or are they prepared to wait for a bid from someone who may/may not get mortgage approval...You can always come back into the bidding if your offer is not accepted but at least you've tried to force their hand now...

vgrainge · 04-09-2012 9:41am

Will do thaks for the advice lads

odds_on · 04-09-2012 11:32am

killers1 wrote: »

I think I'd suggest the opposite to Ritchi to be honest. Why wait around till the other bidder is in a stronger position to push to price up? Take advantage of the fact that they don't have finance arranged and tell the EA that your offer is valid till the end of the week and ask do they want to accept your 'ready to go' offer or are they prepared to wait for a bid from someone who may/may not get mortgage approval...You can always come back into the bidding if your offer is not accepted but at least you've tried to force their hand now...

I'd go along with killer1 on this. However, if you have "fallen in love" with the property, you are your own worst enemy.

Tell the EA that your current offer stands as ready to go, for 7 days. After that, your offer will be withdrawn and thereafter, you may consider offering, say 5k less than your current offer.

Ritchi · 04-09-2012 11:54am

killers1 wrote: »

I think I'd suggest the opposite to Ritchi to be honest. Why wait around till the other bidder is in a stronger position to push to price up? Take advantage of the fact that they don't have finance arranged and tell the EA that your offer is valid till the end of the week and ask do they want to accept your 'ready to go' offer or are they prepared to wait for a bid from someone who may/may not get mortgage approval...You can always come back into the bidding if your offer is not accepted but at least you've tried to force their hand now...

Yeah, I'd agree with that. The main point is to not accept the other bid as a valid bid, and do not try and outbid it. At least until they can prove they have the funds.

Independance · 04-09-2012 12:02pm

I'd say hold tight! Same thing happend to us about 3 weeks ago, we were only bidders on house for week/10 days, then when we finally settled on price a "private bidder" approched the family and bid 10k more than us and apparently paid a deposit the next morning. I phoned ea this week as this house is still on website as "for sale" not sale agreed and ea told me they're awaiting approval but going ahead. I find this v strange and I'm holding out!

P. Breathnach · 04-09-2012 12:05pm

Ritchi wrote: »

Yeah, I'd agree with that. The main point is to not accept the other bid as a valid bid, and do not try and outbid it. At least until they can prove they have the funds.

The problem is that you can't know whether they get loan approval or not - you don't even know if they exist!

I'm quite interested in this:

... ea was saying if we offer a little more the house would be ours...

How could the EA know that? In particular, how could he know that the other party would not compete and bid again?

I'm reading phantom bidder. But it's easy for me, because I am not looking to buy a house. My nerves aren't jangling.

jimmycrackcorm · 04-09-2012 12:46pm

The other bidder may also be in no panic - expecting that the op might withdraw anyway and then counter that "approval" was finally for a smaller offer. I'd hold off and also look around for other options.

Tommytwotimes · 04-09-2012 12:56pm

The fact that you are approved for a mortgage is to your advantage. As noted in the papers this morning, 4 out of 5 mortgages are being refused and only 3,211 were issued in the first half of this year. Anyone can come in and name their price so to speak when they are looking to buy a property, but they may not get a mortgage from a bank.
Give them a deadline that your offer will stand for, maybe end of the week or 7 days as suggested, the EA may just be seeing if he can squeeze more money out of you, as he is essentially working for the vendor of the property.
There is going to be more activity in the mortgage market until the end of the year as any mortgages drawn down before then will receive tax relief on the mortgage payments, after that it will cease for any new homeloans.

Best of luck, buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you will make, so don't let someone dictate to you that doesn't have your best interests at heart.

vgrainge · 05-09-2012 11:38am

Well we've stuck to our original offer, just have to see what happens now!

Idbatterim · 05-09-2012 1:24pm

But now ive heard that the people who bid are genuine but do not have mortgage approval yet.

who told you this?

vgrainge · 05-09-2012 2:54pm

Idbatterim wrote: »

who told you this?

Small area everybody knows everybodys business!

RATM · 05-09-2012 6:37pm

vgrainge wrote: »

Well we've stuck to our original offer, just have to see what happens now!

While telling the agent that an offer stands until X date can work be aware that it can backfire too.

I think an equally good strategy is to go view other houses and let your agent know you are thinking of putting an offer on another place that you've 'fallen in love with' (as well as the property he is selling though never tell them you've "fallen in love" with it. As soon as the agent realises he might lose commission he will put pressure on the seller to close on your sale rather than waiting to see if the others get mortgage approval. You are a sure bet whereas the other person is far from it and he will only get about €100 extra commission for getting an extra €6k for them so it makes financial sense for him to close on your offer but it often takes the potential of actually losing the sale to wake them up to this fact.

Bidding on house

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