Bidding increments

m6219

I have just been told by an EA that a bid offer increase has to be "in the 1000s". So the story is we have been told that there is an offer of asking price on the property, 245,000, which we are skeptical of as there were "no offers on the table" last Saturday (before that they said there was an offer of 242,000, but didnt say what happened with that) and then an offer of asking price on Tuesday? Why would someone offer asking price when there are no other offers.
We thought about it all week and as we really want the house, rather than wait another while and it possibly going sale agreed, thought that we would offer same or a little above as it may be a real offer, we just dont know, and we don't want to risk not getting it for the sake or 1 or 2k.
So we offered the same with a view that we may be in a favourable position to the other bidder (we are first time buyers and ready to go) and the EA said the other party are in the same position and that they wouldn't take equal bid. We then offered 245,500 and he said that an increase would have to be in the 1000s! So we said we would get back to him..
My question is has anyone here ever been told this and is it common or total bullsh*t as I suspect?
I am aware that there may be no other offer on it at all but we have been getting a friend to call the EA main office number the last couple of days to enquire as to whether there are any offers on it and they are not answering their phone.
We could try calling his bluff but really don't want to risk losing it. But my gut feeling is the EA knows we are interested as we had a builder look at it so he is trying to rush us into it. It's been on the market a few months now.
Thoughts/advice?

XrayMike235

Total bull****, offer €239 and tell them the offer will decrease by €1000 every week. You have to be prepared to walk away, if he knows you want the house at any cost, you'll get screwed. You're being played big time. And it is not 1 or 2k, it is a quarter of a million euro.

Pawwed Rig

XrayMike235 wrote: »

You have to be prepared to walk away, if he knows you want the house at any cost, you'll get screwed.

This exactly.

If you are not prepared to walk away then be prepared to pay over the odds for the property. I would say you have already severely weakened your negotiating position by offering asking price.

Number 1 rule when buying property is Do Not Fall in Love With a Property

the world wonders

m6219 wrote: »

My question is has anyone here ever been told this and is it common or total bullsh*t as I suspect?

Bid increments don't "have" to be increments of 1000 but the vendor can put any condition on the sale price that they want. Obviously in this case they don't want to waste time in a prolonged bidding war that ends up only gaining them a few hundred euros.

You can bid whatever amount you want; the vendor can accept whichever bid they want and they are perfectly free to reject your bid of €(X + 500) in favour of the €X bid.

Of course there is also the strong possibility mentioned above that there is no other bid and the EA is trying to squeeze you now that he knows you're keen...

pwurple

I was told that by an auctioneer.... I had bid 282 or something, (we had wanted to go to 282,500 but they wouldn't accept anything other than rounded to the nearest 1000). He phoned back saying someone had gone to 282500.

I told him to go find another idiot.

That house is still for sale a year later, and we've moved into a different one.

riclad

that agent is an idiot ,
to turn down an offer over 500.euro.
MOST areas theres plenty of houses for sale.

m6219

Thanks all for your responses. Still contemplating what we will do.. Will update on the outcome.

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I would say you have already severely weakened your negotiating position by offering asking price.

Bear in mind the EA has been telling us since last week that there is already an offer of asking price on it. We are making an equal offer.

the groutch

put in a 240k offer, with a strict time limit of 7 days.
there is no lack of supply, so don't be afraid to walk away, no matter how perfect a place might seem.

camphor

m6219 wrote: »

My question is has anyone here ever been told this and is it common or total bullsh*t as I suspect?

I was at a public auction a few years ago and there was a notice on the wall allowing the auctioneer reject bids if there wasn't a sufficient advance on the previous bid. This is quite a common condition. It is unusual at private treaty but auctioneers are entitled to say that they are not getting into bidding in hundreds as they will be doing a lot more work if they have to start making phone calls over small amounts.

showit

We must be back in 2006 as I was told similar

Had made a bid of 2.5k more than last highest bid yesterday morning - by the afternoon the EA called me back to say that the vendor would only accept increments of €5k !

So he tells me to increase my bid by another 2.5k or move aside !

Crazy