Bidding on house - how long does it take for a reply?

dizzymiss

So, we have viewed a number of houses over the last couple of weeks and plan to put a couple of offers in next week.

My question is, how long from when you put an offer in does it generally take the seller to return with an answer? Are we looking at days or weeks?

dpofloinn

There is no one answer it could be as little as 20 mins or it could take a month it depends on too many factors like, interest levels in the property, the efficiency and integrity of the EA involved in the sale, the need for a quick sale by the sellers, so on and so on

dizzymiss

dpofloinn wrote: »

There is no one answer it could be as little as 20 mins or it could take a month it depends on too many factors like, interest levels in the property, the efficiency and integrity of the EA involved in the sale, the need for a quick sale by the sellers, so on and so on

So say after a weekish, would it be appropriate to give them a deadline? Id be very confident in one of the EAs, dont know about the other two.

odds_on

dizzymiss wrote: »

So say after a weekish, would it be appropriate to give them a deadline? Id be very confident in one of the EAs, dont know about the other two.

When you put your offer in, put a time frame (deadline) on it: this offer is valid for 7 days after which it is withdrawn.

As regards putting offers in on several properties at the same time, it may be advantageous, if with different EAs, to let each one know that you have one other offer in on a property and that "the first one to accept gets the sale". On the other hand, it might also show an EA that you are not particularly interested in a property. Your choice.

When I was buying last year, I also made a point of telling an EA that I was not interested in a bidding war and if there was another bidder, he could have the property.

dizzymiss

odds_on wrote: »

When you put your offer in, put a time frame (deadline) on it: this offer is valid for 7 days after which it is withdrawn.

As regards putting offers in on several properties at the same time, it may be advantageous, if with different EAs, to let each one know that you have one other offer in on a property and that "the first one to accept gets the sale". On the other hand, it might also show an EA that you are not particularly interested in a property. Your choice.

When I was buying last year, I also made a point of telling an EA that I was not interested in a bidding war and if there was another bidder, he could have the property.

Thanks. That's good advice.

There'll be two possibly three offers and we are very interested in all of the properties. They've been whittled down from about 10. The offers would be with three different EAs. We're definitely not interested in a bidding war. Honestly want it sorted asap as im nearly 8months pregnant and have a baby under 1 so cant be dealing with the stress. God love them if they provoke the hormonal crazy woman in me

morrigan2014

Hi dizzymiss!

reading this thread makes it sound so easy but it has not been this easy for us! I think this will depend on where you are hoping to buy as well. We are looking in Dublin West/North Kildare area since Christmas and we have put bids on 4 houses all of which we have been competing with other bidders. We also have zero interest in bidding wars however unfortunately it is becoming near impossible to avoid them if you are hoping to get a half decent property. We are going to see 3 more properties tomorrow and I already know that there will be huge interest in them as they are lovely houses. It is becoming extremely tiresome and a pain in the bum hole!

Good luck with it and good luck with baby!

Bateman

morrigan2014 wrote: »

We also have zero interest in bidding wars however unfortunately it is becoming near impossible to avoid them if you are hoping to get a half decent property.

This. Depending on the location and type of property you want to buy, saying "I am not willing to enter into a bidding war" may not be a luxury you can afford, not unless you want to just keep waiting and keep waiting

jimmi

morrigan2014 wrote: »

Hi dizzymiss!

reading this thread makes it sound so easy but it has not been this easy for us! I think this will depend on where you are hoping to buy as well. We are looking in Dublin West/North Kildare area since Christmas and we have put bids on 4 houses all of which we have been competing with other bidders. We also have zero interest in bidding wars however unfortunately it is becoming near impossible to avoid them if you are hoping to get a half decent property. We are going to see 3 more properties tomorrow and I already know that there will be huge interest in them as they are lovely houses. It is becoming extremely tiresome and a pain in the bum hole!

Good luck with it and good luck with baby!

^^^This sums up our experience so far. There has been someone waiting to top all our offers. Pain in the bum hole is putting it mildly.

dizzymiss

I think im only half prepared for this. And dont want to get too invested in any of the houses we are looking at. A couple of friends have been very lucky. There first offer on a house was accepted. Another couple, the second house they looked at had their offer accepted. Kind of hoping this might happen. Pipe dreams.

natali1982

jimmi wrote: »

^^^This sums up our experience so far. There has been someone waiting to top all our offers. Pain in the bum hole is putting it mildly.

Same here Lost bidding war on 4 appartments, all sold to investors. So devastating. We are now checking only houses.

Ice87

dpofloinn wrote: »

There is no one answer it could be as little as 20 mins or it could take a month it depends on too many factors like, interest levels in the property, the efficiency and integrity of the EA involved in the sale, the need for a quick sale by the sellers, so on and so on

Would agree with all this. A lot depends on the sellers willingness for a quick sale. We had one experience with an estate agent who didn't get back to us for two weeks on a decent enough offer. After a few phone calls we just decided it wasn't worth the wait and the seller was holding out for a much higher price in the end which was fair enough, we just would have valued a yes or no answer. On another instance it was 24 hours for an estate agent to get back to us when we were involved in a bidding war.

odds_on

An important factor is how long has the property been on the market. If it is very recent then the vendor will be looking more the asking price or very near to it - and possibly more than the asking price.

Foi a property that has been on the market for some time then there is a greater possibility of a much more negotiable price being agreed.

dizzymiss

So put an offer in on our first preference last night. Got call this afternoon to say people that viewed house after us bid 3k above us. Trying to decide what to do next.

Diane Selwyn

Its very hard to judge - is the property in Dublin or somewhere that prices are going up? is the current offer over asking? did you ask the agent what is the position of the other bidders? My experience was most of them will tell you if you are bidding against a first time buyer or investor or etc. not that it's any real indicator of how much they are willing to spend but the agent might recommend you (assuming you are a first time buyer) to the seller over the other bidder if they are in a chain. Be sure they understand you are ready to go with whatever you offer.

dizzymiss

We are first time buyers, yes. Based in Galway, where property prices are slowly creeping up in certain areas. Especially evident in even the last number weeks (typical, when we are finally able to get ourselves out there!!!). House is in a commuter village outside the city. The bid was above asking. Now, we can afford to go higher but we are stumped into how we should go about it. There is such conflicting advice out there. Do we go up in increments and how much of an increment or give them our best and final offer with a deadline? So bloody confusing. I just want it sorted.

dpofloinn

Go up in Increments of E500, don't blow your load in the first go. I would also advise you to ( I know many will consider this be very sneaky and a bit under hand ) ring the estate agent posing as another interested party and ask them the current status of the property for sale . I say this because some years ago I was bidding on a house and I was being driven up by a phantom bidder created by the EA

dizzymiss

Yes, Ive considered doing this alright. Are €500 increments enough??? Should we not go in the €1000s? Hate these games. I know it's all part of the process but still hate it.

dpofloinn

E500 should be perfectly acceptable. I would imagine that the counter bid that was E3000 greater than yours was an attempt to scare you off. Keep your poker face and don't show your hand, if the EA smells money they will drive you out of the race

Diane Selwyn

I'm far from an expert on it but I don't know if the deadline will be of any use if they have other bidders. I don't think it hurts to let them know you are looking at the other properties though - at least they can see you are serious about buying asap. I would suggest that your increase should depend on how much higher you can go in total - if you go up by 3k or less you have to be prepared for the other bidder to top your next bid and you will then have to go up again if you really want the property - if you don't want to have to bid over their next offer then it might be best to go to your top bid now. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing the other bidder's limit in advance.

morrigan2014

dizzymiss wrote: »

We are first time buyers, yes. Based in Galway, where property prices are slowly creeping up in certain areas. Especially evident in even the last number weeks (typical, when we are finally able to get ourselves out there!!!). House is in a commuter village outside the city. The bid was above asking. Now, we can afford to go higher but we are stumped into how we should go about it. There is such conflicting advice out there. Do we go up in increments and how much of an increment or give them our best and final offer with a deadline? So bloody confusing. I just want it sorted.

It's very difficult to gauge this. Be careful not to get too carried away and stick to what you can think that property is worth. We recently bid on a house that went over the asking price by 52k. We realised at 50k+ that this had gone far enough and we left it so. we have also found that giving our best and final offer hasn't made a blind bit of difference in bidding. There seems to be someone there always ready to go higher.

dizzymiss

Thanks for the advice guys. It is much appreciated. We put in another bid this morning (a further €1000) and have decided for sure how much we wont go passed. The way we see it is, it's already over the asking price they set, the price they valued it at. Having done some research, houses in this area generally dont go over asking and if they do, it's not by much. We have set our limit of what we think the house is worth to us and will stick to it. You cant lose something that was never yours in the first place. There will be other houses.

Also, I'm not sure of how confident I am there is even another bidder. Hate feeling like we are being taken for mugs. I am due a baby in two and half months and would like to have something in or almost in the bag by then but we arent going to let ourselves be railroaded either.

dizzymiss

So we viewed another almost identical house in the same development and put an offer in there also. It is with another EA and she said they want a very quick sale.

Up another 1k on the first house. So fingers crossed one of them will come through.

natali1982

dizzymiss wrote: »

So we viewed another almost identical house in the same development and put an offer in there also. It is with another EA and she said they want a very quick sale.

Up another 1k on the first house. So fingers crossed one of them will come through.

Good luck 🍀

dizzymiss

natali1982 wrote: »

Good luck 🍀

Thanks, my husband is confident we'll come away with one of them. In fact he thinks we are bidding against the same couple for both. I'm nervous and honestly feeling overwhelmed. But that's probably pregnancy induced :rolleyes:

WhiteWalls

depends on how much of a crook your estate agent is

dizzymiss

Well it's two separate EAs so I suppose it does depend on that. We've given ourselves a cut off figure on both. Hope it doesnt come to that.

maki2011

Diane Selwyn wrote: »

Its very hard to judge - is the property in Dublin or somewhere that prices are going up? is the current offer over asking? did you ask the agent what is the position of the other bidders? My experience was most of them will tell you if you are bidding against a first time buyer or investor or etc. not that it's any real indicator of how much they are willing to spend but the agent might recommend you (assuming you are a first time buyer) to the seller over the other bidder if they are in a chain. Be sure they understand you are ready to go with whatever you offer.

hi, can i ask what the difference the EA sell to the first time buyer or investor?

thx

dpofloinn

It makes no difference to the EA who they sell to, they get paid no matter who buys the house. The reason they might tell a buyer who is bidding against them is because first time buyers can get very carried away and drive the price up to ridiculous levels where as an investor will only go so far before it becomes financially unviable. So if a buyer knows that an investor is bidding then you know that if you push them a little harder they might loose interest where as some first time buyers will keep going until they literally run out of money to bid with

maki2011

dpofloinn wrote: »

It makes no difference to the EA who they sell to, they get paid no matter who buys the house. The reason they might tell a buyer who is bidding against them is because first time buyers can get very carried away and drive the price up to ridiculous levels where as an investor will only go so far before it becomes financially unviable. So if a buyer knows that an investor is bidding then you know that if you push them a little harder they might loose interest where as some first time buyers will keep going until they literally run out of money to bid with

oh, i got. thank you,
good night

Girl about Town

Hi There, I've been following posts on buying a property for the last few months - May I say 'Killers' advice and comments on this forum have been excellent. I was approved yesterday on a relatively small mortgage of 50K. At my age, believe me this is excellent. I went to view a house a couple of weeks ago that was advertised on the EA site at 75K. When I got there the EA gave me a print out the particulars and the price on the details say 'in excess' of 75K? It is a repossessed ex rental property (built before 1900) At first glance it doesn't appear in bad condition - Nothing that a few gallons of paint, carpets, new kitchen and new windows to the front of the property wouldn't sort. (However, it is livable and I could do it bit by bit) When I asked the EA "What would buy the place" I was told they were hoping for offers in excess/around 85K???? ( Why advertise it at 75K???? The same EA was advertising another property at 85K a couple of months ago and has now relisted it at 95K??? (still not sold though) I'm meeting the EA on Monday and I'd really like some help and advice please. I've been gifted 25K as a deposit (which will be returned as a gift) in the next couple of years. I'm hoping to hold back 5K to cover survey, solicitor, stamp duty etc., and have been advised by friends and family who dabble in property to go in to the EA on Monday and offer 70K - When I rang earlier this week and spoke to the receptionist, she advised me that they have not yet received any offers - it's only been on the market for about a month. It's a house but because of parking issues and a busy road, it would not be suitable for a young family. I don't think that renters would be crazy about it either as only 1 parking permit for roads surrounding it is issued. I'm nervous now and would like some advice on what to expect on Monday? Would I be cheeky or appear not serious if I offered 70K??? I could at a really tight squeeze (if I live on bread and water for the next couple of months) push myself to the 75K - I apologise if this sounds cheap or silly but I'm a one income person so 75K at my age after renting for years is more than enough. Also, If the EA did accept my offer? would I be expected to pay any sort of deposit when meeting him? Any advise would be really welcome

dpofloinn

Ill try to answer as many of your questions as best as I can, and perhaps some other posters may give more in depth answers.

1 The original asking price of 75K was probably set to generate interest in the property, with the expectation that it would attract a number of bidders which would drive the price up to the expected price.

2 Looks can be deceiving. The house may look OK to an untrained eye but there could be a thousand and one issues with the house structurally, mechanically, and legally. Do you have a good knowledge of property/engineering/construction? If not do you know anyone be it friends or family who does and who might be willing to look at the house with you during a second viewing?

3 The EA said they are hoping to get offers in excess of 85k, the key word here is HOPING just because they hope they will get it does not mean that they will get it. Who knows perhaps you may be the only one to express interest in this property.

4 I don't think it would be 'cheeky' to make an opening bid of 70k, the absolute worst that could happen is that the bid might be rejected.After all the seller may be anxious to complete a quick sale. However I think that a bid of 70k will be rejected straight away and you will have to at least meet the lowest estimate.

5 Standard procedure after a bid is accepted would involve you laying down a deposit with the EA usually a percentage of the wining bid.I cant advise you as to how much this will be, but the EA you are dealing with should.

I think however that your budget of 75K is way too little, you are essentially going into battle with one bullet in your gun, if you pull the trigger on this property and miss you are out of the game with no chance of making a comeback. You mentioned in your post that no offers have been made yet on this property, it could be that a lot of bidders are holding back until someone gets the ball rolling and you could find that you will get priced out pretty quick.

Also take into account that if you did buy this property for 75k you will have no remaining capitol to invest in renovating the house which by the sounds of it you could be looking at another 20-30K to bring it up to scratch

If you do decide to proceed in bidding for this house, I wish you the best of luck

Girl about Town

Thank you very much DPFIONN for your reply. I'll elaborate a little more - I'm aware that a 75K limit is scary - When I went to view the property, I brought a seasoned investor (30 odd years of buying investment properties in the area) with me and I have a structural engineer lined up should the EA accept my offer. My bank took copies of the particulars of the property when I put in my mortgage application and even upped my mortgage request by a few thousand. Could I ask the EA which bank is selling the property? and would he tell me? However, back to the property - There are two other houses on the street unsold (asking prices 80 - 85K but not in as good condition) - as my friend who went with me pointed out both to myself and the EA, because of it's location, it is not family friendly - parking can be an issue and is on a very busy road. I couldn't see a young family making trips backwards and forwards with kids and shopping each time they tried to park - I've been there, done that and have that Tshirt. He also pointed out that he as an investor would not purchase it as a rental, firstly because of the layout of the property and secondly because of the parking issue. I have been renting for several years until the kids grew up and left home (took longer than I expected ) As it was always my intention to buy once the crazy prices went out the window. I have everything needed for a home bought and paid for - including the kitchen and sink. I've also a 5K Contingency for any urgent/immediate work required but am quite happy to tip along slowly working on the house - I've become quite an accomplished DIYR over the last 20 years. I really do appreciate any advise offered. I think that I'll offer the 70K and if they refuse on the spot will tell them quite clearly that 75K is my top offer and that I'm ready to move immediately and have finances in place and will have proof of finance with me when I meet with them. Should things go my way and they accept my offer next week. Do I need to pay anything to the EA there and then if offer accepted? or would I tell the EA that my solicitor will arrange the deposit required with the offer? Thanks again

OREGATO

Best of luck with the house hunt girl about town,

One thing to note is that bidding processes can take quite some time, even if you do offer the €75k, the estate agent is more than likely going to leverage this against other interested parties who will offer more.

If however you do get the property, you will have to pay a booking deposit to the estate agent, this is 10% of the deposit.

After that, it turns into a waiting game I guess, for us it was nerve racking as you just never know if it'll go through or not, so many factors can stop a sale of a house.

Also, in terms of the 5k you have as backup/contingency, I'd recommend upping that budget especially with a house that needed mondernising

Girl about Town

Thank you all for your tips and advice so far on this forum - It is very much appreciated. Just off the phone will Killian (Killers1) who very, very kindly has explained the offer process to me with great clarity and this newbie now knows the steps to follow. Killian, thank you so much for your help and patience. I'm aware that you are a broker and as I've already got my funds in place 'finally' your kindness and advice was not just a case of possible new business (however paltry my funds are:) ) and was genuinely 'one person with experience and the knowledge of the process, taking the time in helping another out who has little knowledge and even less experience of dealing with Estate Agents'. Fingers and everything else crossed for others about to put offers in - wishing ye all the best of luck I'll update you as to level of success

dizzymiss

Girl about Town wrote: »

Thank you all for your tips and advice so far on this forum - It is very much appreciated. Just off the phone will Killian (Killers1) who very, very kindly has explained the offer process to me with great clarity and this newbie now knows the steps to follow. Killian, thank you so much for your help and patience. I'm aware that you are a broker and as I've already got my funds in place 'finally' your kindness and advice was not just a case of possible new business (however paltry my funds are:) ) and was genuinely 'one person with experience and the knowledge of the process, taking the time in helping another out who has little knowledge and even less experience of dealing with Estate Agents'. Fingers and everything else crossed for others about to put offers in - wishing ye all the best of luck I'll update you as to level of success

Best of luck girlabouttown. I really hope it goes well for ye.

We've upped our offer a further 1k on the first house as the other bidder came back with counter offer. We are about 3k off our limit i.e. what we are willling to pay for that house. Still have heard back from the EA on the second house. She was off yesterday.

we were thinking, if we didnt get the first house, should we go in with a best and final offer on the second house. These houses are virtually identical, five doors apart? The best and final offer is what the couple were originally looking for the house when it first went on the market. It's what we are almost at on the first property. Our thinking is if the secind EA gets wind that the first house went for a higher price anyway that it'll drive things up. We know the couple are eager to sell and if we go in, cutting out all the bs and offer their original asking they might take it. We wouldnt br going above that as we're not willing to pay more than what we think it's worth (this is going on what previous properties in the area have sold for recently).

Would really appreciate any and all advice and thank you for all so far.

TheDriver

as tempting as it is, I would keep it such that you can bid some more for 2 reasons:
1) a final offer can generate greed in a seller who thinks they could get more
2) you can always go up but its difficult to go down in money........

dizzymiss

So had no word from EA on house one since Friday, until this afternoon that is. He said the other bidders need some time to decide whether to come back with a higher bid or pull out. They'll be calling him in the morning with a decision. Im hoping this puts us in a strong position and may have some good news soon.

morrigan2014

dizzymiss wrote: »

So had no word from EA on house one since Friday, until this afternoon that is. He said the other bidders need some time to decide whether to come back with a higher bid or pull out. They'll be calling him in the morning with a decision. Im hoping this puts us in a strong position and may have some good news soon.

Good luck dizzymiss!! Let us know how you get on! About to embark on another bidding process this week. Round 5! Ding ding!

dizzymiss

Thanks and best of luck morrigan2014. Keep us posted.

dizzymiss

So we decided last night to bow out on one of the houses and concentrate on the one we preferred the most. Bidding on the two was only becoming counter productive so we made a decision. Before we got a chance to call the EA this morning, he called saying there was a further bid on the house and we had until 12midday to decide as the owner wants the sale closed. So as decided, we've stepped back.

We have a healthy bid in one the other house and will pursue it aggressively as my husband says. Fingers crossed we've made the right decision.

Cathmandooo

dizzymiss wrote: »

So we decided last night to bow out on one of the houses and concentrate on the one we preferred the most. Bidding on the two was only becoming counter productive so we made a decision. Before we got a chance to call the EA this morning, he called saying there was a further bid on the house and we had until 12midday to decide as the owner wants the sale closed. So as decided, we've stepped back.

We have a healthy bid in one the other house and will pursue it aggressively as my husband says. Fingers crossed we've made the right decision.

When you say you stepped back, did you take your offer off the table or leave it even though you're not going over the latest offer?

dizzymiss

Cathmandooo wrote: »

When you say you stepped back, did you take your offer off the table or leave it even though you're not going over the latest offer?

We didnt withdraw the offer, just didnt meet the deadline that was set for midday today.

dizzymiss

Went Sale Agreed on the second house today. We are absolutely over the moon. Have to go in on Monday with booking deposit and solicitor & engineer details.

So so happy

dpofloinn

Congratulations

morrigan2014

dizzymiss wrote: »

Went Sale Agreed on the second house today. We are absolutely over the moon. Have to go in on Monday with booking deposit and solicitor & engineer details.

So so happy

Big congratulations dizzymiss! How exciting!

Diane Selwyn

Congrats! hope it all goes smoothly for you now!

dizzymiss

Just thought I would come back with an update.

So we had gotten our mortgage approval (not AIP as we learned from a previous application with a different bank) prior to going sale agreed. We were told what our budget was and worked off that. Once sale agreed we ammended our application to reflect the amount we required (50k less than what we were actually approved for) and it went back to the underwriters as a formality.

It was denied. They changed their minds. So we'll likely be pulling out of the sale unless a miracle happens. Gutted. But then that's life. Move on. Find a bigger family friendly rental.

flutered

dizzymiss wrote: »

So, we have viewed a number of houses over the last couple of weeks and plan to put a couple of offers in next week.

My question is, how long from when you put an offer in does it generally take the seller to return with an answer? Are we looking at days or weeks?

the ea is a fisherman, your are one of the fish.

dizzymiss

flutered wrote: »

the ea is a fisherman, your are one of the fish.

thanks flutered but established all that and moved along. Went sale agreed and updated as above. Unfortunately not meant to be. Just fibd it hard to swallow. Bank approve you and then at final point renege.

jimmi

dizzymiss wrote: »

Just thought I would come back with an update.

So we had gotten our mortgage approval (not AIP as we learned from a previous application with a different bank) prior to going sale agreed. We were told what our budget was and worked off that. Once sale agreed we ammended our application to reflect the amount we required (50k less than what we were actually approved for) and it went back to the underwriters as a formality.

It was denied. They changed their minds. So we'll likely be pulling out of the sale unless a miracle happens. Gutted. But then that's life. Move on. Find a bigger family friendly rental.

Did they really just come back with a flat refusal and no explanation? We've taken the figure we're approved for with a pinch of salt, not that we wanted to spend so much anyway but we're working off a budget a good bit less. What you're describing is a scenario I'm afraid of, especially considering how difficult it's proving to actually agree a sale......on anything.

dizzymiss

jimmi wrote: »

Did they really just come back with a flat refusal and no explanation? We've taken the figure we're approved for with a pinch of salt, not that we wanted to spend so much anyway but we're working off a budget a good bit less. What you're describing is a scenario I'm afraid of, especially considering how difficult it's proving to actually agree a sale......on anything.

Tightening of policies. That was the explanation. We were the same. We were never going to go for anything as high as what they offered. We went sale agreed, contracts drawn up and everything. Disaster.