Offer asking price immediately?

craic90

Hi,

Does anyone feel that there is any merit in approaching the estate agent asking them to check with the vendor if... an offer is made that matches the asking price....that the vendor would accept and immediately remove the property from the market.

Has anyone got any experience with this tactic?

Thanks

Enduro

Tried it once. Didn't work. No harm in trying though, once you're willing to pay the asking price. More than likely they'll just take it as an offer and carry on with the bidding process.

lima

What if someone (me) offered just below asking and they have since had another viewing and no other offers, should I just offer asking to see if they will take it off the market?

P. Breathnach

Something like that happened with me. I offered asking price very shortly after a property went on the market, although I didn't specifically ask for immediate sale agreed status. My offer become the baseline for some vigourous bidding, and the final price was a good deal higher than asking price.

The market has been volatile for a while, and it is very difficult for EAs to judge what asking price to suggest. Most places we have looked at went for more than the asking price (in one case, as much as 50% over) and some have gone for less (nothing like 50% less - perhaps about 10%).

A vendor who settles for asking price without properly testing the market is being foolish, and an EA who advises doing so is not providing a good service.

P. Breathnach

lima wrote: »

What if someone (me) offered just below asking and they have since had another viewing and no other offers, should I just offer asking to see if they will take it off the market?

Depends on the time frame. If the property has been on the market for a few weeks, you possibly have the whip hand.

You could play hardball: say that your current offer has a time limit - perhaps until the end of this week - after which it comes off the table.

Alf Veedersane

You can ask the EA but it will ultimately depend opn the vendor's valuation. They might see the asking price as just a starting point to get people interested after which the price will go up courtesy of different parties bidding.

Or they might see it as a bit cheeky and above what they realistically think it might go for.

But if it's close to their valuation and it doesn't look like anyone else is interested, they would be more inclined to consider it.

But I would only offer asking price if it's worth it to you.

BookBook

I totally agree with anyone who said first offer usually sets the baseline for other offers. Only exception to this is if the property has been on sale a few weeks /months already with no offers.

If property only just on sale I would doubt seller would jump at accepting first offer even if it was 50k above asking.

This has been my experience with Dublin houses anyway.

cpoh1

Putting timelines on offers in this current market state is a waste of time, there is just too much heat. Going in at asking is just encouraging the owners to wait it out for more offers, especially if the nouse is newish on the market. Think what you would do if you were selling.

I would personally watch, wait, and see. Keep an eye on what bidding is doing, and fix a value in your head at what you feel you would pay for the property. Wait until the masses have fought it out with the bidding and as it comes to the end make a big jump to get rid of whats left (assuming its within your price valuation for the property).

The market is just too hot to try what you are looking to do.

BookBook

cpoh1 wrote: »

Putting timelines on offers in this current market state is a waste of time, there is just too much heat. Going in at asking is just encouraging the owners to wait it out for more offers, especially if the nouse is newish on the market. Think what you would do if you were selling.

Totally agree. It hasn't worked for me.

I would personally watch, wait, and see. Keep an eye on what bidding is doing, and fix a value in your head at what you feel you would pay for the property. Wait until the masses have fought it out with the bidding and as it comes to the end make a big jump to get rid of whats left (assuming its within your price valuation for the property).

The market is just too hot to try what you are looking to do.

Even though this is the approach I like best this doesn’t always work, at least not for me.

For one particular property I went to all open viewings, EA knew me. I waited until bidding was established at over 30k past asking price then offered 20k more, had to submit proof of funds and mortgage approval at this stage. Then got into a bidding war with the underbidder at 2-3 k at a time for another 15k.

In the end the EA said the vendors went with the underbidders lower offer as they were bidding from the start and were cash sale. I had a small mortgage compared to the house price and had all my ducks lined up mortgage wise with no property to sell so my sale should have been just as quick as the cash sale. I was really p’d off as it felt they were always going to go with the cash offer so I was used just to up the bidding.

miezekatze

It always seems to work on Location Location Location I don't think it would work here though. If you consider the asking price to be good value then the sellers probably want to achieve more than that.

tenifan

craic90 wrote: »

Does anyone feel that there is any merit in approaching the estate agent asking them to check with the vendor if... an offer is made that matches the asking price....that the vendor would accept and immediately remove the property from the market.

It might work for Kirsty and Phil, but people are too greedy for it to work in real life.
if they accept the offer you would need to be willing to completely withdraw and ask for your deposit back if you notice any stalling tactics and they don't immediately forward the contract to your solicitor. That being said, after paying for a valuation and possibly a survey you're unlike to just withdraw from a sale so easily.

TheDriver

didn't work for me either, guy got greedy and wanted more even though he said that would sell the house. Became frustrating and wouldn't trust the vendor after that

TwoShedsJackson

You're just signalling that you'd really like that house and are thus open to a spot of gouging. If it's worth the asking price to you, offer it, and say nothing more, see what happens.

DerekDGoldfish

Was at a viewing today, nice place pretty much what I've been looking for, so I'm going over in my mind should I call and make and offer at asking tomorrow, start off slightly below asking or wait till next week after I have viewed the two other places I have lined up and then after a two minute walk around the place someone offers significantly above the asking and above the max I have available.

craic90

DerekDGoldfish wrote:

Was at a viewing today, nice place pretty much what I've been looking for, so I'm going over in my mind should I call and make and offer at asking tomorrow, start off slightly below asking or wait till next week after I have viewed the two other places I have lined up and then after a two minute walk around the place someone offers significantly above the asking and above the max I have available.

can I ask the area? it wasn't me that outbid you... I can assure you

this house buying is fun.

DerekDGoldfish

It was in the Crumlin/Kimmage area

Woshy

DerekDGoldfish wrote: »

Was at a viewing today, nice place pretty much what I've been looking for, so I'm going over in my mind should I call and make and offer at asking tomorrow, start off slightly below asking or wait till next week after I have viewed the two other places I have lined up and then after a two minute walk around the place someone offers significantly above the asking and above the max I have available.

We were in a similar position recently. We saw a house after viewing (and bidding) on a few others and just got a good feeling. There was an offer for €14k less than the asking price in place already. I was debating just offering asking price as I was expecting to bid and I wanted to move the process along a bit as we were v interested in the house.

After some consideration we decided to add €5k to the current offer instead (so €9k under the asking price), fully expecting to have to bid more. I got a call 4 hours later to say the other bidder had pulled out and the vendors had accepted our offer! So I could have paid another €9k for nothing - you never know what might happen in your situation.

blindside88

I think it all depends on the seller. I went sale agreed on a property about 4 weeks ago. It went for sale on the Thursday, we viewed on the Friday, made an offer of €5k below the asking Friday night, went sale agreed and the property was taken off at market at €4k below the asking on the Saturday morning

JimsAlterEgo

sometimes its not always the amount that suits the seller, it could be speed of sale. An executor of a will will nearly always want max cash.
Ask EA what sellers priority is, what timeframe to want to sell in etc? Be upfront and ask is there a fugure they wil sell at? Might work, might not.

BookBook

blindside88 wrote: »

I think it all depends on the seller. I went sale agreed on a property about 4 weeks ago. It went for sale on the Thursday, we viewed on the Friday, made an offer of €5k below the asking Friday night, went sale agreed and the property was taken off at market at €4k below the asking on the Saturday morning

That's great news.
Was this Dublin Blindside and if so was it an apartment or house?

Maximus_1

Pretty much did this with our house and it worked out. Seller just wanted a quick sale though due to children moving for start of school year. I also happened to think the asking price was low and that because the house was very nicely finished they would have decent interest if it stayed on the market and might push the price up. I went directly to the seller the day the house went on sale, he hadn't even signed any agreement with the EA so we did a private deal within a few weeks and house was down off daft in a day. I heard subsequently that the house was valued by the EA at 20k more than was asked but because of the quick sale requirement they low-balled it. In my case it worked out I suppose but there was a kind of perfect storm of factors coming together there to be fair.

Gael23

miezekatze wrote: »

It always seems to work on Location Location Location I don't think it would work here though. If you consider the asking price to be good value then the sellers probably want to achieve more than that.

Yes I have seen that a few times. An asking price offer is made on the condition that nobody else walks through the door.

DC81

We bid on a house that was on the market at 100,000
We bid 75,000 unfortunately there was another bidder (so we were told) and bid us up to €90,000, owners then accepted the offer

blindside88

BookBook wrote: »

That's great news.
Was this Dublin Blindside and if so was it an apartment or house?

No it was a house in Carlow, demand is nowhere near as high but good properties are moving very quickly

Iago

I think it depends on the vendor really. Some EAs suggest going in at around 25% less than you want, and some suggest going in at 25% more than you want. Depending on whether you want to drive a frenzy of interest or restrict it to people who are genuinely interested.

We have our house on the market at the moment, we wanted to gauge what the market was at as much as anything. It's listed at the minimum we would accept for it. We're not in a rush to sell and we've no chain but at the same time we've no interest in dragging it out. If a few people are interested at the same time and they bid upwards fine, but if one bidder came in at asking I'm pretty sure we would just accept it and move on.

We're not getting a huge amount of interest but I put that down to misconceptions about the area. We've had one bid at about 10% less than we listed it for, and we won't be accepting it. We live close to IKEA and while Finglas/Ballymun as a whole has a reputation, where we are is very quiet and after 8 years with no problems I'm thinking it's almost perfect as a location from a convenience point of view. I do understand the perceptions though, I never thought I would live in Finglas for a lot of the same reasons, but actually it's been fine.

I'd definitely suggest offering asking if you're interested in the house. The EA has to pass on the offer to the vendor and if they are like us then the sale will probably go through. If they're not then at least you'll know one way or the other and you've lost nothing.

P. Breathnach

Iago wrote: »

I... Some EAs suggest going in at around 25% less than you want, and some suggest going in at 25% more than you want....

I think there is some truth in this, although I think the 25% above or below expected price might be extreme.

I think it has been difficuly even for EAs to judge where the price for a property might settle. I have had more than one conversation where the agent admitted to being surprised by the bids received.

The vendor wants the best price achievable; it is the EAs job to get that. If they see a possibilty that the bidding will go higher than the asking or guide price, they are not going to accept an asking price offer.

trackguy

We viewed the house (new development) we were interested in 3 times before we made an offer. It was obvious we were interested. The EA was very intent on letting us know at every opportunity that there was alot of interest, houses were selling really fast blah blah blah.

When we first viewed the property they were just under 200k. By the time we came to offer they'd jumped to 210k. I decided to offer 205k and it was accepted right away.

Money on the table is different to expressing an interest.

That was my experience anyway.

craic90

UPDATE

We offered 270k - the asking is 285k. Refused and then we offered 280k. now the owner had come and said they would accept 284.5k.

Which I think is outrageous given how far we've come (even without any competing offer)

Gael23

craic90 wrote: »

UPDATE

We offered 270k - the asking is 285k. Refused and then we offered 280k. now the owner had come and said they would accept 284.5k.

Which I think is outrageous given how far we've come (even without any competing offer)

Offer 282k, take it or leave it.

gmisk

It sounds like you have been more than fair...it also kinda sounds like you are effectively bidding against yourself though...

markpb

We've been trying to buy a house in dublin for several months. On the first two, we offered well below the asking price because they needed work. Those offers were rejected. On the next few, we offered slightly below the asking price, a bidding war started and when the price jumped by 20-30k, we backed out. On the most recent one, we offered a few thousand over the asking price and asked them to withdraw it from the market. They refused and instead our offer became the base price for others to have a bidding war.

cpoh1

craic90 wrote: »

UPDATE

We offered 270k - the asking is 285k. Refused and then we offered 280k. now the owner had come and said they would accept 284.5k.

Which I think is outrageous given how far we've come (even without any competing offer)

Don't take it personally and dont approach this emotionally!!! These guys are rightly only trying to do the best they can value wise with their property.

You need to think about this in the cold light of day. How much do you want the house? How much is it worth to you?

craic90

We met the seller at their asking price and they agreed to do a deal. Deposit paid to EA.

Thanks all for the advice.

deckie27

Congrats Craic90



Just a pointer
It's against the law to have a property advertised below the "advised market valve" (AMV)

makeorbrake

deckie27 wrote: »

It's against the law to have a property advertised below the "advised market valve" (AMV)

Who sets the AMV?

craic90

UPDATE: We backed off from the house. It turns out that the small feature of a stream in the garden has been a complete disaster from flooding in the past. Owners and EA did a good job of concealing that until we found out ourselves at the 11st hour. TIP: If you see a stream in the house you think about buying - DONT EVEN CONSIDER IT. MOVE ON.

allibastor

I think Phil and Kirsty have a lot to answer for on this.

I have tried this a few times and it has just backfired. It signals to the vendor that they have a valid asking price and will then just continue to keep looking for more

I even at one house offered 5K more than asking with this in mind, the vendor said no problem, but then continued to have the house up for 3 weeks and then took an offer of 1K more, so I told them to keep it.

Gael23

craic90 wrote: »

UPDATE: We backed off from the house. It turns out that the small feature of a stream in the garden has been a complete disaster from flooding in the past. Owners and EA did a good job of concealing that until we found out ourselves at the 11st hour. TIP: If you see a stream in the house you think about buying - DONT EVEN CONSIDER IT. MOVE ON.

Are you considering the other house if its still on the market?

McTigs

The whole set up is a ridiculous game of poker.

I'm pretty sure in some countries and definitely in some states in america that if you put a house on the market with an asking price you are required by law to sell it to the first person to offer that price.... and the prospective buyer can sue you if you don't.

Certainly removes all this fluting around with holding out for better offers and dutch auctions and the like.

Balmed Out

What do people feel the best strategy is for bidding on an over valued house?

I threw in a very low offer to see if it might get the vendor to be a bit more reasonable but unsure if it'll just have the affect of them not seeing me as a serious buyer. Anyone with experience of this in a rural area ?