Bidding War

Vain

Hi guys,

Done a second viewing on a house today, asking price is 240k current bid is at 230k with two people bidding against each other according to the estate agent.

Im thinking of putting in a offer, any tips on how to win a bidding war without bidding over the asking price?

e92335i

Cash sale may help.

If your up against 1 or more people its very unlikely the asking price wont be exceeded.

o1s1n

If it's at 230k and the asking is 240k with three interested parties there's no way it's not going to go over asking unfortunately.

You could try coming in at asking to scare away the other two bidders (if the increments are low) but even then one of them might come back.

There's no real way of knowing really. I had one house I was bidding on last year (two other bidders), thought we had it in the bag at asking and then one of the earlier bidders who'd dropped out at an earlier point came back in at 5k over asking.

Depends how much you want the house really!

The_Conductor

Depends on how much you like it......
Do you like it enough to put a one off offer of 10k over asking on it- with a deadline on your offer- and be prepared to walk if/when the deadline passes- come what may.........

You now have a situation with 3 interested parties (no reason to disbelieve the estate agent- its the way the market is). If you want to blow the other two out of the water- you are going to have to use a cannon bigger than tossing an extra grand into the arena- playing these incremental games with 2 other interested parties- is highly unlikely to work (though the estate agent would love if you did)........

eclectichoney

I think people put way too much thought into strategies for bidding wars. At the end of the day, in 95+% of cases no matter what clever strategies or tricks you use, you are not going to get the property for less than what the other party(ies) is willing to pay for it - that's what the key variable is and you can't control it unfortunately.

If the other party are willing to pay €300k for it, no matter what strategy you use, you are not going to get it for less than 301k, so I would not get too hung up on the bidding strategies imo.

ian87

I was in a bidding war recently. Offered the asking straight away, then was outbid by 3k so I went up 1k each time until they dropped out. Then a 3rd bidder came in and I did the same. It came to within 3k of what I was HAPPY to spend and 4th bidder came in. I put an offer in at my max of what I felt the house was worth and said if I was outbid by even 1k I was letting it go. I still had a few grand left in the tank but didn't think the house was worth it so I said they could have it. If you get into a bidding war don't let yourself end up paying over and beyond what the house is worth. It's easily done and costs you more than you think on mortgage etc

happypants

A house is worth what you're willing to pay. We were involved in two bidding wars before we got a house we wanted. In both cases people were bidding €1k, a house was put on the market at €240,000 bidding started at €230,000 it had four of us bidding at one stage. We eliminated two other bidders by going in at €5k above in one bid but ultimately the other bidders were willing to go €1k higher than us. In hindsight they did us a massive favour it sold for €266,000, €1k higher than our final bid. We set our limit and stuck to it so we walked away. This happened twice on two houses before we got a cancellation on a new build in the exact location we wanted for €250,000. No bidding just put down our deposit. I would bid in €5k it's risky but you might get rid of the others, depending on how much you want the house be clear on your limit and stick to it. Don't let estate agent know how much you have or are how high you are willing to go until you put down your final bid.

spaceHopper

I'd make sure you aren't bidding against dreamers who aren't mortgage approved put in a bid of 1k above the current bid and give the ea a copy of your mortgage approval or get the bank to fax you something without an amount on it. Ask the ea has he checked the others mortgage approvals. If you aren't in a chain stress this to them. After that is who has the deepest pockets so look for other houses

o1s1n

spaceHopper wrote: »

I'd make sure you aren't bidding against dreamers who aren't mortgage approved put in a bid of 1k above the current bid and give the ea a copy of your mortgage approval or get the bank to fax you something without an amount on it. Ask the ea has he checked the others mortgage approvals. If you aren't in a chain stress this to them. After that is who has the deepest pockets so look for other houses

Never show an estate agent how much you're approved for. You're literally showing them your full hand of cards if you do this.

What happens if they don't get this house and then they see another one listed by the same estate agent? The EA would then know from the get go exactly how much the OP can be milked for.

OP there really is no real strategy like previously stated. The only thing I found from bidding on many houses (and getting one in the end) is that strong arming can help. Every time the others came back with an increment we outbid them straight away by 5K. It took them longer and longer each time to get back to us and in the end they didn't go any higher.

I'd say if we'd gone up in 1k increments and taken our time the house would have ended at more.

Dubh Geannain

ian87 wrote: »

I was in a bidding war recently. Offered the asking straight away, then was outbid by 3k so I went up 1k each time until they dropped out. Then a 3rd bidder came in and I did the same. It came to within 3k of what I was HAPPY to spend and 4th bidder came in. I put an offer in at my max of what I felt the house was worth and said if I was outbid by even 1k I was letting it go. I still had a few grand left in the tank but didn't think the house was worth it so I said they could have it. If you get into a bidding war don't let yourself end up paying over and beyond what the house is worth. It's easily done and costs you more than you think on mortgage etc

Story of my year, 2014. Only snag is I still don't have a house but if were to all play out again I'd do the same.

westcoast66

Also happened to us that we bid to our max, were outbid and then the EA got back to us saying that the vendor would prefer our bid as we had better funding. Each time told the EA to take a hike. Sometimes, if you really want a house, you have to actually pull out of the bidding.

spaceHopper

o1s1n wrote: »

Never show an estate agent how much you're approved for. You're literally showing them your full hand of cards if you do this.

What happens if they don't get this house and then they see another one listed by the same estate agent? The EA would then know from the get go exactly how much the OP can be milked for.

OP there really is no real strategy like previously stated. The only thing I found from bidding on many houses (and getting one in the end) is that strong arming can help. Every time the others came back with an increment we outbid them straight away by 5K. It took them longer and longer each time to get back to us and in the end they didn't go any higher.

I'd say if we'd gone up in 1k increments and taken our time the house would have ended at more.

I never said to show him how much you have but I've read and heard of people bidding on houses before they have mortgage approval, but showing the EA you have it and getting them to check the other bidders you show them you are serious and know what you are doing.

It also removes any dreamers who will bid up the house but in the end won't buy it. The EA my come back to your last bid however the dreams could have been kicked out 10K lower than that!

o1s1n

spaceHopper wrote: »

I never said to show him how much you have but I've read and heard of people bidding on houses before they have mortgage approval, but showing the EA you have it and getting them to check the other bidders you show them you are serious and know what you are doing.

It also removes any dreamers who will bid up the house but in the end won't buy it. The EA my come back to your last bid however the dreams could have been kicked out 10K lower than that!

Ah I see! Misunderstood your post

The estate agents I was bidding with in Bray actually asked for scanned proof of mortgage approval before they'd accept any bids. Was great to see.

Obviously blanked out any areas related to what I was approved for though

happypants

I've just been online out if interest and both houses we were outbid on are back online. The really nosey part of me wonders why. We were ready to go, ftb with mortgage approval and each time we highered our bids we got our broker to ask for the increase before we did. Anyway if you get outbid don't be disheartened the sale could fall through you never know!

handlemaster

Bid early bid high and bid often ;-)