Bidding on a house

cat123456

We have been trying to buy a house for a really long time and have had a lot of disappointments along the way. We found a house that I absolutely love. There were no bidders and it was on the market a while so we made a low ball offer to see would the vendor bite. The auctioneer told us what figure the vendor would accept and we moved our offer up to 20k under this. The auctioneer played hard ball and said the vendor would not accept a penny less and was happy to hold out. (I don't believe this as the vendor has already dropped the price from the original asking price. The property is vacant too which I am sure is costing something) I told the auctioneer this was our max. The auctioneer was being vv pushy and trying to get me to up the offer again spinning all the yarns. Fast forward a few weeks and there are still no offers on the house. I really want it and I am considering contacting the auctioneer. We are at our max but could borrow another 10k. Will the auctioneer smell the desperation if I come back? My other half wants to hold out another few weeks but I am not as patient. We have lost out on so many houses. For the sake of 20k are auctioneers willing to wait it out?

Just to note the vendor has knocked a chunk off the price since the house was first listed.

Some advice from those not emotionally invested in this property would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Markcheese

If your at your max - then stick -
If the auctioneer in question has anything else on his books that you are half interested in make a half interested inquiry - at least he knows ye're still looking - if it comes up then tell him straight that you are still interested but maxed out - he may go back to the vendor but ultimately he works for himself on behalf of vendor (so wants the sale )

gaius c

Considering sticking a time limit on your bid because you want to move on and bid on other properties if they won't accept your bid.

You need to accept that they may not be willing to accept your bid at all and that if you leave it in there indefinitely, it will only serve as a floor for the next bidder.

cat123456

V funny. Just opened my emails and we got a new mortgage offer for the exact price of the house! So the extra 20k is only an extra 4k of deposit. I'm happy to just pay the extra but my other half is pushing to wait it out if there are no other offers.

Nothing else suitable on auctioneers books. Any idea how to approach auctioneer where we aren't instantly up by 20k?

Paulw

If I were you, I'd contact the auctioneer, offer another 5k, but say that that is your absolute max, and if you don't have confirmation in 2 weeks you will withdraw that offer and move on to the next property you are looking at.

It may be the kick they need.

seamusmacc

We were on the same boat about 3 years ago. We were the only bidder and offered 20K lower than the figure that the vendor would accept, it was still a good bit off the asking price, and mind you that was 3 years ago.
We stretched to the our limit and come up 10K more, we told the auctioneer that was our absolute max, the vendor can take it or leave it. Our offer was accepted the next day, and moved in within 2 months.
After we moved in, we put on hold for any upgrading for a while, and shopped for second hand furniture and all. Money was tight, but we got by OK. The house is still not perfect, but at least its our home.
Ultimately, it's your decision.
Good luck!

davo10

gaius c wrote: »

Considering sticking a time limit on your bid because you want to move on and bid on other properties if they won't accept your bid.

You need to accept that they may not be willing to accept your bid at all and that if you leave it in there indefinitely, it will only serve as a floor for the next bidder.

Do not do this. There is nothing stopping you from bidding in other properties while leaving this offer on the table, you know this and the EA will know this. Putting time limits on bids does more harm to your position than the sellers as you look inept if the time passes and the bid is not accepted but you then stay in the hunt. The property has been on the market for a long time so no doubt the seller won't mind staying on a bit longer particularly while prices are rising. Op the seller has indicated the lowest price acceptable and seems to be sticking to it, if it is above what you can afford, you may have no option but to walk, you will need more money for renovations on a house which has been vacant for some time. I wouldn't place too much mass on their not being another bidder at the moment, I'm always of the opinion that if I want a property/see the potential in it, it will only be a matter of time before some body else does as well.

davo10

Paulw wrote: »

.....and if you don't have confirmation in 2 weeks you will withdraw that offer and move on to the next property you are looking at.

It may be the kick they need.

It amazes me how many people think this works. Buying or selling property is a long game, particularly in a time when prices are rising. Sellers/EAs couldn't care less about a time limit on an offer unless you happen to be dealing with that rare bird, the seller who has to sell now at any price. There is nothing stopping you from moving on to other properties while leaving an offer on the table, every party in this process knows that. In this case the property is on the market for a long time yet the seller has refused to budge from a minimum acceptable price so what is the point in putting yourself in a bad position in the bidding process by stating that there is a time limit on your bid? If that time passes, you look inept if you bid again, the EA will not take any future bids seriously on this or any other property.

Geezy

GF and i put an offer on a house today for 10k below asking. We were told that another 4 couples will be viewing the property next week. Should we be worried? I supposed the only way to look at it is. Set your max (in your head) and stick to it if bidding starts. If another party is willing to bid more than your max then so be it. Buying a house is not fun!!

Michael D Not Higgins

Geezy wrote: »

GF and i put an offer on a house today for 10k below asking. We were told that another 4 couples will be viewing the property next week. Should we be worried? I supposed the only way to look at it is. Set your max (in your head) and stick to it if bidding starts. If another party is willing to bid more than your max then so be it. Buying a house is not fun!!

Yes you probably should be worried, expect a call from the EA to let you know the bids from the other couples. If it's a desirable area and a nice house, you can be sure the bidding war will start as soon as they have seen it.

You're right to set your maximum now and stick to it. People's emotional attachments cause them to lose the head sometimes at bidding stage.

Miamiheat

Asking for advice as well so I will tag along on this thread rather than crowding the forum for a similar situation. GF and I viewed a property we loved but priced only 15K lower than our maximum budget. The house is occupied by tenants and needs a fair amount of maintenance and cleanup. Today was the first viewing. I am wondering how to go about it knowing how close I am to my limit. There were at least 4 other parties viewing at the same time. I did not say anything about an offer to the agent.

Tigger

home mortgages require vacant possession ?

Miamiheat

Tigger wrote: »

home mortgages require vacant possession ?

No, I am specifying the general conditions of the purchase as a whole. A property with tenants might no be as fast a buy as a vacant one.

Miamiheat

Still looking for answers on that one. Today for the first time in my house hunt an agent calls me after the viewing(no offer made ) (regarding this specific house). I love it but didn't express the sentiment, i asked a couple of questions regarding owners and tenants and said I was discussing it with other half and would get back to him.
I really don't know what to do on this:

1) Bid below asking... create a bit of a question mark from other potential buyers so to avoid going into high numbers immediately?
2) Bid my max (15K above asking) clarify it's my max and give a week to decide. Beyond which point i need to move on.
3) Not bid and monitor in 2-3 weeks.

Molzer2

Hi miamiheat, there's no right answer here, if it's only just on the market I'd probably wait and check in with the EA in about a week. If you really like it put in an offer of 5 of 10k below asking. Best of luck.

Des1988

I have herd that there is an on-line register where each auctioneer must register each bid they receive for a property?

Is this true?

Has anyone herd of this before?

I'm currently trying to buy a house and think the auctioneer is having me on with some of the counter offers he is coming back to me with.

ted1

cat123456 wrote: »

V funny. Just opened my emails and we got a new mortgage offer for the exact price of the house! So the extra 20k is only an extra 4k of deposit. I'm happy to just pay the extra but my other half is pushing to wait it out if there are no other offers.

Nothing else suitable on auctioneers books. Any idea how to approach auctioneer where we aren't instantly up by 20k?

don't offer more.
ring up, ask him is still for sale, has there been ant more offers, and that your original offers till stands, but you've had an offer accepted on another property and will be putting the deposit on it early next week.

TheDoc

While buying a house seems like outragous effort, I think myself and the GF are in good stead having rented for a few years, and likely for YEARS more before I can even contemplate a house.

Each time going to rent, we have felt we were missing out "the perfect" place, only for something to come out of nowhere and be superior to all the rest in every way. See so many posts about people "loving" the house or "this is the one" sort of mentality, sounds like a recipe for disaster.

All the high level movement at the moment is moving towards building more houses and trying to address the housing crisis, with properties up for sale left right and centre people trying to capitalise on the crest of the wave. While there is another massive spike again in Dublin, to me it sounds like you need to stick to your max, have a couple of properties in scope at once, and not tunnel vision on the one place.

OP already mentioned it's over budget, could maybe stretch 10k more, then offered another mortgage deal that definitely puts him/her over budget. This is exactly how the first bubble started and why there is a mountain of people struggling with mortgage repayments. You can't tell the future so you should be making the smart choice now, and that means sticking within budget.

Just seems absurd to me how people get emotionally attached to property and then all logic goes out the window with what should have been solid work done on coming up with a budget and figure.

cat123456

Hello folks, OP here with an update on my original post. What I did in the end was left my original offer with EA for 2 weeks (painful wait for me!) then rang EA & explained I was bidding on other houses but still really liked this one and asked if vendor would reconsider. Still no other offers at this stage. Auctioneer said vendor would take 10k extra! (Still 30k under asking)After much sweating we got the keys 3 months ago. After 18 months of looking and 3 sale agreeds falling through we finally have our home. Delighted with it.

cat123456

Forgot to say. In the end we paid 30k under asking and still 15k under what the vendor said they would accept.