Real or Phantom Bidder? Advice Needed

rossie15

Hi,

Advice needed, I recently placed a bid on a house approx 15k below asking price. EA stated that he would come back to me the following day which he didnt. OH viewed the house the following week and EA said that our offer wasnt accepted. Which is fine, the property is on the market since March and we were to first bid on it.

EA gave a cock and bull story that hes going on Holidays in two weeks and would like to close it out before he heads off. He say something on the lines if upped our offer to meet somewhere in the middle we might be able to close out a deal.

We thought about over the weekend and upped our offer to meet in the middle thinking we'd seal the deal. EA said he would come back to us that evening again he didn't.

Came back yesterday apologising for the delay in getting back to us. As it was because a lady booked a viewing and he had to see if she was going to put in an offer on the property.
Low and behold she came 3k above our offer. I went back a short time later with an increased offer on the grounds the deal would be closed that evening.

Phoned later that day to check on the status of the bid to be told by the EA that the couple have gone 3k higher than our previous offer and in the end I pulled the plug on it.


The reason Im sceptical about this other bidder is firstly it was a woman then its a couple but it was the same person bidding. When I said I was pulling the plug on it and that it didnt matter as I was viewing another property that evening the we liked. The EA response back was which property did I prefer? and that the deal with the couple could fall through as they havem't dropped in the booking deposit.

Do you think its the EA acting the maggot trying to get more money out of us. It just seems funny no bid on the property in 4 months and as we're about to seal the deal bids come in.

wenbo

This is not unusual. We placed a bid on a house. Since then no offer for 3 weeks. Then EA told us to add X amount so that we could go sale agree. We added X-1K and thought we secured the house. Suddenly a woman came in and offered 5K more than ours. The seller accepted the offer immediately without giving us more time to to consider...

Kajemo

When myself and my OH were in the process of looking at houses and bidding, we heard a lot about this from people, but never really took notice or thought that it actually happened.

First house that we put a bid on, this is exactly what happened to us.
No interest in the house that we were looking at, then all of a sudden out of nowhere there was a "couple" who were very interested and were bidding 2K up from our bid everytime. Apparently this other couple were very keen.

We went back and forth a couple of time and then like yourselves felt it was a bit strange and pulled the plug. Its strange that the house never sold so we were definetly being led up the garden path.

So yeah to summarise, it does happen.

gaius c

Lowball bids on properties that haven't had a bid in ages can often attract other bids.
We've had it happen to us and were convinced that it was a phantom to get us up closer to asking. We were wrong.

Other houses, we decided to leave the "new bidder" at it and the house still sits on myhome months later with no bids at all.

Moral of the story is that you don't know if the other bidders are real or not. If you really want a house, bid as best you can in as business-like a manner as you can. If it's gone beyond your budget or past your idea of "value" for the property, leave it be.
If you try playing games (either initiating or retaliating), you are up against somebody more skilled and experienced at it than you.

Ri_Nollaig

Unfortunately you have no real way of knowing.

Most will say its rare for an EA to try this but it can happen. Must remember they are making a % on the sale so adding a couple of grand to the sale price doesn't add that much to their commission, or at least not enough to justify losing out on a sale there and then. They make most of their money from quick turn overs of properties and not trying to squeeze a bit more from the buyer.

Its also not uncommon for people to view a house, say they are interested and basically sit on the fence until someone else has put on offer in. Only then actually starting to bid.

So in summary? Who knows!
Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. You will only drive yourself insane trying to figure it out.

Instead only focus on what you do know, i.e. your position, have a set price in what you think its worth and stick to it. If you get it under that then all well and good, if you have to pay that then that's fine too. While the second it goes over it just move on and look else where.

Michael D Not Higgins

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

Most will say its rare for an EA to try this but it can happen. Must remember they are making a % on the sale so adding a couple of grand to the sale price doesn't add that much to their commission, or at least not enough to justify losing out on a sale there and then. They make most of their money from quick turn overs of properties and not trying to squeeze a bit more from the buyer.

To add to this, the EA is sometimes under instructions from the seller to get €X00,000 for the house. They might then act to squeeze that extra few grand out of the buyers.

rossie15

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. Then Outbid and back and forth a few times and there was me thinking it was the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C***

johnp001

rossie15 wrote: »

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. She out bid us the following day and it went back and forth a few times. I thought it was just the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C*** of a woman

Hard luck but something else will come along. Supply is on the increase.
According to recent posts on here you are still in with a good shout of getting that particular house....

The_Conductor wrote: »

One property very near me (in the same development)- has had 4 sales fall through since last February. One receiver I was talking to recently said sales falling through 3-4 times- is now considered normal ...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96219843&postcount=11

The_Conductor wrote: »

I viewed a property yesterday thats located in a nice development- its been vacant since last November- and has gone sale agreed 5 times- on each occasion- the sale has fallen through because the prospective purchaser failed to get the mortgage approval they assumed they'd get.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96188133&postcount=2274

Don't forget to make sure you get a substantial discount on your previous highest bid if the other prospective buyer drops out due to finance issues!

gaius c

rossie15 wrote: »

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. Then Outbid and back and forth a few times and there was me thinking it was the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C***

Seriously?
Somebody saw the ad your OH showed them,booked a viewing and then immediately bid on it? Doesn't sound like somebody with a good search methodology amongst other things.

Gumbo

rossie15 wrote: »

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. Then Outbid and back and forth a few times and there was me thinking it was the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C***

Don't see why someone else is a C***.
You were quick enough to think the EA was acting maggot but truth be told you got caught out.

Put it down to experience and if you want somewhere go for it.

TheDriver

And keep your business secret until a deal is sealed. Alls fair in love, war and house hunting....

A lesson horribly learnt...

rossie15

TheDriver wrote: »

And keep your business secret until a deal is sealed. Alls fair in love, war and house hunting....

A lesson horribly learnt...

Couldn't agree more. Now back to the drawing board

If your OH hasnt seen her so-called friend yet and you want to play dirty she should casually meet and announce... "remember that house we thought was nice?, well the survey was sooo scarey that we dropped it"

I guarantee the 'friend' will pull out that same day.

cpoh1

Deleted User wrote: »

If your OH hasnt seen her so-called friend yet and you want to play dirty she should casually meet and announce... "remember that house we thought was nice?, well the survey was sooo scarey that we dropped it"

I guarantee the 'friend' will pull out that same day.

How can you guarantee that? Silly advice for the original poster who just needs to move on to the next property.

Kajemo

rossie15 wrote: »

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. Then Outbid and back and forth a few times and there was me thinking it was the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C***

OP I am so sorry to hear that, but you know what as people use to say to us when we were house hunting, it wasn't meant for you.
At the time I was gutted and felt like telling them where to go, but in the end it worked out and we found a house even better and fell in love with that.

So this will happen for you too OP, don't give up.

spockety

rossie15 wrote: »

Gutted House sold........... And to make things worst it was a so called friend of the OH. Herself just happen to show this woman the house on the internet on Monday while out for coffee and she booked a viewing for the next day. She out bid us the following day and it went back and forth a few times. I thought it was just the Estate Agent acting the magget. What a C*** of a woman

Very poor form from your wife's friend. All's fair in the hunt for a house, but it usually doesn't involve destroying friendships. There are thousands of houses, and she decides to go for the one that you wanted?

It's either really spiteful, or really odd.

rossie15

I'd imagine this couple would still have to sell there own house before any Deal could be finalised.

I agree with the last poster its time for us to forget and move on. Thanks for the advice guys

rossie15

rossie15 wrote: »

I'd imagine this couple would still have to sell there own house before any Deal could be finalised.

I agree with the last poster its time for us to forget and move on. Thanks for the advice guys

The chances of the deal falling through are quite high. This seems to be an impulse buy, combined with an element of one-upmanship from somebody who was not actively looking for a house and who now needs to sell their own.
Yes, forget this one but they may come back to you in four to six weeks asking if your offer still holds. If you want to re-engage take your figure before this 'friend ' intervened.

rossie15

Deleted User wrote: »

The chances of the deal falling through are quite high. This seems to be an impulse buy, combined with an element of one-upmanship from somebody who was not actively looking for a house and who now needs to sell their own.
Yes, forget this one but they may come back to you in four to six weeks asking if your offer still holds. If you want to re-engage take your figure before this 'friend ' intervened.

I'll keep that in mind thanks Dr