Placing a bid at a House Viewing

highgiant1985

I've read in an online article that you should never place a bid at a property viewing. Is it really such a no, no?

My view would be if you know your budget, like the property and make a non emotional decision on it to place a bid having viewed the house then I don't see why you shouldn't.

I'm just interested in others views on this as I'm viewing property's at the moment and I plan to place bids where I feel the property is good value.

Potatoeman

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I've read in an online article that you should never place a bid at a property viewing. Is it really such a no, no?

My view would be if you know your budget, like the property and make a non emotional decision on it to place a bid having viewed the house then I don't see why you shouldn't.

I'm just interested in others views on this as I'm viewing property's at the moment and I plan to place bids where I feel the property is good value.

It might be seen as overly keen. It is worth taking at least sometime thinking it over.

gaius c

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I've read in an online article that you should never place a bid at a property viewing. Is it really such a no, no?

My view would be if you know your budget, like the property and make a non emotional decision on it to place a bid having viewed the house then I don't see why you shouldn't.

I'm just interested in others views on this as I'm viewing property's at the moment and I plan to place bids where I feel the property is good value.

Buying a house is just like dating. You wouldn't ask somebody out 2 minutes after "viewing" them so why would you do it with the biggest financial commitment you're likely to ever undertake?

meme74

I think the danger is that you are showing your cards to the EA and vendor straight away. If you make an offer whilst standing in the house they know you are keen and the likelyhood is that they will try to play you.

If you are ok with making an offer and sticking to your budget and are happy to show your cards sraight up then just do it.

If you hold off afew days and ring the EA you could play it a bit cooler and make a lower offer and see where it goes form there. I personally wouldnt show my hand straight up and make an offer there and then. The EAs job is to get the most for their client, why play into their hands for the sake of afew days? Why are you so keen to make an offer at the viewing and how do you know without seeing the proprty that you want to make an offer? Or is this second viewing?

K_P

I think the advice I've seen here has typically been to play things cool with EAs which makes a lot of sense. However I've recently enough gone sale agreed on a house after about a year of looking and bidding on three other properties. For the first few, I tied myself up in knots trying to figure out the psychology of bidding - do we increase our bid by €1k or €5k, other bidders went up by only €2k and their last bid went up by €5k, what does that mean, etc, etc.

What I realised eventually is that the person who gets the house is the person willing to pay most for it and no amount of second guessing or armchair psychology will change that. Decide yourself what you are willing to pay for this property and don't go above that. OH and I were bidding on three other houses went above our maximum and we happily walked away from all three.

The house we went sale agreed on was one in which we put in a bid at the viewing. The EA knew us at that stage, knew that this house was the kind of property we were interested in and I think at that stage I was sick of the ridiculous dance of playing it cool and trying to appear disinterested which both myself and the EA would know is fake.

We still put in a low bid and didn't show our hand too much. Also, I think the EA knew that we weren't the type to go all out for the first property we saw and "fell in love with" as we'd bowed out of the bidding on a property he was previously selling. It sounds like you've a cool head about this, not likely to make rash emotional decisions. So my advice would be that within reason it's not necessarily a no no.

sky12345

There's also the fact that if you bid at the house the estate agent will possibly be able to use that to generate panic/fear in other bidders to encourage them to bid more quickly. I think if people think a house is in strong demand it will become more desirable

gaius c

K_P wrote: »

I think the advice I've seen here has typically been to play things cool with EAs which makes a lot of sense. However I've recently enough gone sale agreed on a house after about a year of looking and bidding on three other properties. For the first few, I tied myself up in knots trying to figure out the psychology of bidding - do we increase our bid by €1k or €5k, other bidders went up by only €2k and their last bid went up by €5k, what does that mean, etc, etc.

What I realised eventually is that the person who gets the house is the person willing to pay most for it and no amount of second guessing or armchair psychology will change that. Decide yourself what you are willing to pay for this property and don't go above that. OH and I were bidding on three other houses went above our maximum and we happily walked away from all three.

The house we went sale agreed on was one in which we put in a bid at the viewing. The EA knew us at that stage, knew that this house was the kind of property we were interested in and I think at that stage I was sick of the ridiculous dance of playing it cool and trying to appear disinterested which both myself and the EA would know is fake.

We still put in a low bid and didn't show our hand too much. Also, I think the EA knew that we weren't the type to go all out for the first property we saw and "fell in love with" as we'd bowed out of the bidding on a property he was previously selling. It sounds like you've a cool head about this, not likely to make rash emotional decisions. So my advice would be that within reason it's not necessarily a no no.

Not always. You could be the highest bidder on a house and the vendor may not accept your bid. Been there a few times.

K_P

gaius c wrote: »

Not always. You could be the highest bidder on a house and the vendor may not accept your bid. Been there a few times.

You're right I suppose in that a vendor could favour a cash buyer over a higher bid from someone in a chain.

I realised this in my own situation in relation to trying to figure out the psychology of the best way to bid. Or trying to figure out when other bidders might be nearing their limit. I reckon it's reasonably meaningless. Within reason. Obviously don't look crazy excited in front of the EA or tell them how much you're approved for.

gaius c

No. I mean that you are the highest or only bidder and the vendor does not accept it.

For the rest of your post, you are over thinking it. Just bid what you're happy to bid. If you get outbid or the vendor refuses to accept a fair market valuation, just move on.

DavyD_83

Personally, my biggest issue with bidding wars through an EA is that you never actually know for sure that the other party exists. It could all just be a sneaky EA wringing an extra few grand out of you to increase his figures.
Regarding placing a bid at viewing. People saying you seem over eager etc. I would say that depends on value of the bid. If the the second you're in the door, you're throwing out offering price or above I'd agree. I see no problem with submitting a sensible offer; would think that EA will judge eagerness etc based on how you deal with him and offers you give rather than the timing of first offer. (within reason; calling with 3 offers in a day to outbid yourself may raise a flag ðŸ˜)

dutopia

It depends.

How much research have you done beforehand? If the area, the type of house, the spec, etc tick the boxes for you and viewing the house inside is enough to make a decision or not - Sure, why not put a deposit down. Just check to make sure it's actually refundable or not if you decide not to go ahead.

I wouldn't bother putting a deposit down if I didn't do any research beforehand and just visited on a whim.

Pac2015

When we were viewing houses last year the EA was pestering us afterwards about putting in an offer if we liked the house that much it got to the point where we dreaded viewing a house if she was the EA !
One house we did put in an offer after we viewed it but then on thought we retracted it, we got put off buying for this year and have decided to wait until 2016 to start looking again.

El_Dangeroso

I'm not sure if phantom bidders are as prevalent as people seem to think they are.

From an estate agent's POV they get 1% of a sale, an extra 10k is only 100 euro to them, not really worth the risk to get into trouble with the regulator for. Never mind the hassle caused if your phantom bidder ends up with the highest offer!

gaius c

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I'm not sure if phantom bidders are as prevalent as people seem to think they are.

From an estate agent's POV they get 1% of a sale, an extra 10k is only 100 euro to them, not really worth the risk to get into trouble with the regulator for. Never mind the hassle caused if your phantom bidder ends up with the highest offer!

You're looking at it from the wrong end. If the EA doesn't get a high enough offer, the vendor won't agree to the sale and the EA gets no fee at all.

El_Dangeroso

gaius c wrote: »

You're looking at it from the wrong end. If the EA doesn't get a high enough offer, the vendor won't agree to the sale and the EA gets no fee at all.

Then the EA can explain to the bidder that the vendor won't accept less than X, it's up to the bidder to decide whether it's worth that or not and act accordingly.

gaius c

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Then the EA can explain to the bidder that the vendor won't accept less than X, it's up to the bidder to decide whether it's worth that or not and act accordingly.

That's why it's worth a shot trying the phantom bidder tactic for even a few k.