Figuring out EAs game

krazyklown

Hi Guys

I am just reaching out to see if the collective wisdom of the internet might help us work out what we should do with regard to a house we are trying to buy.

Basically I think the EA is either stalling trying to drum up more interest or is trying to burn us off.

We viewed a house in Dublin area and have put two offers on it. It was guiding at 260k, we initially offered 240k, was rejected and we revised to 250k over two weeks ago. There are no other offers at this moment.

When we viewed (4 weeks ago), we couldnt see two bedrooms as the tenants had them locked. Seemingly there is a dispute between the landlord and them and they have not accommodated viewings. The EA said they would be out by Feb 19th. In all conversations since, the EA has said they have not conducted any viewings since as the tenants are still there, and are waiting until they have moved out before recommencing viewings.

Having checked out the place three times in the last two weeks I am pretty sure its empty. I asked a buddy to pose as an interested party and he found out that our offer is on it and was immediately offered to organise a viewing. He happened to deal with a different EA as selling EA was on holidays. He told my buddy that the selling EA would ring him, but he never did.

So I am trying to figure what we can do to get this moving - I dont know, we might be in a great position and somehow applying little bit of pressure might get us over the line and get closure. Part of me feels though that we are being messed about and its just going to be a long slow process. I find the EA very unengaged which concerns me.

Any advice or perspective would be greatly appreciated.
KK

davo10

The EA is in limbo until the tenants move out and the house is tidied. He quite rightly thinks that given the house is in Dublin where supply is short, there is likely to be more interest when the whole house can be viewed. No one but you is going to be interested in bidding on a house where there is a tenancy dispute, these can drag on for months and months. The EA has nothing to update you about, your bid has not been accepted and nothing can be done until the house is vacant.

Rew

You can offer more, continue to wait or pull out. EA works for the seller so he is doing what the seller has told him to do and it sounds like he's told EA to hold out for more or wait and see what the interest is like.

pwurple

Sellers market at the moment, which means you can't push too hard unless you are willing to lose it.

You could put a time limit on your offer... Say 3 wks or something, but honestly i think you will just end up moving on.

It's more likely the vendor holding out for the better price, not the EA here.

krazyklown

Thanks all for the input - i accept that if the vendor is holding out the EA cannot do anything - why doesn't he just say that? At our last conversation on Monday, the EA told me our latest bid had at that point neither been rejected or accepted. If the vendor wont consider our offer, thats grand, we can work with that and see if we can come to a mutually agreeable price.

As regards the tenants - i think they are gone, each time i have been up there, theres been no cars there or lights on, and a small upstairs window is left open all the time. I know that doesnt definitively prove they have vacated though. The EA maintains to me that they wont do any viewing until they are gone, but my buddy was offered a viewing when he made an enquiry. The fact that they havent followed up with him as agreed - its like they dont want to sell the place, and its been on the market since last August.

We are continuing our search and have viewed a couple of places since so trying not to get hung up on this, but like i said in my OP, we might be in a great position without knowing it so not prepared to walk away yet.

Quandary

Do not put a time limit on your bid but also make sure to let the EA know you are actively and aggressively bidding on other properties. Let the EA know you want a quick transaction and have everything ready to go.

You never know, you could end up having a bid accepted on another property you like and can go back to the EA in a very strong position.

gaius c

Hang on...you bid quarter of a million euro on a house you were not able to view in full?

krazyklown

correct - on the condition that the state of the two rooms we didn't see were consistent with the remainder of the house and subject to a full inspection. Obviously, the intention is to verify before going to to solicitors or incurring any cost. The house needs work and we expect the two rooms will be no different to what we saw.

davo10

krazyklown wrote: »

correct - on the condition that the state of the two rooms we didn't see were consistent with the remainder of the house and subject to a full inspection. Obviously, the intention is to verify before going to to solicitors or incurring any cost. The house needs work and we expect the two rooms will be no different to what we saw.

That is why you are the only bidder at the moment, and the reason why the EA expects to have more bidders when the whole house can be viewed. Sorry op, I think it's a bit of a joke bidding on a property without being able to see it in its entirety and then wondering why the EA isn't taking the bid seriously. I'm not say you are at fault here, the vendor should not market the property until he has dealt with his tenants and the EA is hamstrung until he can show prospective bidders the whole property.

krazyklown

I can appreciate that it might seem hasty making an offer without seeing the entirety of the house but from my perspective:

• we are not committed to the sale by making an offer in that we have the option to withdraw so we dont lose anything making an offer (except credibility it seems)
• what difference will it really make - unless there are visual structural problems like a fallen rafter, or anything visual like water damage, severe mould etc; the level of houses we have seen, they have all needed some form of remediation; we arent looking at walk in ready houses unfortunately
• i suppose the pertinent information i havent supplied is that we are expecting our first child in april, our approval runs out in may and we have already been told once we have a dependent our borrowing capacity will be significantly reduced. Hence the desire to push things if possible. This doesnt mean buy at all costs though, as i have said already, our intention would be to fully inspect the house before proceeding. Please bear in mind, we werent told that we wouldnt have access to the two rooms when we were offered the viewing

I accept it appears daft to make an offer without a full inspection, but as far as i am concerned we are buying four walls and a roof; so long as its structurally sound i am prepared to deal with cosmetic issues.

I appreciate the input from the thread and the overwhelming sentiment is that there isnt much we can do and it appears we have moved too quickly.
Thanks guys.
KK

carfax

By the sounds of it the delay might just be down to the agent being on holiday with a few crossed wires between other staff in the office.

If I was you I would find out the date the agent is back in work. From there call/ email (or even better drop in in person) to explain the reason that you have to move quickly on this property.

Leave your offer on the table for max one week from that point (i.e. tell the agent your offer will be withdrawn) and from there you'll at least know whether or not this property is for you.

Best of luck.

gaius c

Think of buying a house as being like dating. You're way too keen and eager so the EA has put you in the back pocket in case he doesn't get bids from people who take the process a bit more seriously.

You've already stated that you will withdraw or re-negotiate if the two rooms turn out to not be to your liking. The EA will know this and is dead right to not be taking such bids seriously.