Putting an offer on a house

Deise boii

Hey ya,

My girlfriend and I went and looked at a house last nice and we are looking at putting an offer in for it. The thing is we are complete novices and dont really know what way we go about it.

The agent told me last night that the house is listed at 235k and currently they have an offer of 222k in for it. We were aware last week that there was an offer of 218k in for it that has now jumped to 222k. We are very conscience of getting into a bidding war with someone else.

I suppose I am just looking for a bit of advice what should we be asking the estate agent and how do we even go about putting on our bid.

Thanks in advance.

Samuel T. Cogley

You can try and scare them off by going in high. What ever you do though only do a max of one bid a day.

LirW

Calling them, putting your bid in of amount X, then the waiting game begins, give them a week or so until you hear anything back. Inform them you want to be informed if a higher bid comes in.
Decide a max budget and don't go over it, if you lose, accept it and move on. If accepted keep looking until you have the keys.

stargazer 68

218 to 222 in a week is pretty normal. I had a property go up by that amount in 2 days! We didn't bid any more on it.

If you want to put an offer in contact the agent by email or text and put in your offer - if you call them they usually ask for it in writing. You may be asked to send them your AIP before they will accept your bid. You know what your budget is so stick to it.

Deise boii

Thanks for the replies do you know if the agent would let us know if the other bidder needs to sell to buy or if the have approval in principle.

heebusjeebus

Deise boii wrote: »

Thanks for the replies do you know if the agent would let us know if the other bidder needs to sell to buy or if the have approval in principle.

He may tell you about the other bidder but I doubt the agent will accept any bids without approval in principle.

lintdrummer

We've just put in an offer on a house ourselves. First time buyers and first time bidders! There is another bidder involved and further viewings scheduled so there's a long way to go yet. All we can do is wait, hope and keep our options open I suppose!
edit: For info, we made the offer in person and we were not required to provide letter of approval, EA says that will be required if we go sale agreed.

Samuel T. Cogley

Best of luck to you both.

The_Honeybadger

I wouldn’t give the agent your AIP. That’s information they can use against you. Just tell them you are approved and give them a copy with the figures redacted if they really push you.

lintdrummer

mickeyk wrote: »

I wouldn’t give the agent your AIP. That’s information they can use against you. Just tell them you are approved and give them a copy with the figures redacted if they really push you.

Thanks for the advice, this had crossed my mind alright. We are going through a broker and got our approval in principal just over a week ago. Have spoken to the broker since we made the bid and he assures he can provide what we need no problem.

Purple Sheep

mickeyk wrote: »

I wouldn’t give the agent your AIP. That’s information they can use against you. Just tell them you are approved and give them a copy with the figures redacted if they really push you.

I had an agent ignore a bid (email) without telling me because I forgot to attach the proof again. I thought doing it only for the first bid was enough. I found out because I went to another open viewing and heard the agent say the top bid was whatever it was, below what I had offered :eek:

LirW

lintdrummer wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, this had crossed my mind alright. We are going through a broker and got our approval in principal just over a week ago. Have spoken to the broker since we made the bid and he assures he can provide what we need no problem.

The EA in our case didn't want any proof of funds but if so our solicitor would have drawn a letter up that we do have sufficient funds for the transaction, they usually accept that too.

Deise boii

The ea just got back to me looks likewise seller needs to sell in order to buy his new place so wonder will that delay the process.

She also told me he rejected the 222k bid that he wanted 235k which we agreed was too much for us as I don't really see the value in that. I'm guessing that the ea would say this anyway as she is looking to get the best possible price for the house

bored_newbie

mickeyk wrote: »

I wouldn’t give the agent your AIP. That’s information they can use against you. Just tell them you are approved and give them a copy with the figures redacted if they really push you.

Not sure if that would wash with the EA. You're not proving you have the funds at all.

April 73

I would definitely not show the EA the amount that you have been approved for. Many banks will provide a letter stating that the buyer has the funds available to purchase house x.

Put everything in writing. If you make a bid, send it in an email & ask for acknowledgement of your bid. If the EA tells you that another bidder has made an offer of x, ask for that in writing.

Get to know your local estate agents. Show them you’re a serious buyer. Even if you don’t get this house, by building up those relationships you will eventually succeed.

In this case the buyer may want €235k but wanting & getting are different things.

There is no right or wrong approach to bidding. Some people advise a “knock the competition out” approach so you could top the latest bid by s significant amount & tell the EA it’s your one & only bid. Personally I’ve used this tactic 3 times & it worked. You have to judge when to do it. There’s a fear that you might pay a bit more than you had to but overall in a potential 20-30 year investment it’s usually pretty meaningless.

Alternatively you can hold back, telling the EA you are interested in the house but not interested in a bidding war and wait to see where the bidding ends & then jump in.

Or you enter the soul-crushing bidding war scenario where you go up in increments of 1k or 2k at a time against other people, never quite knowing the other bidders’ situations or finances or what cards they hold. Or even if they exist! It’s a game of poker.

Best of luck.

The_Honeybadger

bored_newbie wrote: »

Not sure if that would wash with the EA. You're not proving you have the funds at all.

Well I have been through it with a number of agents and not one of them ever saw my AIP. They did try to ask what my budget was and I fobbed them off with a ‘depends on the house type answer’.

Admittedly this was not in Dublin so perhaps things are different there. In a bubble market with very little supply they hold all the cards. I still don’t think they have any right to ask for your AIP. Knowing your total budget is a massive advantage for them. Their job is to get every last penny they can for the vendor. They are not looking for your AIP to ‘prove you have the funds’.