Estate Agent giving incorrect details

GreeBo

Hey,

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

In an effort to move it along we made an offer of asking contingent on them taking it off the market now and moving to sale agreed otherwise our previous offer stands.

The agent is now having an open view tomorrow and on enquiring to the office, people are being told that the current offer is the asking.

Is this not illegal?

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Fuming here.:mad:

Auctioneer is not legally required to abide by the conditions on your bid, you don’t have a contract. Right now your bid is the highest bid they have received, and it obviously has not been accepted.

Anyone who now bids will have to bid above asking, the EA will explain that an offer of asking has not been accepted by the vendor.

GreeBo

Dav010 wrote: »

Auctioneer is not legally required to abide by the conditions on your bid, you don’t have a contract. Right now your bid is the highest bid they have received, and it obviously has not been accepted.

Anyone who now bids will have to bid above asking.

I dont know if you are misreading me or I'm misreading you but:

Its for sale by Private Treaty, not an auction.
There is no bid of asking, we withdrew it when property was not taken off the market.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

I dont know if you are misreading me or I'm misreading you but:

Its for sale by Private Treaty, not an auction.
There is no bid of asking, we withdrew it when property was not taken off the market.

Asking was bid, and not accepted. If that is the case, then what’s the point of not informing other bidders, the vendor is hardly likely to accept 10k less than asking at the open viewing after not accepting yours. Get over it.

Is it illegal? No.

sweetie

I thought you should never outbid yourself?

Doop

sweetie wrote: »

I thought you should never outbid yourself?

Well if the vendor isn't going to accept your offer why wouldn't you increase your bid in order to get them to accept?

I wouldn't see it as bidding against yourself more so trying to agree a price...same way you might agree a price on second hand car.

notharrypotter

GreeBo wrote: »

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Maybe I am missing something but based on your post you have bid 65K below the asking and are wondering why the vendor will not take you seriously.

meathstevie

If you were in an auction without a reserve set the house would be yours.

In this case though you're trying to negotiate a deal and the people selling simply aren't accepting your offer.

The estate agent is trying to get the vendor a better deal. That's what they've been hired for and the commission is where they make their money.

By the way, I'm not exactly a lover of estate agents but sometimes it's just what it is.

SteM

GreeBo wrote: »

Hey,
....
They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

....

They'll bid what they think the property is worth to them just like you did.

How often does this whole 'offer contingent on taking the property off the market' thing work? People see your man on 'Location' do it and think it'll work for them but in a sellers market I doubt it works that often, especially if the offer is made by someone that has been offering €65k below asking for the last month. He might not think you're a serious buyer to be honest.

GreeBo

Dav010 wrote: »

Asking was bid, and not accepted. If that is the case, then what’s the point of not informing other bidders, the vendor is hardly likely to accept 10k less than asking at the open viewing after not accepting yours. Get over it.

Is it illegal? No.

They didnt "not accept" our offer based on the price, they didn't accept it because they (now) want to continue the viewings.

We have been repeatedly told up to now that they are holding out for the asking price.

GreeBo

notharrypotter wrote: »

Maybe I am missing something but based on your post you have bid 65K below the asking and are wondering why the vendor will not take you seriously.

Bidding started 250K below asking, we were the only remaining bidder at still 65K below asking. We didn't just come in 65K under.

GreeBo

meathstevie wrote: »

If you were in an auction without a reserve set the house would be yours.

In this case though you're trying to negotiate a deal and the people selling simply aren't accepting your offer.

The estate agent is trying to get the vendor a better deal. That's what they've been hired for and the commission is where they make their money.

By the way, I'm not exactly a lover of estate agents but sometimes it's just what it is.

Thats just it, the estate agent is telling them to accept our previous offer as its the only one on the table after 3 months of being For Sale, nevermind accepting our offer of the asking price.

GreeBo

SteM wrote: »

They'll bid what they think the property is worth to them just like you did.

How often does this whole 'offer contingent on taking the property off the market' thing work? People see your man on 'Location' do it and think it'll work for them but in a sellers market I doubt it works that often, especially if the offer is made by someone that has been offering €65k below asking for the last month. He might not think you're a serious buyer to be honest.

I think most people bid what they think they can get the house for, rather than what its necessarily worth.


They know we are a serious buyer.

amcalester

Doesn’t matter what you bid, what conditions you attach, what the EA advises: if the seller doesn’t want to accept, all you can do is keep looking.

Treviso

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

You probably need to put the offer in at the asking price - give them a deadline to accept or you walk away (and be prepared to walk away)

GreeBo

amcalester wrote: »

Doesn’t matter what you bid, what conditions you attach, what the EA advises: if the seller doesn’t want to accept, all you can do is keep looking.

I dont have a problem with them not accepting it.
i have a problem with them telling people that there is an offer of the asking when there isn't.

I'm also pissed off at the vendor for saying they wont sell unless we offer the asking and then when we offer the asking they now suddenly want more.
To turn the tables on some of the posts here, they dont seem like a serious seller.

GreeBo

Treviso wrote: »

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

You probably need to put the offer in at the asking price - give them a deadline to accept or you walk away (and be prepared to walk away)

Thats what we have done. My issue is with the agent telling people there is an offer of the asking when there isn't. We have removed that offer.

GreeBo

huskerdu wrote: »

It's quite simple.
The seller has decided to increase the asking price and has told the estate agent to ask for the higher price. (This might not be a good tactic but they are entitled to do so).

The estate agent is not doing anything wrong or illegal. They are just telling potential buyers what the asking price is.
They are not obliged to tell anyone about the current bid which is below the asking price.

They are not telling people what the asking price is. They are telling people that there is an *offer* of the asking price. When there isn't. There is no offer of the asking price on the table.

GreeBo

Treviso wrote: »

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

I'm not following what you mean here?

Treviso

GreeBo wrote: »

I'm not following what you mean here?

Lets say if they came back to you in a months time offering you the house for the original asking price, would you buy it?

GreeBo

Treviso wrote: »

Lets say if they came back to you in a months time offering you the house for the original asking price, would you buy it?

There seems to be some confusion here.

The asking price has not changed since the process started.

spaceHopper

If the EA told you that if you offer the asking it's your then I'd be well pissed off.

But if you offered the asking on the condition they take it off the market then he can do what he want's say be next Friday they have on better offer they'll be back to you saying well accept your offer, (the highest one) are going to get all high and mighty and say no or will you say ok, in which case there is an offer of the asking today.

Best thing to do is to let it be and see what happens.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

There seems to be some confusion here.

The asking price has not changed since the process started.

What he is saying is, the vendor is hoping to get more than asking price, if they don’t, would you still buy the price at asking price if they come back to you in a months time?

Treviso

They basically want to sell it for more than the asking price to someone else. If they are unable to get more than the asking price elsewhere, they will come back to you offering the house for that price. They see you as a serious buyer, if not a definite purchaser of the house.

They can bide their time and do unlimited viewing, tell lies about offers on the table to get more than the asking price etc. The sellers may have given the EA a month to get more than the asking, and failing that they will go back to you

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

They are not telling people what the asking price is. They are telling people that there is an *offer* of the asking price. When there isn't. There is no offer of the asking price on the table.

Curious. How do you know?

SteM

But how do you know that there's no offer of the asking price? The EA doesn’t work for you, it's not an open auction and you're not privy to every offer made.

I'd suggest from everything you've said that there is a offer of asking price and the open viewing is a throw of the dice to see if they can get interest above asking.

GreeBo

SteM wrote: »

But how do you know that there's no offer of the asking price? The EA doesn’t work for you, it's not an open auction and you're not privy to every offer made.

I'd suggest from everything you've said that there is a offer of asking price and the open viewing is a throw of the dice to see if they can get interest above asking.

Deleted User wrote: »

Curious. How do you know?

Because we are the only bidder and made the bid (with conditions) on Wednesday. We were in touch yesterday evening and nothing had changed so withdrew our offer and reverted to our previous offer.
This morning got we someone else to enquire and they were told about an offer @ asking.

GreeBo

spaceHopper wrote: »

If the EA told you that if you offer the asking it's your then I'd be well pissed off.

But if you offered the asking on the condition they take it off the market then he can do what he want's say be next Friday they have on better offer they'll be back to you saying well accept your offer, (the highest one) are going to get all high and mighty and say no or will you say ok, in which case there is an offer of the asking today.

Best thing to do is to let it be and see what happens.

It wont be all high and mighty it will be us sticking to our previous (-65K) offer until someone else bids more than it tbh.
We are no longer in a position to hang around, another open viewing means at least another week of followups and then potentially more bidding and counter bidding. We will be somewhere else by then.
So someone who puts on a bid of, say asking + 1K has started from false pretences and has just raised the bid on the house by 66K. I'd like to know this as the person making the bid, wouldnt you?

Dav010 wrote: »

What he is saying is, the vendor is hoping to get more than asking price, if they don’t, would you still buy the price at asking price if they come back to you in a months time?

Thing is that this is the first time this has come up. We have been told repeatedly that they want the asking.

Treviso wrote: »

They basically want to sell it for more than the asking price to someone else. If they are unable to get more than the asking price elsewhere, they will come back to you offering the house for that price. They see you as a serious buyer, if not a definite purchaser of the house.

They can bide their time and do unlimited viewing, tell lies about offers on the table to get more than the asking price etc. The sellers may have given the EA a month to get more than the asking, and failing that they will go back to you

I dont believe they can tell lies about offers on the table, thats all supposed to be regulated which is the purpose of this thread.

House has been for Sale since October with only 2 bidders, us and the under-bidder and the under-bidder dropped out before Christmas.

The agent is mad to sell it as its not worth their while to keep flogging a dead horse for no extra cash to them.

TheBoyConor

Bids?

And who would insult you by making bids for your house there in Carrigthomond?

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

Because we are the only bidder and made the bid (with conditions) on Wednesday. We were in touch yesterday evening and nothing had changed so withdrew our offer and reverted to our previous offer.
This morning got we someone else to enquire and they were told about an offer @ asking.

Would it be ok if your friend had been told “we have received an offer of asking which has not been accepted?”

I’m struggling to see what your issue is, you made an offer with unrealistic conditions, it hasn’t been accepted and bidders are being told that a bid of asking price has been made. Surely if the vendor will not accept below asking, the EA is correct to tell other bidders about your bid.

They wanted asking, now they want more because there is obviously more interest if they are organising an open viewing.

I

GreeBo

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Bids?

And who would insult you by making bids for your house there in Carrigthomond?

GreeBo

Dav010 wrote: »

Would it be ok if your friend had been told “we have received an offer of asking which has not been accepted?”

I’m struggling to see what your issue is, you made an offer with unrealistic conditions, it hasn’t been accepted and bidders are being told that a bid of asking price has been made. Surely if the vendor will not accept below asking, the EA is correct to tell other bidders about your bid.

No, because that is disingenuous.

There is no bid @ asking price on the table. There is a bid significantly under asking which has not been accepted by the vendor, but there is no higher bid.

If you think thats an ok practice, why dont all estate agents just make up a bid at asking price on every sale?

Treviso

Yea I agree on the EA not being honest with their answers and they shouldn't be doing it. It happens all the time I'm afraid and probably impossible to prove any wrongdoings if they were investigated.

You need to stop contacting the EA now that you have your bid in, 65k under the asking price. Leave it with them and wait for them to contact you if they want to discuss. By following up with them regularly, they see your asking offer as still being valid (even if you said you withdrew it)

godtabh

GreeBo wrote: »

No, because that is disingenuous.

There is no bid @ asking price on the table. There is a bid significantly under asking which has not been accepted by the vendor, but there is no higher bid.

If you think thats an ok practice, why dont all estate agents just make up a bid at asking price on every sale?

There was a bid of asking. Your conditions were not met and you withdrew your bid. Some one still offered asking and it was rejected. EA can state there was a bid and it was refused.

Tough **** if you didnt get what you want. If you want it agree to the vendors terms. If not its an open market.

Marcusm

GreeBo wrote: »

Hey,

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

In an effort to move it along we made an offer of asking contingent on them taking it off the market now and moving to sale agreed otherwise our previous offer stands.

The agent is now having an open view tomorrow and on enquiring to the office, people are being told that the current offer is the asking.

Is this not illegal?

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Fuming here.:mad:

Sorry to say but you screwed up, you should have asked what bid would have resulted in it being taken off the market and open viewing cancelled. He has had a bid and whether you like it or not he can communicate that to other people. Of course if they were to ask what is the current bid as opposed to "what's the highest bid?" he might have to think twice. But no EA thinks twice, spin doctors is what they are. If he comes back to you on Monday and says they'll accept it, you'll probably sign up. Alternatively, having seen you move that much they might ask for a little bit more.

katie275

OP, myself and my partner were bidding on a house last year and the agent was adamant they would not accept less than asking. There were no other active bidders. We made a respectable offer that was rejected, so we bowed out.
Few days later, the agent called me with a reduced counter offer I think you should put that house on the back burner for now, tell them your offer still stands if they wish to reconsider and look at other properties in the meantime. You never know, you could hear from them again if no-one else bites, especially given how long it's been on the market and the way the market is expected to go!

worker bee

GreeBo wrote: »

Bidding started 250K below asking...

Holy crap - how much was the asking? That's a massive variance between the asking and the first offer.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

No, because that is disingenuous.

There is no bid @ asking price on the table. There is a bid significantly under asking which has not been accepted by the vendor, but there is no higher bid.

If you think thats an ok practice, why dont all estate agents just make up a bid at asking price on every sale?

It may be disingenuous, but it is not illegal.

Sleeper12

GreeBo wrote:

They didnt "not accept" our offer based on the price, they didn't accept it because they (now) want to continue the viewings.

My first house (close to 30 years ago) they accepted the offer and I put down a deposit. They continued to show the property looking for a higher price even though I had a deposit. This deposit was meaningless. The estate agent wasn't doing anything illegal.

Sleeper12

GreeBo wrote:

Because we are the only bidder and made the bid (with conditions) on Wednesday. We were in touch yesterday evening and nothing had changed so withdrew our offer and reverted to our previous offer. This morning got we someone else to enquire and they were told about an offer @ asking.

Am I reading this correctly? Your higher bid wasn't accepted so you reverted to an even lower bid?

Usually when your bid isn't accepted you either withdraw from the bidding process or increase the bid. Lowering the bid isn't likely to secure the sale imo.

GreeBo

godtabh wrote: »

There was a bid of asking. Your conditions were not met and you withdrew your bid. Some one still offered asking and it was rejected. EA can state there was a bid and it was refused.

Tough **** if you didnt get what you want. If you want it agree to the vendors terms. If not its an open market.

What's a bid of asking?
I've never heard the term, can you share a link?

What vendors terms do you think im not agreeing with?

Also our offer was neither accepted nor rejected.

Toots

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Am I reading this correctly? Your higher bid wasn't accepted so you reverted to an even lower bid?

Usually when your bid isn't accepted you either withdraw from the bidding process or increase the bid. Lowering the bid isn't likely to secure the sale imo.

Yeah, the whole "offer on the condition it's withdrawn from sale" thing only really works if you're prepared to walk away from it completely and not look back. We did that when we bought our apartment, but the whole thing had been dragging on so long and we were the only bidder at 10k below asking. We said we'll pay the asking if it was off the market by 5pm that day, and after that we were withdrawing all offers and looking elsewhere. We were all set to walk away because it was such a pain we just both decided that we'd give it one last shot and then if it didn't work we'd find something else.

GreeBo

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Am I reading this correctly? Your higher bid wasn't accepted so you reverted to an even lower bid?

Usually when your bid isn't accepted you either withdraw from the bidding process or increase the bid. Lowering the bid isn't likely to secure the sale imo.

Yeah, a bid with conditions that were not met.
No different than offering more if they threw in appliances as an example.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

What vendors terms do you think im not agreeing with?

Also our offer was neither accepted nor rejected.

I think it’s fair to assume that if open viewings are being arranged after you made your bid, and they haven’t agreed to your terms to remove it from the market, it hasn’t been accepted.

lawred2

GreeBo wrote: »

Hey,

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

In an effort to move it along we made an offer of asking contingent on them taking it off the market now and moving to sale agreed otherwise our previous offer stands.

The agent is now having an open view tomorrow and on enquiring to the office, people are being told that the current offer is the asking.

Is this not illegal?

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Fuming here.:mad:

What are you fuming about?

Why on earth did you outbid yourself?

Sleeper12

GreeBo wrote:

Yeah, a bid with conditions that were not met. No different than offering more if they threw in appliances as an example.

It's not that the conditions weren't met. Your bid wasn't accepted at all.

I don't mean this is a bad way but unless you change your whole outlook on bidding I think it will be many, many years before you manage to buy a home. Again I don't mean any disrespect but I can't see the estate agent seeing you as a serious bidder. I'm betting he/she hasn't even asked you for proof of finances yet?

lawred2

lawred2 wrote: »

What are you fuming about?

Why on earth did you outbid yourself?

To be fair, on that I would agree with the op. If he/she was led to believe a bid of asking would seal the deal, then if the op believes the house is worth it then no reason not to increase bid to asking. But there is no point in taking umbrage just because it wasn’t accepted or because EA is telling other bidders a bid of this price is the highest received. Sales fall through for a variety of reasons and buyers can continue to view/bid on other properties up until contracts are signed.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I would stop playing games with the Estate Agent. Give them 24 hours to accept your offer or withdraw it if they don't accept it or do not respond. You've played your hand, the EA knows you really want the house now.
Ring a day or two later and ask to see other properties from the same EA.
That's all dependent on you willing to let the property go.

Levi Shapely Swine

Levi Shapely Swine wrote: »

I would stop playing games with the Estate Agent. Give them 24 hours to accept your offer or withdraw it if they don't accept it or do not respond. You've played your hand, the EA knows you really want the house now.
Ring a day or two later and ask to see other properties from the same EA.
That's all dependent on you willing to let the property go.

Look at the op, he has already made a conditional offer and withdrawn it because it wasn’t accepted.

GreeBo

worker bee wrote: »

Holy crap - how much was the asking? That's a massive variance between the asking and the first offer.

7 figures +

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Without any condition I meant , showed the OP was too eager for the house.

Dav010 wrote: »

Look at the op, he has already made a conditional offer and withdrawn it because it wasn’t accepted.