Do time limited bids on properties work (in your experience)?

tigger123

Hi all,

Any help would be much appreciated.

Went to view a property a number of weeks ago. Rang the EA a few days later and was going to go in for a lowball offer, approx 5 to 10% below asking. EA said asking price is the lowest offer that will be considered. I reluctantly offered the asking.

EA has shown the property a number of times since, which is totally within his rights to do, obviously. But anytime he does, he calls me to "touch base" and make sure that my offer still stands. No other offers have been made.

He's basically banking my offer, ensuring it's still good then seeking better from other people (which is his job).

Another viewing is planned for the coming days- would it be wise to put a time limit of my offer to the day before the next viewing? It's a gamble, but I feel like this could force their hand a bit? Does this work?

Mad_maxx

They don't work during markets like this.

cruizer101

Personally I don't think there is any value in it. You obviously want the house so why retract your offer.
That said you still should be looking at other houses and potentially bidding on them, and no harm in letting agent know you are doing that.
If you can go view another property the agent has also it means he is aware you are looking at others.

tigger123

Mad_maxx wrote: »

They don't work during markets like this.

I'd be inclined to agree, BUT, I think both ourselves, the vendor, and the EA were expecting much more bids to come in.... and they just haven't for whatever reason.

If this were this time last year I think there would have been a flood of offers (which is my experience of the market last year), but this experience has been really different.

tigger123

cruizer101 wrote: »

Personally I don't think there is any value in it. You obviously want the house so why retract your offer.
That said you still should be looking at other houses and potentially bidding on them, and no harm in letting agent know you are doing that.
If you can go view another property the agent has also it means he is aware you are looking at others.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea.

The Sparrow

I think it depends on your definition of "work". If you have reached the limit of what you are willing to bid and you are definitely not going higher, then I think it makes sense to put a time limit on your offer.

Otherwise you are allowing the owner and EA to hedge their bets and hope something higher comes along. Worst case scenario, they dont accept it because they want something higher but that would have happened anyway as your top bid is too low for them. Better to find that out now rather than 2-3 weeks later.

On the flipside, if you are willing to go higher than your bid, then there is probably not much point adding a time limit.

PS I should say that I have literally no experience of this so this is just speculation on my part. I am however in the middle of a similar situation and I have time limited my final offer because I 100% know that I am not going any higher.

.......

There is no need to time limit your offer, it will naturally expire if you have an offer accepted somewhere else.

Instead of time limiting it with a view to forcing him to accept it faster just move on and mentally accept that house is not yours if you have gone as high as you are willing to go.

Or ask him outright what offer will secure the house and if it is more than you are willing to pay, tell him and move on.

CardinalJ

Keep looking and bidding on other places.

We gave a time limited offer on a house we bought in Dublin recently which worked and price was agreed that day. However we had been bidding against another party who were part of a chain, where as we were good to go.

In our situation it worked as our seller wanted us to bridge a small gap to another bid that we were humming and hawing about. I said I would go to a certain price if it was agreed that day, which it was.

In your scenario you can say that the bid wont last forever as you are looking at other houses seeing as the bid isnt accepted, but the EA will know that.

Claw Hammer

Time-limited bids are pointless since they're going to be "subject to contract". They don't bind anybody and all the show is inexperience. If you make a blade which is reasonably realistic it is up to the owner to make up their mind. The owner will generally be guided by the agent and will either come back and try to get you to increase the offer, or will simply ignore the bid. Agents know that if you are looking for a house you look at everything that meets your requirements, so telling them you're looking elsewhere cuts no ice.

Askthe EA

Not at all.

Cuddlesworth

tigger123 wrote: »

Hi all,

Any help would be much appreciated.

Went to view a property a number of weeks ago. Rang the EA a few days later and was going to go in for a lowball offer, approx 5 to 10% below asking. EA said asking price is the lowest offer that will be considered. I reluctantly offered the asking.

EA has shown the property a number of times since, which is totally within his rights to do, obviously. But anytime he does, he calls me to "touch base" and make sure that my offer still stands. No other offers have been made.

He's basically banking my offer, ensuring it's still good then seeking better from other people (which is his job).

Another viewing is planned for the coming days- would it be wise to put a time limit of my offer to the day before the next viewing? It's a gamble, but I feel like this could force their hand a bit? Does this work?

Owner accepts the bid, not the agent.

The agent is ringing you, he most likely wants you to increase the bid. Otherwise you wouldn't hear anything.

There is nothing better then a bid on a house with no counters and no interest. The vendor will either relent and accept, keep the house there or drop the sale.

Best thing you can do is start going to open viewings of other houses with the estate agent. Shows the bid is simply that, a bid. Works far better then any time limit.

I had offered between a low ball on a house and it was turned down.
Told them that I had an offer in on another house and would be told by X date if it was accepted or not.
They came back early on that date accepting my asking price bid. Not early enough though as I had my other bid accepted prior to that call.

So they can work but only if you are the only bidder really, and they need to sell

Caranica

Tried it once and the response from the EA... "our client refuses to be dictated to". We walked away

browne_rob5

cruizer101 wrote: »

Personally I don't think there is any value in it. You obviously want the house so why retract your offer.
That said you still should be looking at other houses and potentially bidding on them, and no harm in letting agent know you are doing that.
If you can go view another property the agent has also it means he is aware you are looking at others.

We used this approach and suppose will never know for sure how much it helped but think it will at least make them know your offer will not be there indefinitely.

UsBus

Been bidding on a property the last month. It's a receiver sale. After my first bids I wouldn't hear from the auctioneer for a couple of weeks, but each time after the 'underbidder' raised me by a couple of thousand, the phone calls were rapid and pressure was on.

Eventually I got fed up waiting so I raised the bid another 8 grand to test the underbidder. When I didn't hear back from the auctioneer, I rang for an update. Was told, they were waiting on the underbidder and that the bank wouldn't take it off the market for my bid. I told the auctioneer, my bid stood for 24 hrs and that I would confirm then if i was going to go for two other properties I was viewing..

Underbidder dropped out the next morning, auctioneer mad to get my mortgage offer info and proof of deposit for the bank. Have been chased by auctioneer since, while I am ready to offer on other properties.
The only way to do it is bid on what you are interested in and see which one comes up..

Samuel T. Cogley

They only work if you've a number of properties to bid on. e.g. I'm offering X but I have also placed an offer somewhere else and the first back to me will be the one I go with.

Marcusm

tigger123 wrote: »

Hi all,

Any help would be much appreciated.

Went to view a property a number of weeks ago. Rang the EA a few days later and was going to go in for a lowball offer, approx 5 to 10% below asking. EA said asking price is the lowest offer that will be considered. I reluctantly offered the asking.

EA has shown the property a number of times since, which is totally within his rights to do, obviously. But anytime he does, he calls me to "touch base" and make sure that my offer still stands. No other offers have been made.

He's basically banking my offer, ensuring it's still good then seeking better from other people (which is his job).

Another viewing is planned for the coming days- would it be wise to put a time limit of my offer to the day before the next viewing? It's a gamble, but I feel like this could force their hand a bit? Does this work?

What do you know of the vendor’s circumstances? Do they need to sell quickly, are the moving elsewhere? Having secured an asking price offer from you early on may lead them to believe it’s worth marketing for a little longer. Unless you have identified other properties that you can close on quickly, any time limitation or threat to withdraw on your part will have limited impact on the EA/vendor. By contrast, if there’s little interest and the EA thinks you might genuinely walk away, the EA will push to go sale agreed. Ultimately any increase in asking price has limited impact on his fee. You need to make him work for you!