Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

missforgetfull

Hi, I'm hoping to get advice on a dilemma. There is a house that we like, it sold last year and is currently on rent. I contacted the estate agent asking if they could contact the owner and ask if they are willing to sell, i'm willing to offer more than what they bought for. EA came back with sorry, we dont contact owners. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do cause we like the house?

givyjoe

missforgetfull wrote: »

Hi, I'm hoping to get advice on a dilemma. There is a house that we like, it sold last year and is currently on rent. I contacted the estate agent asking if they could contact the owner and ask if they are willing to sell, i'm willing to offer more than what they bought for. EA came back with sorry, we dont contact owners. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do cause we like the house?

The house isn't for sale though.. and the EA has point blank said no. Not much you can do.

Smouse156

Demur2020 wrote: »

Finally completing on my sale this week - Originally sale agreed at €345k but valuer reduced their value by 10% due to "Covid" - Caused big delays for me an the buyer - we renegotiated and they moved bank and got a different valuer who passed it no problem!

You say you re-negotiated, did the house sell below the 345k?

Cutie_mcfruity

Has anyone on the wage subsidy scheme had any luck with drawdown? I’m at my wits end, it is all so unfair. Partner working same hours and getting same wage, his job is secure but company are just taking advantage of the situation at the minute.

I was hoping with it being highlighted in the last few days in the media something might start to happen

givyjoe

Cutie_mcfruity wrote: »

Has anyone on the wage subsidy scheme had any luck with drawdown? I’m at my wits end, it is all so unfair. Partner working same hours and getting same wage, his job is secure but company are just taking advantage of the situation at the minute.

I was hoping with it being highlighted in the last few days in the media something might start to happen

Scheme is due to finish next month, so one way or another, he should be off it. As is, if they are at 75% or more of pre covid turnover, they shouldn't qualify for paying their staff through it.

cnocbui

Smouse156 wrote: »

You say you re-negotiated, did the house sell below the 345k?

They are implying they re-negotiated the valuer, not the price.

cnocbui

missforgetfull wrote: »

Hi, I'm hoping to get advice on a dilemma. There is a house that we like, it sold last year and is currently on rent. I contacted the estate agent asking if they could contact the owner and ask if they are willing to sell, i'm willing to offer more than what they bought for. EA came back with sorry, we dont contact owners. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do cause we like the house?

This was replied to on previous pages - You could try knocking on the door and asking the tenants if they have contact details for the owner. One of the replies on previous pages gave a website that might let you find the owners details.

CR0009836

Cutie_mcfruity wrote: »

Has anyone on the wage subsidy scheme had any luck with drawdown? I’m at my wits end, it is all so unfair. Partner working same hours and getting same wage, his job is secure but company are just taking advantage of the situation at the minute.

I was hoping with it being highlighted in the last few days in the media something might start to happen

So looks like AIB are the only bank i know of that are allowing people to drawdown who are on the wage subsidy.
https://www.thejournal.ie/aib-mortgage-approval-wage-subsidy-recipients-5138732-Jul2020/

JohnK

A question for anyone who might know - If you apply for an LTI exemption and it gets rejected, is it typically a flat NO or would they come back with the maximum amount within the standard LTI/LTV bracket they'd be willing to give you? And in normal circumstances (granted, we're currently far from normal at the moment!) would they be more likely to give an exemption to someone who's looking for 3.75x versus someone looking for 4x? As in, are they limited in the total number of exemptions they can give or is it the total value of exemptions they can give?

lastusername

Hi folks,


Has anyone got back to the vendor to ask for a reduction in sale price? We are sale agreed at 15k over asking but with what's going on and some potential job uncertainty we are wondering about asking for a 10k reduction. Not sure how the estate agent and vendors would take it though!


We are paying top end of the scale but for a beautiful house and feel if it's a family home it'll be worth it over the long term. The economy has an uncertain outlook but it goes up and down and where are things not uncertain

Bluefoam

lastusername wrote: »

Hi folks,


Has anyone got back to the vendor to ask for a reduction in sale price? We are sale agreed at 15k over asking but with what's going on and some potential job uncertainty we are wondering about asking for a 10k reduction. Not sure how the estate agent and vendors would take it though!


We are paying top end of the scale but for a beautiful house and feel if it's a family home it'll be worth it over the long term. The economy has an uncertain outlook but it goes up and down and where are things not uncertain

How strongly do you feel about the price reduction... it's basically a new offer.

In theory the seller could pull the sale and offer it to the next lowest bidder or re-list it if they felt they were being messed around...

Up to you what value you put on the property and whether its a worth it. 10k is allot of money... Do you have any idea if this has happened elsewhere in the area?

mojesius

JohnK wrote: »

A question for anyone who might know - If you apply for an LTI exemption and it gets rejected, is it typically a flat NO or would they come back with the maximum amount within the standard LTI/LTV bracket they'd be willing to give you? And in normal circumstances (granted, we're currently far from normal at the moment!) would they be more likely to give an exemption to someone who's looking for 3.75x versus someone looking for 4x? As in, are they limited in the total number of exemptions they can give or is it the total value of exemptions they can give?

Banks will usually come back and give you a max amount they're willing to lend, exemption or no exemption. They'd only give a flat no if there were flags in your application (no proof of savings, big loans, credit cards with arrears etc.)

I'm not too sure RE exemption required. Might be worth going through a broker who could recommend the best bank to suit your particular situation (and put forward the application on your behalf). We used a broker and found him invaluable. In our case, we didn't ask for an exemption but needed a bank who would take set annual bonus into account.

cnocbui

lastusername wrote: »

Hi folks,


Has anyone got back to the vendor to ask for a reduction in sale price? We are sale agreed at 15k over asking but with what's going on and some potential job uncertainty we are wondering about asking for a 10k reduction. Not sure how the estate agent and vendors would take it though!


We are paying top end of the scale but for a beautiful house and feel if it's a family home it'll be worth it over the long term. The economy has an uncertain outlook but it goes up and down and where are things not uncertain

If I was the seller, and the previous bidder was €2 K lower than your bid, and you came asking for €10 K drop, I'd be contacting the other bidder and asking do they want a house.

lastusername

cnocbui wrote: »

If I was the seller, and the previous bidder was €2 K lower than your bid, and you came asking for €10 K drop, I'd be contacting the other bidder and asking do they want a house.

Yeah I'd be the same I reckon! It's fair enough, we agreed on that price and if we feel it is still worth it there is no reason for that to change.

cnocbui

lastusername wrote: »

Yeah I'd be the same I reckon! It's fair enough, we agreed on that price and if we feel it is still worth it there is no reason for that to change.

My mother once said to me: 'you'll find you regret far more the things you didn't do than those you did.' Or words to that effect. She wasn't wrong.

There are so many aphorisms extolling getting on with things, compared to the opposite: He who hesitates is lost; fortune favours the bold; who dares, wins; carpe diem (sieze the day); and so on

Yes there are the opposite like; marry in haste, repent at leisure, but I think they seem fewer in number or favour.

Tallback

Completing our sale tomorrow. Mortgage was with PTSB and there was no delay with drawdown. We had submitted doc about 2 weeks ago confirming we weren't on Covid-19 payment in addition to payslips and it seemed to go seemlessly from that. Transfer was by EFT.

Sale was agreed in Jan but happy to drive on with it - we've been waiting long enough to get a house with a garden.

The folder on my computer with all the docs etc is called "New House Search 2018". It's taken a long time to get here with lots of twists and turns so anyone who is on the same journey - hang in there, you'll get there in the end. Best of luck.

NeitherJohn

Solicitor requested drawdown for us today. Had given docs two weeks ago. Almost there now. Bloody sick of it now.

bulmersgal

My solicitors received contracts last week, survey done all good, valuation done last Thursday. Just waiting on the loan offer from the bank. Hopefully comes soon as I would love to know when the house is mine

guyfawkes5

lastusername wrote: »

Hi folks,


Has anyone got back to the vendor to ask for a reduction in sale price? We are sale agreed at 15k over asking but with what's going on and some potential job uncertainty we are wondering about asking for a 10k reduction. Not sure how the estate agent and vendors would take it though!


We are paying top end of the scale but for a beautiful house and feel if it's a family home it'll be worth it over the long term. The economy has an uncertain outlook but it goes up and down and where are things not uncertain

I went through almost exactly this a month or two ago.

I was sale agreed at a price over asking (although given how much neighbouring properties went for I don't think the asking price was genuine). They accepted my bid just as lockdown started. There were multiple other bidders at the time €5k and even €500 off my final bid (the last bidder was obviously coaxed by the EA to get a little more from me... fair enough).

I asked for a little over €10k off a few months later. The seller readily accepted. The only information I had beforehand was that the seller was 'nervous' of any apparent delay on my side (the bank was slow to deal with given the height of the Covid shock was happening at the time). To be honest the seller and EA seemed to nearly expect my request.

It's absolutely worth asking, even if there were other bidders. All parties involved have witnessed the last few months, so it won't be unexpected.

guyfawkes5

cnocbui wrote: »

If I was the seller, and the previous bidder was €2 K lower than your bid, and you came asking for €10 K drop, I'd be contacting the other bidder and asking do they want a house.

To this, I would say it depends on how far along with the sale process you were.

If you're a week or so past sale agreed, then this is more likely. If you're a few months into the process with solicitors and bank engaged, then this step of contacting previous bidders becomes far less likely. In a risky market you've invested time and money into a sale process, and probably wouldn't want to risk that investment by immediately contacting bidders, and 'cold' ones at that.

This isn't to say that the seller will immediately give in, far from it, but the scenario of the seller immediately contacting previous bidders shouldn't deter you from making the request.

This point is compounded if the bids were made before lockdown.

lastusername

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

To this, I would say it depends on how far along with the sale process you were.

If you're a week or so past sale agreed, then this is more likely. If you're a few months into the process with solicitors and bank engaged, then this step of contacting previous bidders becomes far less likely. In a risky market you've invested time and money into a sale process, and probably wouldn't want to risk that investment by immediately contacting bidders, and 'cold' ones at that.

This isn't to say that the seller will immediately give in, far from it, but the scenario of the seller immediately contacting previous bidders shouldn't deter you from making the request.

This point is compounded if the bids were made before lockdown.

Yep that’s it, we are well into it and it’s possible but unlikely they’d be going straight back to the other bidders who may have moved on since anyway. We’ve been advised that the price is very high, that we have to consider future marketability, and so we are almost certainly going to ask. That’s the only factor for us, we don’t care about other bidders.

Also, their attitude to the request will definitely be something that will play a part in whether we feel we want to proceed!

lastusername

lastusername wrote: »

Yep that’s it, we are well into it and it’s possible but unlikely they’d be going straight back to the other bidders who may have moved on since anyway. We’ve been advised that the price is very high, that we have to consider future marketability, and so we are almost certainly going to ask. That’s the only factor for us, we don’t care about other bidders.

Also, their attitude to the request will definitely be something that will play a part in whether we feel we want to proceed!

It depends what they would get if they were to put it back on the market or contact under bidders. If they are purchasing a new home themselves they'd have to go negotiate the same percentage drop and all depends if they can get it. Basically, they're not going to be the ones out of pocket. It's not about "attitude" its just common sense. Personally I'd explore all the above options before I'd agree to a reduction and depending on what stage you are at it may be an option of agree to reduction or the deal is off. Pretty shifty really. If they are going through all the hassle of basically putting it back on the market without actually putting it back on the market then they might as well literally have it back on the market. Is EA going to go through the extra work or simply say deal is off and its back to market? At what point is a non refundable deposit paid? You'd have a fight on your hands to get that back.

guyfawkes5

Deleted User wrote: »

It depends what they would get if they were to put it back on the market or contact under bidders. If they are purchasing a new home themselves they'd have to go negotiate the same percentage drop and all depends if they can get it. Basically, they're not going to be the ones out of pocket. It's not about "attitude" its just common sense. Personally I'd explore all the above options before I'd agree to a reduction and depending on what stage you are at it may be an option of agree to reduction or the deal is off. Pretty shifty really. If they are going through all the hassle of basically putting it back on the market without actually putting it back on the market then they might as well literally have it back on the market. Is EA going to go through the extra work or simply say deal is off and its back to market? At what point is a non refundable deposit paid? You'd have a fight on your hands to get that back.

Attitude does play a pretty heavy part here, as you don't know what you would get or lose if you pursued older bidders, put it back on the market, etc. It comes down to your perception of the market and what you value at that point in time. Do you reliably close the sale now, or take a chance extending the sales process by another few weeks or months post Covid?

The EA, purely from their own point of view, would prefer the negotiation is concluded quickly and would definitely prefer not to go to other bidders or back to the market. Their drop in fee from a negotiation would be be much smaller compared to the seller, and they'd see this as a much bigger investment of their time for almost no return.

You personally might not entertain a reduction until you have pursued all other avenues, but I think most sellers would know this is not a 'costless' course of action to take - an already reluctant buyer may move on if they know the seller is shopping around which entails complication, delay, and a reduced chance of getting a price that they might not proceed without.

Jess2019

Does anyone know which banks take bonuses into consideration when assessing your income? I know with bank of Ireland you need to be employed 3 years before they take bonuses into consideration, but have no clue about the others?

guyfawkes5

I only know EBS and AIB don't from previous experience.

Skylinehead

lastusername wrote: »

Hi folks,


Has anyone got back to the vendor to ask for a reduction in sale price? We are sale agreed at 15k over asking but with what's going on and some potential job uncertainty we are wondering about asking for a 10k reduction. Not sure how the estate agent and vendors would take it though!


We are paying top end of the scale but for a beautiful house and feel if it's a family home it'll be worth it over the long term. The economy has an uncertain outlook but it goes up and down and where are things not uncertain

Yeah I'm getting 10k off, asked for 15. Happy enough. But I do suspect I was the only offer, so if there's others, it could be more complicated.

masterboy123

Could someone please provide their opinion on this?

I bought a new house last year and works are being completed now.

Builder told me there are extras that I need to pay in the range of €5000+VAT as different authorities such building envelope, energy & air tightness regulators, and electrical engineers recommended changes in his initial plan which has resulted in this extra cost.

I wasn't made aware of these costs and builder made the necessary changes. Now he told me these will be added in my final amount.

We signed contract in March 2019 and final price agreed on it. Is this the norm and where do I stand?
The house is in an estate.

Thank you

cnocbui

It would entirely depend on the contract. You need to get a solicitor's opinion.

masterboy123

Ok, i told the builder to send this info to our solicitor. So we will wait for it now.

cnocbui wrote: »

It would entirely depend on the contract. You need to get a solicitor's opinion.

awec

masterboy123 wrote: »

Could someone please provide their opinion on this?

I bought a new house last year and works are being completed now.

Builder told me there are extras that I need to pay in the range of €5000+VAT as different authorities such building envelope, energy & air tightness regulators, and electrical engineers recommended changes in his initial plan which has resulted in this extra cost.

I wasn't made aware of these costs and builder made the necessary changes. Now he told me these will be added in my final amount.

We signed contract in March 2019 and final price agreed on it. Is this the norm and where do I stand?
The house is in an estate.

Thank you

Sounds like your builder is a clown.

This stuff should have all been sorted before he priced and sold the houses. You agreed to pay a certain price, he has agreed to sell the house to you at that price, contracts are signed.

Talk to your solicitor but I wouldn't just accept that at all.