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

GreeBo

Canyon86 wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking for peoples experiences

I was interested in a property recently
I had two bids rejected by vendor, waiting a week each time
To hear the bad news back from them,

I was informed that I was the only bid in at the moment
I checked daft last night and the property is now sale agreed

Should I have been given a call by the EA to inform of a new bid ? Perhaps not..
3 days between my second failed bid and sale agreed
I was preparing to go higher again but looks like I moved too slow

Cheers

All your bids were rejected so no reason for them to call you imo.

Canyon86

Queenio wrote: »

God that's so frustrating. No advice but sorry to hear you're in that situation. I'd call EA and ask what the story is. You can put in an offer below the current sale agreed in case the sale falls througH maybe??

Thanks for your reply I'm going to ring on Monday

Canyon86

pinkwink3 wrote: »

I was told by EA that he was legally obliged to go back to other bidder with each bid until one of us dropped out. I'd contact the EA on Monday and ask what the latest is with the house.

Thanks for your reply I ll be onto the EA monday about it and come back with an update.

Mon1239

Hi all,

We've been keeping an eye on the prices before agreeing to reserve and have seen some price decreases in new builds in the last couple of weeks.

Ledwill Park, the new development in Kilcock, have just reduced the price of their 5 bedroom detached house from 475k to 450k. It also comes fully floored with carpets: https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/9-the-avenue-ledwill-park-kilcock-co-kildare/4417895

Oldbridge Park, a new development in Sallins, has reduced the price of their 4 bedroom, 183sqm house from an original asking of 430k to 415k for the same house. This house is being sold from plans and due to be completed in the next couple of weeks: https://www.daft.ie/kildare/houses-for-sale/naas/the-ivy-oldbridge-park-osberstown-naas-kildare-2571495/

Has anyone else noticed prices of new build properties coming down? Or developers entertaining offers on new builds? We were surprised to hear that Glenveagh were open to reasonable offers on this particular property.

GraceFace12

Thoughts on buying via Auction in the coming months? A few properties popping up, and a few in distress (receivers etc.), and I guess may become more common in the coming months.

I viewed one in Cork city this week and was underwhelmed to say the least, and even the reserve price to me, seemed like an over-valuation. Particularly when properties on the same road in similar or better condition seem to have sold for less in the last 5ish years. In saying that, the EA has said there are a lot of viewings... a great location, which is why I really like it, but old house. The musky smell upstairs was quite something. I was expecting it to be closer to move-in state. Now, I'm not so sure, and would need a decent engineers report to be sure.

With an auction, the EA says the onus is on me to get all legals, including an engineers report sorted JUST to be able to bid in the auction. This seems crazy ... esp when the report I'd like will probably be up to 400 quid easily. Particularly with the Cork city property above, I'd only be willing to go to the reserve price, or very slightly over. Now I am wondering if the loss of money on engineers report etc if I don't win the bid is worth it - given my low level of wiggle room once the auction kicks off, it just makes me even more cautious. I like the idea of buying via auction - fast process, seriously interested parties only will go to the effort of registering, and chance of capitalising on a low priced distressed property. .

On a side note, I am one of the lucky public sector workers with a secure job, and moved home to the parents place at the beginning of lockdown, and have hit deposit savings target waaaaaay earlier than planned. Suddenly I was saving 2k per month rather than 400 quid per month. I am a single mortgage application looking at properties around 200k - would get you a decent 2 bed mid-terraced place in Cork city. I feel it is people like me who are the 'loads of other viewers' mentioned by the EA. And it seems, that people like me are probably holding prices up in this price range given the sudden eligibility to buy alongside and very little supply. Joint mortgage applications perhaps less so as it is less likely that both applicants have not been impacted by Covid - although not impossible. Teachers always marry teachers.. lol. Ps.. I am not a teacher

Claw Hammer

If you think the reserve is too much, wait until it is withdrawn from auction. It is pointless going to the expense of preparing for an auction if the starting price is too high to begin with. The engineers report is only going to reveal more expense.

JeffKenna

Canyon86 wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking for peoples experiences

I was interested in a property recently
I had two bids rejected by vendor, waiting a week each time
To hear the bad news back from them,

I was informed that I was the only bid in at the moment
I checked daft last night and the property is now sale agreed

Should I have been given a call by the EA to inform of a new bid ? Perhaps not..
3 days between my second failed bid and sale agreed
I was preparing to go higher again but looks like I moved too slow

Cheers

You might have gone too low with your first two offers and someone came in then at asking price and it was accepted immediately.

brisan

Paris123 wrote: »

Hi There,

My partner and I are first time buyers. We went on a recent viewing and house is on a guide price of 245k. The Estate Agent has informed us that an offer has been made for 240k and that if we are thinking of making an offer, we should move fast. We like the house but feel that 240k is a bit much. We would be prepared to offer a smaller figure of 210-215, can you suggest if we should counter-offer at a lower figure or just assume that the estate agent is telling the truth on the 240k offer and move on?

Any advice for us first timer buyers is welcomed.

Really

brisan

Claw Hammer wrote: »

If you think the reserve is too much, wait until it is withdrawn from auction. It is pointless going to the expense of preparing for an auction if the starting price is too high to begin with. The engineers report is only going to reveal more expense.

Exactly
There is ALWAYS a reason a property goes for auction rather than the conventional route
Let the buyer beware

Glory83

Paris123 wrote: »

Hi There,

My partner and I are first time buyers. We went on a recent viewing and house is on a guide price of 245k. The Estate Agent has informed us that an offer has been made for 240k and that if we are thinking of making an offer, we should move fast. We like the house but feel that 240k is a bit much. We would be prepared to offer a smaller figure of 210-215, can you suggest if we should counter-offer at a lower figure or just assume that the estate agent is telling the truth on the 240k offer and move on?

Any advice for us first timer buyers is welcomed.

brisan wrote: »

Really

I had a viewing last week and EA put a pressure on me to make an offer before 2 hours after the viewing claiming they want to finalize the sale at the same evening although I was 3rd person viewing the property. So, yes it is a tactic they are using and the current offer is always above the asking price. My advice is to just make the offer what you think the property is worth and do not emotionally attach yourself to a property that could end you up bidding against yourself.

Graham

Mod Note

Glory83 please read the forum charter before you post again. Pay particular attention to the section that begins "Bashing of particular demographics".

Do not reply to this post.

JimmiesRustled

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Exact same situation for myself and my partner more or less. We snagged the house at the end of February. Apparently the house is good to go we just need to carry out a final snag to make sure we're happy.

My employer has begun to avail of the government subsidy scheme. My last paycheck included some money from this scheme.

From reading this thread, I've contacted our broker and we're being asked to resubmit some information. All contracts have been signed and returned to the bank etc.

We're literally just waiting to be able to get to the house, as it's outside our 2km zone to be able to sign off on it but now it looks like we may be refused draw down completely. We've paid a non refundable deposit on the house of over €30,000. That took years to save.

Won't be getting much sleep until I know one way or the other.

Just an update on the above from almost 3 months ago. We finally got keys last Thursday. What a relief!

UB were initially happy with the Covid subsidy after much back and forth. We instructed our solicitor to drawdown and UB then said that we needed to be off the subsidy. I produced the email and letter they had sent us and they told us that they can change their policy at any time. It wasn't 2 days since I recieved the email saying they were happy to proceed with ourselves even though we were on the Covid subsidy.

We managed to delay the developer/builder by issuing minor snags and snags that we knew were nonsense. Luckily, we were taken off the Covid subsidy but the amount of sleepless nights I've had over the past few months thinking about the amount of time my partner and I had spent saving that money just for it to be stripped away and nothing to show for it.

We don't have the best paying jobs but we worked hard. It's been 2 or so years living with my parents, hardly ever going out for meals, never really going out at all and very few if any holidays. I certainly won't be in a rush to do this all again anytime soon.

Febreeze

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Just an update on the above from almost 3 months ago. We finally got keys last Thursday. What a relief!

UB were initially happy with the Covid subsidy after much back and forth. We instructed our solicitor to drawdown and UB then said that we needed to be off the subsidy. I produced the email and letter they had sent us and they told us that they can change their policy at any time. It wasn't 2 days since I recieved the email saying they were happy to proceed with ourselves even though we were on the Covid subsidy.

We managed to delay the developer/builder by issuing minor snags and snags that we knew were nonsense. Luckily, we were taken off the Covid subsidy but the amount of sleepless nights I've had over the past few months thinking about the amount of time my partner and I had spent saving that money just for it to be stripped away and nothing to show for it.

We don't have the best paying jobs but we worked hard. It's been 2 or so years living with my parents, hardly ever going out for meals, never really going out at all and very few if any holidays. I certainly won't be in a rush to do this all again anytime soon.

I'm in the same situation minus the house part. Still currently saving. I'm living with my partner in his parents house. It's a privately rented house as well so paying rent and saving plus bills, I can say it's very tough. We are both in well paying jobs, it's just unfortunate we've to help pay his parents towards the rent at times as we feel they shouldn't have to pay rent at their ages but sure, that's life isn't it.

It's been almost 2 years and we are a lot closer to where we want to be deposit wise but nowhere near closer to look at mortgages so I say it will be another 12 months before we can officially go ahead with anything. Like yourself, we've hardly gone out. No holidays. Treat ourselves once a week and we get so excited about what take away we should get. It's sad haha but we know we have a purpose and eventually we can continue making other plans once we've got our house.

Congratulations :-)

lfen

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Just an update on the above from almost 3 months ago. We finally got keys last Thursday. What a relief!

UB were initially happy with the Covid subsidy after much back and forth. We instructed our solicitor to drawdown and UB then said that we needed to be off the subsidy. I produced the email and letter they had sent us and they told us that they can change their policy at any time. It wasn't 2 days since I recieved the email saying they were happy to proceed with ourselves even though we were on the Covid subsidy.

We managed to delay the developer/builder by issuing minor snags and snags that we knew were nonsense. Luckily, we were taken off the Covid subsidy but the amount of sleepless nights I've had over the past few months thinking about the amount of time my partner and I had spent saving that money just for it to be stripped away and nothing to show for it.

We don't have the best paying jobs but we worked hard. It's been 2 or so years living with my parents, hardly ever going out for meals, never really going out at all and very few if any holidays. I certainly won't be in a rush to do this all again anytime soon.

Congrats to you both! Really being put through our paces with UB ourselves. Went sale agreed in March and in limbo since despite not being impacted by covid. Good to see a good news story!

The Wordress

Canyon86 wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking for peoples experiences

I was interested in a property recently
I had two bids rejected by vendor, waiting a week each time
To hear the bad news back from them,

I was informed that I was the only bid in at the moment
I checked daft last night and the property is now sale agreed

Should I have been given a call by the EA to inform of a new bid ? Perhaps not..
3 days between my second failed bid and sale agreed
I was preparing to go higher again but looks like I moved too slow

Cheers

That is very frustrating.

Something very similiar happened to us.

We bidded on a house a few weeks before Covid lockdown which we absolutely loved but with all the uncertainty we withdrew our bid. I did email the Estate Agent to say that we would like to come back and bid again when things settled and we could get a clearer picture of the situation. I made it very clear we were still interested in the house and his office was closed during Lockdown anyway.

Next thing I know, the house has gone sale agreed once Lockdown was lifted.

I thought we would at least have gotten a phonecall to check if we wanted to Rebid.

Anyway, I'm taking it as a sign that this house is not our destiny. It was very close to an estuary and there is a strong possibility that the road leading to it will wash away with coastal erosion in the not too distant future

Canyon86

The Wordress wrote: »

That is very frustrating.

Something very similiar happened to us.

We bidded on a house a few weeks before Covid lockdown which we absolutely loved but with all the uncertainty we withdrew our bid. I did email the Estate Agent to say that we would like to come back and bid again when things settled and we could get a clearer picture of the situation. I made it very clear we were still interested in the house and his office was closed during Lockdown anyway.

Next thing I know, the house has gone sale agreed once Lockdown was lifted.

I thought we would at least have gotten a phonecall to check if we wanted to Rebid.

Anyway, I'm taking it as a sign that this house is not our destiny. It was very close to an estuary and there is a strong possibility that the road leading to it will wash away with coastal erosion in the not too distant future

Very sorry to hear about your experience, Personally i think its he decent thing to do to leave parties know the latest updates, for the sake of a quick phone call..

I have a small bit on an update on mine,

I was in touch with the EA today, he thought i was no longer interested, even though my second failed bid was only 5 off the sale agreed figure :eek:

I put my name down as a backup should the sale fall through for any reason,

good luck with your hunt!!

Claw Hammer

The Wordress wrote: »

That is very frustrating.

Something very similiar happened to us.

We bidded on a house a few weeks before Covid lockdown which we absolutely loved but with all the uncertainty we withdrew our bid. I did email the Estate Agent to say that we would like to come back and bid again when things settled and we could get a clearer picture of the situation. I made it very clear we were still interested in the house and his office was closed during Lockdown anyway.

Next thing I know, the house has gone sale agreed once Lockdown was lifted.

You weren't an active bidder at the time the sale was agreed so it would be more surprising given your previous history that the Estate Agent would go back to you. Making a bid and then withdrawing it makes you look like a ditherer. An agent would be reluctant to proceed with you in those circumstances.

The Wordress

Claw Hammer wrote: »

You weren't an active bidder at the time the sale was agreed so it would be more surprising given your previous history that the Estate Agent would go back to you. Making a bid and then withdrawing it makes you look like a ditherer. An agent would be reluctant to proceed with you in those circumstances.

There is a Global Pandemic going on, which literally changed the world in the space of a few months. I would hardly think I was a ditherer by withdrawing our offer in the midst of the unknown and with jobs being lost by the dozens around here and banks reluctant to lend, I am confident that I did the right thing at the right time.

Graham

The Wordress wrote: »

There is a Global Pandemic going on, which literally changed the world in the space of a few months. I would hardly think I was a ditherer by withdrawing our offer in the midst of the unknown and with jobs being lost by the dozens around here and banks reluctant to lend, I am confident that I did the right thing at the right time.

I don't think anyone is suggesting you did the wrong thing. You did what was right for you.

At the same time it is understandable why an agent would no longer consider you an interested party after you withdrew your offer.

Canyon86

In a strange turn of events

I'm gone sale agreed on a place I thought was gone
The previous winning bidder didnt even have bank approval

Delighted!!

cnocbui

Go to be in it, to win it.

Markitron

Canyon86 wrote: »

In a strange turn of events

I'm gone sale agreed on a place I thought was gone
The previous winning bidder didnt even have bank approval

Delighted!!

Imagine going to the effort of viewing/bidding on a house without approval. Nutjobs.

The Wordress

I'm looking for advice if anyone could help.

We went to view an old cottage yesterday. It is a complete renovation job. I would have enough money to buy cottage but not to renovate it.

We are in process of applying for mortgage. Would bank allow us to use the mortgage money they granted us to spend on renovation of cottage? I'd say it'd be 180k job.

Thank you

cnocbui

They might. I bought a house at first fixing stage and we budgeted and borrowed enough to finish it off.

guyfawkes5

Markitron wrote: »

Imagine going to the effort of viewing/bidding on a house without approval. Nutjobs.

I know a few people like this. The bank or broker tells them their application 'shouldn't be a problem' and they take them at their word. They even get into bidding wars while still not having AIP.

I don't know if it's because they're truly not bothered completing the application until the last minute or they think they can get the latest expiry date possible by doing it so late.

I think they might have got away with this pre-Covid, but now it's definitely off the table with EAs checking AIP so early.

guyfawkes5

The Wordress wrote: »

I'm looking for advice if anyone could help.

We went to view an old cottage yesterday. It is a complete renovation job. I would have enough money to buy cottage but not to renovate it.

We are in process of applying for mortgage. Would bank allow us to use the mortgage money they granted us to spend on renovation of cottage? I'd say it'd be 180k job.

Thank you

Yes, but they would expect the money they lend you to be fully realised in the final value of the house. The renovations would have to structural and not cosmetic, verified by a valuer, certified by an architect at different stages, and you would need funding yourself to handle potential cost overruns.

You should talk to your bank about it, but from what I've heard unless you have experience in construction, FTBs should be very, very wary of taking something like this on.

Smouse156

Canyon86 wrote: »

In a strange turn of events

I'm gone sale agreed on a place I thought was gone
The previous winning bidder didnt even have bank approval

Delighted!!

Did you get into a bidding war against the fake bidder? After he “won” and they realised he had no money, did you lower your offer to your original bid?

Markitron

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

I know a few people like this. The bank or broker tells them their application 'shouldn't be a problem' and they take them at their word. They even get into bidding wars while still not having AIP.

I don't know if it's because they're truly not bothered completing the application until the last minute or they think they can get the latest expiry date possible by doing it so late.

I think they might have got away with this pre-Covid, but now it's definitely off the table with EAs checking AIP so early.

After going to the effort of saving a deposit, I don't know why anyone would set themselves up for potential disappointment like that. Driving up the house price for a bidder with actual approval is bad form as well but I suppose that's just how the market is here.

brisan

Smouse156 wrote: »

Did you get into a bidding war against the fake bidder? After he “won” and they realised he had no money, did you lower your offer to your original bid?

Was there even a fake bidder at all

brisan

Markitron wrote: »

After going to the effort of saving a deposit, I don't know why anyone would set themselves up for potential disappointment like that. Driving up the house price for a bidder with actual approval is bad form as well but I suppose that's just how the market is here.

Well if he did not drive the price up i am sure the EA would find someone who would