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

Why would an estate agent decides who buys the house?!

guyfawkes5

Paris123 wrote: »

Would the EA allow you to match a bid that's currently in for a house?
We are chain free so would be able to move fast.

Any advice is welcomed.

In my experience if they're not sale agreed, they can - although they would much prefer you beat it even if by a small amount like €500.

CarMc

Anyone in the same boat - we have approval in principal from PTSB, put our house up for sale and went sale agreed quickly, bidding on a house now but since approval husbands job started claiming the Covid subsidy, I contacted the bank to see where that leaves us and they said basically they won’t approve the loan until we have a payslip without subsidy on it, they won’t even send a valuer out to the house to get that side of it moving.

I know they won’t let us draw down funds but didn’t think they’d stop the process this early. Anyone else in this boat?

We are hoping to move on a tracker porter mortgage and got a LTV exemption too so can’t even shop around.

shatners bassoon

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

Unfortunately your partner's employer is right, the subsidy isn't a per employee thing.

To get the subsidy, they would've had to have shown the government that they had a big drop in revenue due to Covid-19. The fact the company is precarious financially is what's upsetting the bank, and why it's impossible to take just one person off the subsidy.

While there are plenty of reasons why an employer might want to keep all of their employees on the subsidy / take them off at the same time, there's nothing in the scheme which demands this. It's claimed in respect of individual employees rather than across the board.

It's worth noting that in almost all circumstances it's impossible to operate the subsidy and pay an employee their full wage so in all likelihood your partner has in effect had their salary reduced. This amounts to a unilateral amendment to his/her terms of employment so if you really wanted to kick up a fuss you could raise that as an issue...

Claw Hammer

bubblypop wrote: »

Why would an estate agent decides who buys the house?!

The owner is often guided by the estate agent, sometimes to the extent of following all of the agents advice. The agent may fell a particular potential purchaser might start messing and won't complete in a timely manner or at all. agents have a lot of experience with purchasers and like the bouncers on a night club door try and stop trouble before it starts.

Jimi H

shatners bassoon wrote: »

While there are plenty of reasons why an employer might want to keep all of their employees on the subsidy / take them off at the same time, there's nothing in the scheme which demands this. It's claimed in respect of individual employees rather than across the board.

It's worth noting that in almost all circumstances it's impossible to operate the subsidy and pay an employee their full wage so in all likelihood your partner has in effect had their salary reduced. This amounts to a unilateral amendment to his/her terms of employment so if you really wanted to kick up a fuss you could raise that as an issue...

Pretty sure employers are allowed to reduce hours/wages under the emergency measures act.

Pivot Eoin

Ha typical,

Register my interest and line up a second viewing for a place that only went on the market, and wouldn't you believe it not 15 mins later they alert me about a Bid of asking Price that came in over the weekend.

Find it hard to believe someone made that bid considering there was a structural issue with the house that any half brained person would want to have checked properly before thinking about bidding at asking price (which is prob about the max the house is worth).

Playing it cool and will continue as I was with second viewing and assessing the issue with a surveyor friend, wouldn't be surprised if this bid fell through in the coming weeks.

brisan

pinkwink3 wrote: »

My parents wouldn't have money either, my dad's answer when we asked was that his money is standing in a field in the form of bullocks! Luckily my mam has a secret savings account that she's been keeping for inheritance for my siblings and I, so I've taken my inheritance early.

We were the same, the house was well worth the extra money compared to anything else we had seen.

Definitely worth contacting broker, I'll keep fingers crossed for you. Could be worth contacting EA too to see if he could give you a ballpark figure of what they're hoping for given the snag you mentioned?

Congratulations on getting the house
However I am gobsmacked that one partner in a marriage would have a secret savings account
Can’t get my head around that one

Smouse156

Pivot Eoin wrote: »

Ha typical,

Register my interest and line up a second viewing for a place that only went on the market, and wouldn't you believe it not 15 mins later they alert me about a Bid of asking Price that came in over the weekend.

Find it hard to believe someone made that bid considering there was a structural issue with the house that any half brained person would want to have checked properly before thinking about bidding at asking price (which is prob about the max the house is worth).

Playing it cool and will continue as I was with second viewing and assessing the issue with a surveyor friend, wouldn't be surprised if this bid fell through in the coming weeks.

Good ole fashioned Makey Uppey bids

GraceFace12

Pivot Eoin wrote: »

Ha typical,

Register my interest and line up a second viewing for a place that only went on the market, and wouldn't you believe it not 15 mins later they alert me about a Bid of asking Price that came in over the weekend.

Find it hard to believe someone made that bid considering there was a structural issue with the house that any half brained person would want to have checked properly before thinking about bidding at asking price (which is prob about the max the house is worth).

Playing it cool and will continue as I was with second viewing and assessing the issue with a surveyor friend, wouldn't be surprised if this bid fell through in the coming weeks.

These fake bids blow my mind. There should be regulation surrounding it surely. EAs are as much responsible for the inflation of property prices as anyone else because of it. Or even if they aren't fake bids, I know someone who is bidding away in a price war without approval - I'm sure the EA hasn't told the other bidder this. I'm not even sure that the EA asked if they have approval in the first place. The EA is using them to push price up for sure. Very frustrating stuff. You are right not to panic when this kind of stuff goes on .. many unfounded bids out there.

Graham

The usual explanation for fake bids; they're not. Someone has just outbid you.

On the other hand, any EA taking offers without proof of funds should should have their PSRA registration revoked.

lisabiscuit

We signed the contracts at the end of June. Paid the deposit and solicitor fees. Got an email last week from solicitor to say that they were hoping to have contracts back from seller last week and request drawdown. Have heard nothing since. The waiting and unknown is killing me!! Why have they not signed!? It's making me nervous!

Febreeze

brisan wrote: »

Congratulations on getting the house
However I am gobsmacked that one partner in a marriage would have a secret savings account
Can’t get my head around that one

In fairness, my nanny always told me to have a "secret savings" that my partner can't get access too. It's not a case of being overally secretative. It's more so, you've saved your money so buy yourself something out of it. It's your savings and your partner can't moan at you for spending again haha. It's not as bad as it sounds. Not from my point anyways.

Although I've heard of people saving, their partner not knowing then off the hop out of a marraige. It's a scary taught but clever all the same.

Woshy

I think it's a generational thing. Lots of women of a certain age would have been encouraged to have "running away money" stashed away. It's not that unusual.

My husband would be delighted if I was secretly saving instead of spending

guyfawkes5

lisabiscuit wrote: »

We signed the contracts at the end of June. Paid the deposit and solicitor fees. Got an email last week from solicitor to say that they were hoping to have contracts back from seller last week and request drawdown. Have heard nothing since. The waiting and unknown is killing me!! Why have they not signed!? It's making me nervous!

The same happened to me recently, where there was about two or three weeks delay in the signed contracts finding their way back to my solicitor.

The simple explanation in my case was sellers in general, and especially mine as they seem like they're retirees just offloading an investment property, think of the process as far more relaxed than you do and will 'pop in' to sign the dotted line when it suits them.

There could be more sinister explanations but usually the simplest explanation is the correct one. Have they been slow to deal with before this?

brisan

Pivot Eoin wrote: »

Ha typical,

Register my interest and line up a second viewing for a place that only went on the market, and wouldn't you believe it not 15 mins later they alert me about a Bid of asking Price that came in over the weekend.

Find it hard to believe someone made that bid considering there was a structural issue with the house that any half brained person would want to have checked properly before thinking about bidding at asking price (which is prob about the max the house is worth).

Playing it cool and will continue as I was with second viewing and assessing the issue with a surveyor friend, wouldn't be surprised if this bid fell through in the coming weeks.

Bid 100% did come in
You have to ask yourself WHO put the bid in

brisan

Graham wrote: »

The usual explanation for fake bids; they're not. Someone has just outbid you.

On the other hand, any EA taking offers without proof of funds should should have their PSRA registration revoked.

Self regulation is no regulation

Salanky

Graham wrote: »

The usual explanation for fake bids; they're not. Someone has just outbid you.

On the other hand, any EA taking offers without proof of funds should should have their PSRA registration revoked.

I had a bid on a place and was asked for my aip with the bid. Got outbid on it which is fair enough, its 16k over asking at the moment and needs probably 30k into it. Now have an offer in on another place with another agent who didn't ask for any proof of aip. Then again it was late on friday night when I put the bid in and I think he wants me to view again before taking it 100% seriously as it has been sale agreed twice. I would have thought they need proof these days with so many banks bouncing on their offers or refusing drawdown if on the covid subsidy.

brisan

Woshy wrote: »

I think it's a generational thing. Lots of women of a certain age would have been encouraged to have "running away money" stashed away. It's not that unusual.

My husband would be delighted if I was secretly saving instead of spending

Totally off topic but to me a successful marriage is based on trust and truthfulness.
Secret saving funds are neither

guyfawkes5

brisan wrote: »

Self regulation is no regulation

They have to keep a record of bids and auditors can (and do) perform spot checks on these records. Bidders also have the right to request to see it I believe.

You could argue it could be more stringent, but this is not 'self regulation' and I agree with the poster that said the motivations for making fake bids don't really make sense from the point of view of estate agents.

brisan

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

They have to keep a record of bids and auditors can (and do) perform spot checks on these records. Bidders also have the right to request to see it I believe.

You could argue it could be more stringent, but this is not 'self regulation' and I agree with the poster that said the motivations for making fake bids don't really make sense from the point of view of estate agents.

My/our experience in buying /flipping /renting over 40 properties over 38 years tells me otherwise.
I/we have missed out on certain properties because there is one EA we will not deal with
Told we were outbid and when we walked a few days later asked to put our last bid in as other bidders were withdrawing .
Its a game to them and you have to play it.
As to those who say a few grand does not get them much extra commission ,you are right.
However by consistently getting above average sale price they will draw in extra vendors who will be promised a good price and a quick sale and a quick sale is often not delivered

bigyellowducky

Long time lurker, first time poster on this forum which has been really helpful going through our process - so firstly big thanks!

We pulled out of a sale we were sale agreed on in the last few weeks that we had an LTV exemption on. We only applied for the mortgage for the specific house (doh!) instead of general approval and have now been told any other house would need a new exemption which are not available across the board!

Has anyone else found themselves in this position or had any flexibility with any particular banks? It’s unfortunate we have the exemption just not on the house we want!

guyfawkes5

bigyellowducky wrote: »

Long time lurker, first time poster on this forum which has been really helpful going through our process - so firstly big thanks!

We pulled out of a sale we were sale agreed on in the last few weeks that we had an LTV exemption on. We only applied for the mortgage for the specific house (doh!) instead of general approval and have now been told any other house would need a new exemption which are not available across the board!

Has anyone else found themselves in this position or had any flexibility with any particular banks? It’s unfortunate we have the exemption just not on the house we want!

This differs bank to bank. For example, BoI will approve LTI exemptions per property, whereas EBS will give you a blanket one. It's just how they choose to manage their limited amount of exemptions.

You can shop around for exemptions although as you've said some are not doing it for the time being.

My only recent experience was that EBS approved me for a LTI exemption in late March. Making up a list of banks and asking them up front if they're still doing exemptions and if they're general exemptions or per property might be a quick way of getting through it.

brisan

bigyellowducky wrote: »

Long time lurker, first time poster on this forum which has been really helpful going through our process - so firstly big thanks!

We pulled out of a sale we were sale agreed on in the last few weeks that we had an LTV exemption on. We only applied for the mortgage for the specific house (doh!) instead of general approval and have now been told any other house would need a new exemption which are not available across the board!

Has anyone else found themselves in this position or had any flexibility with any particular banks? It’s unfortunate we have the exemption just not on the house we want!

From what I can gather exemptions are being pulled left right and centre by most banks

lisabiscuit

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

The same happened to me recently, where there was about two or three weeks delay in the signed contracts finding their way back to my solicitor.

The simple explanation in my case was sellers in general, and especially mine as they seem like they're retirees just offloading an investment property, think of the process as far more relaxed than you do and will 'pop in' to sign the dotted line when it suits them.

There could be more sinister explanations but usually the simplest explanation is the correct one. Have they been slow to deal with before this?

Everything else has been fairly quick moving. We went sale agreed 18th of May and we signed the contract three weeks ago. Got an email from our solicitor to say the seller is due to meet her solicitor tomorrow to sign. I dunno why she waited for three weeks to do that but hopefully things will start to move again. We doubt we'll be getting keys this Fri as had been the plan, after the 10th of July date had past. Hopefully we'll get another update tomorrow. 🀞

guyfawkes5

Hopefully it's the same explanation as mine, that the seller and their solicitor have a totally different mindset to yours and they'll just do it at their own pace.

Frustrating, but at least you're nearly past the last thing you'll need from them.

lisabiscuit

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

Hopefully it's the same explanation as mine, that the seller and their solicitor have a totally different mindset to yours and they'll just do it at their own pace.

Frustrating, but at least you're nearly past the last thing you'll need from them.

Yes, hopefully light at the end of the tunnel! Are you in your home now? Got the keys quickly enough after that? Hope your enjoying it!

pinkwink3

brisan wrote: »

Congratulations on getting the house
However I am gobsmacked that one partner in a marriage would have a secret savings account
Can’t get my head around that one

Sorry, should have said, secret to my siblings and I. My dad knew about it, but my siblings and I hadn't any idea! I think it was so that my dad wouldn't spend the money on a new shed or a tractor, just to spend it!

guyfawkes5

Haha unfortunately not.

We need a letter from the seller's bank stating they'll release the apartment when the mortgage is cleared, and it's one of the conditions of closing. It's been asked for a few times at this stage, and since the seller's solicitor is part time every time they make a mistake with it, it seems to take a few weeks for them to revert to us.

It's infuriating but I sense we're almost there.

I hope you enjoy your new place!

woodchuck

We've gone sale agreed on a property and have had the surveyor out. We have approval in principle and we're currently waiting on the loan offer from the bank.

The proposed closing date is the end of August. However we're currently renting an apartment and need to give 84 days written notice to terminate the tenancy (brings us to early - mid October!)

On the one hand, if things go smoothly with the sale, I think we should give our notice right now so that we're not continuing to pay rent for longer than absolutely necessary. As it is, I think we could end up paying rent for an extra month or two unnecessarily But on the other hand, we're conscious that things could get delayed or even fall through with the sale.

So at what point do people think we should hand in our notice? My OH thinks we should talk to the management company about our situation, as they might be able to get new tenants in quicker or be flexible on the date we move out. However it's hard for us to give an exact day we'll be moving out, so I don't know if they'll entertain us when we have such a wishy washy timeline atm! Any thoughts at all please? Do management companies ever provide flexibility on this or will it just be a hard 84 days as per the tenancy agreement?