Advice Regarding Buying Process

londonCabby17

We are looking for advice and guidance. Me and my family are in the process of moving back to Ireland. We initially began the process back in June. At this stage we had planned to move over in June 2021. This all changed with the removal of Stamp Duty on property and the marked increase in house sales.

Although we have been unable to visit Ireland, we have a location in mind and started our search on property websites. We identified a few properties we liked and one in particular we thought ticked a lot of the boxes. I contacted the Estate Agent/Auctioneer and enquired as to the status of the property in relation to any offers of interest.

At this stage, we had not even put our house on the market. The agent informed us that the process was different in Ireland as opposed to the UK. There was an interested party and they were returning the following week with an engineer. I asked if it would be possible to have a relation view the house on our behalf and possible making a video call so we could see all the rooms and also the relative would know pretty much what we would want and if the house was going to work for the family. The agent then tells me that before a viewing they prefer a buyer would have their own house at sale agreed stage or have finance in place before viewing. It is different than the UK in terms that we do not submit offers subject to the sale of another property.

Not knowing the process, we were a bit of a loss but accepted this to be the case. In the meantime we kept an eye on the property. We have relations close by who would also know if the situation changed and it appeared the potential buyers never followed through.
So we put our property onto the market in August and contacted the agent again to inform them of the situation. Stating we were possibly going to be able to have our house sold soon. This was just a guess but speaking to our agent it was an exceptionally good chance it was going to sell. True to our agents word the house was sold subject to contracts within two weeks. Straight away I was back in contact with the agent of the Ireland house to say we are now under offer and if it were ok could we arrange a viewing. This was fine but now there was another couple who had placed a bid below the asking but were awaiting the loan approval. And if we wanted to view, we should be quick. This was arranged, the property was viewed, and we liked the house albeit through a Video call. There were some issues with the house but we thought we will not book a survey until we hear what is happening with the couple and their loan and offer on the house. Why waste a few hundred € if it was gone.
Today, the agent emailed me first thing asking if I was still interested. I was advised to now make an offer. I mentioned I would like a survey. The agent told me the offer could be subject to survey.

Are we being taken for a ride? We have always thought that whenever we asked about the property there was interest from other parties, but no firm offers? The house has been on the market for about nine months. I understand the agent’s job is to sell the property and for the most amount of money. All going well we hope to be in Ireland for the end of October. Our plan is to rent for a few months before committing to buying. I understand we will have to quarantine but even with relative’s advice and survey completed we would still have to view the property.

I apologise for the long post, but any information or guidance would be appreciated.

Vikings

My experience is that building surveys in Ireland are usually only carried out after the property good sale agreed.

If you have a price in your mind for what you would be willing to pay for the property you have nothing to lose by making an offer. A booking deposit is fully refundable so if you did arrange a survey at that stage and it turned up something to turn you off the property you can pull out and have your booking deposit returned.

You can make the offer subject to a satisfactory survey so the vendor is under no illusions also.

bobbyy gee

tell him your a cash buyer make sure you check propertypriceregister ie to see what houses sold for in area in last 3 months

circular flexing

An offer even if it is accepted is not binding until you sign contracts. So you can make an offer, have a survey done and back out if you don't like the results of the survey. If the survey shows up no issues then you sign binding contracts and arrange a closing date. But even if the survey shows up no issues, you can back out at any time up to contract signing. The agent usually requires a small booking deposit of 5-10 thousand euro when you make an offer but this is just to show you are serious about it. This is refunded if you back out before contract signing.

There are many reasons why the house might still be on the market, it could be over priced or maybe there's issues that will show up in the survey.