Making an offer before a house is listed?

IRCBurn

HI All,

Interesting position i have, My wife and I are FTB looking for a house in Wicklow the 300-400 range.

A friend's next-door neighbours house is going up for sale atm, due to the owner moving to a nursing home a few weeks ago. There are no family (As far as we are aware) so the sale is being arranged by an elderly friend.

We have already viewed the house before it went to the EA, but have an "Offical" viewing with the agent today on it, with the house still not listed.

Would an offer today be entertained with a request they don't list it, with a view to a fast sale? We want to move fast and have everything lined up ready to go. I believe the asking is about the middle of our budget, with us offering the asking as an initial bid.

Does anyone have similar experiences or advice here?

Brian?

IRCBurn wrote: »

HI All,

Interesting position i have, My wife and I are FTB looking for a house in Wicklow the 300-400 range.

A friend's next-door neighbours house is going up for sale atm, due to the owner moving to a nursing home a few weeks ago. There are no family (As far as we are aware) so the sale is being arranged by an elderly friend.

We have already viewed the house before it went to the EA, but have an "Offical" viewing with the agent today on it, with the house still not listed.

Would an offer today be entertained with a request they don't list it, with a view to a fast sale? We want to move fast and have everything lined up ready to go. I believe the asking is about the middle of our budget, with us offering the asking as an initial bid.

Does anyone have similar experiences or advice here?

It’s worth a try, it depends if they want a quick sale. But I wouldn’t get my hopes up, the way the market is they probably want a bidding war.

You would have to make an offer well above asking to prevent it reaching the market. You are wasting your time trying to bid low, there are just too many buyers out there and ideally the seller/EA will want multiple bidders driving the price up.

KaneToad

You can try, but you would need to be appealing on more than just price to the vendor/their elderly friend.

"We are a young family...2 kids...want to settle in a community...raise our kids... beautiful parish....nice church...elderly family in area that we want to look after..."

This type of "personal message" $hite is done in some markets, albeit not usually in this jurisdiction.

That said, you'll still need to be on the money with your offer.

Humour Me

I would suggest asking the EA if the seller would consider not putting it on the open market and if so what price would they be looking for. Don’t make an offer unless you know they are open to what you are proposing as your offer could be used to set the minimum price.

maestroamado

IRCBurn wrote: »

HI All,

Interesting position i have, My wife and I are FTB looking for a house in Wicklow the 300-400 range.

A friend's next-door neighbours house is going up for sale atm, due to the owner moving to a nursing home a few weeks ago. There are no family (As far as we are aware) so the sale is being arranged by an elderly friend.

We have already viewed the house before it went to the EA, but have an "Offical" viewing with the agent today on it, with the house still not listed.

Would an offer today be entertained with a request they don't list it, with a view to a fast sale? We want to move fast and have everything lined up ready to go. I believe the asking is about the middle of our budget, with us offering the asking as an initial bid.

Does anyone have similar experiences or advice here?

I think it likely be un-professional for the estate agent to accept the offer and you may have missed the opportunity.
But in saying that i would call up and ask what will you accept for the house today, if they give you a figure the deal is done but it would be a "take it or leave it option"

IRCBurn

Humour Me wrote: »

I would suggest asking the EA if the seller would consider not putting it on the open market and if so what price would they be looking for. Don’t make an offer unless you know they are open to what you are proposing as your offer could be used to set the minimum price.

This is a great tactic. Ill go with this approach. Thanks

John_Rambo

If you have a house to sell tell the EA you'd use them to sell your house.

John_Rambo

John_Rambo wrote: »

If you have a house to sell tell the EA you'd use them to sell your house.

Not a snowballs chance in hell an EA would entertain a request like the op’s, if they have to sell a house first.

IRCBurn

No house to sell. First time buyers, all set and ready to go.

Enter name here

If you are a cash buyer, you can try what I did when I purchased my last property. I arranged a viewing with the EA and after viewing I said to the EA I am a cash buyer, ring the vendor now and ask them what they want to take it off the market today. The vendor came back with an amount that I was happy with and my offer was pending a 6 week settlement vendor agreed and the deal was struck.

JeffKenna

Enter name here wrote: »

If you are a cash buyer, you can try what I did when I purchased my last property. I arranged a viewing with the EA and after viewing I said to the EA I am a cash buyer, ring the vendor now and ask them what they want to take it off the market today. The vendor came back with an amount that I was happy with and my offer was pending a 6 week settlement vendor agreed and the deal was struck.

In this situation with the house being sold by an elderly neighbour, on behalf of an elderly lady going into a nursing home I would think it unprofessional of the EA to do this.
Under normal circumstances no problem with it.

KaneToad

I'd be doing my utmost to circumvent the estate agent.

brownbinman

no harm in asking. they might want a quick sale as others point out

Neighbour across road got 2 letters in door asking if people could buy it without it going on market

Went up for 470k, was up 40k in 24 hours. So in this market I'd say chances are slim

Nothing ventured, nothing gained though

boege

KaneToad wrote: »

I'd be doing my utmost to circumvent the estate agent.

This

Atlantic Dawn

Is the house being sold to cover fair deal scheme? If it is the property would need to have been sold at market value and having it not go on the open market might go against that. Seller might not be in a fit state of mind to make such decisions, if it was me I'd wait until it went on the market and make an offer of asking price if that was what you had in mind.

IRCBurn

KaneToad wrote: »

I'd be doing my utmost to circumvent the estate agent.

I think it's too late for this. The sellers representative has already engaged an EA and it is unlikely they will want to change that.

LeakyLime

You would need to offer above market rent to convince the seller not to put the house on the market.

EA will advise they will get higher on the open market.

If they want a quick sale, they might be tempted with a good offer.

spaceHopper

The owner is in a home, will they get to keep the money or will most of it go to fair deal. I'd talk to their friend and see if a deal can be struck, keep the EA in the loop? Offer above asking but add an extra 20K cash to friend to bank for the owner to pay for luxies in nursing home .

In today's market its going to go above asking anyway. Lets say the asking is 350 offer 355 + 20 so it 375 but to other bidders it 355. If they put it on the market the cash goes away.

John_Rambo

Dav010 wrote: »

Not a snowballs chance in hell an EA would entertain a request like the op’s, if they have to sell a house first.

They absolutely have done in my experience and will do. Two fee's instead of a slightly higher single fee.

brightspark

Is it even in their interests to sell. Under fair deal the house value is only considered for the first three years, cash is for the length of stay! (And payment for the house value can be deferred until the death of the owner).

They may only be trying to establish an accurate value.

Renting also makes no sense under fair deal as 80% of it will be claimed by the state.

Buddy Bubs

If I was selling a house in the current market, what would you say to me to convince me I should sell to you, a stranger, and see what the market will pay for it?

Whatever offer you put in could at worst, be achieved by selling to you as the winning bidder. But there are likely more bidders out there with more money/place more value on the house.

Quick sale? 2 houses on my road sold for above asking in 2 weeks recently so no gain there.

Atlantic Dawn

spaceHopper wrote: »

The owner is in a home, will they get to keep the money or will most of it go to fair deal. I'd talk to their friend and see if a deal can be struck, keep the EA in the loop? Offer above asking but add an extra 20K cash to friend to bank for the owner to pay for luxies in nursing home .

In today's market its going to go above asking anyway. Lets say the asking is 350 offer 355 + 20 so it 375 but to other bidders it 355. If they put it on the market the cash goes away.

That would be fraud.

John_Rambo

John_Rambo wrote: »

They absolutely have done in my experience and will do. Two fee's instead of a slightly higher single fee.

So you want to offer the seller an option of a fast sale to prevent the property going to market, then tell them you have to sell your house first if you need the money? Can you see the conflict in these two situations?

John_Rambo

Dav010 wrote: »

So you want to offer the seller an option of a fast sale to prevent the property going to market, then tell them you have to sell your house first if you need the money? Can you see the conflict in these two situations?

It's been done and I know it's still done.

dubal

OF course the EA will entertain this, if he gets this over the line, he gets his commission, gets over asking and has no work to do!

Dubal

Ray Palmer

If the house isn't on the market yet why deal with one at all? My first home was bought directly off the owner. I knew the person living there was dead about a year and probate would be granted soon. I approached the son and said would he sell it directly. He saved on EA fees and commission and got a fair price. That was the benefit to the seller. If EA already involved there is not much benefit to the seller.
Although some EA contracts allow for the seller to cut them out if they didn't find the buyer. More common when multiple EAs have the property on their books

TheG0AT

Nothing wrong with asking the agent what's the price to not have it go on the market. Don't tell them how much you have, let them set the price for you. No use paying more than what's required.

My most recent purchase we'd been working with an agent, we'd an offer without response for two weeks on another house, and we door stepped them at an open viewing. They had only gotten the keys to our house that day, told us the price that was wanted and we agreed the following day. It saved the agent the listing and photography etc so sometimes it does suit the estate agent

headtheball14

The owner is poorly advised in selling their house .as already mentioned fair deal is capped with property but not with money in bank. However if there are no family friends I appreciate dealing with practicalities may be difficult

Baby01032012

A number of things.

You should have contacted the owners. elderly friend when you had the viewing before it went to the EA.

I'd be wary that a sale can happen. The owner is in a nursing home are have mental competency to act in the sale and is their a power of attorney in favour of the neighbour. I'd wonder what power the neighbour has to sell. Where are the family of the owner in all of this?

A property is not normally sold because someone is in nursing home care. Normally if seeking Fair Deal the HSE will have a lien over the property and take a share of the equity plus portion of the owners income.

Too many doubts for me here as to if the property can be sold.