(Not so) Strange things when you are bidding for a house in this sick "market" (+ tips)

Gus75

Some 'funny' things happened to us while trying to buy a house in the last 2 years.

Sharing in the hope it may help other buyers. Feel free to add your own!

1. Seller pulled out one month after sale agreed...

... After we paid for survey, valuation, mortgage preparation, arranged insurance and sold my one bitcoin for a fraction of its current value. This is how I learned that the €12,000 deposited with SherriFitz pose no legal binding for the selling side.

After 2 months opened for viewing and bidding, the price did not reach seller's expectations. We asked how much would be enough, we got an answer, we offered exactly that, the sale was agreed.

During the month after the agreement, the selling wife was posting online about her life around town... Seeing that it was obvious that they did not plan to move to Gorey like the agent told us.

Why would you open your house for viewings in the worst of the Covid crisis (end of 2020) if you are not sure about selling?

At any rate on the next chance I will suggest that the seller covers cost of survey and valuation, and recover it as part of the final sale price.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058236992/strange-things-when-you-are-bidding-for-a-house-in-this-sick-market

That isn't that unusual I was sale agreed on a house for over a year...

In my case I found out after that the owners were in serious debt with the bank and didn't want to sell...

I eventually pulled out...

It was sold a year later for 100k more.

Gus75

2. Forgot to provide proof of funds but agent swears everybody else got theirs

This was after the bids were about €30,000 over the asking price. We provided it then and asked were we the only "fundless" bidders? Of course not! Was the answer. Two days and €5K later, there were 2 bidders left out of 6.

Is there any legal requirement to ensure the seller (or the agent) is not inflating the bid?

We dropped our bid after my partner's research found the reason why they wanted to move out of seemingly nice neighborhood.

Since then we always ask how many bidders are active and have they shown proofs and id. Agents can still lie, what a country, but we get hints anyway, much better than not asking.

Gus75

3. Agent says the seller is currently away and we find the whole family and two cars at the house on the same day

This seems a common lie by agents, I still wonder on what purpose and why do they lie so carelessly.

Gus75

4. The owners are selling to move to Portugal for 1 year

Us.— Really?

Agent.— Yes, because they can WFH, it is now or never!

To make the story more incredible, they were a family with small children about to start school, and neither of them was Portuguese or related.

This was an excellently kept house. We as parents (unlike the 20-something agent) cannot imagine how a family would sell it for a one year adventure. The kind of adventure you usually want to have a place to return if things turn bad. Like we happen to have witnessed among our acquaintances, twice in the last decade.

My guess is that a young tenant family is soon to be evicted by the landlord to sell.

We dropped that bid at about €70K over asking price.

BrianD3

Many people (both sellers and buyers) are messers. It doesn't matter if we're talking about junk on donedeal or a house. They'd sell their mothers for a few quid even if it ends up costing them dearly in the long run.

Why did the seller pull out of the sale, could be any reason, maybe they got a pay rise and decided that they no longer needed to move to Gorey. Maybe they read a newspaper article about rising property values. Maybe they had decided to move on a whim based on some idea about working from home then discovered that their employer wasn't going to allow them to do that.

Gus75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118772074#Comment_118772074

Indeed, "messers" is a term that sums it up sometimes. But debt issues are also common so let's not assume every pulloff is a messer.

Anyway I mostly wanted to share the fact about these deposits lacking any protection for the buyer. In other EU countries we would have been refunded it, doubled up by the seller's side, to cover for time and money wasted.

Gus75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118772012#Comment_118772012

Good point about potential debt issues. I can imagine how a family could be forced to try to sell and eventually find another solution.

Gus75

5. Misterious "Sale Agreed" that never appear in the Property Price Register

I keep track of some houses on which we were very interested until the bidding went wild, then never show up in the PPR.

On a very specific one, the thing got literally out of our hands during a Skype viewing one year ago. A few other buyers showed up before the agent, most looking like a "mature Chinese businessman". The agent made his entrance announcing there was a bid €50,000 over asking price from the first viewing (also Skype). The businessmen tugged their best poker face and I said goodbye not interested.

One year passed and there was no trace in the PPR.

I called the agent to express interest and he said it was sold all right at the time. I confronted him why is it not on the Register? he said it is. I asked politely by email to point me to the register entry. No answer.

The house was inhabited before and after.

What kind of deal could this be?

looksee

I looked at a house when I urgently had to buy as my health was poor and my current circumstances were not suitable. After lots of duds I found one that looked acceptable, though I didn't really want it but was desperate. I offered the asking price same day as the viewing - this was down the country in a slow market - and the agent said the asking price had gone up by 10k, only hours after I had spoken to him. So I told him to keep it, which must have been a shock as I think he thought he had a sale. Ultimately very glad I didn't buy.

Gus75

(Sorry double entry)

The OP might be buying in an area where the words 'lifestyle' might be coming into play.

A house near us sold its needed about 100k to upgrade, plus the house wasn't cheap in the first place, we met the owner and they freely told us they chose this over a new build about 5 or 6km away in other words they were willing to pay what whatever for the older mature area nearest to the sea as opposed to the new A-rated house.

I would be buying the new A-rated, but it just shows a lot of this is not rational for people.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118772400#Comment_118772400

I called the agent to express interest and he said it was sold all right at the time. I confronted him why is it not on the Register? he said it is. I asked politely by email to point me to the register entry. No answer.

The estate agent has no role in putting any sales on the property price register, he would have no more information to give you.

Gus75

Tip: Get many proof of funds letters for different bid prices

While getting an Approval In Principle from your favorite broker, ask for a few letters of "confirmation" for different house prices, for each bid amount that you may need.

E.g. if your AIP is for a house valued 500K and you plan to bid 480K, get confirmation letters for 480, 490, and 500. Then you will only show a letter with the required amount, and there is no harm in showing a second one when required.

These letters contain all the info to back your bids, and none of the additional info in the AIP that might lead the agent to believe you could be squeezed out of a few extra grand. Cause they will.

Note that the AIP implicitly discloses your level of savings and tips about your available income.

Gus75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781062#Comment_118781062

The state agent does not place the property in the register but does not get paid until the sale is effective.

riclad

You work out what you can afford to spend , make a reasonable offer, if the bid is accepted , get a survey if it's an older house. There's always been people who drop out or cancel the sale, you can't be sure if the house is yours until the contract is signed, the problem is there's way more potential buyers than houses for sale especially in dublin or other city's. Yes you can buy a new house from a builder but theres not that many new houses for sale. Most people want to buy a house within 30 minutes of where they work. The legal framework for selling houses is basically the same as it was 30 years ago apart from the fact you can check prices online

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778149#Comment_118778149

Most people would pick the house in the best location rather than one 5-6km away, older houses generally have bigger gardens or more parking and can be refurbished over time to higher standards (hard to hit A-Rated, but how much time and fuel will those 5-6km add up to over the years).