Is estate agent messing me around?

fg10291

Hi all, trying to buy a house and finally found one that fits the bill. House has been for sale for 5 months with no offers. Needs quite a bit of work 70's built but fine for us.

Went to view today and when arrived was told that house now has an offer on it for above asking price. This is after 5 months of nothing. Agent is saying that if we don't put in an offer that it will be sold to this bidder. I'm not convinced there is another bidder as on Monday, which was the second time we enquired about the property, when we rang to organise viewing there were still no offers, and I find the timing coincidental. I also query the value of the offer placed as with no other offers on the table would you not place an offer below asking to test the waters?

We like the house but don't want to overpay and just have a niggling feeling that we're nothing getting the full picture. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Kurooi

Last minute shadow bid? Yeah. They're not supposed to do that but then you have no way to validate it's not the owner's cousin.

Sadly not much you can do other than say take it or leave it, and put some urgency on it. Always have to be prepared to walk away.

I might've said to the EA that's fine, let me sleep on it, I'm going to two viewings this week and I'll respond after. Then sit quietly. If they're playing games that might be a kick to stop. Time is not on their side. They should really shake it with you and run.

Data Analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280220/is-estate-agent-messing-me-around

Put in an offer that you would pay an see where it goes below, matching or above asking.

More then likely there are no other bidders.

Mike3549

Not many people are buying houses just before Christmas. Spring is coming and usually demand increases. Maybe EA is playing games, you'll never know, but it happens that demand appears from out of nowhere. Just put a bid of how much you think its worth, dont get too attached to the house and keep looking elsewhere

StevenToast

Sounds suspicious alright....as has been mentioned...potential spoof bid by relative or friend of seller also....

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280220/is-estate-agent-messing-me-around

Trust me most houses I viewed, EA said there is an offer on this house.

Most of the time, what you should really read between the lines is the owner/agent is not taking any offer below the price EA mentioned.

If I was you, I would put a bid in writing by email for what you see it is worth. Let them sit on it. The agent might not pass your bid to the seller.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125271#Comment_120125271

Ya and wait see if they get back to you

Don't make the first call back after the offer

the_amazing_raisin

If the house has been up for 5 months I'd say there's no offers, but the seller may also be content to wait

It's possible the agent promised the seller they'd get a higher price and now they're struggling

If you feel it's worth bidding on then throw in an offer for what you're willing to pay. I believe the agent is required to pass all offers along to the seller

If they say there's another offer then just say that's fine and to let you know if that other buyer withdraws their offer

Worst case scenario, you don't get the house and are back to square one, but at least you didn't overpay (at least any more than you can in this market)

fg10291

Thanks all.........head is melted but we're going to sit tight and think about it for a few day.

dreams_edge

I had three houses picked and contacted the estate agent about a weeks ago.

• First one told me, they had no offers and to arrange viewing I had to contact them via their website. Done that, and haven't heard a word.
• Second one, told me that there was an offer for X, about 40K below asking price.. But the family had personal thing going on and I couldn't get a viewing and he would call me later. Still waiting on it.
• Third one, had no offer.. asked when I could view the house, said he will reach out to homeowner and get back to me and never did.

Honestly not sure if people have had to constantly follow-up with them to even get a viewing ? It seems like they don't care anymore assuming there is demand still.. but not sure

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125773#Comment_120125773

I'll admit my experience is out of date form about 6 years ago, but I found you basically have to stand on everyone's heads to get anything done

arctictree

We were the under bidder on a house a few years back. House was jumping up in bids of 20K, it got to 100K over asking and we refused to counter bid anymore. Next day, the EA rang us and said that the vendor has 'decided' to go with our bid. Told him where to go. 6 months later the house was sold for 100K below asking. I'd be furious if I was the vendor.

walterking

For the op, I suspect it's a phantom bid or a bid that has come in, but knowing it won't complete - a bit like a pace maker in a horse race.

Don't "buy it" in your head. Keep a look out, maybe check another property the agent has and start comparing it with another property with another agent.

You say the original house squeezes it's way to the top of your list but can only go to €xxx due to the amount of work needed.

You'll leave the offer on the table til the end of the month but will be making further enquiries on your 2nd choice.

Market for doer uppers is very slow at present.

SwimClub

Get a quote from a builder if you know any on what needs to be done to the house.

Send it on to the estate agent as a justification of your bid versus a new build or turn key place, tell them if mortgage rates go up over the next while you will have to adjust your bid down on affordability measures.

The EA may be just as frustrated at this point as you are with an inflexible seller fixated on some price and might be able to use that to talk them around to selling.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280220/is-estate-agent-messing-me-around

My experience of buy in the last two years is that many agents have utterly no integrity, and many vendors are just as bad. It's utterly repugnant behaviour, but greed does that to most people.

Unfortunately, all that you can do is make your offer and say "take it or leave it". If the other "bidder" is not genuine, then the seller will either have to accept your offer or lose the sale.

Ironman76

When we were house hunting there was one house we were keen on after a viewing. So we enquired then and there and we were told the other couple (gestured toward another couple in the hallway) were viewing have already made an offer over asking price as the attic conversion would be perfect for their daughter and her studies etc. Said if we are interested we would “need to be quick”.

A few days later at another viewing saw that same couple there and told them “good luck with your bid” and they had no idea what I was talking about. They didn’t like the house all that much and any offer they supposedly made was “news to them”.

There were a few similar stories like that when we were house hunting.

EAs are f’ing snakes. Zero integrity slimy b*stards and should be locked up.

SAMTALK

Contacted EA for a viewing of a house last week and still havent heard from them.

I'm sure when I (if) I contact them again I'll be told there is a bid on house

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128138#Comment_120128138

I've met a few who seemed genuine, but one has to remember that their aim is sell the house for the most amount of money. There seems to be very little oversight or regulation of their behaviour. In my time of making offers, only one or two agents ever even asked me for proof of funding before accepting the offer. This really needs to be changed...

SwimClub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128153#Comment_120128153

Market might be slow at the moment - they are waiting for enough queries to arrange a viewing for more than one party, to minimise the work they do for their commission.

I got a text from an EA yesterday asking me if I was still looking for a house, this is 3 years after buying, business must be slow.

If I was buying now I'd bid a good bit under market with a caveat that the bid will drop if rates go up.

Another factor with the interest rates, anyone selling now could be fixed on a 2% mortgage but might have to mortgage the new place at a much higher rate around twice that by the time they draw down, they might just hold on until rate increases stop and reverse a bit. It isn't just the price but also the volume you need to consider, that's why I don't think we'll see prices fall much, the demand from people paying high rents will be higher than the supply from any group of owners forced to sell.

You could just have buyers and sellers holding off and things stagnating for a while, the stories about people holding out for asking would back that view up. If you don't have to sell you can just wait, in the same way when buying you can bid what you like and wait.

SAMTALK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128814#Comment_120128814

This EA is a law onto himself. looking for last 2 years and he knows I'm in the market as a cash buyer but fails to contact me when anything comes up.

Just keep looking on daft and then see houses in area I want , contact him and have to keep onto him

I am only starting into the house buying process now.

The one EA I have met was a gormless moron, didn’t even know the basics about the property including the management fee.

I would imagine the majority are a bit like recruitment consultants, feckless, parasitic no nothings acting like they are doing you a favor.

Probably the types who were very thick in school.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129724#Comment_120129724

As others have said, there's good ones and bad ones

I think a lot of people got into it in the past few years as it was a bit of an easy money type of job, and the quality has suffered as a result

The one we got years ago had been in the business for probably 15 years, and he seemed pretty straightforward. He basically gave the price, said if we put a deposit down the house would be secured for a week until we got the booking deposit paid and there was no messing around

This was buying a new build from plans though so the process seems a lot different for second hand houses

Ironman76

I’d imagine many start out genuine but quickly become absorbed into extorting money from desperate house hunters when they see everyone else at it. “If I don’t do it someone else will”

Complete con artists, liars and scammers. Zero time for them.

The fact that we only ever bought one home and I have a collection of stories from that experience alone says it all.

C3PO

Recently sold a house in south county Dublin and the estate agent we used was absolutely brilliant - incredibly thorough and professional. We achieved a price in excess of what we were looking for. Since then I have been looking for a new home for myself in the South East and and have dealt with 4 different estate agents - all have been good to deal with as a buyer and I’m now Sale Agreed on a house. What people need to remember is that the EA works for the Vendor and owes nothing to the purchaser!

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128228#Comment_120128228

i was once in the same situation as the OP and (partly) successfully called the EA's bluff. i called him 'a **** crook' on a phone call at one point too - we range the IAVI to make a complaint about him, and they didn't seem to understand the concept of a 'complaint'.

still ended up buying the house through him though (but not at the price he was pushing); if i'd stood on my principles and refused, it'd have cost me a minimum of 20k or 30k, the way house prices were going.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137877#Comment_120137877

Love em or hate em, you've still got to buy a house from them 😬

JohnnyChimpo

Our EA was a useless annoying wanker but at least he was superficially pleasant, so just accepted it as the cost of doing business. He didn't go wild making up imaginary bids or anything so I guess I can't ask for more than that.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137877#Comment_120137877

Well done for calling him out. If we all were more willing to call out this appalling behaviour, perhaps would not be in such a dire situation with housing.

rob316

Wouldn't trust an EA, I looked at a house, really interested but needed alot of work. When I enquired there was no offers, it had been on the market over 56 months, went to the viewing then I'm told there an offer of 20k over asking was already made and declined. The asking is 270k, he says "seller wants 300k for it". In my frustration I said "ask for for **** 300k so, thanks for wasting my **** time".

Seller wants that price, that's fine but using tactics to draw me in on a house I thought I could make a good offer on is bad form.

DownByTheGarden

Estate agents can be a bit thick. I just got a call from another agent in the same company as the one im selling with at the moment. He asked me would I like to view a property he thinks i might be interested in. Its my own property and has several bids on it this week already :)

brokenbad

EA is trying to get you to make a panic bid above the asking price so he can get more commission - oldest trick in the EA playbook.

Unfortunately there is no legislation around the transparency of the bidding process which EA's like to exploit for their own gain.

Make a bid as per your budget and sit tight - this should call his bluff, If he continues to push up the phantom bid....just walk away.

Alternatively - if you can get the seller contact details and deal with them direct, cut out the middleman completely.

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186235#Comment_120186235

And tell him "My bid is on the table for ten days, after that I will be withdrawing it".

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137877#Comment_120137877

IAVI was amalgamated into the SCSI about 12 years ago. It was NOT a consumer organisation - it was their own lobby group. A bit like SIMI for motor retailers and Retail Excellence for retailers. That's why they didn't do anything as it had zilch to do with them

The Property Services Registration Authority is the place for any complaints and has been since 2006 and they are fairly rigorous in their investigations and take action with serious consequences - here's some of the results https://www.psr.ie/sanctions-prosecutions/ 

But like any industry and profession, you have good, ordinary and bad and if you have bought and sold as often as I have, (16 times) you get to know which are which in an area. In Naas / Newbridge there are 3 agents I simply don't bother with and I'll be in the market for an investment property later this year and will not even enquire if a property is listed by ether of those 3. Likewise there are 2 that I see as excellent and I know they will give me the true lie of the land on anything.

DownByTheGarden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186400#Comment_120186400

Fair point. People should report any activity they find questionable.

I have bought and sold now 6 times and all I can say is that you have to vet the estate agents you deal with. Some are simply better than others. Same thing buying a car.

But always remember that they have sold hudreds of houses and have a lot more experience than us. So people coming on to boards and thinking they know how the business works having bought one house is somewhat akin to people thinking they know better how to teach a class full of children that the teacher who has been doing that job for years.

We all think we know better than the professionals :)

the_amazing_raisin

You guys have a lot more patience than me. I've bought exactly one house and I'm never dealing with the hell that is buying a house again 😬

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186189#Comment_120186189

Brings new meaning to the phrase 'it's right up your street'.

arctictree

Twice we were in a situation where there was a bidding war and we were the underbidder. Both cases, next day, the EA rang us and said that the highest bidder has pulled out and the vendor was willing to accept our bid. Makes you wonder....

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186400#Comment_120186400

my attempt at a complaint was made in 2003 and there certainly was no obvious supported way to complain.

and when we subsequently sold that house, it was comical how bad one estate agent in particular was; we'd been warned about them (not just our local branch); the lack of interest they had in actually putting work in to sell was funny. on their first visit, in late 2011, i.e. very near the bottom; 'oh, you'd be lucky to get €Xk for this, i can get you €Xk from someone i know, are you interested in taking €Xk?'. he clearly had an investor lined up and just wanted to shift the house instantly.

we sold via sherry fitz for 15% higher than what the above crowd insisted was top dollar.