Boots-on-the-ground buying, how are you finding it?

steinbock123

Shark - My sister bought a house many years ago. They paid €60,000 over asking, which was a HUGE amount of money at the time.

I was talking to her husband recently about it, and he told me “I never sit in my kitchen and ask myself why did I pay €60k over the odds, but I’m damn sure that if I hadn’t, that every time I drive past the house , I’d look at it and I’d be saying to myself why the hell didn’t I pay the €60k over”??

So Shark, you have your house now, your strategy worked, you won’t regret doing it in the long run.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663636#Comment_121663636

Omg great news. Let us know how you get on.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663650#Comment_121663650

Deadly, fair play to you. I find myself weirdly invested in this now.

Well, I went through multiple bidding wars and it's a stressful experience, and pretty crushing if/when you eventually have to admit defeat. Paying a premium to avoid this isn't the worst idea I've ever heard.

The acid test is your reaction when you hear the words 'sale agreed' from the EA - if you were delighted, then you've done the right thing.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121664815#Comment_121664815

EA received the proof of funds from solicitor and a declaration that we dont have a house to sell.

Sale agreed now. No idea how long it will take from here but further on already than we've been in all the time we were looking. We were even looking at houses 50km away but this one is the perfect location.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121664981#Comment_121664981

Great news. Is it in Dublin?

Is the house a walk in or work needs to be done?

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121665612#Comment_121665612

Its North County Dublin. Garden is wild and needs to be tamed, but otherwise a paint job will be all thats needed. The outside hasnt been painted in about 20 years by the looks of it. And changing the manky carpets to wooden floors. Hate carpets. I can do all that myself though. Myself and my brother put down all the wood floors and fitted the new kitchen in my sisters house a few years ago, so I'll be hitting him up for help on it.

We could convert the attic really easily and cheaply too when we get settled and save some more money, but that can wait for a few years tbh.

If the sale agreed survives to sold :) Ive heard lots of horror stories.

standardg60

Best of luck with it.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663650#Comment_121663650

Well done. I hope you're very happy in your home.

acri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121664981#Comment_121664981

Great stuff, congrats. Now off to that "other" thread with you!

acri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663462#Comment_121663462

Property Price Register disagrees:

I need to make a correction, the bidding on that house was at €430,000 at time of posting, not €460,000 It's now at €449,000.

Regardless, I doubt many would have expected it to go for around asking. But €109,000 over this listed price is mental.

ted1

we've been looking for a 4 bed between Sandymount and Killiney on a budget of 950k, absolutely nothing out there.

we looked at one, it was 900k recently done up, but didn't suit us, the same house 2 doors down was guiding 800k but wasnt down up, they said they priced it on the 900k one. they didn't consider that the 800k one needed 300k to bring it upto the same condition as the 900k one, pure madness.

a few we have looked are 3 beds, with garage conversions been sold as 4 beds. so little stock available. also competing against cash rich Asians or ex pats coming home from Middle East with cash

As for estate agents, some place like Hunters will advertise a property for 800k to get people in the door but wont accept offers less than 950...

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121669393#Comment_121669393

Apologies I thought this was Moeran road which is on the Walkinstown side of Crumlin area. Spelling mistake.

J_1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672012#Comment_121672012

It’s 300k per bedroom in these areas. Might get something in Dun Laoghaire hinterlands.

Id look stillorgan off the n11 corridor on that budget, maybe even D14.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121673471#Comment_121673471

Zero interest.. I have a 3 bed just off the beach, a few minutes walk to the DART. D14 or anything on the far side of the N11 would be a serious downgrade

3 beds @ 900k aren’t shifting there’s a few 4 beds where the sale has fallen though that I’m going back to look at

if we can’t find anything we’ll send a kid to boarding school 😂😂😂😂 or just convert the attic and do an extension

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672012#Comment_121672012

EAs putting houses up deliberately under the valuation is one of the many things that EAs do that should be prohibited. Putting a house up undervalue gives hope to people who in reality cannot afford the said house, creates bidding wars and ultimately wastes times for people. It's cruel.

A good example of this:

https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/75-pier-19-south-city-centre-d8-dublin-8/4768314

Unless I'm missing something, that apartment is listed wildly below its value.

StevenToast

Get out to leitrim will ye....lots of houses there going for good value...

Get yourself some internet and ye will be grand.

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121653723#Comment_121653723

I wouldn’t see that as sinister at all. By accepting bids on two properties from the same buyer he is misleading at least one of his vendors. By all means make it clear that you are interested in either but, for example, he couldn’t let one go sale agreed with you while you keep bidding on the other. This is one of the reasons why so many “sale agreed” don’t proceed to a transaction.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674308#Comment_121674308

Does the arrow down indicate a price drop from a previous price ?..

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658983#Comment_121658983

That’s a guaranteed strategy not to win! In some ways, if you have a limit you are better waiting to see where the initial bids go. A jump from asking to 20% over would make some people hang out for even more rather than take it off the market. Putting your highest bid in at the beginning is rarely going to succeed.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674336#Comment_121674336

I saw that. I'm not actually sure, but 150k for an apartment in the middle of the city?

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674356#Comment_121674356

Well is realistic 230k.. it's one bed. Needs a new kitchen and bathroom and general clean up. Tiny space what's the management fees etc..

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674367#Comment_121674367

It's effectively a bedsit. 31 m2 is tiny.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674367#Comment_121674367

The kitchen looks okay to me, but I've low standards. I'd say it will go for about 250k as there would be great potential to rent it out. Fill that with bunk-beds and it would make a fine addition to any slum king's portfolio. :(

MacronvFrugals

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672012#Comment_121672012

From what I've been observing in a similar budget, this is barely enough for something decent in Drumcondra let alone Sandymount!

run_Forrest_run

some interesting stories here and sort of comforting to realise I'm not alone in the soul-destroying department. I have been viewing houses and apartments around Cork county (and some city) and what really annoys me is the terrible state of a lot of properties up for sale. They are all ex-rental and the owner clearly knows he/she doesn't need to lift a finger in order to sell it for above the asking. I have seen some kips and I'm sorry, I will not fort out what I consider to be a lot of money for a dive that needs a further 50k just to look clean and modern (and forget about trying to get a tiler, plumber, carpenter!).

And another thing that bugs me is the attitude from some (not all) estate agents. One place where I was bidding enforced a minimum bid increment of 5000. Maybe this is more common than I realise but jesus it's quite sickening. And this agent does all the bidding through Daft so it's not as if they are being annoyed with phone calls of small bids.

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672012#Comment_121672012

One of my biggest takeaways looking back on the purchase process is that it rarely makes sense to buy a fixer upper unless you can do some self labour or have a very specific vision for what you want.

In theory the price should be price of fully done property, less the full cost of work, less some inconvenience money. But in reality the market seems to overpay for houses needing work relative to the finished product. I think this a combination of people underestimating the cost of work but also just stretching as far as they can today and knowing they can fix up over time vs needing to raise all the cash now.

On your search. We were looking back in the corridor from Sandymount to Blackrock in 2020/21 with a budget bigger than yours and even then we ultimately decided it wasn’t enough for a relative large family home with a bit of a garden. Suspect in 2024, €950k for a 4 bed is a long long way off. Perhaps the cheaper parts of Dun Laoghaire or Killiney and even that’s a stretch.

Captain Flaps

We got a place 5 years ago and had the exact same thing happen - we assumed we'd have to pay 5-10k over the asking price, most places went for 20%+ over. After months of disappointment we just accepted that we would need to factor that increases into our spend and lowered the budget accordingly. Originally planned to spend 410, instead started looking at places for 350 and ended up at 400 once the bidding stopped.

That said, our house was probably a little undervalued at the time, if it had been listed at 400 we would have happily paid that on the spot but the bidding would have driven it up. The EA was a sneaky so-and-so though, once we hit 400 and had chased off the other bidder she relisted it for viewings as the bidding had pushed it up into another bracket which might draw some new eyes to it (thankfully not).

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674500#Comment_121674500

There’s a few appearing.

https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bahram-94-monkstown-avenue-monkstown-co-dublin/4768224

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-131-avondale-road-killiney-co-dublin/5464301

@950k we don’t need a mortgage so ultimately we could go higher. But I really don’t want mortgage.

I did see a lovely house in Trimlestowm garden last year. Very resonable priced but the back garden was small and overlooked. But great house. Less than 800k https://eddempsey.ie/Residential-Property/-81-Trimleston-Gardens-Booterstown-Co-Dublin/232

ig you are willing to compromise there’s some out there

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674522#Comment_121674522

I guess it depends on how picky you are, but I wouldn’t touch either of those houses unless you were happy to spend a minimum of 300k on top of the asking.

Even a low end retrofit quote will be bare minimum 2k per sqm and likely closer to 3k if you want the finish the typical buyer of those houses will want!

So at that stage I’d probably just look to house at the 1.3-1.5m range that are fixed up already.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121674522#Comment_121674522

Cold cold, a solid 100k minimum to get that comfortable and up the a baseline standard into 300 if you wanted to go fancy opening up the back of the kitchen etc. Needs insulation measures, probably plumbing and boiler, electrics hard to know newish sockets and dimmers but can't see the board. Windows all round. Roof ?..?.. (bitumen degrades)