Offer of asking

D3V!L · 23-01-2019 1:56pm #1

We've made an offer of the asking price for a house we're very interested in and the estate agent came back with they're not entertaining offers for that amount at the moment. Where do they get off putting a house on the market for X amount and refusing to entertain bidding ??

Is this normal practice ?

Fol20 · 23-01-2019 1:59pm

Its a tactic to advertise at under the expected sale price and to get multiple bidders in. The way he expressed it to you is poorly done but is common practice. The offer you made. Do you think it would sell for that or make more?

D3V!L · 23-01-2019 2:00pm

Fol20 wrote: »

Its a tactic to advertise at under the expected sale price and to get multiple bidders in. The way he expressed it to you is poorly done but is common practice. The offer you made. Do you think it would sell for that or make more?

Likely a lot more.

godtabh · 23-01-2019 2:02pm

D3V!L wrote: »

Likely a lot more.

so why would they accept that bid if they know they could get more?

Its a common place tactic

Old Perry · 24-01-2019 1:45pm

<SNIP>

I suspect this to be one of those ads

Mod

Sorry, this isn't really the forum for outing your suspicions.

averagejoe123 · 24-01-2019 3:36pm

D3V!L wrote: »

We've made an offer of the asking price for a house we're very interested in and the estate agent came back with they're not entertaining offers for that amount at the moment. Where do they get off putting a house on the market for X amount and refusing to entertain bidding ??

Is this normal practice ?

Viewed a house on at 375k before. Offered the asking, the highest bid, the EA said that they wouldn't be accepting anything less than 425k. I thanked the EA for wasting my time on a Saturday morning and left.

Fol20 · 24-01-2019 4:36pm

averagejoe123 wrote: »

Viewed a house on at 375k before. Offered the asking, the highest bid, the EA said that they wouldn't be accepting anything less than 425k. I thanked the EA for wasting my time on a Saturday morning and left.

Why even bother saying that? if you literally said that, your burning your own bridges by saying that. Its a tactic, nothing wrong it. Why should the seller accept your offer if they think they can get more, would you be happy if you were selling for less than 50k less than what its worth? its a bidding war/auction. You should always expect it to go for less or more than asking. If you dont want the hassle of a bidding war, buy new. You need to set your expectations at the correct level and know what your buying before getting annoyed at something that is extremely common. It goes both ways as well. Some times it sells for less than asking but i dont see bidders complaining then

SteelyDanJalapeno · 24-01-2019 4:42pm

Fol20 wrote: »

Why even bother saying that? if you literally said that, your burning your own bridges by saying that. Its a tactic, nothing wrong it. Why should the seller accept your offer if they think they can get more, would you be happy if you were selling for less than 50k less than what its worth? its a bidding war/auction. You should always expect it to go for less or more than asking. If you dont want the hassle of a bidding war, buy new. You need to set your expectations at the correct level and know what your buying before getting annoyed at something that is extremely common. It goes both ways as well. Some times it sells for less than asking but i dont see bidders complaining then

I'd imagine most people buying houses are relatively new to the game, and don't realize that when someone advertises their home for sale they do do at an incorrect price wasting their time and everybody else's.

cameramonkey · 24-01-2019 4:46pm

Fol20 wrote: »

Why even bother saying that? if you literally said that, your burning your own bridges by saying that. Its a tactic, nothing wrong it. Why should the seller accept your offer if they think they can get more, would you be happy if you were selling for less than 50k less than what its worth? its a bidding war/auction. You should always expect it to go for less or more than asking. If you dont want the hassle of a bidding war, buy new. You need to set your expectations at the correct level and know what your buying before getting annoyed at something that is extremely common. It goes both ways as well. Some times it sells for less than asking but i dont see bidders complaining then

It may be common practice but I feel that people are right to get annoyed about it. I don't see why the estate agent dosnt take the offer because if the house is worth more then more people will bid and the price will rise. I think the estate agent is wrong to advertise a price and then not accept offers at that price , its a bit like false advertising.

I would think that most people understand that a house will in this climate sell for above the original asking price.

Browney7 · 24-01-2019 4:53pm

Fol20 wrote: »

Why even bother saying that? if you literally said that, your burning your own bridges by saying that. Its a tactic, nothing wrong it. Why should the seller accept your offer if they think they can get more, would you be happy if you were selling for less than 50k less than what its worth? its a bidding war/auction. You should always expect it to go for less or more than asking. If you dont want the hassle of a bidding war, buy new. You need to set your expectations at the correct level and know what your buying before getting annoyed at something that is extremely common. It goes both ways as well. Some times it sells for less than asking but i dont see bidders complaining then

No doubt it's good for the seller to get as many people to view the house as possible but many people may see 375k and have a maximum budget of say 400k and go to view it and think they've a chance.

If they're looking for 425k they will be wasting plenty people's time and I'd consider it a D1ck move on the seller/agent's behalf to say "not considering anything below 425k" which is 50k above what they've advertised for.
At the end of the day, prospective buyers will be working midweek and have limited time at weekends to be traipsing around to viewings.

There's a balance to be struck whereby the purchasers don't need to have psychic powers and be wholly au fait with the PPR for each area with recent selling prices and deduce that "ah they're probably looking for a lot more so won't bother looking".

24-01-2019 4:56pm

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

I'd imagine most people buying houses are relatively new to the game, and don't realize that when someone advertises their home for sale they do do at an incorrect price wasting their time and everybody else's.

I suspect most people selling a house don’t know for certain what the highest bidder is willing to pay so the “correct” price is fixed at the end of the bidding process, not at the beginning. The advertised price is only ever a guide, the exception being a “minimum reserve” price at auction where a property will definitely sell if that price is bid.

A good way of understanding how this works is, you and your neighbour put identical houses on the market at the same time. Based on previous sales and demand in the area, you/your EA value your house at €375k and you accept a bid at that price because you don’t want to waste buyer’s time. Your neighbour on the other hand who received the same valuation advice decides that he/she won’t accept less that €425k. If he/she receives a bid for that amount, they now have €50k more in their bank account than you have for the same house. So I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind wasting a buyer’s time if it meant you got €50k more.

JustMe,K · 24-01-2019 4:57pm

Aren't the estate agents supposed to present every offer to the vendor though? It's so difficult trying to play the game!

q85dw7osi4lebg · 24-01-2019 5:05pm

The asking price is a guide, nothing more.

The end goal is to get as high a price as possible for the vendor.

Offer the max you are prepared to pay. If it's accepted great, if not, walk away.

cameramonkey · 24-01-2019 5:05pm

Dav010 wrote: »

I suspect most people selling a house don’t know for certain what the highest bidder is willing to pay so the “correct” price is fixed at the end of the bidding process, not at the beginning. The advertised price is only ever a guide, the exception being a “minimum reserve” price at auction where a property will definitely sell if that price is bid.

A good way of understanding how this works is, you and your neighbour put identical houses on the market at the same time. Based on previous sales and demand in the area, you/your EA value your house at €375k and you accept a bid at that price because you don’t want to waste buyer’s time. Your neighbour on the other hand who received the same valuation advice decides that he/she won’t accept less that €425k. If he/she receives a bid for that amount, they now have €50k more in their bank account than you have for the same house. So I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind wasting a buyer’s time if it meant you got €50k more.

An estate agent can accept an offer, it does not mean you have the house, the EA is still willing to accept higher offers that is the way the process is. As i understand it the OP says the EA would not accept and offer that was at the advertised price, that I think is unreasonable or even false advertising of a sort.

24-01-2019 5:12pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

An estate agent can accept an offer, it does not mean you have the house, the EA is still willing to accept higher offers that is the way the process is. As i understand it the OP says the EA would not accept and offer that was at the advertised price, that I think is unreasonable or even false advertising of a sort.

The EA is never in a position to “accept an offer”, the EA works for the vendor, only the vendor can accept an offer and as such the EA acts on the direction of the Vendor. If the EA guides at €375k but the vendor instructs the EA that he/she will not sell below €425k, then so be it.

You understand that the advertised price you see for a bag of Tayto in your local shop is only an invitation to treat, the shop does not legally have to sell you the bag of Tayto at that price.

RosieJoe · 24-01-2019 5:16pm

D3V!L wrote: »

We've made an offer of the asking price for a house we're very interested in and the estate agent came back with they're not entertaining offers for that amount at the moment. Where do they get off putting a house on the market for X amount and refusing to entertain bidding ??

Is this normal practice ?

Welcome to the pain of buying. We had this, as well as ghost bidders pushing the price up. When we said no to going higher the EA came back stating that the seller wanted to do business with us as we placed our offer before the "other" bidder came along.

cameramonkey · 24-01-2019 5:21pm

Dav010 wrote: »

The EA is never in a position to “accept an offer”, the EA works for the vendor, only the vendor can accept an offer and as such the EA acts on the direction of the Vendor. If the EA guides at €375k but the vendor instructs the EA that he/she will not sell below €425k, then so be it.

I made an offer on a house recently, the EA accepted the offer and came back to me quickly saying that he had accepted another offer higher than mine, this continued for several days. I would imagine the seller said to the EA work away get the highest price and get back to me when the race is run.Every house I ever bid on had the same process.

TeaBagMania · 24-01-2019 5:26pm

ive been window shopping houses in Ireland for years and one thing ive learned, there are a lot of messers.

what the EA and seller are doing is trying to reach a wider audience with unscrupulous tactics

24-01-2019 5:28pm

TeaBagMania wrote: »

ive been window shopping houses in Ireland for years and one thing ive learned, there are a lot of messers.

what the EA and seller are doing is trying to reach a wider audience with unscrupulous tactics

And you won’t do anything of the sort when you are selling a property.

TeaBagMania · 24-01-2019 5:29pm

Dav010 wrote: »

And you won’t do anything of the sort when you are selling a property.

nope

24-01-2019 5:39pm

TeaBagMania wrote: »

nope

How will you know what the max someone is willing to pay for your house before you advertise it? And if you are using the proceeds of the sale to buy another home, would you be at all concerned that you accepted well below the market value and that may cost you a huge amount over the term of your new mortgage?

Fol20 · 24-01-2019 5:51pm

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

I'd imagine most people buying houses are relatively new to the game, and don't realize that when someone advertises their home for sale they do do at an incorrect price wasting their time and everybody else's.

Buying a second hand home is like an auction similar to ebay. Highest bidder gets it. Lersonally with such high figures envolved, i would be doing a lot of research about the topic before making the plunge

Fol20 · 24-01-2019 5:52pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

It may be common practice but I feel that people are right to get annoyed about it. I don't see why the estate agent dosnt take the offer because if the house is worth more then more people will bid and the price will rise. I think the estate agent is wrong to advertise a price and then not accept offers at that price , its a bit like false advertising.

I would think that most people understand that a house will in this climate sell for above the original asking price.

Your right. Thats why i said the way he went around communicating this was poorly done and he should have accepted the offer but make it clear that they will be looking for more.

Fol20 · 24-01-2019 5:56pm

Browney7 wrote: »

No doubt it's good for the seller to get as many people to view the house as possible but many people may see 375k and have a maximum budget of say 400k and go to view it and think they've a chance.

If they're looking for 425k they will be wasting plenty people's time and I'd consider it a D1ck move on the seller/agent's behalf to say "not considering anything below 425k" which is 50k above what they've advertised for.
At the end of the day, prospective buyers will be working midweek and have limited time at weekends to be traipsing around to viewings.

There's a balance to be struck whereby the purchasers don't need to have psychic powers and be wholly au fait with the PPR for each area with recent selling prices and deduce that "ah they're probably looking for a lot more so won't bother looking".

Honestly, if i was buying or selling, i couldnt csre less of what other peoples situations are. I just want to get the most effective way of getting the most bidders and money.

Like buying anything if the price is too good to be true. It probably is. Same goes for houses. If you see a house that is under valued it either has issues or they expect it to go for more. Sometimes buyers can catch a lucky break and get a good deal but you can only get that by putting your name in the hat so you might need to go to a lot of viewing before getting the “one”

Fol20 · 24-01-2019 5:58pm

kcdiom wrote: »

Aren't the estate agents supposed to present every offer to the vendor though? It's so difficult trying to play the game!

No. I told my ea i dont want hear any tyre kicker offers until a certain amount is achieved.Likewise if you are known as a time waster yourself or struggle to prove aip then they may not waste their time telling the owner as well

Sarn · 24-01-2019 5:59pm

One near us went up for 495k last year, a good bit below the last sale price of 580k. Queue was out the door. Ended up going for just over 580k. Recently others have been going for about 600k and one has just gone up asking 495k. Wasting a lot of people’s time. However, you’re best doing your own research to minimise disappointment.

24-01-2019 6:00pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

I would think that most people understand that a house will in this climate sell for above the original asking price.

Well that's not true! Vendors are dropping asking prices all over Dublin because they are hanging on the market for months & months!

KevinCavan · 24-01-2019 6:05pm

D3V!L wrote: »

We've made an offer of the asking price for a house we're very interested in and the estate agent came back with they're not entertaining offers for that amount at the moment. Where do they get off putting a house on the market for X amount and refusing to entertain bidding ??

Is this normal practice ?

How rude of you to offer an estate agent the asking price. Only in Ireland would that be an insult.:-)

cameramonkey · 24-01-2019 6:25pm

bubblypop wrote: »

Well that's not true! Vendors are dropping asking prices all over Dublin because they are hanging on the market for months & months!

You are correct that some asking prices dropped.I just bought a house but we paid about 15% over the asking price. I do see some that are dropping in price (one we wanted to bid on but couldn't get a quote for insurance because it was beside a river). Others have dropped because the EA's original asking price was way out of kilter with reality but normally I would say most prices recently go up from original asking price, that was my experience anyway in the last year.

Maybe prices are softening and asking prices are not being realised but I have seen little evidence that this would be wide scale when we were looking.

TeaBagMania · 24-01-2019 6:55pm

Dav010 wrote: »

How will you know what the max someone is willing to pay for your house before you advertise it? And if you are using the proceeds of the sale to buy another home, would you be at all concerned that you accepted well below the market value and that may cost you a huge amount over the term of your new mortgage?

I do my own research as well as viewing comparables in my area, never rely on an EA to tell you what your house is worth.
It takes time and you need to have your finger on the pulse of the market.
If you're contemplating selling or buying you cant be in a rush, well unless you wan to loose money.

the houses im watching at the moment (in a different state) have been sitting on the market for a very long time, obviously asking more than the market is willing to pay.

also, the process happens a little differently in the states, you dont lowball the price then spring an extra 50K on the buyers during viewing.
probably a good way to get accosted

your asking price should resemble what you "want" or are will to accept, negotiations can happen from there depending on interest in your property

24-01-2019 7:32pm

TeaBagMania wrote: »

I do my own research as well as viewing comparables in my area, never rely on an EA to tell you what your house is worth.
It takes time and you need to have your finger on the pulse of the market.
If you're contemplating selling or buying you cant be in a rush, well unless you wan to loose money.

the houses im watching at the moment (in a different state) have been sitting on the market for a very long time, obviously asking more than the market is willing to pay.

also, the process happens a little differently in the states, you dont lowball the price then spring an extra 50K on the buyers during viewing.
probably a good way to get accosted

your asking price should resemble what you "want" or are will to accept, negotiations can happen from there depending on interest in your property

All very good points, however, most sellers have a minimum price they will accept, but, most sellers also want to get the maximum amount the market will pay for their property. A €50k difference in the offer you accept could reduce the mortgage on your new home by years, why on earth would you volunteer to do that?

I lived in the States and though I didn’t buy a property there, I found realtors to be just as cut throat if not worse than EAs here, when I did express an interest in an apartment I was harassed for weeks afterwards, it put me off.

TeaBagMania · 24-01-2019 7:40pm

Dav010 wrote: »

All very good points, however, most sellers have a minimum price they will accept, but, most sellers also want to get the maximum amount the market will pay for their property. A €50k difference in the offer you accept could reduce the mortgage on your new home by years, why on earth would you volunteer to do that?

its all about time.

Maybe in one to two years i could get the max, its all about waiting for the perfect buyer, but i don't want to wait that long.
id rather take a small hit on the price now so i can start my new life in my new house.

but that's me, others might not be in a financial position to do that

Offer of asking

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