House gone sale agreed, highest bidder not alerted

could be plenty of reasons. In reality the vendor can sell to whom ever they like and the EA should be working under instruction from them.

Just because you have put in the highest bid at that time does not mean that you were the highest bidder. The fact that you are chipping in at €1k intervals - good chance the other bidder offered an extra €10k and said offer only stands if you accept it now - as in pointless in doing the over and back for €1k increments.

I’d also suggest phoning the agent rather than relying on communicating through email, especially if things are moving quickly.

Should have been phoning them with offers and then following up by email imo, then you'd be sure everyone is on the same page. I was certainly on the phone to EAs a lot when we were buying.

Hi.

i always say know your rights. there is a code of practice for estate agents managed by the PSRA

Principles of the Code of Practice

1.Act Professionally

2.Honesty

3.Integrity

4 Confidentiality

5 Effective and Open Communication

6 Professional Development

So if the agents does come back to you and tells you what the decision was based on - then you have no grounds for complaint. There is nothing in your situation that indicates the agent was doing anything wrong, yet.

if they blanked you or refused to engage then you could make a complaint based on point 5. It will not get you the house, but if an agent falls short of the conduct expected you should report them.

Sounds like a poor agent but there’s not much you can do about that.

Vendor can choose to sell it to whoever then want, doesn’t have to be the highest bidder. Going in “all guns blazing” won’t change much IMO. If the vendor is happy, the best you’ll get from the agent is an apology, and I’ve a feeling that won’t help you much

I dunno, I would have always thought an agent had to revert to you if you're the highest bidder to give you a chance to come back again. I mean that's what the whole concept of bidding is surely.

Fair enough if there's some other reason they want to take the other bid but at least communicate that to you.

The vendor might have had a preferred buyer but put it on the market to push the price up. The preferred buyer might be a friend, relation or someone from the area. Some people have emotional attachments to property so decisions are not always rational.

I was talking in general and responding to the post that said they have to inform you.

They can do what they like effectively

not that unusually.

Circumstances of each bidder can be relevant.

Are you a cash buyer?

Are you in a chain of selling your current house?

Are you buying to reside in it or looking to buy as an investment property?

I won't really consider someone who was only going up in 1k increments. Because I then expect them to try to start negotiating discounts later based on the smallest things. Trying to drive the price down later.

That obviously only applies if only one of the parties are increasing in 1k amounts.

Pick up the phone and call if they don't answer leave a voicemail, even though the estate agent says send emails, i would follow up with email detailing your offer

Fuk the estate agent ,get straight on to vendor ,cut out estate agent completely if he is fukacting

In return for getting 1000 Euro from some fella upping his bids by 1000 Euro a go, you might end up with a lifetime of hassle from a blow-in. The seller might still be in the area or have family beside it. If you were in that position, you might be inclined to take the risk you know rather than the unknown.

Fwiw, if I was the vendor, I wouldn’t deal with anyone who tried to contact me directly.

When buying in a sellers market you are selling yourself as a hassle free person to deal with. Not everyone needs / wants just the higher bidder. How they approach the bid and how the seller / agent thinks they will complete the deal matters too.

I was an unfortunate buyer who took just the highest bid many years ago on a holiday home and I regretted it very quickly. It took 5 months to complete and the feckers even wanted a "water test" on a stream the rang alongside - to confirm it did not contain sewage (this was in a very scenic spot miles form any potential water issue. It was a delay tactic as they came up with another petty request the next week and another the week after.

Looking back they were too eager and kept trumping the other person by 1k.

I've bought/sold a few times since and will do a little research on the buyer before coming up with my own preferred buyer. Likewise, when buying I will make sure I come across as someone who will not delay for petty reasons and provide my solicitor details for the agent / seller to do an off the record check via their solicitor that confirms I do not delay or cause grief. (and I got an absolute bargain a couple of years ago using that with a receiver of a holiday home - he wanted a close within 3 weeks)

So my guess is you did not come across as someone they wanted to deal with and that lost the deal. Remember that the seller is also paying Capital Gains tax of 33%, so your €1,000 increase was only worth €650 (assuming 2% commission)

Even if the estate agent hadn't passed on the bid to you?

Would you not want to know they aren't doing the job you are paying for.

Fair enough if the bids were passed on but given op is cash buyer with no chain it does seem strange that they wouldn't accept their highest bid or even just tell ea they need to raise bid by more than 1k.

There appears to be a lack of communication in either the ea communicating bids to vendor or communicating back to op, either way if I was vendor I would want to know that the ea who I am paying isn't doing their job.

If you are still very interested and are willing to go another 5/10k simply find out the owner .Presuming some local does maintenance /garden work/neighbour would have contacf details and find out the story at least.This looks a bit fishy so you will never know otherwise ,a few hours being nosey might be what it takes ,there is nothing ever handed to anyone on the plate!!!

I've read about families writing a letter to the seller, saying their reasons for purchasing, such as raising a family, connections to the area etc, many people are concerned about their property going to someone they feel is the most deserving, some do it with rental properties, not necessarily the person that pays the most, but the person they feel is in a situation that deserves it.

Contrary to what some people on here claim, not all property owners are concerned only about the mighty buck. There are other things that help them sleep at night.

OP - you are making a lot of assumptions - remember the EA works for the Vendor and as such has no obligation to you at all. By all means send a letter to the vendor but I'm not sure what you expect to achieve.

Interestingly - just over 10 years ago when I was buying we were the only bidder for 4 months - the type of property were were buying just had no market at the time - post 2009 collapse. So for 4 months our offer just was kept in limbo - not accepted but no other bidder. I called up one Thursday evening to enquire about the status of the offer and when the EA called me back the following morning she said a 'cash buyer has just gone sale agreed (5k up on our offer) and full payment will be in bank account on Monday'

I was really annoyed and in the pub that night I mentioned it to some one who put me straight - the new bidder was a buddy of the EA and we were just pawns to set the absolute lowest price the vendors would settle for. So my wife knocked on the door on the Saturday morning and explained the situation to the vendor. The vendor had no knowledge of a second bidder or offer - let alone a sale agreed. They called the EA on the Monday morning to tell them to accept our offer and not to consider any other offers. Getting the keys from EA was a very awkward affair.