Bidding on a house - ask for proof of another bid?

Sunrise_Sunset · 31-01-2019 12:13pm

Well, we've been outbid on this particular property anyway. We were bidding against one other interested party. Then at a late stage a mysterious third bidder came into the equation. We've dropped out.

Tombo2001 · 31-01-2019 12:18pm

I've said this a number of times before on Boards, so apologies for repeating....

When I was bidding on a house, it was just before the register was introduced.

However when it was introduced - it was backdated for two years, so I could see all the multiple of properties I was outbid on.

Long winded way of answering the question - I was outbid maybe 7 or 8 times; each time I thought to myself:

"This estate agent is bull ****ting me here, there is absolutely no way someone is paying that much for that house"

And in each case, I was wrong.

Estate agents don't make up bids*; its just one of those (internet) myths that people make up so they can vent their frustrations.

*What you can however ask the Estate Agent is what evidence they require when accepting a bid; for example to they need to know someone is mortgage approved.

happyfriday74 · 31-01-2019 12:29pm

Happens in Canada as someone said earlier.
All offers are a cheque sealed in an envelope by each party interested.
On a given day all envelopes are opened and highest cheque wins.
It’s simple and legally binding and not open to an auction and counter bidding

But oh no that’s too simple for us Irish folk :-)

Happens all the time. Used when a number of bidders are battling it out bidding with each other and they begin to get fed up, especially if one of them keeps going up in small silly increments.

Everyone is told to put their best bid forward and seller progress with one of them.

I've never seen a sanction against an estate agent for fake bids. Regulation doesn't happen in this area imho.

The Industry is very tightly regulated. I work in it(not in sales at the moment). There hasn't been many of the firms sanctioned because, despite urban legend, it doesn't happen very often.

Reputation is everything. Get caught doing this and they will have you booted out the door

JJJackal · 08-03-2019 5:46pm

happyfriday74 wrote: »

Happens all the time. Used when a number of bidders are battling it out bidding with each other and they begin to get fed up, especially if one of them keeps going up in small silly increments.

Everyone is told to put their best bid forward and seller progress with one of them.

The Industry is very tightly regulated. I work in it(not in sales at the moment). There hasn't been many of the firms sanctioned because, despite urban legend, it doesn't happen very often.

Reputation is everything. Get caught doing this and they will have you booted out the door

I think anyone making an offer needs to have some skin in the game - ie money eg security lodged with auctioneer. Think this would help prevent fake bids. Some oversight needed thiugh

Lolle06 · 08-03-2019 6:29pm

We knew all the EAs around our small hometown. We also knew that they wouldn’t make up fake bids, because word spreads around quickl . As a local EA you really wouldn’t risk it. Property at a good price is selling itself these days and other bidders are coming out of the woodworks suddenly, once a bid is placed. Sometimes you will have to bid against yourself to meet the sellers expectations - but only bid what the property is worth to you. We stuck to that and it served us well.

mariaalice · 08-03-2019 6:38pm

People do stupid things, when I sold my house, the EA received an offer told me about it but said it's not going to happen the bid was too impulsive and he knew they were going to withdraw years of experience give him a sixth sense about these things, nonetheless it was a bid so he went to the other parties with it.

Was it a real bit? The way I say it was it was not a fake bid.

mickdw · 08-03-2019 6:40pm

Of course they fake bid against interested parties.
That is basically their job.
It's not even so much about the commission but getting the best price for client to make their name.
In current climate around the major cities, there is little need for such action however where things are a bit slower and a single bidder might be in danger of getting a bargain, you can be damn sure the agent will have 'other bids' to bring the price up.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 08-03-2019 7:02pm

mickdw wrote: »

Of course they fake bid against interested parties.
That is basically their job.
It's not even so much about the commission but getting the best price for client to make their name.
In current climate around the major cities, there is little need for such action however where things are a bit slower and a single bidder might be in danger of getting a bargain, you can be damn sure the agent will have 'other bids' to bring the price up.

You must have made a killing sueing agents via the PSRA I take it. How many agents have you caught with their pants down? Have they all since lost their licence ?

Lolle06 · 08-03-2019 7:07pm

mickdw wrote: »

Of course they fake bid against interested parties.
That is basically their job.
It's not even so much about the commission but getting the best price for client to make their name.
In current climate around the major cities, there is little need for such action however where things are a bit slower and a single bidder might be in danger of getting a bargain, you can be damn sure the agent will have 'other bids' to bring the price up.

That wasn’t our experience as we met the person who outbid us on the first property (who actually sounded like a „fake bid“ as he came into the bidding at the last minute, was from „outside of town“ and outbid us by 1k each time!) in person after he moved in and knew the person who was interested in the 2nd property fairly well. It‘s really hard to keep secrets in small towns and the local EAs are aware of this. The EA is interested in a sale first & foremost. Getting the highest price is the second priority. We ended up getting a „bargain“, as the other party wasn’t in a position to move quickly and the seller didn’t want to wait.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 08-03-2019 7:15pm

300k house
1% commission

Offer of 300k - fee = 3000
Offer of 310k - fee = 3100

Tell me again how it's worthwhile for an agent to drag out sales with fake bids

mickdw · 08-03-2019 9:05pm

If you need to hear it again......
10k 20k 30k is a lot of cash in the sellers pocket.
If a landlord has a few properties and one agent continually gets towards top end of expected price while other gets an average price, which agency do you think is going to get future business.
I've been involved in a couple of bidding situations personally but close to hundreds of deals professionally - survey side of purchases. You would be surprised how many bidding wars suddenly stop when bid is placed til close of business only.
You would also be surprised how often the agents come back after the supposed buyer drops out late on and happily take the previous offer.

Henry Ford III · 08-03-2019 10:27pm

As my late great grandfather used to say..."Never trust an auctioneer".

09-03-2019 8:02am

worded wrote: »

Happens in Canada as someone said earlier.
All offers are a cheque sealed in an envelope by each party interested.
On a given day all envelopes are opened and highest cheque wins.
It’s simple and legally binding and not open to an auction and counter bidding

But oh no that’s too simple for us Irish folk :-)

I have bid on a house in that way in Ireland before. Sellers can do it if they like.

machiavellianme · 09-03-2019 8:35am

Sandra Plain Hat wrote: »

300k house
1% commission

Offer of 300k - fee = 3000
Offer of 310k - fee = 3100

Tell me again how it's worthwhile for an agent to drag out sales with fake bids

Based on your example, they get 100 extra for not a whole pile of work. Maybe estate agents are coining it so much that 100 is insignificant but for the level of work required, it really isn't. I somehow doubt they're flat out for 9 hours trying to generate that extra 10k.

Cheaper, more transparent solution for buyers and sellers would be an eBay-like platform. See how EAs like that.

09-03-2019 8:48am

machiavellianme wrote: »

Based on your example, they get 100 extra for not a whole pile of work. Maybe estate agents are coining it so much that 100 is insignificant but for the level of work required, it really isn't. I somehow doubt they're flat out for 9 hours trying to generate that extra 10k.

Cheaper, more transparent solution for buyers and sellers would be an eBay-like platform. See how EAs like that.

The business gets an extra 100, the agent themselves might get an extra tenner, and they're risking their career for it.

machiavellianme · 09-03-2019 8:55am

Vivian Salmon Pocketful wrote: »

The business gets an extra 100, the agent themselves might get an extra tenner, and they're risking their career for it.

Risking their career? Sounds a bit melodramatic. If there was so much auditing going on, you'd think there'd be publications to indicate who has been investigated and the outcome? Or at the very least, a list of those found to have transgressions. For example, medical practitioners, tax defaulters or restaurants found to have wrongdoings are named and shamed in newspapers etc.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 09-03-2019 10:10am

machiavellianme wrote: »

Based on your example, they get 100 extra for not a whole pile of work. Maybe estate agents are coining it so much that 100 is insignificant but for the level of work required, it really isn't. I somehow doubt they're flat out for 9 hours trying to generate that extra 10k.

Cheaper, more transparent solution for buyers and sellers would be an eBay-like platform. See how EAs like that.

You must have a lot of experience as an agent do know that that's not a whole pile of work.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 09-03-2019 10:13am

machiavellianme wrote: »

Risking their career? Sounds a bit melodramatic. If there was so much auditing going on, you'd think there'd be publications to indicate who has been investigated and the outcome? Or at the very least, a list of those found to have transgressions. For example, medical practitioners, tax defaulters or restaurants found to have wrongdoings are named and shamed in newspapers etc.

Agents are audited every year. The PSRA homepage literally publishes those that lose licences / are being investigated etc. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Gumbo · 09-03-2019 10:38am

machiavellianme wrote: »

Based on your example, they get 100 extra for not a whole pile of work. Maybe estate agents are coining it so much that 100 is insignificant but for the level of work required, it really isn't. I somehow doubt they're flat out for 9 hours trying to generate that extra 10k.

Cheaper, more transparent solution for buyers and sellers would be an eBay-like platform. See how EAs like that.

The company gets €100 extra.
That includes VAT.
Then overheads and commission.

You think an EA will risk losing a sale for a couple of euro.

mickdw · 09-03-2019 2:46pm

The innocence of the people on this thread is laughable really.
Not alone were they introducing false bids if they thought it beneficial,
It was also not unknown for a mortgage broker to be closely tied to auctioneer, often in same building.
Auctioneer would be told a clients budget based in mortgage info from broker then property would be bid up to that figure.
It's their job to get the best price.
If I was selling a property and I had one interested party, I'd hope that the auctioneer would use all his tricks and get the most money out of that client.

Don't even get me started on the car auctions. It's an education to sit up the back of those and see what goes on.
Newbies sitting down the front bidding for all they are worth and the auctioneer taking bids off the wall at the back.
Again, it's expected. It's his job and it's the buyers business whether it be car or house to be aware and counter these actions or else end up paying too much.

JJJackal · 09-03-2019 4:23pm

kceire wrote: »

The company gets €100 extra.
That includes VAT.
Then overheads and commission.

You think an EA will risk losing a sale for a couple of euro.

I believe an auctioneer would - from personal experience

I called an auctioneer last week to view a property on sale for x. He said he had an offer of x. I said, thats a great price, no point in me seeing it as I am not willing to offer x.

Suddenly there was no offer submitted yet ("waiting for the email") - so the auctioneer wanted me to see the property. I declined - going to be too messy

09-03-2019 5:07pm

mickdw wrote: »

The innocence of the people on this thread is laughable really.
Not alone were they introducing false bids if they thought it beneficial,
It was also not unknown for a mortgage broker to be closely tied to auctioneer, often in same building.
Auctioneer would be told a clients budget based in mortgage info from broker then property would be bid up to that figure.
.

No doubt you have proof of this?

cudsy1 · 09-10-2019 6:41pm

hi all,

currently bidding against one other bidder. I counter raised via email, and the EA rang me back the next day saying bid has been raised by my opponent to the amount that I had previously raised to. I told the EA that I thought the amount he said it has been raised to was what I had previously raised it to but he assured me that I hadn't. A look at my most recent email to him confirms that yes in fact the amount he told me on the phone just now was the new counter raise by the other bidder. Perhaps a simple error by EA, perhaps not.

What to do/say tomorrow when I am to call him back?

q85dw7osi4lebg · 09-10-2019 7:16pm

Error on EA's part. Forward the email to them and then ring them. They will have to revert to the other party and explain the error.

Lumen · 11-10-2019 11:53am

The easiest way through this maze of second guessing is to assume that everything the EA says is either an outright lie or a half truth.

The most likely motivation of an EA turning a blind eye to fake bids (e.g. from family/friends of the vendor) is to get the buyer to the price that the seller demands. It's not about getting a higher commission, it's about getting the sale through.

The way it works is this (for example):

- EA pitches for the sale of a property, indicating a possible price. Incentive here is not to under-sell, as the vendors will tend to go with the agent that offers the prospect of the highest price.
- EA puts the property on the market, doesn't get much interest, needs a way to backpedal.
- Vendor won't budge on price, despite reasonable protestations from the EA, because they're anchored to their original expectation.
- Other bids come in, of dubious veracity. EA turns a blind eye. They have nothing to lose since the vendor won't at this stage budge on price.
- Either the original bidder feels under pressure to up the bid and close (happy days), or they pull out, in which case the EA will restart the process, hopefully talking the vendor down to a lower price.

I am convinced that this happens. How much? I don't know. Does it matter? Not necessarily. Even if the other bids are genuine, they may be from lunatics who are bidding way over what the property is really worth, and they may pull out. How is that different from a fake bid?

The central problem is the belief that a fair bidding process will result in value for money. It won't. Bid what you think the property is worth to you, and move on if you can't get it for that price. Don't fixate on one property. Don't get emotionally attached. Under no circumstances take the kids to see it until you have closed the sale.

And again, assume that every single word that comes out of an EAs mouth is a lie.

GreeBo · 11-10-2019 11:55am

How would an audit catch them with fake bids exactly?
Paper trail for 500k bid, EA tells people it's at 550k...audit will be unaware unless they ring up and pretend to be a buyer.

mickdw · 11-10-2019 1:25pm

Dav010 wrote: »

No doubt you have proof of this?

Old thread but yes there was a prime time or similar expose on just such behaviour.

Ghetofarmulous · 12-10-2019 2:35pm

mickdw wrote: »

Old thread but yes there was a prime time or similar expose on just such behaviour.

Please link

Lumen · 12-10-2019 4:07pm

Ghetofarmulous wrote: »

Please link

Google primetime ireland phantom bid, it's the first result :rolleyes:

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2019/0308/1035139-prime-time-fake-bids-bloody-sunday-charges-beef-stakes/

Mic 1972 · 13-10-2019 7:24pm

I dropped my offer for a house a few years ago after bidding against "another potential" buyer, if that was a fake bid than the agency lost the deal, so not sure why would they do that

cudsy1 · 13-10-2019 11:21pm

Thanks for replies.

Another kinda unrelated question: has anyone ever heard of an EA pitting two competitors bidding on same property against each other by a phone based auction between the two bidders? EA gets one raise, then goes on second line to other bidder for counter raise, and so on...

sandeep21 · 14-10-2019 10:32am

Happened to me recently with Sherry FitzGerald, They ask me to use their MySherryFitz, for bidding and and I involved in bidding for a property.
As using their application, they are 100% liable to practice genuinely, but when I asked about other bidders are genuine, they didnt have answer, even they do not verify the bidders have viewed the property and have AIP. Manager said any user can register and involve in bidding process, which is not transparent. With my bidding price, they haven't answered or finalized my price with the owner, but when I started questioning them, they approved another bidder price and went to sale agreed within 2 days.
And again I asked, How come owner agreed the price, when I was in bidding more than other bidder, they didn't had an answer and the manager was trying to convince me not to make any complaints, as it will downgrade their reputation. It was with Sheery Fitz Sundrive. I have proof and can explain that they are mis-practising.

C3PO · 14-10-2019 11:51am

sandeep21 wrote: »

Happened to me recently with Sherry FitzGerald, They ask me to use their MySherryFitz, for bidding and and I involved in bidding for a property.
As using their application, they are 100% liable to practice genuinely, but when I asked about other bidders are genuine, they didnt have answer, even they do not verify the bidders have viewed the property and have AIP. Manager said any user can register and involve in bidding process, which is not transparent. With my bidding price, they haven't answered or finalized my price with the owner, but when I started questioning them, they approved another bidder price and went to sale agreed within 2 days.
And again I asked, How come owner agreed the price, when I was in bidding more than other bidder, they didn't had an answer and the manager was trying to convince me not to make any complaints, as it will downgrade their reputation. It was with Sheery Fitz Sundrive. I have proof and can explain that they are mis-practising.

Can’t make head nor tail of this post!

Gone Drinking · 14-10-2019 11:58am

I only read a few posts here but there needs to be transparency. Like Ebay, you can see the usernames of those bidding against you. Not their personal information but a traceable account for someone who's registered via the approved methods to bid.

It should be the same for buying a house, anyone interested should have to register their details, upon which they get a unique identifier (random number/letters, no personal information). This would allow bids to be tracked by all concerned parties.

I don't see why this would be so difficult and it would give people more confidence in the process.

For those saying "show me the proof of fake bids", the answer is simply "show me the proof there's no fake bids".

sandeep21 · 14-10-2019 12:29pm

C3PO wrote: »

Can’t make head nor tail of this post!

I just explained my experience, that the bidding process from agents are not transparent despite they tend to use technology and **** GDPR regulations when aksing about bidder are not fake, such that these agents have reasons. They just robbing.

riclad · 14-10-2019 1:33pm

GDPR requires all companys that have data on users to
allow them to download the data anytime they want.
if you bought a house from joe bloggs agency ,
would a gdpr request give you data on the bidding process .
would it show how many bids there were on a house,
how many people were bidding against you before you bought the house.
I think they would have to blank out the names of other bidders ,
under the data protection act.
If someone paid say 700k for a house they might want to know if they were
bidding against a phantom bidder .

14-10-2019 4:21pm

riclad wrote: »

GDPR requires all companys that have data on users to
allow them to download the data anytime they want.
if you bought a house from joe bloggs agency ,
would a gdpr request give you data on the bidding process .
would it show how many bids there were on a house,
how many people were bidding against you before you bought the house.
I think they would have to blank out the names of other bidders ,
under the data protection act.
If someone paid say 700k for a house they might want to know if they were
bidding against a phantom bidder .

This is hard to follow, are you saying that GDPR regs mean bidders are entitled to info about bidding process?

A person who buys a €700k house might like to know if there was a phantom bidder, that does not mean they have a right to know who that bidder is or whether they had the means to support their bid.

Just an aside, on the accom forum at the moment, there is a poster who is considering pulling out of the buy after going sale agreed, because he/she has the “jitters”. It is conceivable that the underbidders would then assume that the EA was making up bids and the poster didn’t actually exist when the EA goes back to them about the property. Go figure.

average_runner · 14-10-2019 4:28pm

Sunrise_Sunset wrote: »

Could be described as fake yes, in my opinion, because it pushes the price up, and the bid has no basis. The Estate Agent did tell us they are asking for proof of mortgage approval before making a bid on this property. However, he did say AIP is fine, and we know, AIP is certainly not the same as mortgage approval.

I remember when we were selling our house and a bidding war happened on it.

Eventually the highest bid won until the EA told us they didn't have mortgage approval for that amount. We rejected that bid and took the one that was lower than it.

EA did alot of work for us, but ensuring the bidders had mortgage approval for their bid was the most important part.

EA will let owners know if a bid was made and can't afford to lose a sale on a false bid

Lumen · 14-10-2019 6:59pm

average_runner wrote: »

I remember when we were selling our house and a bidding war happened on it.

Eventually the highest bid won until the EA told us they didn't have mortgage approval for that amount. We rejected that bid and took the one that was lower than it.

EA did alot of work for us, but ensuring the bidders had mortgage approval for their bid was the most important part.

EA will let owners know if a bid was made and can't afford to lose a sale on a false bid

The most important bit that they didn't do? They shouldn't have accepted any bids without proof of funds.

kippy · 14-10-2019 7:03pm

topmanamillion wrote: »

Estate agents are heavily regulated so faking bids really isn't in their interests. If they were audited they would be asked to provide proof of other bids. If they were unable to do that they could expect heavy fines and ramifications for their licenses. Most work off a base price + commission so there's little point for them of inflating a house price.
Essentially, they have very little to nothing to gain by fabricating bids and a lot to lose by doing so.
The best advice I can give is have a price in mind that you are willing to pay for a house.
To state the obvious, if your price meets the valuation and is the highest bid you'll get the house. That's the simple equation you should focus on.

Out of interest, where would one find out about these audits/audit reports and has there ever been an an EA "struck off" for failing one of these audits?

I've said this on other threads but it is in the EA's interest to have an increasing house price market and while the margins may be small on a single house with a fake bid or two, over the protfolioe the estate agent may have for sale at any one time this sum can be significant.

kippy · 14-10-2019 7:05pm

Lumen wrote: »

The most important bit that they didn't do? They shouldn't have accepted any bids without proof of funds.

Indeed - although they work for the seller - so in essence accepting these bids right through to the end game increased the price of the house for other "genuine" buyers.

14-10-2019 7:24pm

Lumen wrote: »

The most important bit that they didn't do? They shouldn't have accepted any bids without proof of funds.

It is the EAs job to pass on bids to the vendor, only the vendor can decide whether a bid is accepted. I doubt you could make it a legal requirement that a bidder must provide proof of cash/finance to support a bid, so saying the EA shouldn’t accept a bid is a bit silly.

Naos · 14-10-2019 7:29pm

Dav010 wrote: »

It is the EAs job to pass on bids to the vendor, only the vendor can decide whether a bid is accepted. I doubt you could make it a legal requirement that a bidder must provide proof of cash/finance to support a bid, so saying the EA shouldn’t accept a bid is a bit silly.

Why couldn't you?

That sounds exactly like something you should have to do.

14-10-2019 7:51pm

Naos wrote: »

Why couldn't you?

That sounds exactly like something you should have to do.

You would have to ask your local TD, vendors/EAs can’t make laws so making it a legal requirement isn’t within their power.

EstateAgent · 15-10-2019 10:06am

Would be great if people stopped making offers on properties that they can't afford, just a thought.

The amount of hassle we get when asking people for proof of finance is ridiculous. People are so afraid to give us a bank statement or copy of mortgage approval in case we see they have even more money than their bid. We hardly think they're planning to spend every bloody penny they have.

And yes you can say that a letter from a solicitor or something should work but is that really reliable? A solicitor mate giving a letter to buy you time while you actually scramble around to get your finances together.

You just can't win with some people. People are so quick to blame EA's for anything but the bigger issue is why are people making offers if they can't actually afford it? Or worse why are people bidding on more than one property at a time even though they only intend to buy one? Those people are doing far more harm to the market than any EA out there

elizunia87 · 15-10-2019 10:51am

We bid on many house till we get the right one. Every time Agent asked us for proof and we never gave saying that the proof will be given by lawyer after the bid is accepted. I am not gonna hassle my Lawyer to send proof every week.
Also I would never bid on a house I can not afford. Why would I do this to myslef?

EstateAgent · 15-10-2019 12:47pm

elizunia87 wrote: »

We bid on many house till we get the right one. Every time Agent asked us for proof and we never gave saying that the proof will be given by lawyer after the bid is accepted. I am not gonna hassle my Lawyer to send proof every week.
Also I would never bid on a house I can not afford. Why would I do this to myslef?

Some people make offers on properties while also going through the mortgage approval process. I have no doubt that they think they will be able to afford it but anything can go wrong and they may not get approval for the amount they need or get approval at all. I don't think people are being malicious doing it but that's why EA's ask for proof of finance.

Anyways this is the kind of reaction we get from a lot of people. You should be happy those EA's were asking you for proof of finance as it means they were likely asking other bidders for the same, meaning you weren't bidding against someone who didn't have the finance to cover their bid.

ToxicPaddy · 15-10-2019 1:11pm

We saw a house we liked back in mid 2018, it had been on the market for 3 months and there were no bids on the house for the previous 6 weeks and according to the EA no viewings booked either.

The previous and only bid was for 15k below asking price so we put a bid of 5k below asking as we liked the house and were ready to go with everything in place.

The next day low and behold, a bid 5k above asking was made. EA contacts us, tries the hard sell, I decided I wasn't having any of it, pulled our bid and walked away.

EA contacted me 3 times after seeing if I was still interested which we weren't. House eventually went sale agreed at €15k below asking, the original offer.

3 more houses considered buying after that and had similar experiences, so ended up buying a new build from an extremely easy to deal with professional EA.

A family member was trying to buy a house 3 years ago and the EA ignored them despite numerous reasonable bids, all documentation in place, deposit ready to go, mortgage approved and not in a chain.

Eventually they got so fed up of it all, they approached the owner directly and explained the situation, the owner had got no notification from the EA about any potential bids and was duly removed from the sale of the house.

Anyone who claims phantom bids aren't happening or prices are not being manipulated by some EAs are deluded. As for it being regulated, yeah right, only when it suits them they are so obviously out of order publically that they have to be seen to do something.

I've met some very good, very professional EAs, good knowledge, upfront with the info about the property, area and even the seller but I've also met some complete scam artists parading as EAs.

riclad · 15-10-2019 1:40pm

The simple thing to do is to say to bidders, if we accept a bid we will ask for documents to show you have the money to buy the house, or a letter from your bank showing you have been approved for a mortage recently
which will be at least 90 per cent of the house price .
An ea that doe,s not pass on all bid,s to the buyer is not acting in a professional manner or doing his job.
I,m not sure why an ea would not pass on a bid unless he was trying to help
a friend or a relative of his to buy the house.
I Think most ea.s can be trusted to act in a professional manner for the benefit of the client.

SozBbz · 15-10-2019 4:19pm

I've probably bid on somewhere around a dozen properties in my lifetime (3 sale agree'd that fell through - one that went ahead 4years ago, and another one about to go ahead this week + plus the many that I bid on but was subsquently outbid on).

When you factor in the many properties I viewed but declined to offer on, I've met a lot of EAs over the years.

Generally I've thought most have been decent. Theres the odd one who I've thought has been either a young gob****e or a bit slimy or useless or whatever, but on the whole most were fine.

I've never seriously thought that bids were being fabricated. Any property where the bidding went a bit crazy seemed actually to be in high demand going by the viewings. I remember viewing a 2 bed apartment in Drumcondra on at €240k back in 2013. I dropped out when the bids passed €270k and there was more than one other person involved. But to be fair the development was stunningly maintained, great location, and the viewing I attended had been packed so to me it was credible that there was significant interest.

This time around viewings were quieter but the EA I dealt with is in my judgement credible. Across the course of multiple viewings and many further trips back to the property with surveyors and other experts, I've ended up talking to her a fair bit and my judgement is that she's on the level.

We were asked for proof of affordability when placing our bid which we didnt have (yet) but we explained our situation honestly, that we'd begun the process and were only about 1 week away from formal approval, but that we didnt expect to find a house we felt strongly about so soon in our search. We made an aggressive bid (asking price, so +15k on the next best bid) given that context, and she then had to make a judgement if we were worth the risk, as there was someone with their AIP who'd already made multiple offers.

Bidding on a house - ask for proof of another bid?

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