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How often to communicate with estate agent during bidding war?

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  • 27-06-2018 7:05pm
    #1
    dano1066
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭


    I placed a bid on a house 2 days ago when I was speaking to the estate agent in person. It was the highest bid and above the asking price. He told me he would send me out a text in a few hours once he got back to the office recorded the bid.

    I never got the text, so I emailed yesterday to make sure he didn't forget. The response said that I had been outbid and they would let me know how it progresses.

    Putting aside the fact that I never got the text, I found it strange that they didn't ask if I wanted to place another bid?

    Since it is above the asking price, I am worried the seller might just take an offer and I won't get the chance to bid again. At the same time, I don't want to be the one who has to communicate with the agent. How often should I be emailing the agent in this situation?


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    #2
    Fol20
    Registered Users Posts: 3,624 ✭✭✭Fol20


    dano1066 wrote: »
    I placed a bid on a house 2 days ago when I was speaking to the estate agent in person. It was the highest bid and above the asking price. He told me he would send me out a text in a few hours once he got back to the office recorded the bid.

    I never got the text, so I emailed yesterday to make sure he didn't forget. The response said that I had been outbid and they would let me know how it progresses.

    Putting aside the fact that I never got the text, I found it strange that they didn't ask if I wanted to place another bid?

    Since it is above the asking price, I am worried the seller might just take an offer and I won't get the chance to bid again. At the same time, I don't want to be the one who has to communicate with the agent. How often should I be emailing the agent in this situation?


    I would call him so there is no miscommunication, put your bid in writing but call them every time your making a bid so it can all be aired out


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    #3
    Cash_Q
    Registered Users Posts: 1,920 ✭✭✭Cash_Q


    dano1066 wrote:
    I placed a bid on a house 2 days ago when I was speaking to the estate agent in person. It was the highest bid and above the asking price. He told me he would send me out a text in a few hours once he got back to the office recorded the bid.

    dano1066 wrote:
    At the same time, I don't want to be the one who has to communicate with the agent.

    What do you mean ? If you're bidding on a house of course you have to communicate with the agent..
    Never feel as though you're pestering them by placing genuine bids and seeking to know the existing bid, it is their job to field this communication.

    I would email and phone on every occasion. I would ask what the current bid is and tell him at all times that you remain interested and what to be kept informed of all bids. Even if you get outbid beyond your max, it's good to be kept in the loop in case their bid falls through.


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    #4
    dano1066
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭dano1066


    Cash_Q wrote: »
    What do you mean ? If you're bidding on a house of course you have to communicate with the agent..
    Never feel as though you're pestering them by placing genuine bids and seeking to know the existing bid, it is their job to field this communication.

    I would email and phone on every occasion. I would ask what the current bid is and tell him at all times that you remain interested and what to be kept informed of all bids. Even if you get outbid beyond your max, it's good to be kept in the loop in case their bid falls through.

    The agent said they would keep me up to date on the bids. They took my number for this too but they have yet to contact me. I don't want to come across too eager as they could put in some fake bids to make me pay more for the house if they know I want it. If it's constantly me asking for an update when they said they would be the ones keeping me up to date, it kinda puts me on the lower level.

    Not sure if this is normal either, haven't bought a house before. Just don't have much reason to trust these people. Don't want to get screwed over by acting the wrong way.


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    #5
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,632 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    A bidding war is no fun. Ring and ask for the current high bid. Bid higher if you wish and time limit it.


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    #6
    Trixibelle910
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Trixibelle910


    Hi,

    From recent experience , if an estate agent is not quick off the mark coming back to you , its probably because he/she has multiple bidders.
    If you were at an open viewing at the weekend , they would probably contact all attendees at least once to see if they are interested.


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    #7
    dano1066
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭dano1066


    Trixibelle910 wrote: »
    Hi,

    From recent experience , if an estate agent is not quick off the mark coming back to you , its probably because he/she has multiple bidders.
    If you were at an open viewing at the weekend , they would probably contact all attendees at least once to see if they are interested.

    When I made my bid there were 3 other bidders, so this might be it.

    I contacted the agebt and got a response to say that there have been no new bids since I was last outbid and they will let me know when there are any new bids. I am no longer the highest bidder though. Should they not be offering me the opportunity to make another bid?


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    #8
    og2k7
    Registered Users Posts: 415 ✭✭og2k7


    dano1066 wrote: »
    I placed a bid on a house 2 days ago when I was speaking to the estate agent in person. It was the highest bid and above the asking price. He told me he would send me out a text in a few hours once he got back to the office recorded the bid.

    I never got the text, so I emailed yesterday to make sure he didn't forget. The response said that I had been outbid and they would let me know how it progresses.

    Putting aside the fact that I never got the text, I found it strange that they didn't ask if I wanted to place another bid?

    Since it is above the asking price, I am worried the seller might just take an offer and I won't get the chance to bid again. At the same time, I don't want to be the one who has to communicate with the agent. How often should I be emailing the agent in this situation?

    Based on my (really bad) experience: stay on top of them - some agents are decent and would keep you in the loop, some others wouldnt

    If you like the house - keep at it, all I can say

    Good luck - it is one of the most draining things you will ever do - and you might be even bidding against yourself, who knows


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    #9
    og2k7
    Registered Users Posts: 415 ✭✭og2k7


    dano1066 wrote: »
    When I made my bid there were 3 other bidders, so this might be it.

    I contacted the agebt and got a response to say that there have been no new bids since I was last outbid and they will let me know when there are any new bids. I am no longer the highest bidder though. Should they not be offering me the opportunity to make another bid?

    They are just letting you know: your call what you want to do with it. The customer service is lost with most estate agents so you need to be driving this.


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    #10
    blue note
    Registered Users Posts: 4,506 ✭✭✭blue note


    My experience with agents is that they're terrible to deal with. They don't give a sh1t about the whole thing and are solely interest in a sale with the least possible work for them. I wouldn't rely on getting call backs or anything from them. We put in a bid on a house recently at 92% of the asking price. The agent told my partner that he wasn't sure he'd even bother passing it on to the vendor because he didn't think it would be entertained. We got our friends to arrange a viewing and they asked if there were any bids on the house and they were told there weren't. We haven't heard anything back to say that the bid has been rejected yet.

    I have found them arrogant and often slow to communicate. I don't believe they generally care about fairness and if they've two other people bidding at the moment on it as well I wouldn't be surprised if they're just concentrating on those two for the moment and will come back to you when they slow down.

    Now I will say that some are better than others and some are even very good. But at the moment, it's not a profession I'd have much respect for. Unfortunately we need to deal with them.


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    #11
    Moomintroll99
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭Moomintroll99


    We've been involved in four (count them!) horrific bidding wars & two auctions before finally getting our house.

    Yes sometimes agents were disengaged and dopey but I never found they failed to call us back to try to elicit a higher bid. Sometimes multiple times in a day! We just supplied our bids by letter attached to an email each time so there was definitely a record.

    A good general rule when it's a choice between 'it's a stitch up!' paranoia and 'is this guy just hopeless?' incompetence, the answer is generally incompetence rather than an evil plot, although you can't know if it's the agent's best friend making the other bids of course.

    Sorry you're going through this, it truly is the pits, especially as you watch that rent money drain out of your account month after month.


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    #12
    wench
    Registered Users Posts: 1,630 ✭✭✭wench


    dano1066 wrote: »
    Should they not be offering me the opportunity to make another bid?
    If you want to bid, just do it. Don't sit waiting to be "offered the opportunity", or you may find it sold without them ever coming back to you.


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    #13
    cruizer101
    Registered Users Posts: 3,205 ✭✭✭cruizer101


    dano1066 wrote: »
    I contacted the agebt and got a response to say that there have been no new bids since I was last outbid and they will let me know when there are any new bids. I am no longer the highest bidder though. Should they not be offering me the opportunity to make another bid?


    That is your opportunity to bid, knowing there is a higher bid.

    I'd agree they should of let you know you were initially outbid but now they know you know chances are they won't contact you again its up to you.
    Houses are selling easily again so estate agents can be lazy.


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    #14
    Del2005
    Registered Users Posts: 18,890 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    og2k7 wrote: »
    They are just letting you know: your call what you want to do with it. The customer service is lost with most estate agents so you need to be driving this.

    You aren’t their customer though, the vendor is, you are nothing to the estate agent.


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    #15
    Captain Flaps
    Registered Users Posts: 1,834 ✭✭✭Captain Flaps


    If you know you've been outbid and you want to make another, always say you need to think about it and call them back the next day before placing a bid. We did this and kept decreasing the bids incrementally until we came out on top - was our first bidding war too! Best of luck.


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    #16
    gargargar
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭gargargar


    I have had this done to me when bidding. I was told I would be kept up to date each day, but had to do the chasing. I had a bid over the asking and didn't hear back.

    The agent told me the seller really wanted to get going :rolleyes: What I eventually worked out is that those delays are basically due to the EA trying to get other bidders back involved. They are probably using your bid to try and get the underbidders to go again. I only ever got a call when someone else had a bid higher than mine. I didn't get the house :(


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