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Rainyday - just a few remarks on your comments on the bidding process: I've noticed before that you seem to take offence at people placing starting bids at less than the final amount they would be prepared to pay for the property.
The market determines the final price of a house - if the asking price is 280k and I would be prepared to pay 300k for it, there is not a lot for me to gain by jumping straight in at 300k (though, in a tiny percentage of cases the seller may be interested in a quick sale). I have seen similar situations whereby someone puts such a bid on the house in an attempt to seal the deal early, but this only leads to the vendor believing they will get more for it. If a person at the next viewing really likes the house, they may go with the attitude 'ah sure its only a couple of grand more'. This leads to the situation where people bid based not on how much the house is worth to them, but rather how much they like the house.
I've seen this time and again and I believe that there is nothing to lose by starting out at 275k on such a house - if noone outbids me I will get the house at that price (or maybe a few grand more to sweeten it for the seller). True I was prepared to go to 300k but the market has not forced me to, so why, other than offending the poor estate agent's feelings would I jump in at 300k?
If I start at 275k and a person at a subsequent viewing likes the house they might bid 280k. We will then get in a bidding war and one of the bidders may well get tired of it by the time it reaches 300k and pull out. If not, then we end up at the same figure we would have ended up at anyway, we just took a litte longer getting there, and plus theres the peace of mind of knowing that someone else was willing to pay almost the same amount and this helps clear any doubts about the true market value of the house. If asking is 280k and I put in the sole bid of 300k, thered always be a bit of 'did I overpay' doubt in the mind.
This is less true when similar houses in the area have sold recently - their price will be a good guide. However, in the current climate, when prices houses under 381k (I will speak only on the D12 are of which I have much experience) are rocketing, there is bound to be doubt in the buyer's mind as they are the first person to pay that amount for such a house in that area, and so knowing that 2 or 3 others were willing to pay almost the same gives a good indication that it is a fair price. E.g. a house on comeragh road, drimnagh was on the market with a guide price for 330k, and sold for 381k with 3 bidders still in the running. Would that bidder have been doing the right thing by coming in with a first bid of 381k when the agent was expecting 360k max.?
By using sealed bids, the agent/vendor is denying you the chance to get the house at below the maximum which you would be prepared to pay for it. If everyone takes this approach, everyone pays more for their house. E.g. I just bought a house at 317.5k - I was prepared to pay 330k for it and would have bid 330k in a sealed bid. As it was there was not many bidders due to the amount of refurbishment involved, and so I got it at that price. Sealed bids would have artificially inflated the price of this house, which is not good for an already over-inflated market.