Bidding war in a private sale - advice please...

Joe5791

Registered User
Messages
17
Hi all,
I'd appreciate some solid advice from the knowledgeable folk on here!

My fiancee and I are interested in purchasing a home and we've really fallen for a particular house (our first mistake I guess!) in our home village. Asking price is €229k. The house is a private sale, no auctioneer, and has been on the market at least a year. Being a private sale, we're finding the negotiation / bidding process a little unnerving and stressful.

Between our first and second viewings, the vendor informed us an offer of €220k had been made. This surprised us a little as this bid appeared as we were just making it obvious we are interested.

So, following our 2nd viewing last weekend, we decided to go with a bid of €223k. The vendors promised to get back to us by lastnight, which they did, and they informed us the other party have now bid €225k.

So now we find ourselves in a "bidding war" which is the last thing we want. We have mortgage approval and we have decided that we can comfortably reach to €230k. Beyond that price, I feel that we'd be stretching ourselves beyond our comfort zone and I don't believe the house is worth any more than that anyway (a similar house in the same estate was auctioned last year for sub €200k).

So... what to do? Rather than going tit-for-tat and offering another 2k (up to 227k), I am tempted to go in and offer €230k and state it is our final offer, reiterating our serious interest in the house and that we are ready to close the sale now. I feel this would be a signal of serious intent and that the other bidder would have to come up quite a lot from his initial bid of €220k to beat us. If they do beat €230k, then so be it, I think we will bow out.
If we just bid €227k, my gut feeling is that the other bidder will go to the asking price or even to €230, so we'd be out of it then anyway...

Any advice / tips on this would be greatly appreciated...
 
Joe 5791.

Your thread reads like you are ready for plucking !, no disrespect intended.

1. Opposing bid arrives on a house for sale for a year just after your bid= stinks

2.Similar house sold in 2013 for sub k200 = have prices moved this much since then?

3. Seller has picked up your exuberance and senses your real interest.= dangerous.

4. Private sale for a year.= Could be one of these sellers that say my house is worth at least ^%%$$ and in reality they have no intention of taking market price.
5. Experience tells me your problem is not you , it is the seller.

6. Does the phantom-bidder actually exist?

7. Rarely tell a seller/auctionner your final bid,if you like the house just genuinely bid and leave it.

Advice? Try not to clearly show your hand, try to treat it as a business purchase not a home purchase.
Good luck .
 
I agree with Gerry.

Exercise restraint. Do not contact the seller. Wait it out. It's a near-certainty that the other bidder will evaporate. Make the vendor come back to you. Then I'd think of playing hardball: €220k.
 
Joe 5791

Myself and my partner were in a similar situation to you last year only difference was it wasnt a private sale.

We found the 'perfect house' and of course we told this to the auctioneer on our first viewing = big mistake as she knew she had us!

We put an offer in there and then well under the asking price as this is what she advised. Forward on a few days the auctioneer rings to say that a cash buyer has but in a higher bid and off we went on a bidding war, it was probably the most stressful thing ever as you don't even know if they exist. In our case they did exist and they kept going up so we had to stop. We did lose the house and thought it was the end of the world but low and behold a few weeks later a better house came on the market and we got it, moved in last November and we couldnt be happier!

Hindsight is a great thing because looking back we were ready to pay over the asking price for the first house and in the end we got something better. I would recommend not rushing into anything take your time with the bidding and if its meant to be it will all work out.

Good Luck
 
Yep, I think you've hit the nail on the head Gerry. I think point 4 is highly likely here also.
 
For the love of God, do not get involved with this 'bidding war'. Tell the estate agent that you should not have bid that high and that your final offer is circa €200k or whatever you're happy with. Leave it at that, if the other buyer wants it so bad let them have it. You'll find a more suitable house at a lesser price I'm sure.
 
Thanks very much everyone for the replies. Gerry, you make many similar points that friends / family have said to me too!

A few other points to note...
- The house was originally listed on Daft at €259. A few weeks later it was cut to today's asking of €229.

- Some of the pictures on Daft are very out of date which we think is odd. For example, in the pictures there's a cheap looking timber garden shed. Today there's a nice block-built shed. In other words, several "home improvements" have been made since the photos were taken. Odd?

- When we initially tried to declare interest we found it difficult to make contact with the vendor. Several unanswered phone calls. Eventually when we did make contact we felt that everything went on their terms... e.g. "I'll have to check if that suits" when we tried to schedule a viewing and generally not over-enthused to accommodate us on viewing times. Having said that when we did view it, the house was presented immaculately and the vendors were very pleasant people.

- All communication from the vendor (e.g. lastnight's news of the latest bid) has been via text messages. It's like trying to communicate with a potential new date :D We feel that a phone call would be more appropriate in these circumstances!

My gut feeling is still to go with a final offer of €230k. If the other bidder exists, I feel it might spook them as we're making a bigger jump and exceeding the asking price. If they outbid us after that, then it's not for us. If the other bidder doesn't exist at all, I still would feel like we are getting a lovely house in an area we like for €230k, so I wouldn't necessarily feel "cheated".

Joe.


EDIT: An important point to make, one which has me somewhat persuaded that the other offer is actually genuine.
When she informed us of the €220k offer, it was like she was being very courteous to us, as she suggested in her text that maybe we'd want to cancel our 2nd viewing based on that news. This suggested to me that the other bidder is very serious and she was happy to risk telling us and completely put us off the process. Again, a bit strange I thought.
 
I got advice from an estate agent friend of mine when bidding on a property to put in bids of €1000 at a time, he felt there was nothing to be gained by all psychology stuff.

He was right I was thinking the same way you were trying to close out a deal going I was going to round up by 4K. I bid the 1K and the other buyer dropped out. saved me 3K
 
Tell them you have another property that YOU are interested in - Offer them a take it or leave it figure and be prepared to shakeon it and get the holding deposit down asap. If your circumstances mean you can move the process quickly (mortgage approved, no chain etc), you may have the upper hand on a more complicated bidder
 
Thanks all.
Well we went and put a "final" offer of €230k. I think we took the vendor by surprise. She certainly seemed taken aback on the phone.
We reiterated that we have finance in place, we are an uncomplicated sale, etc, and that we hoped that by going above the asking that we were in a good position to close the sale. We also said that if our offer is beaten, we are out.

She promised to get back to us tomorrow...
 
I read the thread with interest and was thinking the advice was excellent and comin from people with first hand experience. I felt disappointed to see that the original poster didn't take any of it on board.
 
Joe, you haven't mentioned what part of the county you are in e.g. North, West, South or East, but if its a rural area the market hasn't budged.

You might be mortgage approved but remember interest rates will go up sooner rather than later. Read the posts and work to them. Your heart is ruling your head.
 
I'm in the West... The house in question is within a comfortable radius of Galway city.

I have taken on board all the advice it is all greatly appreciated. My gut feeling does tell me that the other bidder(s) are not phantom. I may be completely naive but that's my honest feeling.
But we've definitely made our final offer, a figure we feel comfortable to pay for the house. If it isn't enough we will let it pass.
 
I'm in the west as well. The market is on its knees apart from Galway City.

An example. My daughter bought a house recently. Boom price --320k last years price 220k. Deal done at 153k
 
My gut feeling is still to go with a final offer of €230k.

Interesting that you came on here for advice and at least 5 posters said you were being played, as did your friends and family and yet....

Which county is this home village in, and what size house and what size village ish.
 
I read the thread with interest and was thinking the advice was excellent and comin from people with first hand experience. I felt disappointed to see that the original poster didn't take any of it on board.

With all due respect Joe, it does look like you're being played and being played well at that.

Vendor wants to keep the cake and wants to eat it too and you are facilitating them.

Going by mercman's remarks you seem to be offering well over the odds ...

but 'tis your money.

Personally, I'd be telling the vendor to keep her house.

Don't let your heart rule this matter. Pull back, offer a lot less and walk away if necessary.

Lots of dream homes out there.

We're in the middle of a recession. In all seriousness don't pay over the odds for property.
 
Thanks folks, again I appreciate the advice. With all the evidence I have to hand, I honesty do believe there is another bidder. If there isn't, well we've offered only just slightly over asking. At the end of the day if that offer succeeds, we'll be happy to have gotten the home for that price. If we are "outbid" again, we certainly will stick to our guns and not counter-bid. Then we will really find out if the other bidder exists or not...

Thanks again!
 
It's one of those things. If you are prepared to be able to walk away from something then you will always come out better off. Unfortunately for you, you really fell in love with this house and I honestly don't think anything anyone would have said here, would really have dissuaded you.

Chances are they are pulling your leg, there might be a small chance someone else is in the mix but it seems (based on the length of time etc) that's unlikely. However, as I said, I think you really want this house and with that said, you are willing to pay over the odds.

If they do come back with more cock and bull, walk away. As Paddy said, lots of dream houses out there!
 
Another issue you may need to consider is getting the house valued. If the house is valued by the bank at only 200K you will have issues in getting a mortgage if you are paying 230K.

Valuers are being very conservative at present.
 
Back
Top