House for Sale but Agent says existing offer higher than advertised price

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FuzzieLogic

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Hi,

First time buyer and trying to get to grips with all of this.

I've had a situation where an advert is current (on daft, my home, and another of other sites for about 3 weeks) advertised at 220k. I rang the agent to arrange a viewing and was told that there is currently an offer of 250k on the property and that any new offers should be over that and that I could still go and view it.

I'm curious if this is normal and find it a bit strange as you normally read people make an offer that the advert removed as a condition etc' especially if the offer matches of exceeds the advertised price. The advert doesn't say anything like offers over xxxx

This threw me a bit as its the first one I liked and was expecting to view and test the water with a lower offer if I liked it in person given that it was up a few weeks. Then suddenly on the back foot. Maybe I'm still a bit naive about it all.

Thanks for your help. I'm finding searching for answers to the above difficult.
 
I think that's where I am at the minute Gordon Gekko. Figure out how much its worth and how much I would be happy paying for it. Assuming I like it after a visit I think I will send in a written offer even if its lower than the current bid.
 
There is no point listening to EA chatter about "offers" until you've seen the place and evaluated what it's worth to you, which is all that counts. Make a written offer to the house owner; it should not be difficult to establish who owns the property.
 
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There are also different categories of "offer"...e.g. people with cash vs people with finance vs people who have to sell their own place first.
 
I believe that estate agents are now obliged to keep records of all offers they receive on properties and they can face sanctions from their licensing body if someone complains that they acted dishonestly.

I don't know if this has ever happened though....
 
That's very interesting. Was a first time buyer myself 3 years ago and this is the first thing that stroke me when looking for a place to buy: the absolute lack of transparency in the bidding process. Does anyone have more details about that?

JohnJay said:
I believe that estate agents are now obliged to keep records of all offers they receive on properties and they can face sanctions from their licensing body if someone complains that they acted dishonestly.

I don't know if this has ever happened though....
Click to expand...
 
Hi Fuzzie

It used to be the case that estate agents put in a price a bit above the expected price and would hope buyers would compete up to it. Now many estate agents put in a price around 10% below the minimum price to generate interest in it.

And sometimes, estate agents just get the price wrong. They think it's worth €210k and put in a price of €220k but they get offers of €250k.

The Estate Agent is doing you a favour here. If you can't afford €250k or if you don't think it's worth it, tell the estate agent, that there is no point in viewing it, but if the price falls, you would like to see it.

It's not a good idea to view a property where you have been told the minimum price is now €250k and offer €210k. The estate agent will consider you a messer and will not treat you seriously for this house or for any other house in the future.

Brendan
 
Or it could be total nonsense about offer and the EA is merely trying to drive up the price. It's impossible to know based on such opaque bidding process we have.
 
That only makes sense if you have an especially stupid or crooked estate agent.

Most want to get the maximum price. They won't put a price of €220k on Daft and then tell people that the true price is at least €250k.

Brendan
 
OP, It is very likely that the explanation is simple.
The house was advertised at 220k, either because the estate agent and the owner thought that was the value, or they wanted to generated interest by advertising it a bit low.

Two or three people have seen it and bid on it. The current bid is now 250k. No-one updates the ad when in the middle of active bidding o say current bid is now ...... The house will either sell for +250K in the next few days, or the bidders will not get mortgages and the house will then be available at a lower price in a few weeks. You saw the house a bit too late to see it and get involved in bidding. If a house is popular, things can move quickly. If the estate agent is lying, the house will still be for sale in two weeks time and you can consider it then. If the owner wants 250K, there is nothing you can do about that, except offer what you think the house is worth and hope for the best.

Buying a house is stressful and you can expect things like this to happen a lot.
There are lots of houses out there, get back up on the horse and keep looking, Hopefully, your dream house at a good price is out there somewhere.

Good luck.
 
Just remember the estate agent contract is with the seller, not the buyer. Whilst a lot of people complain about EA's on here and pricing when buying a house, it's rare to hear a seller complaining because the EA got them a higher price then originally expected
 
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