best bidding tactics: (was - funnily, no competition!)

[Kali]

Hi,
We are trading up and are looking for period houses in the northside. We have found one that we have totally fallen for.

we don't really want go too far over the 600K mark and this has an asking price of 575K.

It is one that we imagine there should be a lot of competition for but after 3 viewing there have been no bids.

We are going to place a bid and wonder if it is wise to bid under the asking price if we are the first-say 565K-so that we don't push ourselves out of the race when it begins? We think that others are all waiting to see what the first bid will be before they start so want to get it started at a lower price than the asking. has anyone else tried this tactic?

Advice needed please!! We really want it........ Kali

 

[SineWave]

For what it's worth; we recently bid €15k below asking while informing auctioneer that offer only stood for 7 days (as we had an offer on another property).

We also offered the auctioneer the sale of our property, should we be successful (not saying that this influenced his persuasion when dealing with the seller......why mention it though).

At 7 days minus 2 hours, we got it and are now living in it.

I must add that we were willing to let it go to a higher bidder and would not have gone further than what we offered.

We based our figures on affordability/bridging costs and what we reckoned was the lowest our existing residence would achieve.

Edit. In hindsight, it is only fair to add that at no stage did the Auctioneer indicate to us that our agreement to allow them to handle the sale of our property would influence them in advising the seller.

 

[oysterman]

We also offered the auctioneer the sale of our property, should we be successful (not saying that this influenced his persuasion when dealing with the seller......why mention it though).

At 7 days minus 2 hours, we got it and are now living in it.

Neat piece of psychology in action.

Did you ever consider, though, that if the auctioneer was unscrupulous enough to push your vendor into a sub-optimal sale he probably did the exact same thing to you when selling your property?

 

[Kali]

Re: Current public sentiment towards the housing market?

Hi,
We are trading up and are in the lucky position of having found a buyer through a private arrangement without having had to go through the ea's. We will be gettin pretty much what we would have held out for on the open market so have a decent amount of equity to play with. We have been looking for period houses on the northside (very close to the city) and are amazed at the amount of really nice houses out there. The mad thing is that the ones we've looked at have been beautiful, in walk-in cond., and have had up to 3 viewings with NO bids at all. We are even considering bidding 10K under the asking for one-I don't think this would have even been a possibility last year, it would be well over the asking by this stage (I could be wrong though). This is all surprising to us as all our friends who have been buying over the last 2 years have had a terrible time, getting outbid almost instantly within the climate of panic that there was at the time-seeming to have people clambering over themselves to buy ANYTHING. It seems that the market is very seriouly changing. Good news for us given that we have such an easy sale ourselves but we think it might not have been so easy to move quickly if we had to wait on our own selling on the open market first. It could have taken an age by the looks of things!! We're not bullish or bearish just feel we're lucky! This market change-which there undoubtedly is- means a lot of different things to different people, depending on the position they are in. Hard to say if it's good or bad really. It's just happening, as it predictably always was going to. There must be balance in all things in life and that even includes man-made constructs such as money and property. Nothing can sustain such explosive growth forever. I don't think it is going to 'crash': Hopefully for us all it will just slow to a realistic level. Investment properties are definitely having an effect-now it is panic selling instead of panic buying that is affecting the whole show. Magnolia paint indeed. No soul to any of them is there?

 

[SineWave]

Did you ever consider, though, that if the auctioneer was unscrupulous enough to push your vendor into a sub-optimal sale

They'ld never?

he probably did the exact same thing to you when selling your property?

Three bidders on my property + one on the bowl the whole way through. The one on the bowl "belonged" to me. If the status and feedback of the one on the bowl was never updated to me the auctioneer was going to be out of the deal.

 

[beattie]

Re: Current public sentiment towards the housing market?

We are even considering bidding 10K under the asking for one-I don't think this would have even been a possibility last year

If it is a period house you are going for I would imagine it is only a small percentage of the overall price so I have to ask why you would only underbid by such a small amount? Why wouldn't you bid 10% under instead of 10k?

 

[paddyd]

Re: Current public sentiment towards the housing market?

why you would only underbid by such a small amount? Why wouldn't you bid 10% under instead of 10k?

My thoughs exactly. I know someone selling at the moment with an AMV of 570k, and is seriously thinking of taking the only bid he has, of 540k.

I would DEFINITELY underbid by more than 10k What harm can it do

 

[Kali]

Like the idea of a bowl. Clever. Will keep it in mind for selling in the future. thanks for the feedback lads. Unfortunately as we are not in a position to offer anyone the control of the sale of the house we are just trying to suss out the estate agents tactics in the current market. Will they persuade the seller to go with us if bidding continues to be non existent? I like your suggestion, SineWave, that we say our bid is only valid for a set period. I think it will have to be longer than 7 days though. We are also quite interested in another property with the same agent so we will prob bid on both simultaneously. Perhaps the ea knowing that we are seriously interested in something else will push them to encourage the sellers to negotiate a price with us without waiting for too many other bids-as it's not looking too good with no bids at all yet. we are willing to go to asking price and a little above but obviously are trying this tactic to see where it gets us. Congratulations on your own skilled tactics-it seems to have paid off. Health to live in your new home...........

 

[purplealien]

we don't really want go too far over the 600K mark and this has an asking price of 575K.

It is one that we imagine there should be a lot of competition for but after 3 viewing there have been no bids. We are going to place a bid and wonder if it is wise to bid under the asking price if we are the first-say 565K-so that we don't push ourselves out of the race when it begins? We think that others are all waiting to see what the first bid will be before they start so want to get it started at a lower price than the asking. has anyone else tried this tactic?

Advice needed please!! We really want it........ Kali

Bid €545,000 - all they can say is no - you'd never know, you might get the property alot cheaper than you expected!

 

[keeva00]

in reply to sivewave

Funny enough you should mention that you offered the EA the sale of your house if you got the house you were looking at!
because the house I am interested in buying at the moment (NO Bids on it yet) (this is be my 2nd viewing today)
asked the EA again any interest at the moment (now its on the market over 6weeks plenty of viewings) and she said to me she had a very interested couple that morning who were viewing it, and now want to put their house up on the market ( I presume the same as us because they think they are going to also get it because of no bids been placed yet) anyway the EA told us that she had advised them not to place a bid yet till they put their house up for sale? and then proceeded to talk us out of the house by saying well it does need a lot of work and sure there are always plenty of these house always coming up on the market for sale??? I thought I was hearing things, was this a case of helping the other couple to secure the house on the basis of getting their house on the books!
And the best thing about this is I can't wait to place my bid first thing monday morning (just to shake things up a bit)

 

[mad m]

I currently have sale agreed with a vendor,the house needs some work plus we sale agreed 35k over asking couple weeks back.Because of the nature of work needed in house, I asked that he reduce his price to cover the work. Not a chance the EA said,no way is vendor going to lower price(what you see is what you get). What would be the best tactic there? I tried the approach of saying "No reduction,no sale" That didnt work.

 

[miju]

What would be the best tactic there? I tried the approach of saying "No reduction,no sale" That didnt work.

try it again only this time "mean" it , ea obviously called your bluff so why not call his / hers?