Can I ask to see the other bids?

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DublinHead54

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Can I ask to see evidence of other bidders? I am in a situation where something doesn't feel right, I made a bid below asking on a property that has been on the market a while and had already been price reduced. Quite quickly (<24 hours) I was told that another bidder had offered the asking, and I would need a higher bid.

I am wondering now what my strategy should be, I can pay more, but thinking maybe I should just keep dragging my responses out, and make the agent chase me for a final offer? Or should I just go up in small increments? Or say my offer is only on the table for x weeks. I don't want to go for an all or nothing offer as it just seems the agent will always give the 'other bidder' opportunity to match.
 
Dublinbay12 said:
I am wondering now what my strategy should be,
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Dont try to be too clever, second guessing what the agent is doing. I would think about things for a while, if you want the house and it is worth the money TO You and you can afford it. Dont loose it while trying to avoid paying a small % more
 
cremeegg said:
Dont try to be too clever, second guessing what the agent is doing. I would think about things for a while, if you want the house and it is worth the money TO You and you can afford it. Dont loose it while trying to avoid paying a small % more
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I've set a price which I'm willing to pay. I just don't want to get caught in a bidding war. So I think I'm just going to match the other offer and let them take it from there.
 
You say you dont want to get caught ina bidding war. But thats out of your control. Set your own max amnt and bid accordingly. There may be other bidders who equally want this house and equalky dont want a bidding war. Its a competition. It might not be the case that you are "bidding against yourself"
 
my mother went sale agreed on a house fairly recently ( shes the buyer having sold her old house to move to a better location for a person of her age ) , a bid appeared above her own previous and equal to the asking price about a month after my mother placed a bid , my sister phoned up a week later after my mother said she could not go any higher than five below the highest bidder - asking price to enquire about the house

unless all of the staff in the estate agency were in on it , the bid was genuine as the receptionist was able to tell my sister what the bid was , in the end my mothers cash bid won the day as the highest bid needed mortgage approval and needed three further weeks to provide same , vendor agreed to throw in all the contents too which are quite valuable ( at least 3 k )

the point is you can never really know for sure and your gut could be wrong
 
galway_blow_in said:
my mother went sale agreed on a house fairly recently ( shes the buyer having sold her old house to move to a better location for a person of her age ) , a bid appeared above her own previous and equal to the asking price about a month after my mother placed a bid , my sister phoned up a week later after my mother said she could not go any higher than five below the highest bidder - asking price to enquire about the house

unless all of the staff in the estate agency were in on it , the bid was genuine as the receptionist was able to tell my sister what the bid was , in the end my mothers cash bid won the day as the highest bid needed mortgage approval and needed three further weeks to provide same , vendor agreed to throw in all the contents too which are quite valuable ( at least 3 k )

the point is you can never really know for sure and your gut could be wrong
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I do trust, because an agent doing that would quickly go out of business. What I was just a little surprised at, is the way it went down. I just need to work out my strategy going forward in the bidding process, I have about 2% wiggle room in what I am willing to pay above asking, and I want to work out the best strategy. I am thinking about going up in small increments and forcing the other bidder to show their hand rather than just going all in with 2%. Any thoughts?

The other point I was slightly taken back with, was the agent told me I needed to make a higher offer than the asking. I get the point as it encourages a higher sale price. However, surely I can just match the other bidders offer (asking) and either they bid more again or not, and it is down to the seller to choose? Or out of principle, I might bid 1 euro more then.
 
Dublinbay12 said:
I do trust, because an agent doing that would quickly go out of business. What I was just a little surprised at, is the way it went down. I just need to work out my strategy going forward in the bidding process, I have about 2% wiggle room in what I am willing to pay above asking, and I want to work out the best strategy. I am thinking about going up in small increments and forcing the other bidder to show their hand rather than just going all in with 2%. Any thoughts?

The other point I was slightly taken back with, was the agent told me I needed to make a higher offer than the asking. I get the point as it encourages a higher sale price. However, surely I can just match the other bidders offer (asking) and either they bid more again or not, and it is down to the seller to choose? Or out of principle, I might bid 1 euro more then.
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i doubt many auctioneers would " go out of business " for the sin of inventing bids , i firmly believe they do it all the time as its an industry lacking in transparency to beat the band , im just saying its difficult to know for sure if they are spoofing or not , ones instincts can be wrong sometimes
 
Gordon Gekko said:
I woke up mildly hungover this morning, glanced at this thread, thought it said “Can I see other birds?”, and nearly spat out my coffee...

No you can’t, in either instance!
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what's given you such a shock? I can see lots of them in the garden; put up two new feeders yesterday & getting a great variety of visitors.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Foolish road to be going down IMHO, only wasting people's time and will get their back up.
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I apologize, I was being sarcastic. It was the point that the EA refused my matching offer, and requested I bid higher. Surely, it isn't a first to the post scenario? If all parties agree to a fair value (the asking), I would think that then the EAs role is to advise their client which offer to take?

If I bid higher, the other bidder will probably bid higher, and we could just keep bidding up until one of us backs out, and in my view, this ultimately leads to a higher chance the successful bidder will pull out. In essence, letting the bidders dual it out and remove any decision on the agent/owners part. I think in the current environment, the location, and previous house sales the asking price is the fair value.

It is clear based on the process thus far, if I show my hand and say what I am willing to pay, the agent will just shop it around. It appears in this instance it is purely a numbers game and not much consideration is taken for the situation of the buyer. So I am trying to figure out the best strategy to give myself the best chance of success whilst paying as close to fair value as possible.
 
Pinoy adventure said:
Sue what figure should the OP go up by ? 10s,100s or 1000s in a bidding war ?
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That's for the OP to decide.

IMHO trying to figure out a strategy or outmanoeuvre the estate agent is a total waste of time because been there, done that, have the t-shirt.

The best course of action is to have a figure in your head and go to that possibly over a few bids but then switch off and let things look after themselves. Stress and lack of sleep are what are achieved by plotting and planning. A cool level head is what's needed.
 
Sherry Fitz have a facility where you can view bids from other parties so very transparent for all. Pity more estate agents do not use this.
 
galway_blow_in said:
i doubt many auctioneers would " go out of business " for the sin of inventing bids , i firmly believe they do it all the time as its an industry lacking in transparency to beat the band , im just saying its difficult to know for sure if they are spoofing or not , ones instincts can be wrong sometimes
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It’s been done to death but the net gain to an ea of a fabricated bid is very very small
 
Dublinbay12 said:
So I am trying to figure out the best strategy to give myself the best chance of success whilst paying as close to fair value as possible.
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The best strategy is ALWAYS: "Pick the maximum price you are willing to pay. Match all other bids up to that point. Then walk away".

Fair value is just above what the second-highest bidder will pay on the open market. The only way of finding this is by bidding.
 
Loukie said:
Sherry Fitz have a facility where you can view bids from other parties so very transparent for all. Pity more estate agents do not use this.
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Many of them are now, we have been using the systems in place by sherryfitz, coonans, & remax.

On the face of it, it should be transparent. But in reality it is not. For obvious gdpr reasons other bidders are anonymous other than maybe a number to identify them. As these systems are governed by the estate agents there is nothing stopping them creating an account to place fake bids. I'm satisfied I've experienced this once already.

Additionally, the ease of placing a new higher bid leaves room for spontaneous bids to go in very quickly. On your own part and on that of others. We've been guilty of that on our search.

Even worse, we've not been asked by any of the agents to provide proof of funds prior to bidding. So there is nothing stopping me bidding up a property even though I might have no intention to or have the means to actually buy it. Can easily result in another bidder overpaying by many thousand.

Definitely has pros and cons.
 
tracer900 said:
I'm satisfied I've experienced this once already.
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I am not saying it never happens. I know people who are convinced it has happened to them.

But the marginal returns to a fake bid are pretty small, and you risk the sale falling through with no commission at all.
 
Blackrock1 said:
It’s been done to death but the net gain to an ea of a fabricated bid is very very small
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its about far more than the extra few euro commission , estate agents are born hustlers , getting extra buys bragging rights in their industry and also attracts potential new clients
 
an auctioneer might suss a person out and conclude they were very keen and willing to go to the asking price and thus attempt to reel in with fake bids

apart from having a limit you are willing to go to , you dont want to appear too keen , auctioneers can smell it a mile off
 
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