Estate Agent refused offer

A

Anon2022

New Member
Messages
3
Hi, wonder what others think about this.

Bidding on a house, bidding is around fair(arguably over) market price now at 170k, most likely myself and one other bidder left.

The estate agent is insisting 2500 euro increments on bidding, I'm happy to bid against the other person but didn't think the EA could dictate what bid I'm allowed offer.

I asked was he not obliged to pass my offer onto the vendor and he said he was voiding my offer and the vendor takes his advice, its +2500 or nothing(and he usually only deals in 5k increments)

I have plenty of room to increase my bid but the way he's doing business seemed a bit off too me. PSRA advised lodging a complaint, but that would take months.
 
i dont see that much of an issue with it, if that was the case you could just bid 1 euro or 100 euro extra every time, he wants to get to a sale asap.

If you arent happy walk away but there isnt much you can do.
 
That was the argument the EA put across, but we were bidding 1000-2000 increments.

My brother only closed on a house before Xmas for under 400k and he said every house he bidded on was 1000 and sometimes 500 euro increments. Was the same when I bought my current home a few years ago.

Thanks for your input.
 
EA acts on behalf of seller and (should) have their interests prioritised.
If i was seller and i engaged an EA id be placing a level of faith in his skills and exp to get best price for me and so i would take their lead re strategy.

At same time, i do think ea is obliged to pass on all "material" bids to seller
 
Last edited:
It's very standard in all auctions to have a bidding increment.

If I bid €170,000 and you bid €170,050 do you think that the Estate Agent should pass on your bid? I don't think setting a minimum increment of 1% is unreasonable.

Brendan
 
It only takes two minutes to pass on a bid.

Offer €1,000 more in writing to the estate agent. If the other bidder doesn't increase their offer, the estate agent is hardly going to go with them, and turn down an extra €1,000.
 
It's an estate agent and offers over 1% has been rejected.

I've put offers in writing and received nothing back in writing, only verbally.

And I would have thought similar to Callybags, a few back and forth phone calls, we trash it out, and it would be over in 20 mins and could be 5-10-12k higher.

I even accept that I could be the sole bidder but the vendor isn't happy and I have to negotiate a higher price directly with them.
 
In fairness, upping a bid by €500 like your brother dud is ridiculous and is a pain and delay that the seller can do without. I would've thought a €1000 at a minimum but possibly €1500 is more appropriate to speed things up and reach an agreement quicker.
 
Anon2022 said:
we trash it out, and it would be over in 20 mins and could be 5-10-12k higher.
Click to expand...

That would be a public auction.

That is not how it happens in private sales. It takes ages. Bidders have a few days to discuss whether they increase their bid or not.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for an auctioneer to cut out the messers with low increments.

It's important that when you are dealing with an auctioneer that you don't convey the impression that you are difficult or a messer. He may well recommend the other bidder on the grounds that they are more likely to close the sale.

Brendan
 
Anon2022 said:
It's an estate agent and offers over 1% has been rejected.
Click to expand...

So the price is €170,000

You have made a bid of €172k which has been rejected because he wants a bid of €172,500 ?

That is strange. On the one hand, he should be happy to get an extra €2k and not insist on €2.5k. But on the other, you shouldn't be so upset about increasing it by €500.

Higher increments will reduce the amount of back and forward.

Say you are prepared to go to €180k and your opponent is going to €185k.
If you bid €170,100 and your opponent takes three days to come back with €170,200 , you will be months trying to close.

If you bid €170,250, and your opponent takes three days to come back with €175k, then the bidding will be finished in about 10 days.

The more I think of it, the more reasonable it is.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
It's important that when you are dealing with an auctioneer that you don't convey the impression that you are difficult or a messer. He may well recommend the other bidder on the grounds that they are more likely to close the sale.
Click to expand...
Very important not to look like a messer. You might be dealing with the same estate agent again!
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
Very important not to look like a messer. You might be dealing with the same estate agent again!
Click to expand...
Same applies to the agent. The buyer might be a local seller in a few years, so agents so always have an eye on the potential future business.

I had a "difficult" agent when I bought in Newbridge. When we decided to move 4 years later that agent was not considered.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top