Estate agents and bidding wars

A

Anony2022

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In need of advice or opinions. We put an offer on a house last Monday and the estate agent told us he had 2 more viewings this week and after that he had enough intrest in it and would be wrapping it up by the end of the week. We didnt hear anything so on Thursday we text for an update and he replied to say the bids were now up and €7k over our last offer. Why wouldnt he have rang to let us know this?

Anyway we put another offer in again and told him to please let us know if we were outbid again. Its been over 24hours and no word, id like to think that no news is good news but considering he didnt tell us the last time we were outbid we just dont know what to think. We really want this house but dont want to look overly keen. How should we let this play out? How long do we wait before contacting the EA again?

we are almost at our max amount now so sadly losing hope :-(.
 
Estate agents are often disorganised and unpredictable.

There is not much you can do apart from to wait.

You have to assume that he is honest and that he will come back to you with a bid.

Anony2022 said:
would be wrapping it up by the end of the week.
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That is just nonsense to create a sense of urgency. He will keep it open until the bidding stops.

Brendan
 
Maybe you don't want to give a feeling that you really want it, you could always get someone else to contact him and find out what's on it.
 
Anony2022 said:
we are almost at our max amount now so sadly losing hope :-(.
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I would say that this may have more to do with it than anything else. Did you show the EA what your AIP was or what your funds were?

If you did, then the EA knows you are not going to be a competitive bidder so could just be ignoring your interest
 
Never become emotionally involved in a property at the bidding stage. It becomes very obvious to the agent and they can then extract the highest amount.

Also if you sell yourself as a buyer that will complete without undue delay and not overly fussy, that can be better than being the highest bidder.

And there will be other properties that will match or exceed your expectations.
 
_OkGo_ said:
I would say that this may have more to do with it than anything else. Did you show the EA what your AIP was or what your funds were?

If you did, then the EA knows you are not going to be a competitive bidder so could just be ignoring your interest
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No we never told him our max or gave any clues as to how much we were willing to bid. We just told him we were cash buyers with no strings attached!
Going to wait it out until Tuesday and ring him up. Im still just hoping that we are still highest bid since we havnt heard anything and its been another 48hours?!
 
peemac said:
Never become emotionally involved in a property at the bidding stage. It becomes very obvious to the agent and they can then extract the highest amount.

Also if you sell yourself as a buyer that will complete without undue delay and not overly fussy, that can be better than being the highest bidder.

And there will be other properties that will match or exceed your expectations.
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How do you sell yourself as a buyer??
 
Anony2022 said:
How do you sell yourself as a buyer??
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Have a good conveyancing solicitor on hand and possibly let them have your details on file ready to go.

Let the agent know who the solicitor is (can be casually dropped)

Let the agent know that you are pragmatic and not the type that prevaricates and get concerned over petty details.

I had a purchaser wanted water on a tiny stream tested once and he also quibbled over 1cm regarding regulations on the distance between a VELUX window and ground in a first floor room - claiming it could not be declared a room due to this. (We added a 1cm saddle board ) It was a painful experience. The agent preferred a lower bidder as she just felt the higher one was too good and too eager. I wish I took the agent's advice.

Agent is working for the seller and will give a steer to the best offer. It's not always the highest offer.
 
peemac said:
Have a good conveyancing solicitor on hand and possibly let them have your details on file ready to go.

Let the agent know who the solicitor is (can be casually dropped)

Let the agent know that you are pragmatic and not the type that prevaricates and get concerned over petty details.

I had a purchaser wanted water on a tiny stream tested once and he also quibbled over 1cm regarding regulations on the distance between a VELUX window and ground in a first floor room - claiming it could not be declared a room due to this. (We added a 1cm saddle board ) It was a painful experience. The agent preferred a lower bidder as she just felt the higher one was too good and too eager. I wish I took the agent's advice.

Agent is working for the seller and will give a steer to the best offer. It's not always the highest offer.
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Ok this is good to know. I think we have ticked all of these boxes so far anyway and havnt shown to be over eager or nit picking over anything.
We will ring on Tuesday for a brief chat and can drop in the words ‘our solicitor’ too so they know we are serious and ready to go. We have a family solicitor we use for anything so that will be no problem.
Thanks for all of the advice. Much appreciated
 
Anony2022 said:
How do you sell yourself as a buyer??
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You never enter a bidding war unless you have AIP in principle, up to date and in writing. You have evidence that you have deposit saved, a solicitor waiting to jump, and a surveyor ready to come check it out. Basically - be serious, be ready to start the sale process straight away, and don't enter the bidding war unless you actually are serious about completing the sale.

Some folk mentioned offering on multiple properties - that's ok too, but it might just happen that you end up winning more than 1 (and even more than 2) estate agents and buyers hearts.
Another thing I did was to dress neat, take photos. Ask questions about realistic stuff like management fees, etc.
 
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