Using a buyer's agent

A

Annie71

Registered User
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Hi folks,

We received approval in principle so are now looking at finding a home.

While googling I came across reference to a buyer's agent in one of the estate agencies. Has anyone used the service of a buyer's agent?

I presume that there is some fee associated with this service (I don't see reference to it on the website), but have no idea how much it is.

Anyone have any insights?

Thanks

A
 
I haven't used one, but I see Bank of Ireland have advertised making such a service available foc to customers with high-value mortgage approval.
 
I would only use this if:
  1. You are at the very high end of the market where estate agents are coy about advertising and/or providing viewings;
  2. You live abroad and need someone to shortlist properties;
  3. You are a cash investor and want something within a narrow price range.
There may be some overlap in the above categories.

Otherwise, they seem like a waste of time. Once you have an area and a property type it's generally possible to view everything that's advertised, even in Dublin. Daft and myhome ads generally have enough information and photos to rule out stuff that's not worth viewing too.
 
Thanks folks.

We're looking at a max of about 700k between mortgage and savings, so not at the end of the market where coyness would be necessary. It was only when I saw it mentioned that I was wondering if there is a benefit to using one, as I hadn't come across it before.
 
i would expect its more at the end of the market where you see off market sales, e.g. gene murtaghs purchase in dalkey last summer.
 
I think it could be a very good service, if someone doesn't have the time, afraid of paying too much, cannot bargain, isn't canny enough and generally not aufait with the buying process. Surprising how many people think they're good at buying property when in fact, to be totally blunt about it, they really, really, haven't a clue.
 
noproblem said:
I think it could be a very good service, if someone doesn't have the time, afraid of paying too much, cannot bargain, isn't canny enough and generally not aufait with the buying process. Surprising how many people think they're good at buying property when in fact, to be totally blunt about it, they really, really, haven't a clue.
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Completely agree. The amount of times I've hear of buyers bidding against themselves, immediately upping the bid when a calls come through that there's abother bid, telling the EA what their max bid is etc etc etc. Some people need help in this regards. The actual buying process is quite stressful and can be helpful having a 3rd party
 
I absolutely would not trust an auctioneer to act as a buying agent for me.

He will know the sellers and I would say he would have little interest in your welfare.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I absolutely would not trust an auctioneer to act as a buying agent for me.

He will know the sellers and I would say he would have little interest in your welfare.

Brendan
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Would mostly agree with that but I wasn't referring specifically to auctioneers at all.
 
I have used buyer's agents (also known as property agents) here and abroad. Made significant savings due to their knowledge of the local markets and therefore easily covered their fee. I also picked up a lot of tips and insight.

There are a few here in Ireland and have vastly different terms of engagement. I rang around the ones here to engage the one with the best fit for our needs. View properties and negotiate. Costs can range from 10k to 2k. Some here are a joke and want to charge up to 8k just to do viewings. A few estate agents do also advertise this service. I can PM you the one we went with, they have an initial price of less than 2k for viewings and negotiate for approximately six hours of work. There are a couple of others with similar terms so you could ring around to find best fit, you could also simply contact estate agents to see if this is a service they provide and name up your terms.

Our property agent made all our bids in writing and insisted on evidence of other bidders in writing from the selling agent. Our agent also re-negotiated the price point following the survey. They were an excellent communicator and gave me recommendations for efficient surveyors and solicitors.
 
Egg104 said:
Our property agent made all our bids in writing and insisted on evidence of other bidders in writing from the selling agent.
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That's very interesting. What sort of evidence were they/you provided with?
 
SPC100 said:
That's very interesting. What sort of evidence were they/you provided with?
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Just emails from the selling agent outlining the other bids and their very general circumstances such as mortgage approved- what bank or cash, chain/no chain, buyer profile i.e. couple with children etc. In writing, hard to get in the property game. Three initials who we ended up not buying through were the most transparent. Two initials agent's were generally not so good at this and one other agency even refused to put anything in writing so we stopped bidding. That last property is still on the market as we were so annoyed over our suspicions of phantom bidding.

Our property agent forwarded every single one to me. A selling agent would not be putting things in writing if they were not true. Our buyer's agent and we encountered so many suspicious bidding encounters that we/he insisted on this.

Edited to removed agency names.
 
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Thanks for the insight.

As we are based on Dublin and happy to do viewings ourselves, it probably wouldn't be as valuable to us as to someone looking from abroad (or with a very high budget where properties are more likely to be off-market).

I've registered with some of the agencies and am obsessively looking at DAFT and Myhome.ie, so will hopefully find the right place.
 
Best of luck in your search.

We bid on nine properties before we bought, so don't be disheartened and try not to get emotionally attached.
 
Thanks a mil!

I completely fell in love with one property due to its garden, but we hadn't mortgage approval in place before it went sale agreed.

Things seem to be moving as two that were for sale on DAFT had gone sale agreed/ 'under negotiation' when I enquired about viewing.

At least I really enjoy looking at houses!:) Though that may change....
 
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