Estate Agent giving incorrect details

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 2:34pm #1

Hey,

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

In an effort to move it along we made an offer of asking contingent on them taking it off the market now and moving to sale agreed otherwise our previous offer stands.

The agent is now having an open view tomorrow and on enquiring to the office, people are being told that the current offer is the asking.

Is this not illegal?

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Fuming here.:mad:

Dav010 · 08-02-2019 2:41pm

Auctioneer is not legally required to abide by the conditions on your bid, you don’t have a contract. Right now your bid is the highest bid they have received, and it obviously has not been accepted.

Anyone who now bids will have to bid above asking, the EA will explain that an offer of asking has not been accepted by the vendor.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 2:53pm

Dav010 wrote: »

Auctioneer is not legally required to abide by the conditions on your bid, you don’t have a contract. Right now your bid is the highest bid they have received, and it obviously has not been accepted.

Anyone who now bids will have to bid above asking.

I dont know if you are misreading me or I'm misreading you but:

Its for sale by Private Treaty, not an auction.
There is no bid of asking, we withdrew it when property was not taken off the market.

Dav010 · 08-02-2019 2:56pm

GreeBo wrote: »

I dont know if you are misreading me or I'm misreading you but:

Its for sale by Private Treaty, not an auction.
There is no bid of asking, we withdrew it when property was not taken off the market.

Asking was bid, and not accepted. If that is the case, then what’s the point of not informing other bidders, the vendor is hardly likely to accept 10k less than asking at the open viewing after not accepting yours. Get over it.

Is it illegal? No.

sweetie · 08-02-2019 2:58pm

I thought you should never outbid yourself?

Doop · 08-02-2019 3:08pm

sweetie wrote: »

I thought you should never outbid yourself?

Well if the vendor isn't going to accept your offer why wouldn't you increase your bid in order to get them to accept?

I wouldn't see it as bidding against yourself more so trying to agree a price...same way you might agree a price on second hand car.

notharrypotter · 08-02-2019 3:26pm

GreeBo wrote: »

in the process of trying to buy a house and have been highest bidder but below the asking for the last 1 month+.

They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

Maybe I am missing something but based on your post you have bid 65K below the asking and are wondering why the vendor will not take you seriously.

meathstevie · 08-02-2019 3:34pm

If you were in an auction without a reserve set the house would be yours.

In this case though you're trying to negotiate a deal and the people selling simply aren't accepting your offer.

The estate agent is trying to get the vendor a better deal. That's what they've been hired for and the commission is where they make their money.

By the way, I'm not exactly a lover of estate agents but sometimes it's just what it is.

SteM · 08-02-2019 3:46pm

GreeBo wrote: »

Hey,
....
They are telling people that the asking is €65K more than the actual highest offer meaning that anyone who now bids will start from a much higher price.

....

They'll bid what they think the property is worth to them just like you did.

How often does this whole 'offer contingent on taking the property off the market' thing work? People see your man on 'Location' do it and think it'll work for them but in a sellers market I doubt it works that often, especially if the offer is made by someone that has been offering €65k below asking for the last month. He might not think you're a serious buyer to be honest.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 3:52pm

Dav010 wrote: »

Asking was bid, and not accepted. If that is the case, then what’s the point of not informing other bidders, the vendor is hardly likely to accept 10k less than asking at the open viewing after not accepting yours. Get over it.

Is it illegal? No.

They didnt "not accept" our offer based on the price, they didn't accept it because they (now) want to continue the viewings.

We have been repeatedly told up to now that they are holding out for the asking price.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 3:53pm

notharrypotter wrote: »

Maybe I am missing something but based on your post you have bid 65K below the asking and are wondering why the vendor will not take you seriously.

Bidding started 250K below asking, we were the only remaining bidder at still 65K below asking. We didn't just come in 65K under.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 3:55pm

meathstevie wrote: »

If you were in an auction without a reserve set the house would be yours.

In this case though you're trying to negotiate a deal and the people selling simply aren't accepting your offer.

The estate agent is trying to get the vendor a better deal. That's what they've been hired for and the commission is where they make their money.

By the way, I'm not exactly a lover of estate agents but sometimes it's just what it is.

Thats just it, the estate agent is telling them to accept our previous offer as its the only one on the table after 3 months of being For Sale, nevermind accepting our offer of the asking price.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 3:57pm

SteM wrote: »

They'll bid what they think the property is worth to them just like you did.

How often does this whole 'offer contingent on taking the property off the market' thing work? People see your man on 'Location' do it and think it'll work for them but in a sellers market I doubt it works that often, especially if the offer is made by someone that has been offering €65k below asking for the last month. He might not think you're a serious buyer to be honest.

I think most people bid what they think they can get the house for, rather than what its necessarily worth.

They know we are a serious buyer.

amcalester · 08-02-2019 4:00pm

Doesn’t matter what you bid, what conditions you attach, what the EA advises: if the seller doesn’t want to accept, all you can do is keep looking.

Treviso · 08-02-2019 4:01pm

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

You probably need to put the offer in at the asking price - give them a deadline to accept or you walk away (and be prepared to walk away)

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:02pm

amcalester wrote: »

Doesn’t matter what you bid, what conditions you attach, what the EA advises: if the seller doesn’t want to accept, all you can do is keep looking.

I dont have a problem with them not accepting it.
i have a problem with them telling people that there is an offer of the asking when there isn't.

I'm also pissed off at the vendor for saying they wont sell unless we offer the asking and then when we offer the asking they now suddenly want more.
To turn the tables on some of the posts here, they dont seem like a serious seller.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:04pm

Treviso wrote: »

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

You probably need to put the offer in at the asking price - give them a deadline to accept or you walk away (and be prepared to walk away)

Thats what we have done. My issue is with the agent telling people there is an offer of the asking when there isn't. We have removed that offer.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:04pm

huskerdu wrote: »

It's quite simple.
The seller has decided to increase the asking price and has told the estate agent to ask for the higher price. (This might not be a good tactic but they are entitled to do so).

The estate agent is not doing anything wrong or illegal. They are just telling potential buyers what the asking price is.
They are not obliged to tell anyone about the current bid which is below the asking price.

They are not telling people what the asking price is. They are telling people that there is an *offer* of the asking price. When there isn't. There is no offer of the asking price on the table.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:05pm

Treviso wrote: »

it seems to me that you're really banking on buying this house and that the seller knows this. How else do you explain them selling the house starting at the asking price that you're willing to pay - they have nothing to lose it seems.

I'm not following what you mean here?

Treviso · 08-02-2019 4:10pm

GreeBo wrote: »

I'm not following what you mean here?

Lets say if they came back to you in a months time offering you the house for the original asking price, would you buy it?

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:12pm

Treviso wrote: »

Lets say if they came back to you in a months time offering you the house for the original asking price, would you buy it?

There seems to be some confusion here.

The asking price has not changed since the process started.

spaceHopper · 08-02-2019 4:19pm

If the EA told you that if you offer the asking it's your then I'd be well pissed off.

But if you offered the asking on the condition they take it off the market then he can do what he want's say be next Friday they have on better offer they'll be back to you saying well accept your offer, (the highest one) are going to get all high and mighty and say no or will you say ok, in which case there is an offer of the asking today.

Best thing to do is to let it be and see what happens.

Dav010 · 08-02-2019 4:19pm

GreeBo wrote: »

There seems to be some confusion here.

The asking price has not changed since the process started.

What he is saying is, the vendor is hoping to get more than asking price, if they don’t, would you still buy the price at asking price if they come back to you in a months time?

Treviso · 08-02-2019 4:19pm

They basically want to sell it for more than the asking price to someone else. If they are unable to get more than the asking price elsewhere, they will come back to you offering the house for that price. They see you as a serious buyer, if not a definite purchaser of the house.

They can bide their time and do unlimited viewing, tell lies about offers on the table to get more than the asking price etc. The sellers may have given the EA a month to get more than the asking, and failing that they will go back to you

[Deleted User] · 08-02-2019 4:20pm

GreeBo wrote: »

They are not telling people what the asking price is. They are telling people that there is an *offer* of the asking price. When there isn't. There is no offer of the asking price on the table.

Curious. How do you know?

SteM · 08-02-2019 4:23pm

But how do you know that there's no offer of the asking price? The EA doesn’t work for you, it's not an open auction and you're not privy to every offer made.

I'd suggest from everything you've said that there is a offer of asking price and the open viewing is a throw of the dice to see if they can get interest above asking.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:27pm

SteM wrote: »

But how do you know that there's no offer of the asking price? The EA doesn’t work for you, it's not an open auction and you're not privy to every offer made.

I'd suggest from everything you've said that there is a offer of asking price and the open viewing is a throw of the dice to see if they can get interest above asking.

LorenzoB wrote: »

Curious. How do you know?

Because we are the only bidder and made the bid (with conditions) on Wednesday. We were in touch yesterday evening and nothing had changed so withdrew our offer and reverted to our previous offer.
This morning got we someone else to enquire and they were told about an offer @ asking.

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:31pm

spaceHopper wrote: »

If the EA told you that if you offer the asking it's your then I'd be well pissed off.

But if you offered the asking on the condition they take it off the market then he can do what he want's say be next Friday they have on better offer they'll be back to you saying well accept your offer, (the highest one) are going to get all high and mighty and say no or will you say ok, in which case there is an offer of the asking today.

Best thing to do is to let it be and see what happens.

It wont be all high and mighty it will be us sticking to our previous (-65K) offer until someone else bids more than it tbh.
We are no longer in a position to hang around, another open viewing means at least another week of followups and then potentially more bidding and counter bidding. We will be somewhere else by then.
So someone who puts on a bid of, say asking + 1K has started from false pretences and has just raised the bid on the house by 66K. I'd like to know this as the person making the bid, wouldnt you?

Dav010 wrote: »

What he is saying is, the vendor is hoping to get more than asking price, if they don’t, would you still buy the price at asking price if they come back to you in a months time?

Thing is that this is the first time this has come up. We have been told repeatedly that they want the asking.

Treviso wrote: »

They basically want to sell it for more than the asking price to someone else. If they are unable to get more than the asking price elsewhere, they will come back to you offering the house for that price. They see you as a serious buyer, if not a definite purchaser of the house.

They can bide their time and do unlimited viewing, tell lies about offers on the table to get more than the asking price etc. The sellers may have given the EA a month to get more than the asking, and failing that they will go back to you

I dont believe they can tell lies about offers on the table, thats all supposed to be regulated which is the purpose of this thread.

House has been for Sale since October with only 2 bidders, us and the under-bidder and the under-bidder dropped out before Christmas.

The agent is mad to sell it as its not worth their while to keep flogging a dead horse for no extra cash to them.

TheBoyConor · 08-02-2019 4:32pm

Bids?

And who would insult you by making bids for your house there in Carrigthomond?

Dav010 · 08-02-2019 4:34pm

GreeBo wrote: »

Because we are the only bidder and made the bid (with conditions) on Wednesday. We were in touch yesterday evening and nothing had changed so withdrew our offer and reverted to our previous offer.
This morning got we someone else to enquire and they were told about an offer @ asking.

Would it be ok if your friend had been told “we have received an offer of asking which has not been accepted?”

I’m struggling to see what your issue is, you made an offer with unrealistic conditions, it hasn’t been accepted and bidders are being told that a bid of asking price has been made. Surely if the vendor will not accept below asking, the EA is correct to tell other bidders about your bid.

They wanted asking, now they want more because there is obviously more interest if they are organising an open viewing.

I

GreeBo · 08-02-2019 4:35pm

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Bids?

And who would insult you by making bids for your house there in Carrigthomond?

Estate Agent giving incorrect details

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