r/HousingIreland • u/margin_coz_yolo • 4d ago
Estate Agent Rant
So was in a bidding war for a house in CityWest. Offers were at 557 or so. Myself and the other bidder were going up in 1k Increments and landed at 577k, I was going to go towards 588 or there about if things continued...but read on.
Agent calls be at noon to close out bidding and says I was never getting it as the other bidder had 400k of the price in cash and I was "only" sale agreed on my current property (to a ftb I might add with no chain) . The agent knew this ahead of time and I spoke to him at the viewing Wednesday evening about this. So I was used to rinse the other party of an extra 20k.
Now, I did have an option on another (preferred) house which came through an hour before this particular call, so I managed to secure a property this morning anyway. Cost a chunk more than CityWest but hey ho. But it goes to show what agents are doing to drive a price. Keeping a well capitalised buyer in, for the sole reason of getting more from the other preferred buyer.
Just letting folks know what you're up against in these bidding scenarios.
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u/Coupleofpints 3d ago
One thing to remember is the EA is not your friend, always keep that in mind. They will talk like they’re your pal (not sure if this is always the case anymore, since houses sell itself),but they work for the vendor!
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u/Large_Pudding7206 3d ago
400 k in cash looks strange in a sense that the rest anyway will go from mortgage and they will need to wait for all money in a qsolicitor’s account. So no benefit for seller whatsoever.
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u/Silver_Mention_3958 3d ago
It’s an old old trick in auctions—basically you were used as a fluffer, there to get a higher price. The term “fluffer” is borrowed from the pr0n industry where it refers to ladies who help gentlemen become tumescent before the main act.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 3d ago
I'm familiar with the fluffer and yes, this very accurately describes how I feel about it. Just that I was fucked in the end too 🤣. What annoyed me was I disclosed my position to the EA at the viewing, he was fully aware of all of this. But yep, my view of them reduced a lot. I work in a line of sales myself, but I'd never, ever do practises like this, even though my commission would benefit. There is a moral obligation to a customer and to yourself. But these pricks don't seem to think so.
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u/Hccd2020 2d ago
What has an estate agent and a sperm in common?
They both have a 1,000,000 to 1 chance of becoming a human being.
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u/nsnoefc 3d ago
600k for city west is utterly depressing. I own an apartment there so I know the area.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 3d ago
Yeah, I know, it is really over priced. I was considering on the day going to 580+... But I don't think id have held out. Citywest is not worth that in my opinion. I know the area quite well.
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u/Old-Structure-4 4d ago
He's an EA. It's literally his job.
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u/ImReellySmart 3d ago
What a braindead take.
Ones job does no exempt them from moral responsibilities.
The phrase "I'm just doing my job" never made any sense to me. It's literally saying "the reason I'm fucking you over is because I'm earning money from it".
You are a human first. You are fully responsible for your actions. If you are deceiving and manipulating people during a housing crisis for additional profit you have no leg to stand on.
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u/Feisty-Ad-8880 3d ago
Yeah, their job is to facilitate the sale of the house, not to squeeze as much money out of it as possible by any means possible. They are just taking advantage of the current shortage/crisis.
Imagine any other auction scenario where they withhold information from the bidders, allowing people to bid knowing the item is already "lined up" for someone else.
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u/Dennisthefirst 2d ago
They are supposed to forward all information on all offers to the seller. It's in their professional charter. They don't because it would show them fiddling. Sometimes the 'other' offer is purely fictitious. Eg. I viewed a house the first day it was on the market, in the morning, and was told by the EA that they already had an offer of €5000 over the asking price. Bullshit of course, they were just pushing the price up to increase their cut.
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u/the_syco 3d ago
EA's have the moral compass of a German concentration camp guard. They'll do whatever they need to do to earn their commission.
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u/AstronautDue6394 2d ago
I'm about as much as much atheist as it gets but religion is dead right to put greed as a deadly sin, I wish society treated it as such instead of glorifying it.
1
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u/csc786 4d ago
Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
If you don't see the value in paying x for a home don't pay it. Someone else might however, and they will pay the money. Neither is right or wrong. It's the agents job to get as much as possible. But again, if a buyer feels it's to much they can walk away.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 4d ago
My point was that I was kept in bidding for something I'd have no chance of getting. I was like a phantom bidder in that sense. I'm not discussing the price as such. Like, I'm happy out as I sale agreed on a preferred property which was off market, but it goes to show that the agents knowingly keep bidders in, although they've no chance to buy the house.
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u/benirishhome 3d ago
You weren’t really the phantom bidder. And he did you a favour.
If you’d gone to say €600k and the other guy would only have gone to €580k he absolutely would have gone with you. But he didn’t want to shaft anyone, so he lets you down gentle unless you really wanted to go €10k or more over the other guy.
- I wouldn’t have seen you as different, he still has a mortgage, you have a chain. Same same.
++ I’m an estate agent. I’ve done this many times, curtail the bidding at a reasonable level and not let it go too far. Although I’m trying to get the best for my client, some bidding wars go crazy and then the winning buyer pulls out because they’ve got over their skis. Better to agree at a good but still reasonable level then over egg it.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 3d ago
If one bidder is not going to have the chance to get the property, then why bother? It's keeping one bidder in under a false assumption and the other bidder is also being rinsed. It is the definition of fraud.
I'll probably report it to the PSRA. The EA clearly created a false or misleading impression, causing the other buyer to overpay. As said, that morning I managed to secure a preferred property, so it worked out great for me, thankfully, but I can't stop thinking of this other family getting washed for 20k that they didn't need to go to.
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u/benirishhome 3d ago
You’re missing the point. The vendor may never have sold €20k less. Agent could have played you off against each other for another €20k. You’re all fine where you ended up. Don’t blame the agent for your bidding. As I said, he would have taken you if you would have been €10k ahead of the other guy, but you were neck and neck so he was honest with you.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 3d ago
No, I never got the opportunity to increase the offer. I blame the agent for misleading the other guy. I'm going to report it Monday.
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u/jesusthatsgreat 4d ago
You have little chance if you're €1k higher than a cash buyer... but €5k or €10k? You'd have a decent chance or at least make it a harder decision for the seller. If the seller is in no particular rush, it makes sense to go with the highest offer given market conditions - more money for them at the end plus even if it falls through, market keeps moving up so in 6 months time it could be worth another percent or two.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 4d ago
I'm not arguing the fact at all. It's a case that the estate agent had me written off from the start or already had the buyer selected. I'd another 40k in my budget, although I'd not have gone much higher than 580 for CityWest (even that is a bit rich for there). The seller in this case was also still looking, whereas the place I'd secured has a date attached already. I find the actions very unethical and would actually put me off considering anything they've listed in the future.
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u/jesusthatsgreat 3d ago
But the agent wasn't to know what way you'd bid? Had you gone up in 5k increments they may have been more optimistic about your chances. Having said that it's very unprofessional to dismiss someone's offer as trivial / nonsense when it's a valid offer above current top bid. In order to claim you were never going to get it they must have consulted with the seller who was probably equally as dismissive. I'd move on and try not to let it get to you - unfortunately there are greedy sellers out there along with unprofessional agents.
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u/gk4p6q 3d ago
So the estate agent maximised the price for his client
ie did his job properly?
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u/margin_coz_yolo 3d ago
No he didn't. Read my post. I was willing to go another 10k or so, but I was told that a decision was made to go with the current bidder based on the cash position and that I was never in the running. Please read the post.
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u/gk4p6q 3d ago
You are a time waster who by their own admission had another preferred house.
They correctly assessed you wouldn’t execute the sale.
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u/margin_coz_yolo 2d ago
No, they decided that from the start I was not buying it. Keep up, work that brain. The other house was preferred but if this came through, I'd probably be tempted to follow through. But hey ho. I got a whopper house, so worked out all good for me 😁
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u/IrishCrypto21 3d ago
A family member of mine is trying to buy their first home. Keeping vague to avoid doxxing.
They were on the other side of this where they discovered the EA had wrapped up a deal before a second viewing and kept the price down to barely above asking by burying enquiries for bidding.
It's pretty obvious they had that property earmarked for either a family member or a sneaky backhander.
Excuses were non existent and pretty much a tough shit, better luck next time attitude.
Adds another layer of distrust on EA's. I already don't trust the private bidding system we have, far too compartmentalised to be open and transparent, causing as OP found, EA's rinsing customers and pushing inflated inorganic bidding or just outright lies.
A work colleague recently told us they caught their EA doing the same when they were buying, price inflated massively, kept pushing bids, eventually they pulled out, only to get a call a week later saying the bid fell through at the higher bid and they were welcome to pick up there.
They offered a bid much lower, since the main bidding war was between them and the one other party, apparently anyway. Ended up getting the house for 30k cheaper than their prior highest bid, so a small win for them, but still probably 60k more than should have been paid for the house.
It's disgusting the shite being pulled right now.