The joys of house-hunting
I have never posted anything like this before but I felt that this was worthy of attention and it might open up a discussion about how buyers are being treated in the Dublin market at the moment.
Earlier today, I received an interesting email from a frustrated house-hunter who has been looking for a house in the Dublin in recent months. Attached to the email was a very long and very honest account of her and her family’s experiences in trying to relocate back of Ireland. She detailed difficulties in finding school places, irrespective of catchment areas, and of trying to find a house – even with a generous budget! Mostly, she spoke of her encounters with local estate agents, which can only be described as the good, the bad and the ugly (but it is not for me to say which is which!). Below is the email and I have been given permission to publish the contents of the attachment in this week’s column in the Sunday Business Post…
Dear Carol,
I have been reading your articles on property with great interest for the past few months as my husband and I are moving from XXX to Dublin over the summer.
I attach a summary of our experience of trying to buy a property which I thought might be of interest to you. We keep being told that there are lots of expats in the market driving up prices, but it seems our experience is that the agents pluck a price from thin air or are instructed to sell at a particular price (I have asked agents directly what the AMV of various is based on and have yet to have any sensible, logical or believable response. There are plenty of houses on the market (since Qtr 4 2012) which are overpriced, without any offers, which have yet to have a reduction in price so it would seem that there are people marketing their properties, possibly to keep their mortgage lenders at bay but that there is no real intention of selling. We are finding it impossible to get any sense of what the real value of any property is. This frustrates the process terribly.
If you want any further details of our experience, please do not hesitate to contact me. Obviously, if you use any of my “property whinge” details I would be grateful if you would not use our real names – we would never find an agent who would deal with us then!
I feel like your articles picture at the minute! I’ve been having a similar experience as your above house-hunter. I’ve managed to find one excellent, candid, straight talking estate agent, though its such a pity we are no longer looking in his area! Since choosing the area we want to live in I’ve become very frustrated with the agents so far. The bank has been super tight on what it has lent me (a good,sensible thing in my mind) and I have no problem with that. However, I have made offers that I though were extremely fair given today’s market, the research i have done and based on what i can afford. I have been shocked that they have no interest in even negotiating on occasion. I don’t know whether this is to do with the agents, the home owners or both but I’m not sure how this does anyone any good. I’m also sick of obvious bogus offers i’m being told have been made. These mind games annoy me so much! It’s a dreadful, weak sales technique in my view! If everyone could be a little more honest (I’m not saying give everything away, it is a business) and a bit more realistic i think the market would have a bit more movement. This would bring confidence back to people and encourage 2nd timer buyers too, those who were lucky enough to avoid the boom buying before then. Perhaps that’s a simplistic view as someone in the middle of buying but it’s where my head is at the moment