Sometimes it's not clear who you're bidding against or indeed if you actually are bidding against anyone at all. Here are my three thoughts on this issue:

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1. Believe the agent when he/she tells you there's another bidder.

It can be tempting to think that agents are making up bids and bidders. However my view is that this doesn't happen nearly as often as people fear. I work on the basis that the selling agent is telling me the truth about other bidders.

Under section 61 of the Property Services Regulatory Authority Act 2011, agents are required to keep a record of a all offers received for at least 6 months. Agents are routinely audited by independent auditors to ensure that they are compliant in all ways including logging offers properly. FYI I was audited myself last year and passed with flying colours thank goodness.

So my advice to you is believe the agent.

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2. If an agent tells you of a bid that's been refused, make sure to find out when that bid was made.

Let's say you're interested in a property listed for sale at €950,000 and you ask the agent if there are any bids. The agent might say something like, " a bid of €910,000 was rejected by the seller". This might make you feel like a) the other bidder is still there and willing to bid again and b) that you now need to bid at least €910,000 or more. However my suggestion to you is that you ask the agent when that bid of €910,000 was made. Perhaps you'll find it was made four or five months ago. It could be that this bid and bidder are now gone. It could also be that the seller, four or five months later, has a new and more realistic approach to the price that they'll take. So it's possible that if you were to offer €910,000 now, you might find the vendor more receptive. The key point here is not to assume that there is a LIVE bidder bidding against you when the agent tells you of a rejected bid.

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3. If the seller rejects your bid, don't bid again until you ask the agent what price they feel the seller WILL take.

It's disheartening to be the sole bidder on a property and have your bid rejected. It can feel somehow wrong to put another bid on a property in the absence of anyone bidding against you. However my suggestion is to remember that the only person you need to pay huge attention to is the seller. It's the seller that you are trying to do this deal with, not non existant other bidders. So if your bid is rejected and there's no one bidding against you, I suggest you ask the agent to give you a figure that the vendor WILL accept before you place another bid on the property.