Your property questions answered.

The best offer we've got is 25% below asking price

We put our Dublin house on the market in May (a terrible time but we are relocating for work reasons and had to). There was no interest initially but this month three viewings yielded two offers. The problem is that one was 30 per cent below asking price, the other 25 per cent. The estate agent said he would work on the people who offered the most to bring them up to asking price but she's had no luck with them so far. We are panicking because we can't afford to take such a hit.

It's August. Put yourself in these buyers' position. They have absolutely nothing to lose by offering such low bids - they're hoping that there just might be people desperate enough to sell who will take the bait. You're not. In May when your agent was valuing the house she would have been very realistic about what it might fetch. (It's different for people whose houses have been on the market for a year and they are still clinging to the hope of getting, say, a May 2006 price). Stick with your guide price until you can really assess the interest in your house - at least until the end of September, early October. Keep the pressure on your agent to get viewers in and set a date that you will sit down together to review the sales campaign.

How do you pin a buyer to a binding contract?

I am astonished at how loose the whole buying and selling system is in Ireland. My partner is selling his apartment which has been on the market for nearly six months. There was one offer - in April - but the buyer pulled out even though he had paid a deposit. The estate agent said that was perfectly legal as he had only paid a fully returnable booking deposit (to the agent, incidentally, not to my partner). In France (where I am from), once you pay a deposit and sign the papers then you must go through with the sale.

What is the point of a booking deposit? Is there any way we can pin the next buyer down to a binding contract? The agent says no.

A booking deposit is paid as an indication of your interest - it does not, as you now bitterly know, commit either side to go through with the sale. Usually, after people put a booking deposit on a second-hand property it gives them time to sort out details, such as getting a surveyor in or putting their finance in place. The booking deposit can be as little as a few thousand euros - but as it has no legal basis, you're right in feeling frustrated at how meaningless it ultimately is.

Many sales of second-hand properties go through without a booking deposit ever having been paid - although it's nearly always paid on large new developments.

The next step after the booking deposit is the 10 per cent deposit - which is paid over on the signing of a legal, binding contract between the seller and the buyer. In an auction situation the highest bidder signs this binding contract on the day of the auction.

There really is little your partner can practically do except perhaps accept any new offer on condition that contracts are signed within a defined period. But even at that, you are going to have to accept that the buyer has all the power.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie. Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.