An Example of a Lack of "Good" Buyers

fimonkey

chickmug wrote: »

We get a feel of them perhaps by stealth!!!!!!

With a casual chat we can soon establish their motives and find out how much they will need to borrow and if it makes sense for the house they wish to view based on their jobs, etc. I know many agents don't even check out the borrowing side but our view is there is no point in people viewing something they can't afford.

It makes me laugh, when we come to a mutual aggreemnt with potential buyers, that they really can't afford and they say can we go and have a look anyway.

Sometimes the party feels so upset they try and knock on the properties door and introduce themselves to the seller but 99% of the time the sellers refuse to let them in unless they pass our vetting.

Sorryhaven't read the rest of this thread yet, but I want to say as a potential FTB looking at repo's, the EA's are making it VERY difficult for me to view. They're not retunring calls, they use excuses like "the viewing diary's out of the office at the moment" (!!!!!!??) and then when I call the THIRD time, well quel surprise, it's been sold and no further offers are being taken.... So I would support in the main what Bubbles is saying (even though I havenm't read the longposts in depth).

Now in terms of bieng vetted by the EA, I am not going to disclose my salary/deposit etc to them seeing as I'm not gaining my mortgage through them, so why is it any of their business?... In this difficult market they should all be trying depserately to keep their jobs, surely this means by making it EASIER for potential buyers to view, and getting off their rears to undertake the viewings (i.e look busy and make out your indispensible to the company)?? Funny profession (I use the term profession lightly) who make it harder for themselves when its a difficult market already.

chickmug

Hi Firmonkey
I am not here to defend the cowboys or '£££ grabbers' of which there is clearly plenty. However if I acted for you are you happy to take viewings and the stress it causes if the veiwers didn't stand a 'cats chance in hades' of being able to afford????

ginvzt

I know what you are saying about difficult EAs!!!! We viewed one house through a particular EA a good few weeks ago and when called next day we said we are interested and want to see HIP. We were told house came on the market in Marc 2008. Two days later we decided to chase up where the HIP is just to be informed that the property doesn't have HIP and the offer has now been accepted We put in an offer anyway, which we were informed that vendor decided to go with the other (lower -EA told us) offer

Now, we viewed another house through them a week ago. Got a call for feedback next day and :money:we really like the house, but we need to see HIP before we put an offer in (the house is leasehold and we want to see all the info available). That was a week ago. We keep calling them every other day or so and we did send them an email with the request for the HIP, but no reply. We called on Saturday as we thought we could just go to the office and get a copy of it. We were told that the lady who answered the phone is only there at the weekends and she doesn't know where all the papers are (!!!!!!??? sorry for the language, it is getting on my nerves). They closed local offices and it would be ~half an hour drive, so we stayed put. We also asked to view another house with them on Saturday, still waiting for the viewing to be arranged...

Called today and another lady said that they don't give out a copy. We asked do they have it electronically, and she didn't know if they can do that. She said they have to check with vendors and vendors solicitor about HIP... And they are legally obliged to provide a copy of HIP within 14 days of request (7 days so far...)

To me they behaviour sounds like they could be one of those EA advertising properties without HIP. Sorry for the ramble...

fimonkey

chickmug wrote: »

Hi Firmonkey
I am not here to defend the cowboys or '£££ grabbers' of which there is clearly plenty. However if I acted for you are you happy to take viewings and the stress it causes if the veiwers didn't stand a 'cats chance in hades' of being able to afford????

Hi Chickmug.

Appreciate your comment, but my own personal experience is that it seemed that during the boom EA's would show anyone and everyone around, I was never asked to prove my ability to buy when I was looking, nor asked for it with the potential buyers for my late mother's house, and in fact ended up loosing the first buyer cos her mortgage offer fell through. The EA's then bent over backwards trying to persuade us to hold onto the house and sell it to her when she got another mortgage offer, despite the fact we had another offer on teh table from a cash buyer. No surprise the original buyer was sorting her mortgage through the EA's, so in this case the EA's showed they act for themselves before they act for the vendor.

Now in a different climate, the Ea's are spending a lot of time on viewings that are unlikely to come to fruition, so rather than continue to undertake these viewings and keep the market moving, they once again look after their own interests and only take those buyers with proven funds to view (who will get them the commission they so desperately need). This attitude has put me off viewing completely, I do not want a mortgage through an EA, so I see no point in splashing my finances all over their wall. It shows me that once again EA's put their own interestst before those they're meant to act for.

To answer your quesiton direclty chickpea, If I was selling my house in today's climate I'd be selling because I needed to. In that instance, I'd be having open days every single week and all and sundrie could come and view. I'd hope that those who couldn't afford it would speak to those who could, .. word of mouth is the BEST form of advertising.