Estate Agents

boggie40

not sure if we have been a bit naive and fallen for a simple con trick.....
we made an offer of £150,000 for a house currently for sale at £164,950. the estate agent rang us the next day and said our offer has been declined and despite this house having been on the market for 2 months+ with no interest being shown in it the estate agent said they have received a 2nd offer nearer the asking price.
now my wife and i have really set our hearts on this house so made a 2nd offer of £159,950 which has been accepted by the vendor.

with hindsight i have begun to think we have been taken for a ride by the estate agent.

is this kind of thing happening across the country, and i am being a bit harsh on the estate agent in question - or have we just fallen for a trick of the trade.......

Kavanne

Have said before on this forum but will say again

Think this happened to me too back in Feb.

lethal0r

loads of estate agents will do that boggie40.

if you feel uncomfortable proceeding just withdraw your offer and watch other houses (and probably the one you have offered on) fall in value as the months go by.

koexelek

The estate agents is working in the vendor's interest, not the purchaser.

Difficult to walk away from the house of your dreams, but sometimes worth chancing it in this day and age.

Don't forget that an offer is not binding until you exchange contracts though.
Nothing to stop you withdrawing the £159950 offer. You could say that you were going to borrow the extra £9950 from a relative, but they have let you down... so you are now back with your original £150000 offer

boggie40

i am personally very tepted to withdraw our offer - but as you said if we were to lose this house my wife would be devastated...
but then the house is not ours yet anyway...anything could happen yet until we sign on the dotted line..

sarkin

You need http://www.property-bee.com/

Install this and then search rightmove, the software scrapes data and shows everytime a seller drops the price and how long the property has been on the market.:D

formulaonefan

boggie40 wrote: »

not sure if we have been a bit naive and fallen for a simple con trick.....
we made an offer of £150,000 for a house currently for sale at £164,950. the estate agent rang us the next day and said our offer has been declined and despite this house having been on the market for 2 months+ with no interest being shown in it the estate agent said they have received a 2nd offer nearer the asking price.
now my wife and i have really set our hearts on this house so made a 2nd offer of £159,950 which has been accepted by the vendor.

with hindsight i have begun to think we have been taken for a ride by the estate agent.

is this kind of thing happening across the country, and i am being a bit harsh on the estate agent in question - or have we just fallen for a trick of the trade.......

Yes. Estate agents do that. Its a typical text book trick and you have fallen for it. Your wife may be disappointed now but she will soon be happy when she finds another house which she likes more then this one. Your wife will not be happy if you fall into negative equity. I think buying for 159K may put you on negative equity. Buy with your head and not with your heart.

wehavethepower

Classic Estate Agent trick. But in this market, i.e. a BUYERS market you can now turn the tables on them and gazunder away. I understand that practically every deal is being gazundered at the moment, just before exchange of contracts. So proceed with the conveyancing and go back to your original offer, say the bank won't loan you that extra amount etc etc... as very plausible at this moment in time. Can't believe in this market that an EA would play havoc with a vendor and a buyer potentially scuppering the deal for both them and himself!
Stick by your guns it is a BUYERS MARKET!

dunstonh

If you were selling your house and found out your estate had done this and got you an extra £9k you would be very happy about that. The estate agent works for the vendor. Not the buyer. Never forget that (although many people do).

boggie40

thanks people - estate agent just rang me again and said another offer has been received and would be acceptable to the vendors....
waiting for the broker to call me, if he cannot put together a good enough deal for us i'd be happy to look elsewhere cos i am sure we overbid and were buying with our hearts and not our heads.
appreciate the advice, without which i would have probably ended up paying the asking price !!