Estate Agent offering on house

ethansmum

My father is trying to sell my granmothers house. Shes gone into a home and to be blunt shes totallly lost the plot so he takes care of her affairs.

Anyway he got in an estate agent and she suggested £95k so we went with her. Its been a couple of months now so my Dad dropped the price to £89k. In all that time (almost 3 months) shes only ever shown 1 couple around although loads of houses are still selling in the area. The day after he dropped the price, she phoned and asked if he was interested in selling it for £75k to her and her husband but that was the maximum they would pay. Now if it had been anyone else offering we would consider it but coming for the estate agent??:eek:

I think he should move agents now because I feel we can no longer trust that she will act in our best interests, however he doesn't want to pay the £95 get out fee. Now I realise that shes printed leaflets (but not advertised in the papers for weeks) so has bills to pay, but i thinks shes been unethical.

What do you suggest we do? Has anyone come across anything similar?

Doozergirl

I think you could say that if an EA were making offers in this market then they would be fairly certain they were getting a good price. At least she has declared her interest.

However, is the house on rightmove? Can she provide a marketing list of who has been sent details and viewed the property? Has she reduced the amount of space she uses in the local paper and therefore all marketing or are other properties getting more exposure?

As it is quite a low offer compared to asking, if this is one worth considering then I would drop the price down first to 80k and expect viewings. If she think it's worth 75k then someone else just has to think it's at least worth viewing at 80k.

ginvzt

I think EA had to tell you that they are interested to buy your house and remove themselves from handling the advertising. Isn't it a conflict of interests? Although, we sold our house to the sister of employee of EA. All went well in the need (they were playing up with buying our appliances and changing their mind very day if they want them or not and for how much).

ethansmum

We're not in too great a hurry to sell, so I'm thinking we should drop to £83k like you say to see if we get any takers. In the meantime I'm going to see if we can change agents. Thank you for your advice

joolsybools

Find another EA in my view. Conflict of interest.

pawpurrs

Even EA need to buy houses;)
If she owns the EA then you may be able to do a deal and pay no fees
If the house is reasonably priced and they are not getting any viewings then, it could be time to change agents.
I dont see the problem with selling if you are happy with the price. Try and negotiate with her a little, say thats a bit lower than you want and see if she will increase.

xycom1

joolsybools wrote: »

Find another EA in my view. Conflict of interest.

+1, I'd choke up the £95 and then get it placed with one of those estate agents that are managing to shift property in the area.

gingab

hello i may be hated for this but i am an estate agent. we are allowed to offer on property as well you know. everybody wants the same thing at the moment (a bargain) and ive also seen people offering in a percentage alot less than that offer. most people want approx 10ish % off the asking price so in fairness to the ea its not a million miles of a reasonable sale price. you need to take in to account that next month it could be less. also if she is a cash buyer then great as the main problem at the moment is mortgages so cash is great. please dont hate me

50plusabit

gingab very brave ! She surley should not be dealing with the property now.
OP I would be having it valued by another agent.
I would say £85K and no fee's. What is this £95 ? he must only be tied in for a set time. I would be tempted to end my contract with her asap, or tell her to sue me for it. If they are a member of a recognised organisation, ring them up for advice. Definatly a conflict of interest.

Streeet

I would maybe try and play it a little more... as already mentioned the EA fees are a good bargaining point.
At the end of the day you only sell at the price you want.
If you are honest and up front with the agent, (as they seem to be so far with you), I think the possible commission would be more appealing to them by selling it.

Streeet

by the way a collegue at work got an offer accepted today for £210k on a £300k house.. That spanks the 10% mentioned earlier!!