Do I smell something fishy.

andy_pne

Hi again, me and my partner have put an offer on a house and the offer has been accepted by the vendor. In the agreement we asked through the agent that the vendor would take the house off the market, they agreed. Anyway getting various updates from the agent they have now told me the vendor wants to keep the house on the market and will accept viewings. The agent has assured me the vendor told her that she would not accept a better offer on the house as she does not go back on her word, but is just doing this as something to fall back on should we back out. I know she is in her rights to do this but we are finding it very unsettling, we are in a good position as we have sold our house to a FTB and the sale is progressing nicely, and the vendor we are purchasing off needs to move ASAP so why should I worry she will accept a higher offer when everything is going so smooth, as her accepting a bigger offer would be a bit of a gamble. What should I do, do you think she is deliberatly looking for a higher offer or could it be down to the EA or me just worrying over nothing? (We offered £7000 under asking price on a £225000 house)Thanks.

quatro

Is there a SOLD sign outside the house? If there is viewers would be put off - not everyone is impressed if they think the vendor could be trying to get a higher offer.

Are the estate agents still aggressively marketing the property or have ads in newspaper been stopped. Is the house still marked as for sale on the agents website? What are they telling people who enquire about the property - that it is under offer, or not?

Get a friend to phone them up posing as a potential viewer to see how the agents explains the situation. [I'd do that!]

I hope your worries are groundless, as this is an extra worry you dont want, I hope it all works out for you.....

Meeten

I was in a similar position.

In the process of selling a place and had an offer that I accepted.
Promptly there was a 'SOLD' sign at my place (with 'subject to contract') in small letters.

I then was informed by the EA that they were not taking any more viewings!! This really !!!!!! me off, as there was no firm commitment from the buyer other than a letter from the EA.

I contacted the buyer and told them that I would continue viewings, until we progressed further (she then went and made arrangements to have a surbvey carried out). Needless to say that the EA was not happy, and from what I gather (I do not live in the place), there were 'no more interested parties'.

It was a concern for me as the seller, that i was putting all my eggs in one basket (even though the buyer was a FTB), but it was a fallback plan if things went wrong. I can see why your seller is doing what she is foing, but I do not think that the EA will aggressively market the property, knowin that there is a serious buyer (you) already there.

Not much help, but I hoep that it shows the view 'from the other side'

Meeten

claz

perhaps you should speak with the ea and voice your concerns we had a similar problem when purchasing our proerty and the ea agreed to only take the names and contact details of those who were interested as he felt the vendor was being extreme

to confirm what he was saying was correct we got a friend to call and ask to see the property and the agent was true to his word

i would be wary of this situation as you could be gazumped at the last minute, way don't you insisit that all information on the property states that it is under offer

[Deleted User]

Yu can always tell them that if the house isn't taken off the market, YOU will carry on looking at otehr properties too, as you don't feel like you're being taken seriously.

lush_walrus

You say that the sale is progressing well, I hate to say it but are you sure that everything is moving as fast as it could be, and things are being articulated well enough to the EA by your mortgage broker and solicitor? Have you had your survey carried out? Most good EA will not let someone effectively waste their money on a survey if the vendor is slightly flakey or they have in mind to continue marketing the property. Normal ettiquate is to stop all viewings at the point of survey at the latest.

This move will be coming from the vendor rather than the EA, unless the EA has a reason to feel that you are not very secur buyers. The EA just wants the property to be sold so that they can get their commission, and most definately will not want to continue marketing a property that is firmly looking as if it will go through. Put yourself in their position, by continuing to market the property, they will incur further costs, which if the sale is going along well (and therefore it looks like thy are getting their commission) then why go through it.

However, if the EA feels that things arent going through quickly and the feeling is also with the vendor, then the EA may well advise the vendor to get a back up for the sale, should yours go wrong.

Really you need to find out what is really making your vendor and/ or your EA jumpy about the sale. I very much doubt that as the vendor is in a rush they are planning to stop your sale to start another. But really you need to aim to get the vendor through the EA to feel at ease. If the survey isnt booked, chase it and get it booked. If your solicitor is being slow with the searches, again put some pressure on and get them moving. Then call the EA and tell them that you are doing all you can to get the process moving, and ask them to speak to the vendor again and see if it can be taken off of the market, as it is making you feel jumpy and you fear that you will loose the money you have paid out for the survey to be done (if it has) and the solicitors work carried out so far.

Communication and re-assurance is the way forward. You need to chase all of those involved in the sale from your side to push it through. Its normal for the process to take about 8 weeks from offer, but in reality it is possible to get everything done quicker if you make your case more important than the next.

A few years ago I managed to get a sale through, from offer accepted to completion in 3 weeks, and that was allowing for 4 days between exchange and completion so its possible to get people moving far quicker than they like to make out!

andy_pne

Great advice everyone thank you! Just been on the right move website today and the property is down as Sold subject to contract and will not come up in the search unless you specify it to which is a good sign. It was also not in the property paper so I have to believe the EA word that it is ours unless we were to pull out what do you think?. I can understand the vendor as like you say she is covering her back because she wants a quick move and should things go badly then they wouldnt have to start from scratch, but this still doesnt help my nerves!! Think I will see my solicitor today and try and speed things up a bit and make it clear to the EA where we are up to, there should be no problem with communication as the solicitors happens to be above the EA, fancy that! and we didnt know this when we instructed the solicitor. Thanks again all.

claz

if i were you i would take the ea word for it, after you have the proof that he is not actively "marketing" the property any more, keep an eye on it and make sure you keep the ea upto date so that they know that things aren't stalling

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Has your lender/you carried out a survey on the property? If so, I think this should be all the assurance your vendor needs that you are serious about buying her house. If a survey has not been carried I would approach her/EA to see if they would remove the house from the market as soon as one has been done. This has always been my benchmark on removal from the market.

Valencia

What's the difference with having a house 'under offer' and 'sold subject to contract', because in my case I put the offer in, had it accepted and have had the surveys done and they haven't changed the status of the house to anything. (I'm regulary on rightmove)

Everytime I speak to them, they move the goal posts, 'we'll do it once you've booked the survey', I book the survey - nothing, 'we'll do it when the results come back'. I've had the report and informed them and still nothing.

What is common practice and when should it show Sold STC, because I'm getting slightly concerned as I'm spending all this money and they don't seem to want to take me seriously. I want the house and at the moment I'm getting the specialist reports done. They won't even give me a completion date to work with and I need to notify my landlord and give notice.

It has taken over two weeks for the memoradum of sale to come to me and my solicitor - its starting to get annoying.

plane_boy2000

Valencia wrote:

What's the difference with having a house 'under offer' and 'sold subject to contract', because in my case I put the offer in, had it accepted and have had the surveys done and they haven't changed the status of the house to anything. (I'm regulary on rightmove)

Everytime I speak to them, they move the goal posts, 'we'll do it once you've booked the survey', I book the survey - nothing, 'we'll do it when the results come back'. I've had the report and informed them and still nothing.

What is common practice and when should it show Sold STC, because I'm getting slightly concerned as I'm spending all this money and they don't seem to want to take me seriously. I want the house and at the moment I'm getting the specialist reports done. They won't even give me a completion date to work with and I need to notify my landlord and give notice.

It has taken over two weeks for the memoradum of sale to come to me and my solicitor - its starting to get annoying.

That dosent sound good to me - memorandum of sale should be produced within a couple of days, and most agents cant wait to get the sold sign up because its good advertising for them - shows other potential vendors that they can sell houses. When we sold last year the sold sign went up the same day