Play your cards close to your chest?

rl290

I''m with ciano on this one...

The estate agent can ask you questions for one of two purposes: either to check you have finances in place, or to find out how much you can stretch to. Regarding the first point, I'd always just say that I have a mortgage agreement in place and don't need any help from their in-house team. I would never produce proof of these agreements: they contain my own personal finance details and could compromise negotiations.

Regarding the second point, it must be remembered that the agent acts for the vendor. Foxtons were allegedly notorious for getting their Alexander Hall mortgage arm to pass details onto the agents, thereby allowing agents to stretch buyers' budgets to the max.

R

SavingSteve

See I don't agree with Ciano or rl290 AT ALL.

If I were a seller I wouldn't even want to consider an offer from someone who 'supposedly' has a mortgage offer in place. It is your word, and quite frankly I don't know you so why should I believe you?

The best solution for all is to have the EA and your IFA have a conversation where the IFA is simply confirming to the EA that you, as the person offering/viewing, can afford a mortgage of £x amount. You can let your IFA know what number (as a maximum) you will let them reveal (i.e. they can't lie of course, but if you can afford £300k, but only want to reveal you can afford £150k then that is what you tell the IFA to say).

patch3228

I understand the valid comments from the 2 camps of buyers and sellers - but I am obviously supporting the former camp

I feel especially defensive as it is 2 vs 1 (EA and Seller vs Me) ... I know it's best to have a good relationship with both, but everyone is out to get the best they can and if you let slip any 'minor' details this could come back to bite you

Annoyingly this EA is selling another property nearby that I have my eye on and again I feel it is very difficult to play your cards close to your chest when you are thinking of making a bid of x amount for one property and then offering a lot higher amount for another...that low bid x amount is probably DOA


Today I was more tactful and when I rang another EA, I said they could contact my mortgage advisor to confirm I can afford it

patch3228

As I said previously everyone is out to get the best they can and I obviously have my own agenda by asking:

Can I ask the EA to give me the contact details of the house owner I viewed today?


I got on quiet well with the owner, but forgot to give them my mobile details. Now I would like to give them some feedback on the viewing with a desired effect of preparing them for a significantly reduced potential offer


On a sidenote has anyone done an open house where their time slot was shared with other viewers? We had a 15 min slot and there was another couple strutting their stuff round the viewing :mad: we didn't feel comfortable asking the EA questions with them in earshot and I guess the other couple felt the same way (ah well all lose)

confused31_2

ive told my estate agent that we will no be accepting any viewers, that are not in a position to buy, thats our choice, we told them they need to prove that they have the funds to buy the property if they are first time buyers, and if they are selling their house we will only let them view if they have got a offer on their property.

Im not wasting my time on people who are not in a position to buy, and if they are scared to show the estate agent what they can borrow there is obviously a issue there, people will only pay what they think a properties worth, if a estate agent can pursuade you to pay more, because you can borrow more is a joke, what are they going to do bend your arm back, so you pay more.:rotfl:

I think whats happening is people are thinking they can view a house priced at 250,000 pound knowing they can only get 180,000 and trying to get a viewing, if the seller requires the buyer to prove they can borrow the money to buy the house it becomes a problem.

But if it is a problem its obvious the seller will not accept the lower offer, we had someone ask for a viewing and the estate agent told us they could only get 130,000, so we told them no they couldnt view, this was onky 10,000 pound cheaper than the asking price but we are not that desperate to sell.

---lee---

confused31 wrote: »

we had someone ask for a viewing and the estate agent told us they could only get 130,000, so we told them no they couldnt view, this was onky 10,000 pound cheaper than the asking price but we are not that desperate to sell.

I think that's a bit counter productive if you really want to sell. If they had viewed, they may have liked your house so much that they found the extra money from somewhere. There may have been a special reason that they wanted the house (close to family/work whatever).

confused31_2

If they were desperate to buy they should at least make sure they can afford the property, were not desperate to sell, id like to move but there is no way ill be entertaining anyone who can not afford the asking price whether they get it cheaper is another story, but i just think its little cheeky viewing houses that your budget wont reach to.

we had another one who had arranged a viewing but their buyer pulled out the day before the viewing, so we cancelled that viewing aswell.

We think we may have found a private buyer, but i will just have to wait and see what materialises.

oldone_2

confused31 wrote: »

If they were desperate to buy they should at least make sure they can afford the property, were not desperate to sell, id like to move but there is no way ill be entertaining anyone who can not afford the asking price whether they get it cheaper is another story, but i just think its little cheeky viewing houses that your budget wont reach to.

Look at it from the other side. If you are not deperate to sell, how does a potential purchaser know that having agreed a sale you will change your mind at the last moment, perhaps because you can't find another property..
Perhaps sellers should also prove to buyers that they are serious and have somewhere else to go to.

On a side note. Sellers who put their house on the market and are only half serious about actually wanting to sell, are just as big a time waster as some potential purchasers.

50plusabit

The estate agents get quite a good commission if they get a client to use their financial advisor's. Also as others have said, a lot of buyers only want somebody how is in a good position to continue.
But EA want as much info as possible, they can then use that with the vendors.
Last year when I was buying, the estate agent started their hard sell, and I said I have no intention of discussing mt financial situation with you, but I am happy for you to speak with my financial adviser, who will assure you on my position. Most were happy with this, and my FA told then I had finances in place and could afford the amount I was looking at.
One Agent however, a local agent with 8 Branch's, who are very cut throat, said no we want details, so I said not interested in dealing with you, ended up buying a house from a different agents that was on their books.:j

Swipe

I can understand proof of funds for offers but not for viewings