Is it normal for EA to take hiuse off the market only after a survey is completed?

ukbondraider

Have been told so many lies today from the vendors estate agent that I am tempted to pull out just out of principle.

The situation is that the vendor has recieved a higher offer than ours by £2K. They have accepted it in addition to our offer but are not 100% convinced about the other buyers ability to complete the purchase swiftly. We are in a better buying position and they have apparently confirmed they prefer us as buyers but are not willing to commit to us or take the house off the market until a survey is done (I am assuming they mean a mortgage survey). Is this the normal procedure?

The vendors are still taking viewings and I am basically getting fed up with this lack of trust which could essentially lead to us being gazumped. Up till now we have been 100% commited but are now considering pulling out just to spite them (despite wanting to buy the property). The vendors have agreed a price for their next property and are in a rush to sell to prevent risk losing their prospective new house. In addition it has recently come to light that the other buyer has today pulled out something which has made the vendor somewhat nervous.

The estate agent and vendor do not seem to care that we may lose £X in paying for reports and surveys and do not seem to want to help buy instead get the highest price they can within their desired location. It has really !!!!!! me off.

So should I just prull out or go back tommorrow telling them to thake the houser off the market?

annie-c

No it's not normal for an EA to ask you to have a survey before they will take a house off the market.

Oh dear, it sounds like a difficult position to be in - I do feel for you.

If I've understood correctly, the position is that the vendor has found and made an offer for their next property, but has 'accepted' two offers on their own property.

They have done this because ideally they would like the money they would make from the highest bidder, but they don't want to lose your offer, since you are a 'safer' option. It sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it, but actually they are risking losing both prospective buyers by failing to commit to either of you!

They sound a bit disorganised and their EA sounds v unprofessional- I'd be very cautious about taking this further. But on the other hand you seem to have set your heart on this house, so you might want to give it a go.

Basically there is always a risk for the buyer, that they might pay survey and legal fees and lose out if the vendor fails to go through with the sale. My guess is that this vendor wants you to have the survey done to find out whether or not you are likely to ask for a further drop in price due to any issues the survey might pick up. It sounds as though they are willing to take a £2k drop in the asking price, but are worried that you might later want to drop further. But that's life, isn't it - buying and selling houses involves risk on both sides. You have to make a decision as to whether you feel you can trust them and whether you want the house so much that you are willing to take the risk of them letting you down.

I don't know if it will help, but when I bought my house, I confirmed my offer in writing by fax the same day I made it, stating my position as FTB, including a copy of my mortgage in principle doc, noting that I would be in a position to proceed with a survey within 2 weeks, but making it a condition of their acceptance that they withdrew the house from the market and ceased all marketing immediately. I then waited a day or two and checked that the house had been removed from the website and withdrawn from the EA window before proceeding to undertake a survey.

This was effective in making sure that no new viewings were held on a house in which I was fairly sure there had been no earlier offers. Your problem is that there is another prospective buyer in the background having already seen the property, and you would have to trust that the vendor wouldn't later go back on their agreement and allow the other buyer to gazump you.

If the vendor genuinely needs a quick move then it would be in their own interest to stop messing about, but it's hard to second guess what the vendor might be thinking - you need to just focus on your own interests here and be tough about it - br prepared to walk away if necessary. Remember that Springtime is coming and the housing market will be picking up soon. Don't rush into this.

I guess you need to weigh it all up carefully and then just go with your gut instinct.

Good luck!

Annie

The_Geek

Its not normal but then again, it could be on the insistance of the vendor. I can't see any advantage for the EA. After all, they will be still spending money on advertising/resources etc.

It sounds to me like the vendor is trying to hedge their bets.

Jorgan_2

Remember the EA has to act on the instructions of his vendor. I am an EA & can find this situation very frustrating. There has to be an element of trust from both sides and marketing a property after a sale has been agreed is a real bone of contention.

Ian_W

Lot of good, considered advice particularly from annie-c which I'll try not to repeat.

Effectively the vendors accepted both offers and is "game playing" to see who the first to complete a survey will be. It takes 2 to tango and I'm afraid I wouldn't join in, same as I wouldn't make offers on 2 properties at the same time.

Depends how much you want this house but personally I would restate the offer, strength of your position and set a time limit, say 48hrs, for them to accept and withdraw it from the market with the assurance that a survey will take place ASAP. If they want to continue game playing I would walk away and view other props.

BoL whatever you decide.

ukbondraider

Thanks for the replies.

Cant believe my poor spelling and sentence structure the above post. Was literally falling asleep at my study typing it yesterday having been up for almost 24 hours.

Anyway today I suggested to the vendors that if I were to give their EA a deposit as a gesture of my commitment to purchase whether they will then remove the property from the market. The vendors who have since put the property up in 4 different EA's due to their keeness surprisingly declined.

Somewhat annoyed, I decided to constructively use the remaining day to visit another EA down the road. Was luckily able to view 4 properties despite the short notice of which one really stood out. Although more expensive I immediately put in an offer near asking as I really wanted to secure it. This was accepted and they agreed to take it off the market upon the receipt of a small deposit.

As such things always happen I then later in the day get a phone call from the initial vendor's estate agent stating that the vendor has discussed my deposit proposal and would now like to accept it unaware of recent developments. Of course by this time they had lost me as a buyer and although I cant help feel for them in a way I know it was partly their fault due to their approach to the sale.

Not sure whether it was fate but the incident led me to a house which I didnt realise existed in the area at that price. I am very happy now.

Ian_W

Good news bondraider!

Always think with property, if it's meant to be it will happen. Maybe the first vendors will learn the lesson that if you mess people about, sometimes you're the one who comes unstuck - but there again, maybe they won't!!

Hope your purchase goes through smoothly.

nmiah786

Congragulations and all the best. Hope it goes smoothly.

monkey_writer

hello, we were apparently in competition with another bidder - but I don't trust these estate agents one jot. Our offer has been accepted, but they said they won't take the property off the market until we get the mortgage company's valuation survey done - as they said they had had buyers mess them about before.

I agreed to this, but I have just received a letter confirming the agreement from the estate agent with this: "Special conditions: to remain on the market until exchange of contracts."

I am going to call them tomorrow and say that this was NOT the agreement, and that this is not acceptable.

Every day I lose respect for these 'estate agents'. And since when did EAs start to become 'one stops shops' that try their very best to agressively push a variety of connected products onto you - overpriced solicitors, mortgage advisors........

Ian_W

Monkeywriter,
I wouldn't jump to the forgone conclussion that it's the EA who has done this. Like with bondraider it may well be the vendor who sees it as a way of keeping things moving. EA's want the sale to go through otherwise they don't get paid and whilst it's still on the market they incur costs - so what's the advantage to them?

BoL to-morrow.