House Buying

saint1001

Can anyone give me some ideas have 150k cash looking to buy my first property put an offer in on a house which requires modernisation its on the market at 299k i put an offer in of 265k found agents not very helpful and don't even know if they told the vendor of my offer any help whould be very appreciated

ethansmum

Contact the vendor yourself- ie letter through the door. Mention that it needs work and state your offer, you have nothing to lose by trying.

sashacat

I thought agents were legally obliged to inform sellers of all offers...at least this is what estate agents told my son when he was buying...they can always recommend that the offer be refused

SharedSpaces

I have to agree. It is my understanding that one of the laws that govern the Estate Agency profession requires the agent to put forward any offer made to them, whatever their personal feelings may be about whether it will be accepted. My suggestion would be to put the offer in writing to the agent so you have proof that it was made, and to quote that you understand that they are required by law to put the offer to the vendors, and you look forward to heaing from them soon with a response.

There is only one circumstance that I know of when an agent does not need to put forward an offer, and that is when their client the property seller has specifically instructed them in writing that they will not accept offers below a certain figure and that they should not be informed of these. It is my understanding that the law is there to protect the seller not the buyer and therefore they can wave this right. Of course all of this should be checked with your solicitor to be sure.

You might want to look at this link from the Office of Fair Trading who are responsible for maintaining the Estate Agents Act which is the main legal document that governs how Estate Agents work:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/Estate/estate+agents+act+handling+negotiations.htm#inform

<Advertising removed by Pal>

Doozergirl

Any decent agent will send a notice of offer to both the vendor and the person making the offer.

If you're not sure your offer was received, I'd see no harm in dropping a note through the door with your telephone number asking them to call you. £265,000 is a pretty low starting point - have you done your homework and compared it to other properties? As long as you're confident that they shouldn't laugh at you then drop them that note!

Ian_W

SharedSpaces,
You wouldn't by any chance be trying to promote your company website at "shared spaces" would you Richard? Only the link in your signature isn't allowed under Board rules as I understand them and when it's not in your signature it's in the body of your previous posts.
Perhaps just me being an old cynic but it is a discussion forum not an advertising medium.

david29dpo

Ian_W wrote:

SharedSpaces,
You wouldn't by any chance be trying to promote your company website at "shared spaces" would you Richard? Only the link in your signature isn't allowed under Board rules as I understand them and when it's not in your signature it's in the body of your previous posts.
Perhaps just me being an old cynic but it is a discussion forum not an advertising medium.

i saw this. glad its been removed.

saint1001

Doozergirl wrote:

Any decent agent will send a notice of offer to both the vendor and the person making the offer.

If you're not sure your offer was received, I'd see no harm in dropping a note through the door with your telephone number asking them to call you. £265,000 is a pretty low starting point - have you done your homework and compared it to other properties? As long as you're confident that they shouldn't laugh at you then drop them that note!

Thanks Doozergirl for your reply i ve done my homework for that area and they are selling for around 300k but the house requires a total refurb
the property has now been on the market for about 5 months looks like they are going to hold out for the asking price but i dont think they will get it

Tassotti

Depends on the vendors' agreement with the agents. If you buy the place 'privately' with an agreement between you and the vendor, they may still be liable for estate agents fees.

If you are registered with the agent, they will have to pay (or you, if you factor this in to the agreed price)

Check the agreement, offer your price, and buy it.