Does this sound dodgy ( estate agents)

new_home_owner_3

We offered on a house, started low and the offers were rejected, in the end i asked what they wanted and offered that, the estate agent then said the vendor would accept that, now the estate agent keeps saying the vendors are away and as they have not accepted the offer they can not take the house off the market.

This was over a week ago and the estate agents are still showing other potential buyers around the house, do you think the sellers are hanging out to see if they can get more?

The thing is the house has been on the market 1 year and as sold three time s before, but for one reason or another its fell through, due to people not being able to get the mortgage.

Now we have proved the mortgage with the esate agent, but i think we are being played, im now thinking of walking away as we have seen another property we are interested in, and i dont really want to be playing silly games with sellers and estate agents.

The thing that makes me think we are being played is the estate agent came back within a couple of hours of when are offers where low and rejected, but as soon as i offered what they would accept, they can not get in touch with the vendors.

what do you people think?

pie81

Why not say that your offer expires at the end of today and if you haven't had a response by then it will be withdrawn?

if the agent is lying and actually can contact the seller then this should get a response sharpish.

if the agent is not lying and really can't contact the seller, well the seller can always come back to you once they return from holiday and see if you are willing to re-make your offer.

new_home_owner_3

pie81 wrote: »

Why not say that your offer expires at the end of today and if you haven't had a response by then it will be withdrawn?

if the agent is lying and actually can contact the seller then this should get a response sharpish.

if the agent is not lying and really can't contact the seller, well the seller can always come back to you once they return from holiday and see if you are willing to re-make your offer.

that sounds like a good idea, i think i will do that, the thing is we are in a position to complete in 4 to 6 weeks and having it fall through a few times already, you would have thought the vendors would have jumped at a quick sale.

We have already been gazumped on one property already, they accepted a offer of us then someone came in with a bigger offer and they took that, i dont blame them, but they had to go into a chain to get the higher offer.

I think a lot of chains are breaking down due to people not getting mortgages, and the house we had the offer on and was gazumped as just come back on the market due to the buyers house falling through.

We have had a call to see if we want to make a offer, but im not going to go there again as of what happened before.

chickmug

Sellers do mess everyone around as well as some EA's. One minute a seller will say one thing to us and then change their mind but usually always blame the EA.

HOWEVER there is NO NO NO excuse for the EA not keeping you better informed. I hate to say it but yes you can tell them to stuff it BUT with the number of poor agents around you may end up telling them all to stuff it and NEVER buy anywhere:eek:

googler

pie81 wrote: »

Why not say that your offer expires at the end of today and if you haven't had a response by then it will be withdrawn?

Agreed, why be so open-ended about it?

Put it in writing, put a limit date beyond which it will be assumed to be withdrawn if not accepted, and wait.

If accepted immediately, fine.

If not accepted by limit date/time, go look at other houses.

If they come back AFTER the limit date (i.e. the vendors have genuinely been away and not contactable) to see if you're still interested, resubmit your offer (£500 below the first one?) and see if they accept within limit date this time

new_home_owner_3

all done, gave them till the end of the day with the offer. told them it will be withdrawn until they can listen and respond to offers in a certain time limit..

I dont think we will offer the same amount if it goes beyond the deadline, go in with a lower offer and see what happens.

not_loaded

googler wrote: »

Agreed, why be so open-ended about it?
Put it in writing, put a limit date beyond which it will be assumed to be withdrawn if not accepted, and wait.
If accepted immediately, fine.
If not accepted by limit date/time, go look at other houses.
If they come back AFTER the limit date (i.e. the vendors have genuinely been away and not contactable) to see if you're still interested, resubmit your offer (£500 below the first one?) and see if they accept within limit date this time

I agree, except I’d be looking at other houses all along.

Offers are never written in stone, and sellers will mess you about and let you down.

Don’t fall for one property and pursue it endlessly. They’ll take advantage.

Fire_Fox

I'd look at other houses with the same estate agent, that usually makes them realise they have let the sale slip through their fingers.

new_home_owner_3

The estate agents have now been in touch and told us someone as offered 3000 pound more but they are in a chain, i suppose they will probably go with the higher offer. they still said they can not contact the sellers.

I suppose we will just have to move on, i would go back to the original house, but the way the vendors dropped us at the earliest attempt, im inclined not to go there.

I didnt realise how stressfull house buying can be, but dealing with these estate agents makes me wonder how they sleep at night.

not_loaded

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I'd look at other houses with the same estate agent, that usually makes them realise they have let the sale slip through their fingers.

Nice one! :T

not_loaded

new_home_owner wrote: »

The estate agents have now been in touch and told us someone as offered 3000 pound more…

Walking away, and looking at other properties will either flush this out as a lie, OR you bid higher (I suspect you don’t want to do that), OR you then find somewhere else you like at just as good a price.

Hope it works out for you!