EA requesting formal offer at their office?

Jorgan_2

Tass, an agent can't claim a fee just because the buyer is registered with them. If a property is on with more than one agent and agent one has introduced a buyer & entered into negotiations with that buyer, who later goes onto exchange contracts, they will be entitled to their fee. If negotiations break down between buyer & agent one & buyer re-starts negotiations with agent two and goes onto exchange contracts then they are also entitled to their fee.

Just to clarify, a buyer will only exchange once on a property, but both agents had negotiations with the buyer. The agents agreement will contain a phrase along the lines of 'commision due to us if at any time unconditional contracts for the property are exchanged with a purchaser introduced by us during our agency period or with whom we had negotiations about the property during that period.

Tassotti

Thanks Jorgan. Super agent to the rescue.

So if the seller now advertises privately on a website and buyer deals directly with vendor, are both agents entitled to their fee (assuming negotiations with both EAs)?

Actually, I think I know the answer..No, as the agreement will not be sole selling rights nor sole agency

Is that right? Am I getting too over-complicated?

I think so. Going mad

Jorgan_2

Tassotti wrote:

Thanks Jorgan. Super agent to the rescue.

So if the seller now advertises privately on a website and buyer deals directly with vendor, are both agents entitled to their fee (assuming negotiations with both EAs)?

Is that right? Am I getting too over-complicated?

I think so. Going mad

It all depends on the wording of the agreement that the vendor has with their agents. If a buyer has been found using private means & they have had no negotiations with the agent and a sole selling rights agreement is not in place, then no fee should be payable to agents. Always check the agents agreement as they are worded differently.

F_T_Buyer

Have you asked yourself why they need to review your 'position' even before accepting the offer?

I've heard it so many times that they need you to approve your offer. If that were genuine they would want to see how they can afford it AFTER they have accepted your offer.

If you went to buy a car with cash, would you show the seller how much cash you have in your pocket before the offer being accepted? I wouldn't.

DON'T FALL FOR IT!

Red_Elle

I was unbelievably pressured by Sharman Quinney to go into their office so that they could 'clarify my position.' I told them I was happy to fax over my AIM, but they said that wasn't good enough and I needed to meet with the mortgage advisor to verify everything. So I said,

"let me get this right, even though you legally have to present the vendor with every offer that you receive on the house, you are not prepared to do this unless I come into the office. I was under the impression that to imply that I needed to meet with your mortgage consultant because offer can only be based upon that would be a breach of EA regulations. Just want to get this straight in my head and make sure that you couldn't possibly be implying that surely"

He completely backtracked and assured me that that was not what was being implied and that of course I could fax over my AIP etc and then spent the next 10 mins grovelling to ensure that I didn't actually report them.

Jorgan_2

F_T_Buyer wrote:

Have you asked yourself why they need to review your 'position' even before accepting the offer?

I've heard it so many times that they need you to approve your offer. If that were genuine they would want to see how they can afford it AFTER they have accepted your offer.

In a perfect world you would just accept that if a buyer told you they could afford something, they actually could. A good EA will 'check' a buyers ability to afford the offer they have put forward, it may even help the buyer to secure the property if the EA goes to the vendor & tells them that they have verified the buyers ability to get a mortgage.

The EA can check the buyers ability to afford what they have offered e.g. speaking to the buyers broker or getting the buyer in to see their own broker.

There is nothing wrong with an EA checking to see if a buyer can actually afford what they have offered. Using under hand & what appears to be down right lies by the EA in this case is wrong. If the agent(s) in question are honest as to why they want the buyer to go into the office, their buyers would have a lot more respect for them & they may even pick up some mortgage business on the odd occassion that they can save the buyer some money on their mortgage.

F_T_Buyer

Jorgan wrote:

In a perfect world you would just accept that if a buyer told you they could afford something, they actually could. A good EA will 'check' a buyers ability to afford the offer they have put forward, it may even help the buyer to secure the property if the EA goes to the vendor & tells them that they have verified the buyers ability to get a mortgage.

The EA can check the buyers ability to afford what they have offered e.g. speaking to the buyers broker or getting the buyer in to see their own broker.

There is nothing wrong with an EA checking to see if a buyer can actually afford what they have offered. Using under hand & what appears to be down right lies by the EA in this case is wrong. If the agent(s) in question are honest as to why they want the buyer to go into the office, their buyers would have a lot more respect for them & they may even pick up some mortgage business on the odd occassion that they can save the buyer some money on their mortgage.

I'm not objecting an EA to see an Agreement in Principle, but why doens't the EA say (after speaking to the vendor of course) "yes your offer is accepted, after you have shown your AIP".

What seems to be happening is the EA seeing your AIP (or selling you one via their broker) and then saying "no, your offer is too low".

Jorgan_2

FTB, would you accept an offer from some body without knowing if they can afford to purchase the product? Selling property is different to selling other products, the process is a lot longer & more stressful. I you wanted to buy a 39p chocolate bar, but only had 25p on you, the shop owner wouldn't sell it to you. If you buy a £15,000 car, the garage is going to ensure you can afford to pay the finance before driving off in it. In both of these cases there is a relativley short time scale involved from offering the money to getting or not getting the product. With a property, you could be looking at 3-4 weeks before a buyer finds out they can't get the mortgage they thought they could, by which time people have made plans, offered on their next home etc. People become emotionaly involved, they are after all selling their home, not a pile of bricks.

There are also a lot of variables involved with peoples finances, just because their mate in work, bloke down the pub/on internet said they could get a mortgage of £xx,000, it doesn't mean they can.

Tassotti

I think the whole ' can you afford it' debate has its merits.

However, a friend of mine today says she wants to buy a flat in central london. As she 'knows I know about this stuff', can she pick my brains.

Okay i go head.

Oh, my, forgot what a minefield it is for FTBs.

I look back and realised I researched until I couldn't research anymore.

This FTB (and many others) think that there only option is to buy a BTL as an "investment" and then get on the property ladder..

I cringe. Althought I have been successful, I would not encourage anyone to go this route....How can you successfully manage a BTL when you don't know how the property market works?

As meanmachine said in a previous post, his neighbour, the local priest and the milkman wan't to BTL, it is not tht simple, and people will get burnt

Leave it to the professionals
Tass

sleepy

I was a FTB and offered on my house in December. The agents forwarded my offers to the vendors and we agreed on a price. The withdrawal of the house from the market was then conditional on a copy of my morgage pinciple. This way a price was agreed before the agents knew if they could squeeze any more out of me, but the vendors didn't risk taking the house off the market without knowing if I was serious and could afford. I simply faxed a copy of my morgage promise across to the agents the day after the offer was accepted and they then immediatly stopped advertising the house. Seemed like a good system to me.