Backhanders - & Estate Agents!

nadnad

Heres the thing - my sister is looking for a house - and has been for a while. She's seen a lot, shes made offers on a lot but she never gets the house.

She made an offer on a house a while ago and the EA told her another party were intersted - the bidding started going up £1k at a time - eventually my sis pulled out - two days later the EA phones to say the other party pulled out (apparently they had never viewed the house) who makes an offer on a house never seen? The EA asks would she like to go for the house again - she said no. To cut a (very) long story short she heard on the grape vine that there was no other bidder - surprise surprise EA made one up to get the price up. She has decided she doesn't want that house now - sour taste and all that.

Another house another story - she saw a house late one night and was the last to see it that night (the first day it was on the market) the EA (same guy) said if you're interested phone first thing tomorro, that there were no offers on the table - which she did - but the house was already sold deal done no more offers. It was quite sus.

We live in Northern Ireland - she lives in a small town in which there are about 3 estate agents so she can't avoid this man. But we are slowly working out that he's a bit of a gangster (aren't they all!).

We reckon he accepts backhanders from people and thats why some houses he has are sold without him even informing my sis that they've come on the market. And he obviously makes up phantom bids to push the price up. Sis is getting desparate and is starting to think the only way to get a house is to offer a backhander - I have advised against it - but has anyone any experience of this sort of thing and any advice as to how on earth she can get a house!!

sorry for the longwindedness!!

MORPH3US

The invention of other bidders is something we too have encountered. EA's doing this are scum, but at the end of the day, how do you prove it!

M

lynzpower

Is there an estate agent federation in NI she could complain to?

zag2me

I think Estate agents learn the "invented 2nd buyer" trick at EA school.

Oh thats it, they dont have an EA school, anyone can become one.

nadnad

no there is no estate agent "quality control" board or anything like that, that she can complain to - and as already said - how do you ever prove these things. The tough thing is thats she's stuck - she's looking for a house within a relatively small area - about a 10 mile radius from where she is and the problem is that there are so few EA's in this area, although she only suspects this one specifically of dodgy activities, thats mainly because he always seems to be the one to have the houses she wants.

lynzpower

Yeah, wonder why? Maybe its cos hes promising his vendors the moon on a stick & he secures positive outcomes by using lies & bribery. If I was her, Id set up some sort of bribe to him, video the whole thing and then set up a meeting with the manager. With a bit of luck he'll get fiired. At the end of the day, estate agency gets a bad rep from people like this, and its disgraceful.

nadnad

lynzpower wrote:

Yeah, wonder why? Maybe its cos hes promising his vendors the moon on a stick & he secures positive outcomes by using lies & bribery. If I was her, Id set up some sort of bribe to him, video the whole thing and then set up a meeting with the manager. With a bit of luck he'll get fiired. At the end of the day, estate agency gets a bad rep from people like this, and its disgraceful.

unfortunately - he is the manager and the owner etc - its a family run business as are most around here. therein lies the problem. also the fact taht this EA has been around for years means that many people sell their houses through him and go to him to buy.

silvercar

You have to live with this EA operating in your area. We have a similar one who openly invents buyers and also tells sellers who need pushing to accept offers that he knows their buyer has had a similar offer accepted on another property etc.

Three options:
a) notify the seller that you have put in an offer of XX. Get their phone number and verify everything the EA says with the seller.
b) offer the EA a backhander or tell him you will "see him right" if the sale goes through.
c) refuse to look at any property that he has sole agency for. (If you were desparate to view a property put a note through the door expressing interest but say you refuse to deal with their EA due to a previous bad experience).

lynzpower

God, right. Nightmare.

You might want to notify the seller then, and of course, once in process let them know what a conniving bit of scum he is.

Sorry, i really have no patience for scum like this

nadnad

silvercar wrote:

You have to live with this EA operating in your area. We have a similar one who openly invents buyers and also tells sellers who need pushing to accept offers that he knows their buyer has had a similar offer accepted on another property etc.

Three options:
a) notify the seller that you have put in an offer of XX. Get their phone number and verify everything the EA says with the seller.
b) offer the EA a backhander or tell him you will "see him right" if the sale goes through.
c) refuse to look at any property that he has sole agency for. (If you were desparate to view a property put a note through the door expressing interest but say you refuse to deal with their EA due to a previous bad experience).

i think the first option is perhaps the best, although nothing is ideal is it! i'm going to be selling my house next year and this has scared me - how do we know that the EA is telling us the truth - we may sell it ourselves - save us the commision!

linlin_3

If your sister can identify specific areas where she'd like to buy a house, why not try a leaflet drop, see if anyone wants to sell?