Backhanders - & Estate Agents!

nadnad

Altarf wrote:

If I was the vendor I would be very annoyed if the EA didn't do everything they could to get the best possible price for me. I wouldn't care what they said or did to get it, provided it wasn't illegal.

People forget the EA is not working for the buyer, they are working for the vendor.

As for giving the EA a backhander. If I was the vendor and found out that the buyer and EA had conspired to obtain my house at an undervalued price... At a minimum the police would be involved very rapidly.

we haven't forgotten that the EA is working for the vendors - that is obvious - however this particular EA is employing very suspect methods to line his own pocket. It is blatent that he accepts backhanders - and if I were a vendor of course I would be outraged to find this out especially if I hadn't received top price for my house - but this doesn't help innocent people like my sister who cannot get a house for love nor money! she has been looking for an age and is getting desparate.

Altarf you seem to think that its okay for EA's to invent interested parties to bump the offer up - do you really think this is fair?

Cheesedoodles

Really sorry for digging up a 3 year old thread!! But it's the only topic with "backhanders" in the title so I though i would continue the discussion.

We are in process of buying a house. We saw a property last saturday which we liked the look of but it required a lot of work (which is fine by us) we just wanted to make sure it was right so phoned up monday morning to arrange a second viewing. We were then told the house had 4 offers and that one had been accepted.

We were not even given the chance to put in an offer....what if ours what higher??? This strikes me as bizarre....

We then contacted the owner directly as we managed to find their number and they were happy for us to go see it again but they wanted to let the estate agent know. The estate agent phoned us up giving us a "bollocking" and saying the house is sold and the owners don't want us to see it...... We haven't seen the house yet as we've been unable to contact the owners... We suspect the agent has told them some lies about us!!

On tuesday another property came up with a different estate agent and I phoned up to arrange a viewing only to be told it's been sold already... Who i their right mind sells a house after 1 day on the market. Surely it's in their interest to have it up there for a longer period of time to ensure enough people can view it and put in an offer.

Both these properties have been houses that need a lot of work doing and we suspect it's property developers doing backhanders with the agens and barring us from making an offer and seeing the house...

Has anyone else had similar issues?

googler

Who sells their house after 1 day on the market?

Someone who wants a quick sale. Someone who needs to move quickly. Someone who got the price they wanted within 1 day. Someone who might feel that if they reject the offer from the person who offered within 1 day, that person might walk away, and they might not get another offer within the timeframe they want.

There's loads of threads here where people have offered on one house, been rejected, and the overwhelming advice from the group here is "Don't increase your offer, walk away, 'cos there'll be another suitable house round the corner/next week/next month"

If the owner reads here, they'll probably bite the fingers off the first person to make them an offer .....

googler

"..... phoned up monday morning to arrange a second viewing. We were then told the house had 4 offers and that one had been accepted.

We were not even given the chance to put in an offer....what if ours what higher??? This strikes me as bizarre...."

You mean you wanted the chance to gazump the person whose offer had been accepted?

Turn this around - if you had been the person who offered first, and a week, two weeks later, someone else put in an offer higher than yours and the owners told you to take a hike, how would you feel?

Cheesedoodles

googler wrote: »

"..... phoned up monday morning to arrange a second viewing. We were then told the house had 4 offers and that one had been accepted.

We were not even given the chance to put in an offer....what if ours what higher??? This strikes me as bizarre...."

You mean you wanted the chance to gazump the person whose offer had been accepted?

Turn this around - if you had been the person who offered first, and a week, two weeks later, someone else put in an offer higher than yours and the owners told you to take a hike, how would you feel?

I can see I touched a nerve here. Not wanting to gazump but f I was the buyer I would have wanted the estate agent to get as many offers in as possible and the estate agent knew we were interested. They must be interested in selling the houes for as much as possible and should have notified us that several offers were made and asked if we wanted to make an offer as well. After all we viewed the property the day before.

I'm from another western european country and buying a house there is very different from the shrude UK market. Just my opnion of course and entirely biased and I am probably going to get flamed now....so I'll go away

googler

"I can see I touched a nerve here. Not wanting to gazump but f I was the buyer I would have wanted the estate agent to get as many offers in as possible and the estate agent knew we were interested. They must be interested in selling the houes for as much as possible and should have notified us that several offers were made and asked if we wanted to make an offer as well. After all we viewed the property the day before.

I'm from another western european country ........"

No, I'm not flaming you, just asking what you were expecting.

You do mean "if I was the seller" ....?

I am surprised the agent didn't see if you were going to put an offer in once they had four on the table, but with four already on the table, maybe the seller thought that was all they'd get and thought they had enough to make a decision.

Cheesedoodles

googler wrote: »

You do mean "if I was the seller" ....?

I am surprised the agent didn't see if you were going to put an offer in once they had four on the table, but with four already on the table, maybe the seller thought that was all they'd get and thought they had enough to make a decision.

Yes, i meant if I was the seller. My logic tells me it moved to quick. Friday it came on the market. Saturday we viewed it. Sunday we thought about it and decided to view it again as we were seriously interested. Monday morning we phoned the agent and they said it's already gone and they had 4 offers on it. It just doesn't sound right.

googler

A true EA works 7 days a week.... maybe.

Cheesedoodles

Perhaps this is just the UK system. Where I'm from it usually works like this:

Estate agents holds several open days for a house where anyone interested can view the property. Offers need to be made by a deadline and if accepted by the seller it is legally binding from there on....no gazumping, nor backhanders. It is all very very regulated. The seller can of course agree to decline any offers and the process starts again.

As a buyer you need proof you can actually afford to buy the place (cash or mortgage offer) and if you pull out as a buyer there are hefty fees to be paid.

Personally, i prefer that system, but then again, I am biased :beer:

itmakessense

Funniest thing I read in this thread is that someone thinks that an estate agent went to school!!!

They do not have schools for slugs living under stones!!

It is easy to find out who the seller is, then notify them of the offer in writing, you can insist that the agent notifies the vendor, but they are all liars so you will never know.

Offer to use their recommended lawyer then change to your own as soon as offer is accepted, they get paid by the lawyer they use you see.

Good luck