Which prospective buyers get to cherry pick the EA's properties?

harrup

I'm about to throw in the towel in ever buying a new property.

I have no idea why but there MUST be something about us which causes EA's not to take us seriously.

The ONLY properties we are offered are those who are overtly overpriced, have been on the market for yonks and/or don't even remotely conform to the specifications given to the EA.

Those we WOULD like and would be interested in , we never even get to see! They come on the market and no sooner have they appeared in the paper or on the agent's website ( and a great many dont) - they are seemingly under offer or SSTC.

Is it because we haven't put our house up for sale? But why would we since a purchase isn't contigent on us selling our house. Chances are high that the new property would require some building work and why would we rent if we don't have to. We have pets and there aren't an overabundance of securely fenced rental properties around. Most importantly what if there aren't any properties coming on that I like a lot better than the home we already own in the imminent future? I'm not selling my house, my home, just to humour an EA.

But as sure as water is wet I know that the local EA's aren't taking us seriously. Which is why when a promising property comes on the market we don't even hear about it. It's supposedly "SOLD" before we - and presumably many others - get a chance to even view it.

So.....WHO are those fortunate people who get to cherry pick those desirable properties? Do they bribe the agent with hard cash? Buy them sweeties and wine?* Flirt with the agent? Pester them relentlessly? Or what?

Do we need to demonstrate to the EAs that we HAVE the funds required to buy another property outright via letter from the bank? Or....? I really like to know. What do I have to do to get onto their "lets tell Mr & Mrs X about that house before we start marketing it" list? And there IS such a list....never mind what anyone says.

* only kidding - I presume these are folks who already sold their homes via that agent?

Running_Horse

If you miss out on a really good property you could always put in a better offer.

Keep phoning the EAs to see if anything is coming up. Our agent arranged several viewings on day one with prospective buyers on his books.

marcg

No, you are right - you need to demonstrate to the EAs that you have the money. A bank statement should do it. Otherwise you are just another timewaster, flirting with the idea of buying, IF you can sell your house, IF you can get a mortgage, IF IF IF.

The fact you say you are a cash buyer isn't the same as showing someone the proof. Be absolutely clear about what you want and your ability to complete and you are suddenly flavour of the week. "Proceedable" is the term.

princeofpounds

Friends/relatives of EA.
Backhanders to EA.
Very regular customers of EA.
Immediately proceedable buyers.
People alphabetically above you in the calling list.
Fake listings.

Can be all sorts of reasons, some fair, some underhand. Probably less underhand ones than you might imagine, given that mates of EAs can only buy so many properties!

The thing to do if you really think you are being done over is look up the owner in the land registry and write to them, or even just put your letter through the door.

An EA can totally ignore you as much as they like if they want to, although seeing as they get paid by sales their interest is not to ignore you.. The only exception to this is if you submit an offer in writing, which legally must be put to the vendor unless the vendor has instructed otherwise (will only consider above a certain value, for instance).

If someone else has offered and the process has gone some way, agents will often be very keen not to show it to anyone else, as they don't want to disrupt the transaction. If the offer is very new they might be more keen as they will see an opportunity to up their commission.

To be honest, if you see a continuous pattern of this sort of pre-marketing behaviour why not ask the agents why you appear to be missing out? They must have some sort of explanation.

googler

How many EAs would you say you've experienced this with?

How many EAs are there in your local area (or your target buying area, if not local?)

VIGILANT22

[QUOTE=harrup_So.....WHO are those fortunate people who get to cherry pick those desirable properties? * QUOTE]

Those who are in a position to buy!!...EA are in the business of house sales, ie they have to sell houses to have a business....

MissMotivation

The best buyer I ever had was one that made a nuisance of himself, however, he provided me with all the info I asked for, provided proof that he could afford the property and rang me at 9.30am every morning to see what I had listed the day before.

When I finally took on a property that met his criteria he dropped everything to view the property, rang back with feedback, made a realistic offer and instructed his Solicitors and applied for his mortgage the same day.

He was a delight to deal with and on the day of completion bought me a huge box of Maltesers :rotfl:

Guess who was the first person I called when I had a decent property that came onto the market?

A few ideas

Does the EA know you can proceed without selling?
Do you return their calls promptly?
Have you provided proof you can afford to buy?
Have you been into the office and introduced yourself?

harrup

marcg wrote: »

No, you are right - you need to demonstrate to the EAs that you have the money. A bank statement should do it. Otherwise you are just another timewaster, flirting with the idea of buying, IF you can sell your house, IF you can get a mortgage, IF IF IF.

The fact you say you are a cash buyer isn't the same as showing someone the proof. Be absolutely clear about what you want and your ability to complete and you are suddenly flavour of the week. "Proceedable" is the term.

That's what I thought.

To a certain extent I can even appreciate the EA's ...what shall I call it?...reluctance.

Unlike most people we haven't continuously traded up in small increments. We are in the same 4 bed house we bought 22 years ago. And the financial jump from this to our intended property is a big one. I can ( partly) understand that the EA's are reluctant to believe, on our verbal assertion alone, that we have the necessary cash just hanging around without selling this house. Since we don't wear Gucci shoes and that kinda stuff :rotfl:

The only HUGE hesitation I have.... if we play with a totally open hand divulging all our liquid assets to the EA - won't we end up paying far more for a house than otherwise? Me thinks yes. Just because we have the means doesn't mean we intend to sink it ALLl into brick & mortar.

harrup

VIGILANT22 wrote: »

[QUOTE=harrup_So.....WHO are those fortunate people who get to cherry pick those desirable properties? * QUOTE]

Those who are in a position to buy!!...EA are in the business of house sales, ie they have to sell houses to have a business....

You are missing the point - we ARE in a position to buy. It doesn't matter whether we have sold our existing house or not

But somehow the EA seems reluctant to believe that.

harrup

MissMotivation wrote: »

A few ideas

Does the EA know you can proceed without selling?
Do you return their calls promptly?
Have you provided proof you can afford to buy?
Have you been into the office and introduced yourself?

Yes, they ought to, we told them often enough.
We don't get calls...only emails with houses not matching our criteria
No
yes

Its obvious that the sticking point is #3!!!

Cissi

harrup wrote: »

That's what I thought.

To a certain extent I can even appreciate the EA's ...what shall I call it?...reluctance.

Unlike most people we haven't continuously traded up in small increments. We are in the same 4 bed house we bought 22 years ago. And the financial jump from this to our intended property is a big one. I can ( partly) understand that the EA's are reluctant to believe, on our verbal assertion alone, that we have the necessary cash just hanging around without selling this house. Since we don't wear Gucci shoes and that kinda stuff :rotfl:

The only HUGE hesitation I have.... if we play with a totally open hand divulging all our liquid assets to the EA - won't we end up paying far more for a house than otherwise? Me thinks yes. Just because we have the means doesn't mean we intend to sink it ALLl into brick & mortar.

I completely agree with you - no WAY would I let an EA (or anyone else) see all my financial cards! We bought last year as cash buyers and not once were we asked to provide proof of our situation. If we had, we may have been prepared to provide some partial info, but we certainly wouldn't have shared our full situation, for exactly the same reason as you. We had the cash, yes, but it was nobody's business how much of it we were willing to spend!

Now granted, we had sold our previous house a few years earlier and were renting; in your situation you may need to provide some proof that you can indeed raise the necessary finance. I'd keep it as vague as possible though!

To start with, why not go in to the EAs in question and have a frank chat about your situation, stressing how proceedable you are and that any purchase will be completely independent from selling your current house. Who knows, this may help?