Raging at the EA

danlojo

Basically...

We have now offered a final £320k on a £359k house and the husband wants to sell as we are FTB, have large deposit, MIP in place and can move quick and whenever but the wife wants more.

Houses in the area the same have sold for £297 - £335k so it's massively overpriced as stated by 2 other EA's They purchased it from new in 2004 for £330k and have done nothing but decorate it.

It's been on the market for nearly 10 weeks now and has had no other viewings except our 2. The husband has now started his new job 100 miles away and stays with friends whilst the wife stays in the house.

I spoke to the EA again the other day and AGAIN asked what they're likely to accept and as normal he said he had no idea. He says that they dont tell him anything and are keeping their cards close to their chest.

He then went on to get quite rude and basically told me that the offer of ours is on the table and to stop contacting them:mad: and that they would be in touch if they needed to be.

Is this normal for EA's???

I know anyone will only sell their home for the money they want but I'm really annoyed at the way the EA spoke to me:mad:

DVardysShadow

So how long has your offer been on the table? Longer than a week? Has the offer been put thought to the vendors?

It looks to me like it has been rejected, but the sellers don't have the courage of their convictions to reject it outright, and the Agent is too ignorant to convey the message in a helpful way which maintains a relationship with you.

Or it may be that the Agent is hanging on to your offer until the Easter Weekend is done, to see if there is a better offer, before passing your offer on to the seller.

In your position, I would move on. There are some sellers and some Agents, particularly in combination whom you cannot sensibly deal with.

danlojo

Offer has been 'on the table' as EA says for at least 4 weeks now.

He's apparently not been 'in the job' long but surely he wouldnt be so rude as he has been if he's a newbie?

We got email addy and contact numbers from owners (offered to us by them) when we viewed but I was always told not to have contact with them but the way the EA has been makes me want to drop them an email asking if we are in with a chance? Would that be a bad thing?

We would like to know if they are not going to accept anything below £330k and then we can move on and discount this house but we really like it and it ticks a lot of boxes but we wouldnt want to stretch anymore with the budget.

I'm so angry with him

DVardysShadow

Normally I would not contact seller except via Agent, but as you are not getting a clear answer from the Agent and sellers gave you contact details. I think it is quite in order to contact them and state that your offer has been in for 4 weeks and you have not have a clear answer, just a rather rude brush off from the agent, could they please get the Agent to get back in touch with a clear answer.

Somehow, I think seller is fully au fait with what agent is doing, so get on and look at other properties

googler

Standard practice in Scotland is for offers to be in writing, and for them to have a limit date on them; if not accepted verbally by close of business same day, and in writing by 3-4 days, they're assumed to have lapsed. Sometimes a seller's agent will declare a closing date, in which case this clause is generally given some flexibility.

Why don't you put your offer in writing and specify that it should be accepted or declined within 3, 5, or 7 days?

danlojo

We have had a letter from the EA stating that we have offered x amount for the stated house and it has been put on file?????

Maybe I'll email the sellers and ask whats going on. Then we can completely forget this house.

DVardysShadow

danlojo wrote: »

We have had a letter from the EA stating that we have offered x amount for the stated house and it has been put on file?????

Maybe I'll email the sellers and ask whats going on. Then we can completely forget this house.

Ah! Now you tell us.

Basically, the seller does not have the guts to reject your offer and is hoping a better offer will come along. When you recieved that letter, you should have written back and told them that it would be withdrawn after 7 days unless the seller wished to negotiate. And then walked if you were ignored. I am surprised that they have not tried to negotiate a better price with you however.

In the current circumstances, I would suggest you don't even bother to communicate further, you just walk away and view other properties. I think you have not sent the right messages to get any response

tootsmyboots

If they havent responded after this time I would assume it is rejected and carry on viewing. But only arrange viewings if you are actually interested in the other houses. I think I would be tempted to arrange one with the same agent so they know you are still looking, but make sure they know you are looking at another with a different agent also. This sends the message that you have moved on. The sellers may be waiting to see if you up your offer. But you have to remember no matter how good you think your offer is, they sellers will have a figure in mind that they wont shift from no matter how much they want to move. Whether they will ever achieve that is anybody's guess.

danlojo

I think you have not sent the right messages to get any response

Maybe as FTB we werent sure but we offered the first amount after the 2nd viewing and then a week later offered our final offer and I have contacted the EA at least once every 10 days since (which is maybe why he is getting tetchy?)

I dont know what else we could have done.

I told the EA that we needed to know so we could discount this house but as I said he says they know about the offer and it's on file. They rejected the first offer straight away. On the second he just said it was on file.

They know we like the house and they know I had been to the local schools but as you say maybe they're holding out for a better offer and we need to forget it and look elsewhere.

We dont even know if an extra 5 or 10k would do it but we could maybe go up slightly (with the help of parents) but there has been no negotiation offered.

DVardysShadow

danlojo wrote: »

I think you have not sent the right messages to get any response

Maybe as FTB we werent sure but we offered the first amount after the 2nd viewing and then a week later offered our final offer and I have contacted the EA at least once every 10 days since (which is maybe why he is getting tetchy?)

I dont know what else we could have done.

I told the EA that we needed to know so we could discount this house but as I said he says they know about the offer and it's on file. They rejected the first offer straight away. On the second he just said it was on file.

They know we like the house and they know I had been to the local schools but as you say maybe they're holding out for a better offer and we need to forget it and look elsewhere.

We dont even know if an extra 5 or 10k would do it but we could maybe go up slightly (with the help of parents) but there has been no negotiation offered.

The normal way to proceed after an offer is rejected is to seek some indication of what would be an acceptable offer. Is this what happened between first and second viewing? Other than that, it looks like you appear too keen - for example ringing them when they should ring you and the fact that you have looked at local schools. Possibly your offer is kept on file to see if you can be squeezed for more as the start of the new school year draws closer?

danlojo

We offered after 2nd viewing then re-offered a week later.

I suppose we shouldnt have seemed too keen but then that's a learning curve for us on being a FTB. We had viewed other houses but this one was or seemed to be the one.

The annoying thing is that the hubby was so keen to sell but the wifey obviously got her way. They wanted to be out of there before April (or so he said)

I have told the EA that we wanted to know what the score was because I didnt want to start viewing other houses and then they come back to us a few weeks later.

I did say to my other half that I hope we find something else and when they come asking for a sale, have the opportunity to tell them in a nice way...to ram it.