Repossession Property & An Obstructive Estate Agent

tbaines71

I called an EA about a property last week, I was told that the property was a repo, the EA advised me that it wasn’t worth putting in a offer because I could lose valuation and solicitor fees and would be just a waste of time. I thought she was just being nice by advising me of the pitfalls.

I was speaking to a friend at work, I explained to him about the repo I had enquired about the week before, having brought a repo property before, he wasn’t surprised at all and told me to call them back, and tell them that you would like to make an offer on the property, and make to make an appointment to view it also.

I called the EA and told them that I wanted to make a offer, I was told again that it wasn’t worth it, I asked the EA what was the offer on the property, The EA told me that it was £110,000, I explained to her that I was prepared to offer £115,000 (similar properties in the same street are selling for £150,000)

The EA took some details from me, she then made an appointment to view the property but explained to me that I would need to see their FA before the viewing, I explained to her that I had already obtained a mortgage offer in principle, but if they would like to see proof of funding, I'd be more than happy to visit them at their offices first.

When I arrived at the offices, I showed the FA my mortgage offer in principle but he was having none of it, he demanded that I let him credit check me before I could even view the property, I explained to him I have never heard of this, I told him that I had viewed a property through one of their other branches just the other week and wasn’t asked to be credit checked before I could view the property, the FA told me that the other branch wasn’t doing their job properly, and that the EA policy is to credit check anyone who wants to view a property!! He kept saying to me he could understand why I didn’t want to be credit checked, saying that I must have something to hide! I was shocked at the way he was carrying on. I don’t want to exaggerate what happened in anyway, but to me it felt like he was being very obstructive, as if he personally had a interest in the property and didn’t want me to view it at all.

After the FA being reluctant to let me view the property, I am not at all confident that if I submit my offer, it will be put to the vendor. I have been advised by out of town branch, to contact their head office, explain to them what happened, and to submit my offer through them, as all offers are logged through head office anyway. The lady explained to me, as a manager of her office she would not tolerate such behaviour and can't even understand where he has got his information.

I will be submitting an offer tomorrow, I will keep you posted; any further advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

G_M

Whether you do it through the branch or head office, put your offer in writing.

You could find out who the bank is and try contacting their repossessions dept (check who has a Charge on the property at the Land registry).

The agent is right that repois are risky - you can have your offer accepted, fork out on surveys, mortgage applications etc and then lose it as the bank HAS to keep marketing it right up to Exchange.

However it sounds like the agent is doing a deal - buying it cut-price themselves, or chanelling it to a friend, developer etc perhaps for a kickback.

Do everything in writing and try to get responses in writing too!

JayCee

I started a similar thread yesterday, after suffering similar problems with Agents.

I couldn't even get to view 3 repossessed properties and the 1 that I did get to see, I put in 2 offers that I considered to be reasonable, as they were both more than the last selling price of the property, but the Agent told me that the Vendor wanted 'considerably more', but claimed that he didn't know how much.

I was of the opinion that my offers were not forwarded to the Lender and I never got any receipt for my offers, so I'll be giving them a call tomorrow.

The link to my thread, which has some other posts that may be useful to you, is here......

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2586261

Doozergirl

You reminded me that I've used the speaking to the manager of another branch method in the past with great success. It was about three years ago but I was getting nowhere with the manager of one agency so I phoned another and I had the area director on the phone within the hour

When you make an offer, you should receive a 'notification of offer' which will also detail the people dealing witht the sale. Make sure you tell them that you'll be expecting that notification of offer in the post.

tbaines71

Thanks G_M much appreciated. A lady at the EA has already let slip that it was a developer who had offered the 110k.

nikki1520

We bought a repo last year, and had to do a lot of "door banging" to get it. The agent didn't want to put our offer forward, we had to see their Mortgage Guy etc etc.

We agreed to go and see the mortgage man, despite having our own. We asked several times if he was "whole of market" and were repeatedly assured that he was. We sat down and he asked us what sort of mortgage we wanted - I replied that we wanted one from the Abbey, as that was who we were already with, and tied in. We wanted a second product from the same company and to port our existing mortgage over.

Imagine the sheepish look on his face when he confessed that "they didn't offer Abbey products" and I asked how this constituted being whole of market.

If you're prepared to play their silly little games, then persevere with it and don't take any nonsense. i would reiterate what doozer girl said about getting everything in writing. In fact, we had to go to the lengths of finding out who had the charge on the property and threaten the agent with going directly to them. We did also put in a complaint to the lender, as the agent obviously wasn't working hard to get them the best price.

DVardysShadow

tbaines71 wrote: »

Thanks G_M much appreciated. A lady at the EA has already let slip that it was a developer who had offered the 110k.

Then it looks like there is a side deal.

If you are prepared to offer more, then not only is the bank being defrauded, the repo'd owner is also being defrauded - because they will eventually be chased for the difference.

Tip for people being repo'd. Get a friend to mystery shop for your repo'd property. If the Agent starts playing games like those described here, the friend should make a statement - and you should confront the bank. I don't know what difference this would make, but it would probably clean up the marketing of your place and get a better price. And if more than a few did it, and found these games being played, perhaps a long overdue stink would be kicked up.

JayCee

Half the problem would appear to be getting a viewing as I found out, 3 different Agents refused to allow me viewings for a number of reasons, usually stating that an offer had been accepted and as a result they were not doing any more viewings. When the house was still showing available 1 or 2 months later, I got the same story..."the 1st deal fell through, but another offer has been accepted and we're taking no more viewings".

From what I've learned on here, that would appear to be incorrect procedure, as they should still be marketing the property and accepting viewings/offers right up till contracts are finalised, in order to achieve the best price possible...... Something I will bear in mind :T

As I said earlier, with the one property that I did get to see, the Agent seemed very reluctant to accept my offer, also going down the Financial Adviser route and then insisting on seeing my Offer in Principle, before even verbally accepting my offer.... Which I strongly doubt was ever put to the vendor.

The rewards for any Agents not playing on a level playing field can be very lucrative, I'm sure.

If they have an 'arrangement' with a regular investor, they will get commission from the lender for the initial sale, a tax free 'sweetener' from the investor and a further commission fee when they re-sell the property for the investor, so getting at least 3 times what they would by selling to you or me.

Whilst all the time, relying on poor Joe Public's lack of knowledge, willingness to be flannelled and an over abundance of trust, to do much about it.

FraudBuster

Name and shame the EA firm.

jockosjungle

I'm going to stick my neck out and make a guess, is it one of the countrywide chain?

How badly do you want this house, if others are interested chances are you are going to get muscled out anyway.

The FA is basically to force you to do a mortgage through them, that they can get you a better offer. You should not have to be credit checked.

If I were you, I'd forget about the house but consider seriously about making a formal complaint to the company in question

R

princeofpounds

- When you make the offer, do it in writing, and also contact the bank to make sure it is received. Also point out to EA that you know they have a legal duty to pass it through.
- Write a complaint to the bank detailing your experiences. Write a complaint to the manager of the EA chain (not the office manager, he might be in on anything). DON'T accuse them of fraud, just state the facts so the conclusion will be obvious.
- If the EA is a member of an association, it will be somewhat toothless as they are all voluntary, but still a hassle if you choose to complain to them too.
- You might also want to register a complaint with the OFT.
- If the mortgage man hassles you any more, tell him that you are fully aware that estate agents are not required to do anything more than check that the buyer has the facility to fund the purchase and that you will report him to the FSA if he doesn't butt out.

this sort of corruption really irritates me. I work with countries that face a lot of corruption and even the really low level stuff like this paralyzes their societies, so I never take for granted the (relatively) uncorrupt society we have here.