Estate Agent playing tricks?

zizu73

Hi there. Need some advice. We put an offer on a property we want to buy midday yesterday, it was our final offer. We offered 278k on a property with the asking price of £280k. We are cash buyers. We know there had been other offer which we understand was close to our offer (maybe just under) but the other people are not cash buyers. We told the estate agent that we want to know the answer by Friday before the weekend because we felt that he has been trying to get us into a bidding war. The estate agent told us that he would call us back before 6pm. He didn't, and when my wife called him he said he hasn't been able to contact the vendor yet but that he will try tomorrow. Today we called him, he was busy on the other line we were told but he would call back. Well guess what, he didn't and when we called back he was out for the day. What do you think is going on? Why is he not calling us? I don't believe that he couldn't contact the vendor as the vendor is an old man who is often at home. Should we just go to the property and try to understand what's going on from the vendor?

googler

Maybe this 'old man' or his family hired the EA to filter out contact with prospective buyers, and to handle things for him.

Maybe your turning up at the house might be seen as an unwelcome intrusion......

pimento

Perhaps the vendor is still thinking about it.

princeofpounds

This is probably the vendor, not the EA. The EA most likely wants to seal a transaction, they only tend to play games when they have other bidders lined up. If they are sensible mind you - many aren't!

You just have to put a firm deadline on your offer.

westv

If I were the OP I'd chill out a bit and wait to see what happens next week.

leap31

We were in a similar position when we put an offer in our a property recently; we wanted to know by Friday afternoon...Couldn't contact the EA; was kept being told that someone will contact us...We noticed on the Saturday that the house had been marked 'SOLD STC' on Rightmove...We eventually got a phone call Monday PM saying that our offer had been accepted! Why they couldn't have phoned us on Saturday to tell us is beyond me...

It's always a waiting game; Maybe the vendor has other viewings over the weekend and wants to see how they got on?

Good luck!

Emmzi

look at other houses in the meantime...

TOBRUK

hi zizu73, you made an offer yesterday (Friday) and you wanted to know if it had been accepted by 6pm yesterday - Friday? I think if that's the case and I was the seller I would want to think it over for longer than a few hours.

If you are a cash buyer and the seller knows that, then you are in a very strong position, not only that but you are only £2,000 short of the asking price - if it was me I would definitely accept.

Only you can tell if the estate agent is playing games - go with your gut feeling on this. Perhaps the vendor hasn't been told yet! If he does know (as he is an old gentleman) he may want to discuss it with family before he accepts anything.

If I were you I would phone the estate agent first thing on Monday and insist on speaking to the agent and ask what the situation is. If you don't get a satisfactory answer tell him that you are taking the offer off the table.

zizu73

Cant believe how devious these estate agents are!!!! Am sooooooooo livid!!! Just opened a letter from the agents and in it, it confirms that our offer has been rejected with a request to immediately contact him should we want to increase our offer!!! Having spoken to the agent yesterday at 5:45Pm, he told me that he had yet to reach the vendor and that he would be in the office till a little after 6pm. He mentioned that the vendor would be home and would call me to update me on offer. And as mentioned previously, my wife called this morning and afternoon, left a message as he was on the other line and he never even bothered to call!!! To top it all, having looked on their website, the property is now under offer!!! What I have concluded, is that yesterday evening the estate agent knew that our offer was rejected when I spoke with him but why he didnt tell me, God only knows!!!???! And why he thought it would be ok to send a letter confirming the rejected offer and not taking our calls. What can we do? If we've lost the property, is there anyway we can complain about their behaviour? Ps: He must have sent the letter before 4-5pm (last post) for it to arrive today, therefore knowing the offer was rejected when I called him.

googler

The Royal Mail in your area delivers at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon? Or was the letter delivered by hand?

zizu73

It was delivered early morning / afternoon but we hadn't opened it before now.