advice on games that estate agents play please for ftb

Hailstorm

Other games EAs play in my opinion.

If you tell them you have only just started looking they think you won't have an idea what things are worth. They will then only show you overpriced crap they cannot shift that is at the top of your budget to make you think that is all you can get for your money.

Taking calls during viewings and making sure that you can overhear the call is about the house you are currently viewing. Are the calls even genuine?

slosher

crikey its a Pandora box, thanks for your advice all noted.

westlondonbuyer

If there are other offers on the table, they'll often tell you they're "very close to the asking price". When I've followed these up afterwards on the Land Registry, "very close" often turns out to be 10% under.

Henry_P_Chester

The best thing you can do with EAs is assume what they say is false unless proved otherwise.

I made an offer on a property in Febuary around 15% off asking and was scoffed at by the EA. The house had been on the market for over a year and recieved no offers, was on with two agents. I upped the offer and told him was my final offer as was all I could afford, I was then told that another higher offer had been recieved through the other agent and do I want to increase again. Obviously I said no but thanks anyway. Then phoned the other agent to enquire and was told no offers had been recieved via them but one with the other agent (mine)

The house is still on the market. If its still there at Christmas I'll make another lower offer to see what happens.

EAs will take advantage of FTBers inexperience and take them for every penny they have. Do you research and be prepared.

Running_On_Empty

Get a grip on yourselves.
You have all worked yourselves up into a frenzy.
The OP does not know whether the vendor has had another offer.
The best advice for the OP is to make the offer he/she would have made anyway and wait to see if it is accepted and take it from there.
End of.
No need for any unsubstantiated speculation, it does not help the OP.

betmunch

I'm loving the comments about knowing an EA is lying because their lips move and such like.

But the fact is this, they can, and will say whatever they like (true or false) to get you to increase your offer as that is their job. Whether it works or not is largely irrelivent, but EVERYTHING they do is to get the best price they can for the house.

The "dirty" tricks may or may not work, but they do what they think is the right thing for the Vendor.

The sooner buyers realise this then the sooner that buyer will find a property they will eventually go on and buy. My advice for any buy is this. Decide what you are willing to go up to to buy the property before you put your first offer in and simply do not go above this price no matter what the EA says. Any money lower than this price you achieve is a win for you. Going over that price is a win for the EA. But please, just ignore everything they say about other offers because you will never know if its true or not before its too late!

Henry_P_Chester

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

Get a grip on yourselves.
You have all worked yourselves up into a frenzy.
The OP does not know whether the vendor has had another offer.
The best advice for the OP is to make the offer he/she would have made anyway and wait to see if it is accepted and take it from there.
End of.
No need for any unsubstantiated speculation, it does not help the OP.

The point people are making is that they do lie often and not to get drawn into any of their games.

Like you say decide what the maximum you will pay is and NEVER go above it despite anything the EA says.

jw2003

The EA who is selling our house said if you ask another EA a direct question then you shouldn't get a lie ie how many offers have there been? or how many viewings have there been? as opposed to has there been much interest in the property?

I suppose this depends on the individual you are dealing with though. We got a 10% under offer within 9 days of being on the market which we said no to but we haggled them up, and they us down and have agreed an offer 5% under sale price. One of the the conditions I placed was that the offer was only on the table that day and one they placed was that we took no more viewings. Both parties agreed.

I have a large number of viewings lined up spanning quite a large price bracket my aim is to find the house that best meets our needs. I haven't told the EA's of the properties I'm viewing what my budget is.

You can make any house a home, if this house passes you by another will come up within your budget with a vendor that will readily accept

slosher

Quick update, had a message from the estate agent yesterday to tell me, surprise surprise that the firm offer from the friends has now fallen through and am I still interested lol, so confirmed it was all BS xxx

sinbad182

They really are an incredible bunch of ars****es!