Estate agent calling on a Sunday morning - is this normal??

catloverbex

Hi all

My OH and I have found a property that we like. We viewed it for the second time with the vendor yesterday. We kept our cards close to our chest and didn't give much away when we were viewing so I doubt that the vendor or the EA realise how much we like the house....

Anyway.... the asking price is £195k and we were thinking of putting in an offer of £180k on Mon afternoon (want to wait as we don't want to seem too keen lol). However, at 10.50am this morning the estate agent called us asking if we had any questions or had any thoughts on the property. I was a bit thrown as wasn't expecting to be called on a Sunday morning. I told her that we were currently trying to choose between 3 houses (which is true) and that price is the only distinguishing factor atm so we are trying to decide what price we would be willing to pay for each and then offer accordingly. I asked if there was any rush for a decision e.g. any other offers and was told no. She was just calling out of courtesy. To me this smacks of desperation slightly.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this? Is it normal for an EA to call on a Sunday morning (we viewed LOADS of properties on Saturdays and have never been called on a Sunday before). We're now wondering if our initial offer of £180k may be too high (given that we're now wondering if they're desperate!)

It would be great to hear anyones views on this!

Thanx

Catloverbex

Slinky

The agent may be desperate, it doesn't mean the vendor is.

Bibbitybob

Not all EA's are open Sundays. I'm assuming this one is, and is therefor just treating Sunday as any normal working day and contacting the clients as they would in the week. I wouldn't necessarily say it means they're desperate, just efficient.

ankspon

You would be complaining if they didn't contact you and earn there commission

googler

Bibbitybob wrote: »

Not all EA's are open Sundays. I'm assuming this one is, and is therefor just treating Sunday as any normal working day and contacting the clients as they would in the week. I wouldn't necessarily say it means they're desperate, just efficient.

I'd go along with this.

Asda in my area is open 24 hours. Does this mean they are 'desperate', or merely customer-focused?

Tesco opens at 8am Sunday morning. The country as a whole is becoming more 24/7. Why shouldn't an EA work 7 days if they want to?

catloverbex

Yeah that's a fair point Slinky. Although the property has been on the market since April and they had an offer fall through about 3 weeks ago so I suspect that they need to sell asap (the vendor told us they'd just lost a property they wanted cos of the fall through).

I know the estate agents don't open on a Sunday which is why I was surprised that they rang. I've viewed other properties with them on a Saturday and they've never even called for feedback on these (let alone the day after) so I'm not sure that it's just that they're being efficient. In fact, I have viewed about 5 properties with them (all been shown round with the vendor) and I've only spoken to them when I've called them (which I thought was unusual as the other estate agents are calling me constantly!)

Thanks for your comments guys. Certainly gives me things to consider.

googler

catloverbex wrote: »

I know the estate agents don't open on a Sunday which is why I was surprised that they rang. I've viewed other properties with them on a Saturday and they've never even called for feedback on these (let alone the day after) so I'm not sure that it's just that they're being efficient. In fact, I have viewed about 5 properties with them (all been shown round with the vendor) and I've only spoken to them when I've called them (which I thought was unusual as the other estate agents are calling me constantly!)

So they've decided to become more customer-focused since your last viewing. Change of policy within the agency. New mobiles for the negotiators to use out-of-hours. Their response to change in market conditions.

I don't see a problem apart from the fact that I'd consider the time of the call to be a bit early for a Sunday. If anyone phoned me at that time I'd likely still be in the land of nod. I'd suggest phoning from around mid-day on a Sunday is reasonable, but not in the morning......

poppysarah

Depends how busy they are.

Some EAs always ask for feedback and others don't.

mostlycheerful

Yes, quite a few keen hardworking agents work weekends and evenings. And, yes, especially in the current recession there is quite a lot of desperation to make money, both by individuals trying to earn a decent wage and keep their heads above water and meet their commitments and by companies trying first of all to survive and stay afloat and pay the overheads and staff wages and not go bust, and secondly to try to make sufficient profit for the owners of the business to justify the effort, in a mostly difficult slow depressed market where sales are scarce and the outlook is mostly gloomy everywhere.

Suffolk_Jock

catloverbex wrote: »

Yeah that's a fair point Slinky. Although the property has been on the market since April and they had an offer fall through about 3 weeks ago so I suspect that they need to sell asap (the vendor told us they'd just lost a property they wanted cos of the fall through).

I know the estate agents don't open on a Sunday which is why I was surprised that they rang. I've viewed other properties with them on a Saturday and they've never even called for feedback on these (let alone the day after) so I'm not sure that it's just that they're being efficient. In fact, I have viewed about 5 properties with them (all been shown round with the vendor) and I've only spoken to them when I've called them (which I thought was unusual as the other estate agents are calling me constantly!)

Thanks for your comments guys. Certainly gives me things to consider.

It is a tough market out there and they could have decided that Sunday is just another working day (nothing wrong in that).
Just make sure that the reason the other sale did not go through was they found out something about property or neighbours that put them off.
Good Luck.

caeler

The estate agent I used worked 7 days a week, he seemed to love what he did. I was selling with him and was always available, I would often get an email response on Sunday. He was busy (even in our slow market) and couldn't do enough for me. (Obviously trying to earn his fee, which I was happy to pay once I sold)