Would it put you off if the estate agent had a 'personal interest' in the property

BugglyB

Would you be put off buying a house if you found out that the estate agent you were negotiating with had a personal interest in the sale of the property?

Under these cirumstances:


- the person you'd dealt with throughout at the EA was the interested party
- you weren't told before you noticed
- you had put in an offer and were told there were higher offers than yours

BitterAndTwisted

All estate agents have a personal interest in any property they are involved in selling: it's called commission.

The part about being told there are higher offers is just par for the course. Sometime there are other parties and sometimes they are a figment of the agent's imagination. All that matters is whether you think you are getting this particular property for the best possible price.

BugglyB

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

All estate agents have a personal interest in any property they are involved in selling: it's called commission.

Thank you for your reply however I'm not aware thats classed as 'personal interest' as in they have to disclose it? I mean personal personal interest - the vendor is a member of the family.

BitterAndTwisted

Having a family member who is selling their house does not automatically mean that the agent has a personal interest. i.e. that they will be seeing any money from the sale apart from their commission from the seller.

Naturally, it goes without saying that they will try to secure the best possible price but that would still be the case when they are not related to the seller either.

You pay what you think the property is worth to you, regardless of who the agent is or who they are representing.

G_M

Why should it make any difference to your decision as to how much YOU value the property whether it is (part) owned by a train driver, a barrister, a teacher or..... an estate agent.

As to how much you believe of what the agents tells you, well, how much do you ever believe?

Soot2006

My parents EA marketed their house for a year and then finally got an offer ....
He then realised he loved the house and put in an offer £20,000 more then the buyer in the last minute

In that situation, "personal interest" was very beneficial to the vendor. He still has the house, many many years later so I guess he really did love it!

pararct

All you need be aware of is if the agent 'tries to play you'.
They do this by suggesting their may be higher offers than yours in place or by their financial advisor (who they may insist you visit before allowing you to view properties) letting on what your affordability is like.

Dont be drawn in simply offer what you believe the property to be worth. This is very much a buyers market, which means (subject to where you are in the UK) property is actually selling for a bit less than what is being asked for it!

poppysarah

How long have they owned it?

Is it one they're flipping?

googler

EAs families want/have to sell their homes as well as other sectors of the community.

When they do come to sell, they may well choose the agent within the family, rather than someone they don't know.

That seems to be all that's happening here.

PasturesNew

When my dad tried to buy his first house he was gazumped by an estate agent.... whose 2nd buyer then fell through, so we got some "extras" chucked in because of that.

I'd feel uncomfortable about the EA having a personal interest as I'd feel more stiffed than usual when dealing with them.

BugglyB

Hmm well it seems answers range from 'no it doesn't matter' to 'beware of being stung even more by EA'.

I suppose I'm wondering...will this sale matter more to this person, to their 'professional pride' to get a good deal from the buyer, they will probably profit from it personally, etc. Just stinks a bit to have found it out from another source too - to kept being told 'i'll check with the vendor' instead of 'I'll just ring my husband and ask him'.

I get what everyone says about just pay what you think its worth, however, its impossible to know exactly what its worth to me. I got the last one horribly wrong. Plus 3 grand (for example) still seems like a huge amount of money to me.