Phantom buyer of our property? How would we know for sure? Are we being lied to?

skidom

Someone has made an offer on our property, how do we know that's true? What should happen next?

We (sellers) have been going around in circles with our estate agent. We were told we had an offer, we then rejected, the buyer subsequently raised his offer but this took a good 3 weeks.

The story: We did the viewing so we got to know him quite well. Gentleman came around and we found out he was single. Very strange thing was that 3 weeks later when we were getting impatient whether buyer will accept our suggested offer, we were told by the agent that the buyer's WIFE was coming back from abroad and would like to see our property to which we said: "when would they like to come around?" but the agent said :"Oh, no, they will just drive by one day, they won't come in".

Summarising : 1. He hasn't got a wife, 2. Why were we told all that about his wife viewing the house from the outside would make them make their mind up 3. We called as we are now at the end of our contract and said we'll be taking it off the market and suddenly a day later the buyer supposedly replied and accepted our proposed, reviewed offer. 4. What do we do to know for sure we had a buyer to start with, not some friend of the agents, do we request it to go through a solicitor or ask for an offer in writing (without involving a solicitor)? How soon? He has got a property to sell and the agent told us it'll be another 8 weeks to the end of HIS contract.

We think, it is a phantom buyer situation and our agent wants to keep our contract going for as long as possible. We are at the end of our contract and were thinking of adding a few bits and pieces (painting garage doors etc) and re-listing our house with someone else and our property would then appear as "Newly Listed" again, we would also consider lowering our original asking price. MY probably MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IS: If he is a real buyer, are we not going to lose him because of termination of our contract with the estate agents? How to go about it? Why were we being lied to by the agents? Any advice would be appreciated.

jimjames

"8 weeks to the end of his contract" Did they explain what that means? Is he in rented and 8 weeks remaining?

How long since the offer was made and have they arranged a survey yet? Until the survey is commissioned they have probably not committed any money to the purchase so could be fiction until that point. Unlikely an agent would arrange a survey to cover themselves.

WhiteHorse

It stinks. Sack the agent.

DVardysShadow

skidom wrote: »

... QUESTION IS: If he is a real buyer, are we not going to lose him because of termination of our contract with the estate agents? How to go about it? Why were we being lied to by the agents? Any advice would be appreciated.

If he is a real buyer, then the agent is not lying.

In your position, I would change agent and in writing ask the existing agent to produce a list of people they claim to have introduced. make it plain to them that if this person comes good, you will consider an offer.

The benign interpretation is that he has not sold so sees no point in upping his offer.

Wobblydeb

I agree it sounds fishy. However, it is easily resolved. Estate agents normally send out all offers in writing - both to you and the buyer (and I think possibly your lawyer too). They even sent rejected offers when I was selling my house.

So.... ask them to send written confirmation of his offer.

skidom

What a wonderful responses!! Thank you very much everyone. Please feel free to post more responses as any info might become useful. Also wondered IF Mr. buyer is a real person, we'll have to pay the agent no1 for an introduction and agent nr2 for Mr buyer buying within the new contract with the new agent. It's so difficult to decide but of course it look very suspicious. Jimjames, 8 weeks contract is to sell his flat in London. Not sure how he negotiated 8 weeks only but ther you go. IF he is real because as for as we're aware, he might never have contacted the agent to leave a feedback after viewing our house to start with. No survey arranged either. The original offer, much below the asking price was about 4 weeks ago.

DVardysShadow

skidom wrote: »

Also wondered IF Mr. buyer is a real person, we'll have to pay the agent no1 for an introduction and agent nr2 for Mr buyer buying within the new contract with the new agent.

If you get agent 1 to provide a list of people they claim to have introduced, you can forward this to agent 2. You need to advise agent 2 [in writing!] that potential buyers have been introduced by agent 1 when you sign up with them. This will mean that you will only have to pay 1 agent.

skidom

Thanks so much. It seems this will be the way. Only getting our agent to do that will probably be tricky as they'll do everything to prevent us from leaving, especially during the holidays I would have thought. We'll however ask for a list tomorrow.

DVardysShadow

skidom wrote: »

Thanks so much. It seems this will be the way. Only getting our agent to do that will probably be tricky as they'll do everything to prevent us from leaving, especially during the holidays I would have thought. We'll however ask for a list tomorrow.

Ask for the list in writing and give them a shortish deadline, perhaps 14 days. If they don't give you a list, then they are poking themselves in the eye.

Patr100

In that situation, regardless of the long wait for this "contract" to end (ie to exchange at least), I would insist any "buyer" put their money where their mouth was , show their commitment and arrange a survey to be completed within two weeks of an offer. Otherwise, They could still walk away in any number of weeks leaving you with nothing.