Estate Agents - experiences of a cash buyer

smartpicture

I've been trying to buy a flat in London, cash buyer, no chain, no mortgage required, solicitor ready, plenty of time in the day to go to viewings and a large chunk of money ready to hand over. So - you'd think estate agents would be queueing up to snatch my hand off and flog me a flat, wouldn't you?

Apparently not.

Start by asking for more info and viewings on properties on Rightmove. Six of the 12 never get back to me at all, 4 say the property has already gone (so why is it still being advertised then?), and the other 2 clearly haven't read my 12-word requirements.

Try visiting estate agents in person - struggle to speak to someone. Mostly the sales agent are busy but they'll call me back - they don't. Ring them up, get promises to call back, they don't. Go in again, ask the receptionist to please make sure someone calls this time and get told 'they have more important things to do'. Really? More important than spending 5 minutes booking a viewing for a cash buyer? When they do ring me back, they spend most of the time trying to convince me to use their in-house solicitors or mortgage brokers, including telling me that sellers will only look at me seriously if I do that.

Eventually manage a handful of viewings and put in an offer only 5% below asking price. Ring up 24 hours later and ask what their initial response was and get told I am too impatient. Ring up 2 days later to ask why I haven't heard anything and get told they haven't even put my offer forward yet! Eventually offer turned down so I ring and leave a message I want to make an offer on another property. No-one rings me back. Twice.

In fact, no-one ever rings me back and I spend my whole time chasing estate agents and trying to force them to accept my money. I believe I'm polite (through gritted teeth, possibly) and a serious buyer. How on earth do any of them stay in business? Is it just London? If I was a seller and knew how buyers were being treated, I would be absolutely fuming and wondering what exactly they do for their money :mad::mad:

paddyrg

There's a reason people love estate agents so much, why it is considered such an honourable occupation

myhouse_2

Unbelievable story! You would think in a tough market they would sharpen up their customer service. If I was an EA, I'd be all over you like a rash.
But actually you're story is close to what I've experienced. I'm a possible cash buyer (more like 10-20% mortgage needed). Visited a number of EAs thinking it's better to get a personal meeting to discuss my requirements. No one asked my situation (FTB, cash buyer etc), most told me to just "check the internet" for properties and only one asked my for my contact details.
Most were happy to tell me how bad the market was. Couldn't help but think they were a small part of the reason for that.
Unlike you though, not being in London, no way would I buy at only 5% off.

DVardysShadow

smartpicture wrote: »

... Eventually manage a handful of viewings and put in an offer only 5% below asking price. Ring up 24 hours later and ask what their initial response was and get told I am too impatient. Ring up 2 days later to ask why I haven't heard anything and get told they haven't even put my offer forward yet! Eventually offer turned down so I ring and leave a message I want to make an offer on another property. No-one rings me back. Twice.

Once you get to that stage, I suggest you drop a note in the letterbox of the property noting that you made an offer and the date and ask them to contact you. I would suggest that you leave the offer to sit for 3 days before bothering the agent. If you hear that the offer has been put forward, I would employ the tactic after the offer has been on the table for 7 days.

smartpicture

Unfortunately both the properties I happened to offer on were empty, so a note through the door wasn't an option. But surely 3 days is enough time for them to make a phone call or send an email telling an owner someone wants to buy their house!

I honestly expected that I'd have the opposite problem and have estate agents pestering me all the time trying to get me to buy their properties. But they just don't seem that bothered! I run a small business myself, and we distinguish ourselves from 'the big boys' by our excellent service. It seems like maybe there's a gap in the London estate agency market for someone to do the same thing. Or even halfway adequate service. I really, really don't understand why they can't offer better service to the sellers who pay their wages. It's not like it was just one estate agency, it was all of them. Why do people put up with such awful service?

DVardysShadow

smartpicture wrote: »

Unfortunately both the properties I happened to offer on were empty, so a note through the door wasn't an option.

Why not? All the more space for a letter. The only thing is that there is no guarantee that it is read. And if the Agent picks it up, they will find you a bit of a threat, but I imagine they would be less likely to mess with you.

sonastin

In my experience, estate agents put more effort into signing up new properties and chasing potentially due fees than they put into actually selling houses.

Kendall85

Hi there, I run my own estate agency and that is to say the very least, shocking!

joshuabelanger

That might be an interesting story. I hope you might be able to accomplish what you have done through. I am looking forward on this community.

smartpicture

myhouse wrote: »

Most were happy to tell me how bad the market was. Couldn't help but think they were a small part of the reason for that.

Just re-read this and it made me laugh. It should make every estate agent reading it wince though.

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Once you get to that stage, I suggest you drop a note in the letterbox of the property noting that you made an offer and the date and ask them to contact you. I would suggest that you leave the offer to sit for 3 days before bothering the agent. If you hear that the offer has been put forward, I would employ the tactic after the offer has been on the table for 7 days.

So how long is it reasonable to wait for them to actually put the offer forward then? I just wanted to be kept informed of what stage things had reached. If they've put the offer forward and the seller wants to think about it for a week, fine, but to find out 3 days later they haven't even put the offer forward yet (and then only because I chased them to find out) seems a tad slow to me. In fact, taking a week to think about it sounds slow to me, especially if there's going to be a few offers and counter-offers going to and fro, so maybe I am just impatient then!

chewmylegoff

smartpicture wrote: »

I've been trying to buy a flat in London, cash buyer, no chain, no mortgage required, solicitor ready, plenty of time in the day to go to viewings and a large chunk of money ready to hand over. So - you'd think estate agents would be queueing up to snatch my hand off and flog me a flat, wouldn't you?

Apparently not.

Start by asking for more info and viewings on properties on Rightmove. Six of the 12 never get back to me at all, 4 say the property has already gone (so why is it still being advertised then?), and the other 2 clearly haven't read my 12-word requirements.

Try visiting estate agents in person - struggle to speak to someone. Mostly the sales agent are busy but they'll call me back - they don't. Ring them up, get promises to call back, they don't. Go in again, ask the receptionist to please make sure someone calls this time and get told 'they have more important things to do'. Really? More important than spending 5 minutes booking a viewing for a cash buyer? When they do ring me back, they spend most of the time trying to convince me to use their in-house solicitors or mortgage brokers, including telling me that sellers will only look at me seriously if I do that.

Eventually manage a handful of viewings and put in an offer only 5% below asking price. Ring up 24 hours later and ask what their initial response was and get told I am too impatient. Ring up 2 days later to ask why I haven't heard anything and get told they haven't even put my offer forward yet! Eventually offer turned down so I ring and leave a message I want to make an offer on another property. No-one rings me back. Twice.

In fact, no-one ever rings me back and I spend my whole time chasing estate agents and trying to force them to accept my money. I believe I'm polite (through gritted teeth, possibly) and a serious buyer. How on earth do any of them stay in business? Is it just London? If I was a seller and knew how buyers were being treated, I would be absolutely fuming and wondering what exactly they do for their money :mad::mad:

is your budget realistic for the area of london you want to buy in? i presume it is because you say you're putting offers in close to asking price, but the only logical reason i can think why they would ignore you is because you've not got enough money to interest them - otherwise it sounds mad! you'd think their remuneration structure would prevent this if nothing else!