Effective offer letter

suljka

Wobblydeb wrote: »

Suljka, I agree that something fishy is going on.

I would send the email asking why you didn't receive written acknoweldgement of your offer(s) and copy in the owner of the business or branch manager if you can find their email address. If not, then I agree a hardcopy letter with a copy sent to head office (if there is one!) is important.

Even when I have had offers refused in the past I have received written confirmation of the offer from the EA. This stinks of bad practice at best and outright fraud at worst.

Thank you Wobblydeb - Good to see that there are few posters who understand and sympathise with my plea… I was starting to believe that I must be imagining the stink when everything is actually smelling of roses

Considering the days have passed since our revised offer was put in and we have since gotten nowhere with a “what’s happening with our offer” approach, it really seems that the letter (as in email, followed by the hard copy to the branch) needs to be a bit more substantial – so that the EA can’t simply wiggle out saying, oh sorry I thought I already told you, as they have done in response to our previous offer. Something along the lines of a very well put offer letter that addresses the offer, but also the fact that so far the agent hasn’t really followed things through according to the best practice… a gentle, diplomatic nudge in the right direction, that can’t be ignored, but also can’t be seen as offensive, or premature?! Does that make sense?

Do you have some suggestion about how to formulate such letter – as you can see from this thread I do seem to have developed a habit for antagonising people with what I write and the last thing I want is for offer letter to antagonise EA and put them in opposition even further… and after all the barrage of accusations I got here I’m now even more weary of writing anything to them, for fear of being misunderstood. If the good EA, such as MissMotivation are branding me as a nightmare buyer who’s a creator of my own doom, what chance do I have getting anywhere with a bad EA?!

The bottom line is that all we want really is to be assured that our offers are indeed being passed onto and considered by the seller and to get their answer one way of the other, which so far the EA seems to be standing in the way of for whatever reason.

Any hints, or an idea for a template letter that would address those issues would be much appreciated.

Gratefully desperate nightmare FTB

DVardysShadow

suljka wrote: »

Thank you Wobblydeb - Good to see that there are few posters who understand and sympathise with my plea… I was starting to believe that I must be imagining the stink when everything is actually smelling of roses

Considering the days have passed since our revised offer was put in and we have since gotten nowhere with a “what’s happening with our offer” approach, it really seems that the letter (as in email, followed by the hard copy to the branch) needs to be a bit more substantial – so that the EA can’t simply wiggle out saying, oh sorry I thought I already told you, as they have done in response to our previous offer. Something along the lines of a very well put offer letter that addresses the offer, but also the fact that so far the agent hasn’t really followed things through according to the best practice… a gentle, diplomatic nudge in the right direction, that can’t be ignored, but also can’t be seen as offensive, or premature?! Does that make sense?

Do you have some suggestion about how to formulate such letter – as you can see from this thread I do seem to have developed a habit for antagonising people with what I write and the last thing I want is for offer letter to antagonise EA and put them in opposition even further… and after all the barrage of accusations I got here I’m now even more weary of writing anything to them, for fear of being misunderstood. If the good EA, such as MissMotivation are branding me as a nightmare buyer who’s a creator of my own doom, what chance do I have getting anywhere with a bad EA?!

The bottom line is that all we want really is to be assured that our offers are indeed being passed onto and considered by the seller and to get their answer one way of the other, which so far the EA seems to be standing in the way of for whatever reason.

Any hints, or an idea for a template letter that would address those issues would be much appreciated.

Gratefully desperate nightmare FTB

I will say it again, a letter won't help. Now we are getting a little nearer what id going on, in that your description indicates that this particular agent is playing a game.

MissMotivation has not taken kindly to your subterfuge in getting a viewing. In a normal office, populated by decent negotiators, I can see where she is coming from and tend to agree with her. But what is happening here is not right. And I support your subterfuge

Now, when it comes to the LandRegistry, you say that the owner is registered at the property in question. Actually, that takes you a step forward. Because now you have a name and an address. Even though the property is empty, post will probably be either picked up or even redirected. So you don't have to address any letter to 'the seller of <address> and risk the agent filching your letter. Now, of course this does not apply if the property is a repo, and I am assuming it is not.

As for the particular Agent, given that he was booked out for the week and could not show you that property, when he rang you back the next day to offer viewings on other properties, I would have taken him up on it and viewed another property. And asked him in front of the seller of that other property what he was playing at. And apologised to the seller for wasting their time. I would have a clear conscience about this too, because the seller deserves an opportunity to know what the agent is up to.

So, we don't know what the agent is upto, but the fact that he is obstructive over this particular property suggests he has a personal interest. Perhaps he gets a commission for the ones he has brought to market? Perhaps this one is on a low commission? Perhaps he has a mate who is giving him a kickback to keep the price low?

I would suggest that you do a basic offer letter with 3 copies plus one for you. Put 2 in identical envelopes, addressed in the same handwriting. One to the EA, attention <uncooperative agent>, one to Seller of <address>. Deliver these by hand to the Agent and to the property. Indicate these copies on your offer letter.

The 3rd copy should not be indicated, but should go in a totally different envelope addressed in a different handwriting or typing to the seller by name as given by your land reg search at the address. Include in this letter a short description of the Agents games and a contact phone number. This should go by post.

Agent will see that you are going over his head and may realise that if he goes around to the house, he can intercept your offer. So he may take the one meant for him to take.

Wobblydeb

I am liking DVardysShadow suggestion - you could do that.

It does however assume that the EA is definitely up to something. It could be that the EA is just incompetent, or dealing with a difficult vendor - for instance someone who is unwell or in a nursing home.

If it were me, I would send both email and hard copy something like this:

To: <uncooperative agent>
Cc: <owner of branch>

I have not yet received written confirmation of my verbal offer of £xxx,xxx made on the xxth of December for <property address>. I understand that the vendor has not yet responded, but if you could post confirmation of the offer in the meantime, I would be most grateful.

Kind regards,

Suljka

If they are just incompetent, or unaware this is normal good practice, hopefully this is all that is needed. If you get the letter, than I would take it in good faith that the offer has been put forward. The reason is that the letter confirming your offer is proof that your offer was received by the agent.

If the EA will not provide you with this letter, then I would assume the offer has not been put forward and try and write to the vendor directly.

Hoof_Hearted

MissMotivation wrote: »

Yes, it's a well-known fact that all EA's have 100's of mates with bucket loads of cash to spend on properties that they are marketing.

They only ever sell to their mates.

Well, I agree with MissMotivation. If the property is cheap but with potential to be developed to make a profit, this will be the answer. MissMotivation is in the game and clearly knows about these things.

MissMotivation

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Well, I agree with MissMotivation. If the property is cheap but with potential to be developed to make a profit, this will be the answer. MissMotivation is in the game and clearly knows about these things.

Obviously sarcasm is lost on you......

pinkteapot

I have never in my life received written confirmation of every offer I've made!!

Normally you only get written confirmation of the offer that is accepted. Several people have said the same. Offers back and forth are done verbally and then it's all put in writing once tied up.

BitterAndTwisted

Pinkteapot have you actually read the OP's description of the agent's apparent subterfuge? I would most definitely do as DVardy has suggested. There could be any number of reasons why the agent is behaving like this and to me none of them are benign. A further complicating factor could be that it's a probate sale and probate hasn't been granted yet, so the people trying to sell aren't in a position to sell anything at the moment. This could partly explain the agent's dilatory behaviour. Or he could be up to no good. My money's on no good.

Hoof_Hearted

MissMotivation wrote: »

Obviously sarcasm is lost on you......

Whoooooooosh!

suljka

Damn!! The property listing has just changed to Under offer!!!!
I just spoke to the EA, who is now all of a sudden answering my calls and he was like, "Ah yes, they accepted the offer from a developer about a week ago... As you can imagine I was like, !!!!!!, what about our offer and he said he texted me to tell me about the other offer and as I didn't answer... well it went to developer!!! Strange how I didn't get that text, even more strange how he never responded to any phone calls during that time.
I am fuming!!!
How about that MissMotivation - all of that must be just a f******* coincidence... no crooks were involved in making of that scenario, right?!

mumof3kids

just sat and read this post all the way through, full of the usuals that don't offer any helpful advice regarding the original post :mad:
sorry about your situation suljika, i had a feeling the story was going to end like that, easy though to say with hindsight!