Feel like we've been robbed of a property.

terrylamps

Just wondered if anyone else thinks something dodgy is going on here. The estate agent involved has been known to be a little underhand at times. And i should point out that the property in question was repossessed by the company who owns the morgage lenders who own this estate agents.

We saw a repossessed house for sale through an estate agent. We viewed it (at this point there were no accepted offers on the property). We arranged to view it again 3 days later. Whilst viewing it the second time we were told that an offer had been accepted the day before. Fair enough. We were also told that the offer was below the asking price. And the estate agent made a big deal about how the house would still have to appear in the local paper for 14 days (This never happened and a few days later the sold sign went up on it) and how they had to by law get the best price possible. Later that afternoon we put an offer in of £3,000 less than the asking price on a 100% morgage. (They knew we had a deposit if we needed it). They wanted proof that we could cover the amount. We got that to them the same day. 4 days later we were told that they were sticking with the original buyer - The reason being was because we were not putting a deposit down and he was putting the required 15% down on a buy to let. We've been told that your only required to put 10% down on a buy to let. Did they lie to us? We think so.

The very next day we put the same offer in with a 5% deposit as this seemed to be the stumbling block, or so we were told. Again they had us jumping through hoops to get them the required proof that we had the 5% deposit. At this stage we knew our offer had beaten the other guys offer by £2,000 which is why we didn't up our offer because we already knew ours was the highest. Nearly a week later we were told once again that they were sticking with the original buyer because he'd already had his survey done and they felt that he could complete in the required 28 days. So it went from being a deposit issue to being a completion issue. We're first time buyers. There was no reason for them to think that we couldn't complete in 28 days.

The next day we decided to go all out and up our offer by £2,000 (now the highest offer by £4,000) with a 10% deposit. 2 weeks later and we havent heard a thing. It seems we don't even warrant a reply from them anymore.

At this stage the guy is probably close to completing on the property and we've given up on it but we are still angry about it.

We know of other couples who have had bad dealings with this estate agent both personally and through our broker. One of which was even refused a viewing of a property unless they agreed to get the morgage through them. Another couple found out that the offer they had put in on an house never even reached the seller. It was the highest offer as well and would have got them the house.

We assume this guy is getting his morgage through them whilst we are not (Although they did their best to get us to do that. We weren't prepared to be bullied into getting a morgage through them just to secure the house no matter how much we wanted it.) Even though our offer is £4,000 more they stand to make more than the £4,000 out of him in the long term through the interest on the morgage. We just feel like we've been shafted.

This was the first property we'd put an offer in. We didn't expect it to be plain sailing, especially on a repossession but we did expect the highest offer to get it. Can someone please tell me it's not always this bad as this experience has really knocked us side-ways.

Robert_Sterling

terrylamps wrote:

Just wondered if anyone else thinks something dodgy is going on here.

Maybe and maybe not.
I note that you did not offer to match the 15% deposit as well as beat the other persons offer.

mr.broderick

Typical estate agents really. Liars,cheats, would rob from their own mother.

Gorgeous_George

Sounds dodgy to me, probaly against their own code of conduct and possibly illegal.

A letter to their Chief Exec may be worthwhile. In the event that the reply is not satisfactory, a letter to any organisation that they belong to followed by a letter to BBC's Watchdog or another consumer-rights organisation.

Whilst it's fresh in your mind, make a note of all dates/times and kkep all correspondence.

Keep us posted.

EDIT. The people who have really been robbed are the people whose home this once was (and maybe their lenders).



GG

terrylamps

Robert_Sterling wrote:

Maybe and maybe not.
I note that you did not offer to match the 15% deposit as well as beat the other persons offer.

We didn't see the point in matching the other guys deposit. We thought putting a 10% deposit down was enough of a deposit as well as offering £4,000 more than him. We decided that if our final offer wasn't good enough then we'd give it up as a bad job.

Doozergirl

I'd only be concerned after offer three, but to be honest, I think the other buyer was that far down the line that you missed your opportunity.

Mortgage companies take time to come back with replies and perhaps playing games with the LTV of your mortgage and the small £2000 increases has cost you. If you make an offer on a repo then it has to be strong, especially if you're already up against someone that has had an offer accepted. A small deposit poses potential valuation issues with your mortgage company's surveyor - they are extremely cautious when valuing high LTV mortgages so there is a much higher possibility of them undervaluing. The £2000 probably wouldn't have provided enough of a carrot to accept and it's entirely possible that your competitor managed to get themselves ready to exchange sooner by the time you upped your offer again. Competition would drive them to move faster

It's a 7 day notice that needs to go in the paper, just one and it can be in any remotely local paper and can appear in any section.

If an agent were going to cheat, it's highly unlikely to be on a repo. They have to leave a thorough paper trail which is open to sudit, unlike most other transactions where there is no regulation. The repercussions would be too great to lie.

terrylamps

Gorgeous_George wrote:

Sounds dodgy to me, probaly against their own code of conduct and possibly illegal.

A letter to their Chief Exec may be worthwhile. In the event that the reply is not satisfactory, a letter to any organisation that they belong to followed by a letter to BBC's Watchdog or another consumer-rights organisation.

Whilst it's fresh in your mind, make a note of all dates/times and kkep all correspondence.

Keep us posted.

EDIT. The people who have really been robbed are the people whose home this once was (and maybe their lenders).



GG

We have thought about doing that and may still do but we certainly won't be buying a house that they are selling though.

terrylamps

Doozergirl wrote:

I'd only be concerned after offer three, but to be honest, I think the other buyer was that far down the line that you missed your opportunity.

Mortgage companies take time to come back with replies and perhaps playing games with the LTV of your mortgage and the small £2000 increases has cost you. If you make an offer on a repo then it has to be strong, especially if you're already up against someone that has had an offer accepted. A small deposit poses potential valuation issues with your mortgage company's surveyor - they are extremely cautious when valuing high LTV mortgages so there is a much higher possibility of them undervaluing. The £2000 probably wouldn't have provided enough of a carrot to accept and it's entirely possible that your competitor managed to get themselves ready to exchange sooner by the time you upped your offer again. Competition would drive them to move faster

It's a 7 day notice that needs to go in the paper, just one and it can be in any remotely local paper and can appear in any section.

If an agent were going to cheat, it's highly unlikely to be on a repo. They have to leave a thorough paper trail which is open to sudit, unlike most other transactions where there is no regulation. The repercussions would be too great to lie.

We just feel that we were messed around from day one by the estate agent. Everything took so long with them. Maybe because of it being a repossession. We've learned the hard way. They demanded so much information from us before they'd even put in our offer, which according to our broker they had no right to ask for at that stage. IE, they wanted to see our morgage certificate with the amount on that we could borrow. They wouldn't even look at our offer until we showed them that. We were told that the piece of paper in the window of the house should state, by law, who owns the house. There was no such information, although our broker found out for us. Don't think we'll go for a repossessed house again.

Oh well, you live and learn

Doozergirl

terrylamps wrote:

We just feel that we were messed around from day one by the estate agent. Everything took so long with them. Maybe because of it being a repossession.

Exactly because it was a repossession. It's the mortgage company that takes ages to consider the offer, not the EA.

terrylamps wrote:

They demanded so much information from us before they'd even put in our offer, which according to our broker they had no right to ask for at that stage. IE, they wanted to see our morgage certificate with the amount on that we could borrow. They wouldn't even look at our offer until we showed them that.

Again, that is totally normal practice with a repossession. They won't even entertain someone until they have proof of funds, or the ability to obtain them, in place.

terrylamps wrote:

We were told that the piece of paper in the window of the house should state, by law, who owns the house.

That's not true either. You're getting duff info somewhere Every 7 day notice I've ever seen states the offer amount, the full address of the property, an invitation for rival offers before exchange of contracts and an address for those offers to go to. No name.

MJMum

As doozergirl said, there's a lot more paperwork with a repo and the agents need more info from you before putting an offer forward.

Repo companies are important clients to agents; they audit \ mystery shop the agent they use, and if there's a problem with one transaction then the agent could lose them as a client altogether. Hence the need to only put forward watertight offers.

The best offer is not necessarily the highest price.

Like doozergirl, I suspect the deposit issue, and time lost in creeping upwards in price, cost you the deal.

ashcarrot

well isn't it good that they didn't accept it, if they did someone who had spent a load on surveys and solicitor costs would have lost out on it though gazumping.