Advice please Gazumping / Estate agent mix up

oodlenoodle10

Hi,
We put our house on the market Monday got our first viewing Wednesday they were so keen they had a second viewing that evening. Thursday they offered us £215,000 (asking price £219,950) we said no so they offered £218,000 we let them wait till yesterday morning to find ot if there was any other interest and estate agent said no viewings booked but a couple of phonecalls Husband said if they offer asking price then we will take it off the market, so they did. Hurray! First time Buyer plus we have no chain.

However the Estate Agent rings my husband last night at five to say they had made a mistake and another person was interested but no one passed the message on apparently he called Thursday, he has kicked off big time and wants to come round this morning and he has said will offer 221 - 222,000, again no chain.

We are very angry with the estate agent that they have put us in this position and we can't decide what to do. They have said if they do show the guy round then they have to tell our buyer. But how many other viewers could we have missed out on?

Have we got cause for complaint with the estate agent? Can we refuse to pay their fees as they haven't done their job properly.

I feel that they should telephone our buyer and explain what they have done and say that we would never had excepted their offer if we knew there was other interest. I know it is not legally binding but our morals tell us that it's wrong to pull out now (although it hasn't got to the stage where money has become involved). If the estate agent sort it all out and we get a better offer then they would have earned their money.

Any comments and advice would be gratefully recieved.
Tracy

rach29

ooh, someone else is awake,

What a dilemma. I guess you just have to go with your gut instinct on this but I'll give you my tuppence worth.

You have an asking price offer fom an FTB (most people would give their right arm to be in this position)

You also have a possibly interested party who'd like to view & "might" make an offer.

Do you really think it's worth losing your buyer over a "possible"
better offer from someone who may not be in as good a position?

I wouldn't. You could finish up with no buyer at all.

Remember you were perfectly happy with the first offer before the EA told you there "might" be other interest.

GOOD LUCK with whatever you decide

oodlenoodle10

Thank you for your opinion. I think you are right. I do feel better.... although won't be going back to bed!

Does anyone have any thoughts about the estate agent mess up? We haven't signed the agreement about fees yet!! Could we say that as you didn't do your job properly we want ....???

itsakidsworld

Morning,

Try not to worry or look for any re-dress to a situation wherby you have received your full asking price.

I know it can be tempting to let someone else look at your property because they have "offered" a higher price but it could all prove to be a false dawn. They could offer £3k more and then stall on the purchase, find fault and knock £5k or more off your price! Then you will be wishing you had stuck to the original buyers and you will feel like you are in a right mess!! You could get the agent to approach the original buyers and say that they have had a higher offer and can they match it but are you then making a rod for your own back as they say? If they say forget it we will look elsewhere, will you then be regretting your actions?

Prior to anyone at all coming to view your house, you were happy with the price and you were happy with the agent to list the property. In a very short period you have obtained the asking price which you wanted and so stick to that. It is a strange time for buying and selling houses because nobody has any real idea of the actual price things should be so it comes down to what you are happy with. Enjoy the sale and be happy with your very good decision.

The best of luck with whatever you decide.

rach29

oodlenoodle10 wrote:

Does anyone have any thoughts about the estate agent mess up? We haven't signed the agreement about fees yet!! Could we say that as you didn't do your job properly we want ....???

Have you agreed fees verbally? If not then follow the advice in the sticky above and get them as low as you can. (you could try this even if you have agreed verbally I guess)

As far as the fees go remember that If you've signed nothing yet the EA probably haven't spent any money advertising yet so it's worth pointing that out if you want to try & talk them down. Also worth pointing out their mistake, you never know until you try....

ginger_nuts

why does the EA have to tell the buyer if you have someone wanting to view the house ? They may view and not put an offer in .Can you let them view and see if they are prepared to offer more before you decide if you want to accept .Surely the buyer at this stage doesn't need to no if an offer hasn't been made .I personally think you agreed the sale to quickly ,if you got your asking price in less than week .

oodlenoodle10

The estate agent says they must inform the buyer if we accept the viewing.

We only accepted the asking price as we asked the estate agent if there was any other interest and they said no there wasn't.

Bossyboots

Hold your horses though. Don't you think it is strange that all of a sudden another buyer at a supposedly higher price has come out of the woodwork. I would be willing to bet that this buyer doesn't proceed to completion or continually knocks the price down during the conveyancing process.

Personally I would stick with the buyer you have already agreed to sell to. I would be more inclined to think they were a genuine buyer than someone who "kicks off" because he didn't get to see the house he was allegedly interested in. I would also feel that if he was able to kick off about that, what else is going to spark him off during the process.

I am not a very trusting person and very cynical but I would not trust this offer at all.

ginger_nuts

I would tell the agent it was there fault ,and you would accept a viewing but only if the buyers are not informed until there is an actual offer in place.The person wanting to view may not make an offer when they see the house.

drowningnotwaving_2

Definitely negotiate the fees down - it maybe that if you agreed a sale so quickly your house has actually been under-valued, and plus your EA hasn't really done much to earn the huge amount of money they're about to take off you.

As for whether you mess your buyer around, depends on how desperate you are to move quickly and if you have somewhere to go.

oodlenoodle10

Definitely negotiate the fees down - it maybe that if you agreed a sale so quickly your house has actually been under-valued, and plus your EA hasn't really done much to earn the huge amount of money they're about to take off you.

As for whether you mess your buyer around, depends on how desperate you are to move quickly and if you have somewhere to go.

We wanted a quick move, we are buying from my dad and extending his house although we need money to do this.

I think the housing market in our area is just nuts at the moment, we actually took the highest valuation not just because of the price which was £10,000 above the lowest. We expected to get an offer of £215,000 but not two days after the house was on the market. Hence holding out till Friday and the asking price. We only took the asking price because the EA said there was no other interest (which was wrong).

The buyers we have do seem genuine and did seem a bit desperate I think they just missed out on a previous deal. But they prefer our house as it is near to where they are leaving now which means being near family.

I am going to wait for the estate agent to ring and discuss my disappointment!! If we can get them to halve their fees it's a little toward the "loss" of another buyer.