EA bully tactics

steve1980

SternMusik wrote: »

Fair enough. What the OP was saying, I believe, is that this specific estate agent was not interested in putting a bid forward (which may well be the best offer the vendors will get) unless the OP markets her own property with them. This behaviour is not in the best interest of the vendor at all.

The agent was happy to put the offer forward to the vendor, however they advised her that they can't support the offer as she is on with another agent.

However, if she was to put her house on the market with them, they would be able to support the offer as they then have an incentive to sell the property.

SternMusik

steve1980 wrote: »

The agent was happy to put the offer forward to the vendor, however they advised her that they can't support the offer as she is on with another agent.

However, if she was to put her house on the market with them, they would be able to support the offer as they then have an incentive to sell the property.

I may be wrong about this, but it is not up to the agent to "support" an offer or not. If they steer the vendor towards only accepting offers from people who sell with the same agency, they severely limit the market for the vendors.

As an interested party (being pressurised by the EA in this way) I would be quite unhappy to put my property on with them anyway, as I imagine they would do the same thing to my buyers.

RuthnJasper

steve1980 wrote: »

If every agent was reported to the OFT then there would be no estate agents left on this planet!

Then, perhaps, it is time for something akin to The Leveson Inquiry focussing on the - as you said - apparently widespread practices of Estate Agents.

steve1980

SternMusik wrote: »

I may be wrong about this, but it is not up to the agent to "support" an offer or not. If they steer the vendor towards only accepting offers from people who sell with the same agency, they severely limit the market for the vendors.

As an interested party (being pressurised by the EA in this way) I would be quite unhappy to put my property on with them anyway, as I imagine they would do the same thing to my buyers.

The agents job is to advise the vendor on the best possible deal.

In this situation (as I understand) the OP has put an offer on the property in question. She has her own property to sell which is on with a rival agent.

There is also another buyer who is on the market with the agent and has also offered (no one knows what the offers are).

The agent has said that he can't support the OP offers as the only information he gets about the home is from the agent that has her property on the market (common questions asked to the agent about the property are saleability, interest so far, realistically priced).

The agent will have gone to the vendor and advised them of the situation with both buyers.

The vendor will always ask the agent "who should I go with?"

Now the issue here is no one knows what offer the OP has put in and what the other offer is.

I know people don't want to hear it, but they are doing their job, they want to get the sale on the property BUT they also want more properties on the market.

steve1980

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Then, perhaps, it is time for something akin to The Leveson Inquiry focussing on the - as you said - apparently widespread practices of Estate Agents.

And who is going pay for that?

Taiko

Can you really imagine a world without [STRIKE]lawyers[/STRIKE] estate agents?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9JAt6gFqM

DVardysShadow

Nukumai wrote: »

Notwithstanding the undoubted integrity of some estate agents, I find it difficult to regard their industry as a "profession".

The oldest profession is a profession ....

Sticky77

Thanks for all your input. We have now accepted an offer on ours so I contacted the EA who is selling the house we like and asked him to put forward our offer but to tell the vendors we are proceedable. He has refused and told me I need to wait a month and contact them again. Now the price I offered is the price the EA told me he thought would be acceptable. Our buyers are cash buyers so we are in a good position. We don't want to increase our offer as we are at a stamp duty ceiling.
We are at the EA mercy, what to do?
Thanks in advance.

Ulfar

Put your offer in writing and ask for confirmation of offer from estate agent in writing.

Find out who owner is from land registry site for £4.00, contact seller directly.

DVardysShadow

Sticky77 wrote: »

Thanks for all your input. We have now accepted an offer on ours so I contacted the EA who is selling the house we like and asked him to put forward our offer but to tell the vendors we are proceedable. He has refused and told me I need to wait a month and contact them again. Now the price I offered is the price the EA told me he thought would be acceptable. Our buyers are cash buyers so we are in a good position. We don't want to increase our offer as we are at a stamp duty ceiling.
We are at the EA mercy, what to do?
Thanks in advance.

Time to drop a note through the door asking the vendors to contact you, stating what the Agent said. If there is already an accepted offer, you are out of luck, but if there is not, and I was the vendor, I would be livid and dealing with you direct.