Estate agent financial advisor

maunders

Hi I am a FTB and have put a couple offers on a property with your move the last couple days. This morning and this afternoon I have received voicemails from a your move financial advisor
Asking me to phone them about my offer. I haven't phoned yet but I take it this will be them trying to persuade
Me to use their services?

holly_hobby

Their role is to qualify the offer i.e check what position you are in ie FTB, if you have your mge arranged/AIP in place - checking the chain such as this is all part of the service they offer the Vendor, and has always been the way with estate agts & in house advisers.

If you have your mge arranged, simply tell them that, if you want to use an independent advisor, tell them you have your own adviser, so you won't need their services. If you want to go in, see what they say and what mges they offer, do that ... you don't have to sign up with them, don't leave any originals of Proof of ID or Residence, and you can still see a different adviser if you wish.

There is no need to feel or be intimidated by them, sure they would like your business, but if you say no and go elsewhere, they will have to live with it.

It shouldn't predjudice your offer or have any impact on the purchasing process, despite what they may infer - but qualifying the chain and offer for the vendor will be the "official" reason for the call.

Hope this helps

Holly

The_J

Me and Dave Ham think they are !!!!. The number of times I hear from people where the EA broker has !!!!ed it up is unbelievable. These guys must recruit complete novices.

As holly says, if they don't charge a fee you may as well listen to what they say but do your own research.

dunstonh

Avoid estate agent brokers like the plague (small independent agents not included). They have the worst reputation going and most of it is justified.

holly_hobby

The only plus point is they may have access to exclusive network deals that IFAs or other Mge Brokers can't beat or have access to - so if you don't have your mge arranged, it may be worth 45 mins of your time (if fee free).

NOW ... before Mr J, Duns, etc all burst a blood vessel ... :j I am really not labouring the virtues of EA FAs or Mge advisers, but they're not all totally carp !!!

In fact in the heady days of the early 90s I used to be one (FA) for a huge building society chain ..... (oh I can hear your cries now .. "exacatly, that's what we mean there're all rubbish" !! ... you little tinkers if you did, I shall be round to slap your legs .. )

Seriously, it can't help to obtain all free advice, however, a little thing we used after gen advice, was to hold on file to an original whatever, that means that if the customer was going elsewhere, at least you had the heads up to try and save the sale .. ...:cool: which is why I say ... don't leave anything original with them....

H x

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Holly - if you were buying a used car would you tell the nice guy in the suit how much you earned, how much you owed and how much you had in the bank (or even his mate in the office next door) ?

holly_hobby

SPM, I know exactly where you're going with that, and I've seen most things along the yrs ...... but I can HONESTLY say that all privilidged info stayed that way, personally I did not get involved in the front office re offers or exchange of client info, neither did the front offices ask for any info ..... which was how my fellow advisers also handled their business ... and thats absolute fact .... x

But, I hear you and your concerns re manipulation of offers and the conduct of some advisers .... as I say I'm NOT championing the EA and their in house advisers, far from it ... merely saying that it would be silly to not consider all points of ref (esp if free), and choose the best deal for me from them... if an offer has already been made and accepted, then the personal info wouldn't be of value anyway - but of course obtaining the best deal and service available has got to be priority, whatever the source.

H

Dave_Ham

Had my token row with an Estate Agent a couple of weeks ago from "sounds like a Con....." in a new part of town.

We do not really have any of this chain in my part of London/Essex but what a laugh.

They would not put my clients offer through unless they had physically been in to see their advisor and have the AIP "verified"

When I quizzed further, they would put any other offers to the client based upon the AIP selection. When I asked how they would do this without a full fact find and appreciating the clients situation, they just said they were duty bound to do this.

Few choice words and some interesting patronising comments from me and it just turned nasty...

Client got best advice, did not see their "advisor" and ultimately just about managed them..

If anyone can sort out the house buying process in this country, please do so...

The_J

I only came back to see a Dave Ham rant and I am not disappointed :rotfl:

It's like going to the supermarket and seeing your bank manager at the checkout, he then decides how much you pay based on what you earn and he gets paid based on how much he screws you for.

holly_hobby

They want bums on seats to try and pin them down and sign them up, or to "steal" the sale from elsewhere, under the guise of "qualifying the offer" for the Vendor.

They can easily qualify the offer by the indiviudal popping in with their AIP, or the adviser or even the neg's, speaking to the adviser already appointed by the wouldbe purchaser.

Its absolute cut throat, even in my short stay during the 90s when you had LCEs being sold which bolstered your written & banked business, with the death of them, they must be surviving on proc fees and gen ins - and they can't be earning very much (unless they have gone the full FA route, which would give them more opportunity to write life/pens/inv business).

But there may be a sneaky little gem lurking as a panel exclusive .. which is what promted my first post re possibly sounding them out as a bench mark exercise.

Dave as a side issue, there is a post I mentioned you on - re the OP having just satisfied Ds and looking for a resi, so he might PM you, if you don't spot it - hope that was ok of me ... sorry if it wasn't

H x

holly_hobby

Aah even Mr J's joined in ... I'm getting a right EA bashing now ...:( ... !!

Where's my Knight in Shining Armour :j ??
.....

Anyone ?????

....

No one ... :o:( ???

.....

Ok ... I admit defeat then ..... avoid like the plague :T .... !!!

Off for a hot choc as consolation

H x