Does this sound suspicious?

lb364

No news yet but will keep you updated if I ever hear.

All I do know is that the property is still 'for sale' according to their website and rightmove?!

And the decor looks like an elderly person lives/lived there so what would happen if they've died or moved into a home and had no relatives? Would the government just put it in the estate agents hands?

Or perhaps the relatives live far away...

Gra76

lb364 wrote: »

All I do know is that the property is still 'for sale' according to their website and rightmove?!

I wouldn't make too much of that.... My friend and his wife completed and moved into their current house 2 months ago and it's still on Rightmove as up for sale...

lb364

Gra76 wrote: »

I wouldn't make too much of that.... My friend and his wife completed and moved into their current house 2 months ago and it's still on Rightmove as up for sale...

Really? And you'd think they'd be desperate to share the fact they've sold something!

Is it on the estate agent's website as well?

robatwork

I wouldn't write a note. I would knock on their door and talk to them. But that's me....

faerie~spangles

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

There is always the possibility that the EA had a mate who wanted the property. It would be very interesting to know what the vendors accepted. Mate wants property -- no other viewings so vendors deduce a lack of interest in the property -- low price offered and accepted -- mate gets a bargain and EA gets a "present". It does happen, although most EAs are moral and upright citizens who only have their clients' interests at heart.

It is also possible that the vendor sold the property to a friend...

girl_withno_name

robatwork wrote: »

I wouldn't write a note. I would knock on their door and talk to them. But that's me....

Maybe have a note to hand too, just in case they're not in when you knock (especially if the property isn't particularly near your work / current home)

ash28

lb364 wrote: »

I found a house I pretty much wanted to buy before I'd even viewed it. It had only just gone up for sale and another house in the same area had been up for months but hadn't sold.

I called the agent who arranged a viewing. However, when it got to the day, I received a phone call telling me the vendors had had to go out so we would rearrange.

Rearranged it, got to the day, received a phone call, the vendors have had an emergency and had to go out. Called back to arrange another viewing on the same day, was told the agent would ring back - no returned call.

Called back day after the bank holiday weekend (next working day), was told the agent would ring back - no returned call again. Called again today, told the house sold yesterday.

I am in shock. And yes, I know it's possible that by some miracle someone else did manage to view the house and bought it immediately but surely the vendors would have the decency to let the buyer they had cancelled viewings with twice view it?

Are agents legally required to tell vendors of all interested parties or could they have just made the whole thing up to get a good deal for someone else?

My daughter bought a house that was up for sale through an estate agent, she actually heard it about through a friend who was also a friend of the vendor and knew my daughter was looking for a house in a particular area, she and her partner were going to go through the EA but her partner's father told them just to go and knock on the door which they did and so approached the vendor directly, the house was exactly what and where they wanted.

They made an offer on the house and the offer was accepted. They were in a good position - FTBs with mortgage in principle - the vendor almost bit their hands off.

The EA was told by the vendor that the house had been sold - the bonus for the vendor was no estate agency fees as my daughter hadn't been introduced by them. Obviously the vendor must have had the type of contract where the EA had to have introduced the buyer.

The house was being actively marketed by the EA at the time and was having viewings.

I don't think either of them (daughter or vendor) did anything illegal. They didn't know each other and the price my daughter offered was the asking price.

fluffymuffy

We moved last week. When we bought this house we were the first viewers of a very desirable house and made them a cash offer there and then - which was accepted. We also did our own survey and so no delay there. There were a few days after our offer was accepted when people were trying view it, but we'd made it a condition of our buying it that there were to be no more viewings and the house was to be taken off the market immediately. I imagine the estate agent had a file of people on standby for the first few weeks while it went through. I doubt they were messed about with cancelled viewings though.

lb364

Just a quick update for anyone who wanted to know.

We put a note through as it transpired that the vendor was elderly and we didn't want to seem confrontational (not that we had anything against him but he may feel vulnerable etc.)

Didn't hear anything from the vendors themselves but suddenly had constant emails from the agent asking us to go and view it and claiming that the other buyers were taking too long. We went to view but told the agent (who reckoned they had been offered the full price) that we wouldn't be putting an offer in as it would be a lot lower because the house was in worse condition than we thought. The next day, we got an email to say they would consider an offer of £5k less, to which I replied that our offer would have been at least £20k less.

We were going on holiday so left it at that.

When we returned there were numerous emails from the agent, each going down in price until they were asking if we would offer £15k less than the asking (£5k more than we said we would). It had, by that time sold for, according to the agent, the final price they asked us for.

We are still looking and I look forward to seeing what it did definitely sell for in a few months.

Thanks for all the advice

DVardysShadow

lb364 wrote: »

Just a quick update for anyone who wanted to know.

....

We are still looking and I look forward to seeing what it did definitely sell for in a few months.

Thanks for the update - I'm looking forward to seeing how the sale went too.

There seems to be a strange contradiction these days. When the agent gets a single offer, they seem desperate to pretend that there is another offer. But if another offer comes along they seem equally desperate, as in your case, to avoid upsetting the viewer initially making the offer and do their best to fend off other potential buyers - even though they are not prepared to admit to anyone that they have effectively taken the place off the market.