Estate Agent Enticing Me with Buyer in Place

united4ever

An estate agent I had come round for a valuation a few months ago gave me a call today. I didn't sign up with anyone in the end. They have been calling me periodically since my initial contact. This time they dangled the bait that they had someone likely to make an offer on a neighbouring apartment (very similar to mine) and were thinking before he makes an offer they could offer to show him my apartment.

Now, as you can guess, they then mentioned they would need to have a contract with me in place before hand and also that I need an EPC.

Is there anything I should be wary of here - I should negotiate as close to 1% on the commission I believe but can see them saying they have handed me a possible buyer on a plate so would be reluctant. What else should I be saying to the EA? She asked me to call her back tomorrow.

By the way it's a 5 year old flat so quite hard to sell otherwise.

I am wary of these EA - maybe it's a ploy to get me to sign a contract with them.

cattie

To be honest, I wouldn't fall for this line. It's more than likely a ploy to get you to sign up with them. The more properties they have on their books, the better it makes them look.

When you are ready to market your property, be realistic on achievable price, especially as it's a new build and negotiate a commission deal at 1%.

DannyboyMidlands

It's a lie. If they have a buyer who will take another one of their properties there is no advantage to them in selling yours instead of the other persons.

And anyway, what's all this "likely to make an offer" BS? Such weasel words. Either they have or they haven't.

If you want to market your house then do so with whoever you want but don't be sucked in by this rubbish.

They just want your flat on their books rather than a competitors.

united4ever

Hmmm, interesting - would there be any harm in signing a 1 week contract and if they come good with this buyer then fine, if they don't then the contract is finished anyway?

lou72

We asked a couple of EA for valuations before putting ours on the market and went with the one that told us he had 2 people only interested in our area and very keen to move quickly. Funny enough these 2 people never materialised!!! I wouldn't trust any EA, they all tell you want you want to hear.

irishcol

united4ever wrote: »

Is there anything I should be wary of here - I should negotiate as close to 1% on the commission I believe but can see them saying they have handed me a possible buyer on a plate so would be reluctant. What else should I be saying to the EA? She asked me to call her back tomorrow.

By the way it's a 5 year old flat so quite hard to sell otherwise.

I am wary of these EA - maybe it's a ploy to get me to sign a contract with them.

You should be in a great position to negotiate a low fee. If the estate agent is so convinced that they have already found a buyer for you, then they won't need to spend any time/money on marketing your property, so their costs will eb minimum. Even 1% should represent a healthy profit to them....

So if you suggest a low fee and they refuse, then you are perfectly within your rights to ask them what costs they expect to incur?

cattie

I think you will find that there is no such thing as a 1 week contract. Most ea's have a minimum of 12 week contract. It would be pointless to sign up with an ea unless you really are serious about wanting to find a buyer for your flat.

DRP

irishcol wrote: »

You should be in a great position to negotiate a low fee. If the estate agent is so convinced that they have already found a buyer for you, then they won't need to spend any time/money on marketing your property, so their costs will eb minimum. Even 1% should represent a healthy profit to them....

So if you suggest a low fee and they refuse, then you are perfectly within your rights to ask them what costs they expect to incur?

yes good point.

In fact the standard fee here (bristol) is 1% , so I would offer them half a percent and an 8 week contract.

phoebe1989seb

On our last two house sales one of the EAs we had round to do a 'valuation' claimed to have a buyer ready and willing to buy our house. The first time we naively fell for it, although we were seasoned property sellers and whilst they did send a couple round, DH and I firmly believed they weren't for real. The EA even managed to get his story about them mixed up and told us several different versions of the couple's position regarding buying......of course an offer never materialised When we came to sell the next time and the (different) EA trotted out a similar story we moved swiftly on to another agent

Clearlier

cattie wrote: »

I think you will find that there is no such thing as a 1 week contract. Most ea's have a minimum of 12 week contract. It would be pointless to sign up with an ea unless you really are serious about wanting to find a buyer for your flat.

It surely shouldn't be difficult to amend the length of a contract?

If you don't trust the EA but want to see if perhaps they have got a buyer then I would have thought that offering a one week contract that didn't have any marketing or administration fees would soon make it clear.

That said, what the EA said doesn't ring true and I'd be surprised if they had anybody.

moomaa

well, we had an estate agent say they had a couple in mind that they believed might offer when they valued our house. We did go with that EA (we would have done anyway as we had good service in the past) but we didn't believe them about the couple. We signed on the Thursday, Saturday the couple viewed and walked straight to the agents office and made an offer.

I don't see the harm in a one week contract. We have had 3 and 4 week contracts in the past (and the properties were sold in that period). We have also had a standard length contract that we could break with a weeks notice at any point from the very start. So they will do such things if you ask.