EA Messing us about? How to tell?

Monkey1977

Hello.

I started a thread last week about a property that we believe is over-priced by about £25k. The general consensus was to put an offer in at £190k (£35k less than asking) and start negotiations.

My other half did that yesterday. The agent came back to us less that 20 minutes later to say "Your offer has been rejected", she then did a very quick conversation change, told him that she'd sent me other properties to look at and for us to get in touch if we liked the look of them.

I've emailed her back just to say the properties are too expensive (they were £10k - £20k more than the one we'd put the 'low' offer on!) but didn't mention the offer at all.

My partner thinks that she's waiting for us to come back to her with a revised offer so that they will have the upper hand, my colleague doubts they've even put the offer to the vendor.

What do I do? We have another place that we can offer on, but if there is the chance to negotiate on this one I'd like to. Obviously we have a 'walk away' price, but the EA hasn't even invited us to negotiate!

david29dpo

can you book another viewing on the house? do so and have a chat with the vendor.

shell2001

Estate agents are duty bound to submit ALL offers to their Vendor Clients - even if they have had discussions previously with the vendor and know what figure they are looking for! An offer form has to be completed and the vendor verbally informed. The fact it only took 20 mins for your original offer to be rejected means nothing. EA have all vendors contact numbers and to be honest the Vendor knows how much they want so if they considered your offer too low they would not need to think about it!

I dont think its anything more than the buying and selling game, if you still want the house and are prepared to offer more then do so (if you think its worth it)....if not then move on and look elsewhere.

Buying/selling houses is the work of the devil

Monkey1977

david29dpo wrote: »

can you book another viewing on the house? do so and have a chat with the vendor.

Its tenanted so we've never met the vendor - which does frustrate me as you have no opportunity to build a relationship with them.

Monkey1977

shell2001 wrote: »

Estate agents are duty bound to submit ALL offers to their Vendor Clients - even if they have had discussions previously with the vendor and know what figure they are looking for! An offer form has to be completed and the vendor verbally informed. The fact it only took 20 mins for your original offer to be rejected means nothing. EA have all vendors contact numbers and to be honest the Vendor knows how much they want so if they considered your offer too low they would not need to think about it!

I dont think its anything more than the buying and selling game, if you still want the house and are prepared to offer more then do so (if you think its worth it)....if not then move on and look elsewhere.

Buying/selling houses is the work of the devil

Hi. I realise that agents have to legally submit all offers - the colleague who is suspicious used to be an EA which is why I trust his concerns! However, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt...

What I'm actually concerned about is why the EA didn't invite us to negotiate and is acting as if the whole deal is off. I'm sure she's playing games and, if I'm honest, I'm not interested in playing games. If we go back to them first then they will have the upper hand... I've never heard of an agent simply rejecting an offer with no discussion around upping the offer or negotiating - is it common practise?

david29dpo

pity, is it possible to ask the tenant who the owner is?

Monkey1977

david29dpo wrote: »

pity, is it possible to ask the tenant who the owner is?

Potentially I guess we could go round without the EA and ask them - would that be a good idea? I don't want to ruffle feathers...

olly300

It depends.

When you viewed the property did you talk to the tenants at all? When I viewed properties I turned up exactly on time and due to many EA's turning up 5-15 minutes late some of the tenants let me in, showed me around the property and told me the good and bad points of the area.

Therefore if you talked to the tenants go back and ask the landlords details.

If you didn't arrange another viewing of that particularly property when you think the tenants are going to be in and turn up 10 minutes early. They may not let you in but be extremely nice (or make sure you are with someone who has the gift of the gab) and ask them about their landlord.

By the way the EA may be showing you properties that if you put in your offer you are likely to get it accepted even if they are 10K or 20K more.

courtjester

Monkey1977 wrote: »

What I'm actually concerned about is why the EA didn't invite us to negotiate and is acting as if the whole deal is off. I'm sure she's playing games and, if I'm honest, I'm not interested in playing games. If we go back to them first then they will have the upper hand... I've never heard of an agent simply rejecting an offer with no discussion around upping the offer or negotiating - is it common practise?

It's important to understand that the agent is working for the vendor, so they are doing their job of negotiation - rejecting an initial offer out of hand is part of the game and, like it or not, you have to play it. It's nothing personal, it's just money.

If you are interested in the property, go back with another incrementally higher offer - there is no need at this stage to go back with anywhere near your maximum. Don't get bogged down worrying about the why's and wherefors of the agent's response. The next step would be to confirm your offer in writing (even if rejected) stating that this is the maximum you are prepared to offer (even if it's not) and see what happens.

In the meantime, continue looking at other properties - this all helps to build your research as to comparisons that you can use in your negotiations and the chances are you will find something else you like better...

Sooner or later the agent will start to talk to you about possibilities at which point you know you're nearer the compromise level that the vendor probably has to consider. You can't know the background to the vendor's situation, but if the property is tenanted, it is possible that they simply have no intention of negotiating away from the asking price - equally they may be prepared to consider any reasonable offer.

Monkey1977

Thanks Guys... to give a bit more detail...

We have already seen about 25 houses and have no intention of stopping looking. The place we have offered on it the same price as brand new houses with more room, it needs new kitchen, bathroom, carpets and decor (and a damn good clean!). The agent showed it to me knowing our budget was £20k less than the asking price and I have told her why I think it is overpriced. (So the houses that she tried to show me yesterday were £40k over my budget and £20k more than the one we think is too expensive)

While I am more than aware that the agent is working for the vendor, I do think that it is a better negotiation tactic to invite a higher offer rather than just pretend no offer has been made (which is kind of how she is acting at the moment). Obviously if this approach is not unusual then I'll have to bite my tongue and make another offer if we decide we want to.

We are choosing between this house (which needs work but could offer investment), a 3 yr old house (which we could move straight into) and a new build (which is v convenient but a bit over-budget) so we are in no way desperate...

I guess we will wait until next week and decide whether to go back with another offer - the EA's attitude has just annoyed me a bit!

shelly

Monkey1977 wrote: »

What I'm actually concerned about is why the EA didn't invite us to negotiate and is acting as if the whole deal is off. I'm sure she's playing games and, if I'm honest, I'm not interested in playing games. If we go back to them first then they will have the upper hand... I've never heard of an agent simply rejecting an offer with no discussion around upping the offer or negotiating - is it common practise?

I don't think there is anything wrong with the agent not inviting you to offer more. We offered on 2 houses before the one we are in the process of buying and none of the agents asked us if we wanted to up the offers, they just said they had been rejected. If they had asked us if we wanted to offer more I'd have thought it a bit cheeky of them for assuming we wanted to offer more.