Contacting a seller privately (avoiding EA)

donz23

Hi just wanted some advice, tried searching the forum but couldn't find what I was looking for...

So have contacted an EA about a house for sale and as of yet have had no reply from EA. this got me thinking as I was driving home today about whether buyers ever contact sellers privately, view house with sellers etc and purchase the property that way? Thus potentially able to offer a lower asking price as seller is avoiding EA fees?

What are the pros/cons of doing this? Does it even happen? Ps I'm a FTB

phill99

It doesn't work that way. Estate agents aren't stupid. Normally the contract a vendor signs with an EA are set up so that if you go directly to a vendor as a result of seeing an ad or for sale board, then the vendor would still be
Liable for the EA fees.

So you won't get it at a reduced price.

BobQ

Yes it does happen.

As a FTB you can knock on the door of any house and offer to buy it. The occupant many not be the owner and may tell you its not for sale, or to get lost or to contact his estate agent. Or he may invite you in and listen to your offer.

This might work if you happen to hear that say your brother's mate is about to put his house on sale. But otherwise how would you know which house was up for sale?

The main problem is that once the seller signs a contract with the estate agent the seller will almost certainly be commited to pay the agent a commission even if the seller finds the buyer without the estate agent being involved. Even if the seller is using an agent but has a contract that allows a private sale they would have to prove that the private buyer was not introduced by the agent (difficult if the agent's for sale sign is outside!).

From the sellers viewpoint a private sale would save money but would mean more work (ie does this potential buyer have the funds to buy, is he wasting my time, have I complied with the law etc). From a FTB viewpoint you would also have to trust the seller not to mess you around, but would escape the financial sales pitch.

G_M

donz23 wrote: »

...
So have contacted an EA about a house for sale and as of yet

then it will be pretty obvious you saw the house for sale as a result of the EA's advertising.

EAs are not dumb. They monitor the Land registry and if one of their clients sold but did not pay their fee, they would soon match up the buyer's name with the name of donz23 who contacted them about theproperty back at the end of Feb!

And a bill would be flying through the post to the seller....

GDB2222

G_M wrote: »

then it will be pretty obvious you saw the house for sale as a result of the EA's advertising.

EAs are not dumb. They monitor the Land registry and if one of their clients sold but did not pay their fee, they would soon match up the buyer's name with the name of donz23 who contacted them about theproperty back at the end of Feb!

And a bill would be flying through the post to the seller....

Hmm, that could be ignored, actually. The EA has to 'introduce' a prospective buyer in order to be allowed his fee, and that involves a bit more than the EA has don so far.

However, most sole agency agreements allow for the EA fee to be payable however the sale comes about.

kBHX

The fact you've already contacted the EA would make it difficult for the vendor bypass the agent.

jw2082

If someone signs a sole agency agreement then it dosnt matter if its their mum that wants to buy it the agent still technically has a claim to the fee.

If you feel the agent isnt doing their job properly then the best thing to do is go and put a note in the door explaining the situation and let the vendor know what the agent is doing.

hotpot1000

I had to knock on the door of the house after waiting 4 months after asking the EA 3 times for the room measurements of the house.

I dealt strictly with the vendors, after I told them how useless the EA was and that I would refuse any contact from the EA.

If I were the vendor then there would be no way I would pay this EA a penny

DRP

donz23 wrote: »

Hi just wanted some advice, tried searching the forum but couldn't find what I was looking for...

So have contacted an EA about a house for sale and as of yet have had no reply from EA. this got me thinking as I was driving home today about whether buyers ever contact sellers privately, view house with sellers etc and purchase the property that way? Thus potentially able to offer a lower asking price as seller is avoiding EA fees?

What are the pros/cons of doing this? Does it even happen? Ps I'm a FTB

it doesn't sound like it would be easy for the vendor to avoid paying the EA fee as you've already contacted the EA.

However, if you want to look at the place there's no reason not to knock on their door and ask.

But (from experience) it sounds from the EA's behaviour that they may already have a buyer lined up for the house (a mate, a 'preferred' buyer, a developer etc etc)

G_M

GDB2222 wrote: »

Hmm, that could be ignored, actually. The EA has to 'introduce' a prospective buyer in order to be allowed his fee, and that involves a bit more than the EA has don so far.

However, most sole agency agreements allow for the EA fee to be payable however the sale comes about.

In my experience ( and I admit I do not know if this is borne out by court decisions) if it can be shown the buyer approached the seller as a result of the EA's advertising, that is enough for the fee to be charged. The OP has approached the EA about this property, so clearly saw an advert/EA board etc.

If someone signs a sole agency agreement then it dosnt matter if its their mum that wants to buy it the agent still technically has a claim to the fee.

Not so. The clus is in the word. If the buyer is introduced by another agent then the 1st agent's fee is payable. If their mum buys, no other agent was involved, so no fee.

you are confusing a 'sole agency' agreement with a 'sole selling' agreement.

pinkshoes

hotpot1000 wrote: »

I had to knock on the door of the house after waiting 4 months after asking the EA 3 times for the room measurements of the house.

I dealt strictly with the vendors, after I told them how useless the EA was and that I would refuse any contact from the EA.

If I were the vendor then there would be no way I would pay this EA a penny

But surely the only reason you knew the house was for sale would be through the EAs advertising?? (i.e. online or for sale sign). This would still count as introducing the client, so the vendor would have to pay.

The only way this would work if is it wasn't for sale at all, and you randomly knocked on the door and asked to buy it.