Buying a house-poker face!

Mrs_ted

What tricks do EAs have up their sleeve? I understand they work for the vender but its hard to believe anything they say sometimes. secretly I'm kinda enjoying this poker face business.

We were shown a house 20 grand above our budget we told the EAs. The EAs said the vender would accept an offer below the asking price as desperate to move. So, we put in an offer 15 grand less- offer declined- and EAs said vender now wants nearer the asking price as possible (well of course) and a second viewing over the weekend was booked by another couple so the EAs would like to warp this up soon . So, increased our offer by 3 grand and left waiting for 24 hrs. Offer declined- asked where would we like to go from here- so we said we will have a think- we have other houses to view and get back to you after the weekend.

Yorkie1

You're already way over your budget; I'd walk away.

There will be other houses.

grifferz

We had one where

• We offered £X
• They told us they already had an offer of £X+£2k and were looking for £X+£5k
• We said we would think about it for a bit
• Week later we agreed to go up by £3k; at this point they said "we've had an offer near to asking price (£X+£10k) and if they check out we're going with them. "so how much exactly have they offered?" we asked. "We can't tell you their offer, but it's VERY near to asking" they say. "But you told us the other offer of £X+£2k". "That wasn't as serious as this offer". This didn't sound like any kind of sensible response to us but whatever, we left it, "That's a shame, we're not going higher"
• Week later they come back to us "the other buyer didn't work out so the vendor would like to accept your offer"

At this point I have real doubts whether either of those two offers ever existed...

FTBs here so we probably got played for a couple of thousand but oh well.

Thrugelmir

Mrs_ted wrote: »

What tricks do EAs have up their sleeve?

The EA earns commission only when a property is sold. They are employed by the vendor , however will use their best endeavours to bring the parties together.

Don't forget the vendors are also looking up the chain. So are trying to achieve a target price to fund their own move.

Sponge

grifferz wrote: »

We had one where

• We offered £X
• They told us they already had an offer of £X+£2k and were looking for £X+£5k
• We said we would think about it for a bit
• Week later we agreed to go up by £3k; at this point they said "we've had an offer near to asking price (£X+£10k) and if they check out we're going with them. "so how much exactly have they offered?" we asked. "We can't tell you their offer, but it's VERY near to asking" they say. "But you told us the other offer of £X+£2k". "That wasn't as serious as this offer". This didn't sound like any kind of sensible response to us but whatever, we left it, "That's a shame, we're not going higher"
• Week later they come back to us "the other buyer didn't work out so the vendor would like to accept your offer"

At this point I have real doubts whether either of those two offers ever existed...

FTBs here so we probably got played for a couple of thousand but oh well.

So did you re-submit the original offer, or offer + £3k? As soon as they refused your offers they became 'void' and you could, should, have revised your offer either to the 1st one, or even lower. :money:

Several years ago I made an offer on a property that was accepted and we were gazumped. We had our doubts about this new buyer. We wondered if he/she ever existed. We didn't want to get drawn into the game and couldn't match/beat it even if we wanted to, so we walked.

A couple of weeks later we got a call from the EA telling us the buyer had dropped out and asking if we wanted to re-submit our offer. We told them where to go.

nathand_2

Mrs_ted wrote: »

I understand they work for the vender

They work in their own best interests. They're aiming for a quick sale so they can get their commission and move on.

grifferz

Sponge wrote: »

So did you re-submit the original offer, or offer + £3k? As soon as they refused your offers they became 'void' and you could, should, have revised your offer either to the 1st one, or even lower. :money:

You guessed it, back to our previous offer of £X+£3k

Sponge wrote: »

Several years ago I made an offer on a property that was accepted and we were gazumped.........

A couple of weeks later we got a call from the EA telling us the buyer had dropped out and asking if we wanted to re-submit our offer. We told them where to go.

I'd like to think I would have been harder on them in a gazumping situation, but, well, I've never yet been there (hope I never will be), so who knows..

Mrs_ted

Yorkie1 wrote: »

You're already way over your budget; I'd walk away.

There will be other houses.

We told the EAs a budget which was less than our real budget. So we are sticking to our budget and you are so right, walk away when you start going over your budget!