the estate agent lies?

navarato

Hi all,

I think i am being messed about by the estate agent i want to buy a property from.

To explain the situation:
I saw a property i liked the look of and called the agent to book an appointment.

When arranging the appointment, the agent said the vendor had already rejected offers of £182k and £184k (asking price was £190k) and wanted as close as possible to the asking price and what did i think i would offer (without having seen the property first)!! I said i need to do the viewing first and if i liked it, only then would i put forward an offer.

The day after the viewing i made an offer of £185k as i was happy with the property. The agent came back to me and said my offer had been rejected as someone else had put in a higher offer (which was £187500k). I then made another offer to match the other buyer. I submitted that second offer in the evening and the agent came back to me the next morning and said the vendor had accepted the other buyer's offer as he had submitted the higher offer first. After telling me this, the agent said the vendor said if they felt the other buyer was not 'moving fast enough with mortgage/valuation' by the end of next week they would consider me. But now i don't think i want to buy a property from them as it seems to me that this is some sort of estate agent tactic and they may be making up the bit about the other buyer in order to get more money from me?? Any views would be much appreciated, many thanks. Btw, sorry about the long post

Fire_Fox

Put your offer in writing to the vendor themselves stating your strong position and including your MIP if you don't trust the estate agent. Have you even had a second viewing yet? I would not spend that kind of money without being in the house a bit longer than fifteen minutes. It's also not good practice to put in a series of offers so fast, makes you look like there is more money to be squeezed out of you.

dodger1

In all honesty if I was the vendor and two people made the same offer I'd go with the first buyer to make the offer unless the second one was offering something extra such as a cash sale and even then only if I needed a quick sale. If you think that it's an EA tactic just ask the vendor direct.

navarato

thanks for all your answers. Firefox, just for my future reference, how long should you wait before submitting second offers? Thanks

G_M

There are no hard rules. You have to judge each situation inividually. But yes, swiftly increasing your offer makes clear
a) you are really keen
b) you have more cash available

so naturally the EA (and seller) will see how much higher they can get you.

Some rules do exist:

* never trust the EA fully. He works for the seller, not you
* never reveal how much money you actually have (ie how large is your MIP and your savings)
* put offers in writing
* make clear any other plusses you have: nothing to sell, cash purchase; MIP agreed;
* talk to seller and get a feel for
a) are they ready to move(or looking for somewhere)?
b) are they in a hurry?
c) have they been on the market for long? Had a previous salefall through?

navarato

thanks G_M. The agent also asked me to show them a 'proof of deposit', which i refused to do. Legally, would they need to see this?

BitterAndTwisted

No, they wouldn't. Just because you can prove you have a deposit available does not prove you either have the balance in cash or can raise it with a mortgage.

It sounds to me like the agent has been playing you like a fiddle.

Kayalana99

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

It sounds to me like the agent has been playing you like a fiddle.

Or they could just be in the situation of going for a house that is 'in demand' and EA is just trying to get a grip of who is the more suitable buyer.

I don't like EA's but for some reason this does sound genuine to me, it sounds like he was trying to put you off before you even viewed it/trying to see if you were a serouis buyer by telling you offers had been rejected.

kingstreet

FWIW, qualifying an offer when I was an EA adviser was a quick phone call and about four questions.

If the EA chooses to interpret the Act in such a way that they request evidence of deposit and a mortgage agreement in principle to discharge their responsibility to ensure the purchaser has the wherewithal to proceed, I can't see how you could refuse, but still expect them to remove the property from the market.

I don't like it any more than the next bloke, but to a certain extent they have the whip-hand.

ValHaller

navarato wrote: »

thanks G_M. The agent also asked me to show them a 'proof of deposit', which i refused to do. Legally, would they need to see this?

Legally, they do not need to see this, although they are required to qualify offers.

How I would handle this is to let my solicitor verify funds without letting the agent see details. If you decide to let the agent see details, then under no circumstances give the agent sight of your financial information until the offer is accepted. Otherwise they just get too tempted to wring every last penny out of you

navarato

Kayalana99: yes, the property is in an area that is 'in demand'. Similar properties on the road have sold at a higher price in the past and did not possess the extra features this one has. Plus, EA did say at the start there was no point viewing unless offer was going to be above the rejected ones.