Is action against estate agents possible? What wd you do?

Dan-Dan

^^^^
Thats how i read it as well

DRP

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I mean this generally (not aimed at you in particular) because all of us have got into the habit of doing this but I think it's buyers that create these games then complain that sellers are 'playing them'.

You're in a 'game of poker' because that's the way you wanted to play it. If you'd offered the asking price instead of trying to engage them in a mating ritual then it would all have been straight forward.
But you didn't, you chose to do the African Anteater Ritual, so pucker up!

that's actually a very good point.

as soon as a buyer makes a 'reasonable offer' then the games begin.

Dan-Dan

it would be interesting to see what percentage of asking prices (say , county by county as theres obviously a few variables) actually get paid...?

florence4

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I mean this generally (not aimed at you in particular) because all of us have got into the habit of doing this but I think it's buyers that create these games then complain that sellers are 'playing them'.

You're in a 'game of poker' because that's the way you wanted to play it. If you'd offered the asking price instead of trying to engage them in a mating ritual then it would all have been straight forward.
But you didn't, you chose to do the African Anteater Ritual, so pucker up!

That's a fair point, buuuuuut...

The house has been on the market 10 months and attracted no offers until last weekend... The local market is stagnant and potentially falling, with houses frequently remaining unsold for 12+ months, and the only sales I know of going through at 10-25% below asking price... It needed a huge amount of work - a wall put in which divided the dining room making it only 8ft wide, another load-bearing wall messed about with, new bathroom and kitchen needed, no GCH, needing re-wiring - only a back-boiler behind an old gas fire and 1 rad, new decoration and carpets needed throughout... So I got estimates for what that would cost and made an offer accordingly.

Plus EA valuations seem habitually higher than they should be: my own house was valued by 3 different EAs for £105-125, but the official valuation was only £95k.

I'm not sure it's fair to blame either vendors or buyers: it's essentially the EAs who play the games, I think.

propertyman

florence4 wrote: »

No, sorry, I phrased that badly; I wouldn't either under those circumstances. But as I understood it, some people were suggesting I should raise my offer now to 'secure' the purchase, intending to reduce it after survey, on some pretext or another. That seems like a step too far, to me.

You may think so, but
a: it has been long a tactic even before I started in 1984
b: think about it,
is the vendor being "fair" with making a deal , after a lot of toing and froing and still reneging on it?

florence4

propertyman wrote: »

You may think so, but
a: it has been long a tactic even before I started in 1984
b: think about it,
is the vendor being "fair" with making a deal , after a lot of toing and froing and still reneging on it?

No, he isn't. But it's pretty deeply ingrained in me that 'two wrongs don't make a right'!

The 8 year old in me fantasises about raising my offer to several grand over the asking price, letting him accept my offer and gazump my competitors, and then withdrawing.

But then I reckon karma would come and bite me firmly on the a*se!

As it is, I'll probably walk away now. It's not sensible to increase my offer, because having done it once, there's absolutely no way to be sure he wouldn't do it again, is there?

[Deleted User]

duchy wrote: »

Karma can be a funny thing !

I know, if we'd got that original house, my son would have been out of catchment for the really good school he got into

Screw karma - fortune favours the brave