Why does the estate agent want to know my deposit %?

ACG

Unless they ask for evidence showing it - but i suppose you could just say its coming from parents to overcome that.

reallyjammyjam

True Yorkie1 however if it's a case of them not budging then surely it's the only option to get over that stalemate? And I wouldn't feel too bad about lying to them because they will probably be lying to me about all sorts anyway.

I'm inclined to agree with pinkshoes and just go for it. If it ever comes up we can just claim change in circumstances.

ACG I had thought in the back of my head that they might but thought I might be confusing them with the solicitors.

I'm just going to wing it and see what happens.

What are the chances that it's a one off anyway and no one else asks that!

cayennepepper

I was asked the same question but only after making an offer on the property, reason being they wanted to compare our finances with other Buyers and make sure we could get a mortgage easily (there were other Buyers also offering on the same property at the same time). Fair enough. They also wanted me to see their financial advisor, of course I declined! It is not something they should ask before you make an offer, none of their business. Just tell them you have an offer in principle, that should be enough.

LandyAndy

Tell them anything that comes into your head. They'd do the same for you.

Gordon_Hose

I had an EA try and force me to see their financial advisor, stating that they could get me a better rate on the HTB MG mortgage we were applying for!

Considering there were only 3 banks offering HTB MG at the time, two of them in the same banking group, I struggled to get an answer out of her as to how they could get me a better rate! All she did was repeat "well just come in and have a chat and see what we can do". Needless to say, I refused and her polite friendly manner changed very quickly.

DRP

We had 5 parties wanting to buy our place. It went to 'best & final' offers and I was much more inclined to accept the buyer with a 40% deposit because in my mind there is a lot more leeway if the valuation comes back low.

A buyer with a 10% deposit is scuppered if the bank won't lend 90% but someone with a big deposit has less leverage for renegotiation!

timehastoldme

Our agents refused to pass our offer to the vendor until we saw their IFA, even though we had a mortgage in principle, after quizzing them they said that the IFA would essentially be assessing us for another mortgage in principle, it was several hours later and a whole lot of me explaining, very nicely, that it wasn't going to happen before negotiations started. They claimed it was the vendor insisting we be vetted. Utter tosh. I'm very cynical about the whole thing now.

SuzieSue

timehastoldme wrote: »

Our agents refused to pass our offer to the vendor until we saw their IFA, even though we had a mortgage in principle, after quizzing them they said that the IFA would essentially be assessing us for another mortgage in principle, it was several hours later and a whole lot of me explaining, very nicely, that it wasn't going to happen before negotiations started. They claimed it was the vendor insisting we be vetted. Utter tosh. I'm very cynical about the whole thing now.

Yes, but the only way to stop them doing this is for sellers to find out their policies before they decide to sell through them and to boycott them. I think that more and more people now realise what is going on because of forums like this and so hopefully things will change eventually.

ACG

Ive had to call up estate agents before now and threaten them with trading standards if they do not put my clients offer forward.

I have also been into an estate agents on a busy afternoon kicking up a fuss for effectively telling my client they HAVE to use their broker - that one did get reported to trading standards. Im all for competition, but blackmail isnt fair game.

The more people who complain the more chance of their being an enquiry and EA become regulated - better all round hopefully.

timehastoldme

SuzieSue wrote: »

Yes, but the only way to stop them doing this is for sellers to find out their policies before they decide to sell through them and to boycott them. I think that more and more people now realise what is going on because of forums like this and so hopefully things will change eventually.

We've said that when we come to sell (many, many, many years from now) we would avoid those estate agents that have that mad IFA policy, it must put off buyers. Our vendor used the EA solicitor too, so a FTB vacant property no chain sale is dragging...