Estate agent tactics

Anonimas

As a first time buyer, I'm curious whether my take on estate agent honesty is naive. Are there any known tactics? I suspect fabricating higher bids could be a start. If this does exist is it at the discretion of the vendor? Or can estate agents be mavericks?

I recently lost out on a house in a bidding war which ultimately I could never had won as the other party were able to pay in cash - but I (we?) was led along in submitting bids, the cynic in my believes it was to inflate the selling price - as even my initial bid was "attractive" (alas encumbered by requiring a mortgage).

ajazztune

I am experiencing their tactics right now! I offered on a house that was at fixed price. I put in a slightly higher offer as I know there was a lot of interest in the house and I didn't want to be outbid. That was first thing on Monday. They said they would contact the seller and that they would be recommending that he accept the offer. The next day they said they couldn't get hold of the seller as he 'works abroad' and is only contactable by email. By Thursday we had heard nothing, despite my solicitor calling every day. They then said that the seller was 'still thinking about it' and that they still had lots of interest and viewings coming up. They were basically stringing us along, pretending they couldnt get in touch with the seller, waiting to see if another offer came in - this is despite me offering MORE than the fixed price amount! How much the seller knew or agreed to this strategy, I don't know. I can only assume they advised him to hold out for a better offer (even though it had already beaten their FIXED PRICE!!).
So yes, they do use tactics to keep you interested and drive prices up. We have given them until 5pm today to respond or the offer is off the table.
The trick is to not want a house so much that you let them compel you to do something that makes you look weak as they will just keep playing you. Yes, I am very cynical but it's only through experience. I'm sure some firms are honest and respectable, but I think even within firms it can depend on who you deal with.

HelenRachel

We put an offer in on monday as well and I think the EA was very poor as they were leading us down the garden path. My favourite 'trick' was to tell us that there was another buyer who had been accepted before us but hadn't got there paperwork in on time. So whomever could get there paperwork in the fastest got the sale. It was quite unprofessional so I said I was withdrawing my offer as I didn't want to get involved in silly races with other buyers and I wasn't interested in a bidding war. Our offer was made in good faith take it or leave it. The EA changed their tune completely then. Suddenly it was 'the vendors favour your offer over the other one' and 'this is all standard practice with the paper work' and made it sound a lot more reasonable and less pressurised. Just before we had our offer accepted they said they had had a third offer on the house. I told them point blank that my offer was final and it wasn't going to change and the EA said 'oh well the vendor preferred your anyway and would like to stick with you as you've made a real effort to get your paper work in'. Weather these offers exist or not I really don't know.

ajazztune

Update: Believe it or not, the seller rejected our offer (which was 5% over the fixed price amount) and have now put the property on at offers over and set a closing date for next week. We withdrew our bid. If this doesn't demonstrate an estate agent who incompetent I don't know what does. I basically did their job (valuing the property and projecting the interest level) for them. Think I'm in the wrong career...

MSaxp

Doesnt sound great , I agree. Its funny how i've heard every single one of the stories you mention in your post. And from different agents. Its a rising market and they are loving it.

What you (and I) need to learn is to stand your ground and do what you have in mind, regardless of tactics. I had an offer accepted on a chain free house, only to find out just before exchange that they are part of a chain and it could be a while.

however, its worth keeping in mind that agents are bound by the vendor's wishes. If the vendor changes his mind, there isnt much they can do about it. In the end, I believe agents would benefit more from a deal being done now, than 6 months later at a +5% price

AdrianC

Anonimas wrote: »

I recently lost out on a house in a bidding war which ultimately I could never had won as the other party were able to pay in cash

Just because the other party doesn't need a mortgage, it doesn't mean they won't have a walk-away price. If it goes above that, they'll certainly say "Thanks, no thanks". The only difference is that that border isn't being set by the mortgage company as it is for you.

ognum

I am interested in this because I have recently been at the other end of the story, the person who got an appointment to view but was told it was cancelled because an over asking price offer had been made.

My point is I also had an over asking price figure in mind so in cancelling my appointment and not allowing all viewings to go ahead the seller may have lost the best deal.

which ever corner you stand in you feel like you have been let down!

eddddy

I'm no fan of EAs, but often I think the EA is only doing what the vendor asks.

Given the choice, an EA would love to sell a house cheaply - because an underpriced house will sell with little effort.

For example, if a house has an asking price of £200k, an EA on a 1.5% commission stands to get a £3000 fee.

Most EAs would happily accept £180k and a £2700 fee, if the house sold in half the time, with half the effort.

In this case, it's likely to be the vendor that's not prepared to take the £20K hit, rather than the EA not being prepared to take a £300 hit.

Thrugelmir

eddddy wrote: »

I'm no fan of EAs, but often I think the EA is only doing what the vendor asks.

Agree. When it comes to monetary matters. People change.