Dodgy seller and agent?

timor_2

An entire block of flats has become available for sale in a sought after location that I have been looking to buy. The property is fairly modern and not older than 30 years old perhaps. It has 15 flats and what bothers me is that they want to sell fast, the pricing is quite competitive for the location, about 15-25% less but it looks like there will be a strong competition, sort of best offer wins.

I called the agent that appeared to be the sole agent and was told there is an open day. They did not sound very pro and they are not local agents, so I was a bit on the err side from the beginning. They gave some vague information about the lease and seller (a company/fund, not sure) but have no photos of the flat interiors, only plans.

Today I found out another two local agents are partially advertising flats. Later in the afternoon I got a call from the first agent who with a cheeky tone called to say this sale is serious and for there are conditions for the buyers, 1. to put a holding deposit of £1500 by cheque and sign an offer on the day, 2. they also want to complete the exchange in two weeks.

The entire thing sounds too good to be true from the very beginning and the last call was really dodgy. It sounds like a con, I have done this before and never heard of an exchange taking only two weeks. Or any money changing hands without the solicitors being involved. A cheque?! Besides there are searches and questions to be answered and I cannot imagine the bank could do the valuation and mortgage offer so quickly, but maybe someone could argue it is possible.

Should I walk away?

googler

Have you bought multiple properties before?

harrys_dad

[QUOTE=timor;64754165


The entire thing sounds too good to be true

[/QUOTE]

Then it probably is

Thrugelmir

timor wrote: »

2. they also want to complete the exchange in two weeks.

No way in 10 working days!

timor_2

googler wrote: »

Have you bought multiple properties before?

sorry I should have said that I am only after one of them:)

If I were a millionaire I'd probably not write in MSE for advice

timor_2

harrys_dad wrote: »

Then it probably is

It raises a lot of questions that a couple of flats are advertised by other agencies while the first one appears to advertise the entire block.

And the holding deposit thing is all too dodgy, my understanding is that funds never change hands beyond solicitors in property, so it sounds like we may see these guys on BBC conman some day. But a two week exchange? Never heard of this before, even when I wanted to buy fast and put a seller under a lot of pressure we couldn't exchange in less than eight weeks.

Thank you

princeofpounds

15 flats and a £1500 deposit?

ho ho ho.

What on earth would the point of that be?

I've put bigger deposits down on rentals, let alone buying 15 properties.