Buyer's incentive?

lawriejones1

If you are forced to pay, a beautifully written letter and send it to every consumer rights journalist at every national newspaper, and copy in the PR Director or MD of the company in question. See how long it takes to sort out the problem.

ethank

Connells are part of the same group and I flat refused to sign either of those items.

rosie383

Is this a similar thing to the deal that I always see Indigo doing when it is a multi-agency sale? Cashback of £250 if bought through Indigo. They are the only ones that seem to do it here, but they do it every time. So is that money taken as an extra fee from the vendor?

jazzycastles

Thanks for all the help.

I see from the memorandum of sale that the buyer does not appear to be using the recommended lawyers either, so hopefully he changed his mind about this 'incentive' (i.e. sharp practice).

I will update this thread when I find out more.

Thanks again.

eddddy

So it's just a marketing ploy used by some estate agents...

Who knows, perhaps Rightmove listings like these can generate more interest - perhaps from 'less sophisticated' buyers:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-20372013.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38513159.html

Although 'sophisticated' buyers (and sellers) would see through them, and realise that the EA is the biggest winner.

As others have said, if you didn't agree to this in the contract, you don't have to participate.

orionmoo

William H Brown always seem to have these "buyer's incentives" when we were looking to buy... didnt give it a look in, and I have to say the two times I've viewed a house under WHB it was pretty awful! First time they forgot to bring the key, then when they got it, it snapped in the lock. Then they eventually got us in and the house was trashed!

Second property had wasps nesting above the door which they didn't tell us about prior to the viewing - what if one of us were allergic to wasp stings? Then they didn't let us look round on our own after, very quick in and out

Tkdiain

Used to work for them and it's a ploy to get mortgage appointments from your potential buyer. It opens up a whirlwind of conflict of interest however it is cleverly worded so it the vendor offering the incentive rather than the estate agent.

Annie1960

jazzycastles wrote: »

I recently put my flat on the market and was offered full asking price. The agent then said the buyer wanted to take advantage of the buyer's incentive, which means I will receive £1,000 less than the full asking price.

I asked them to explain this to me as I just do not understand it. They said I don't have to 'take advantage' of it: I said I couldn't see any advantage to me! They were seemingly unable to clarify the scheme further.

As I was pleased with the full asking price offer I said OK I would go along with it. But I really don't understand why I lose £1,000!

Can anyone help?

Incidentally, I told the agents I will NOT be using their solicitors and that did not go down well with them.

They buyer gets a discount, but in return they usually must use the EA's surveyor/conveyancer/mortgage broker etc. Obviously they pay a premium for this, so a 'referral fee' can be paid to the EA,

So the buyer's incentive is really additional fees for the EA.

The sequence group seem to use this scam a lot.