Ghost Offers

wateva

Hi,
A high street estate agent who currently monopolises the district that I am hoping to buy into is creating havoc. First time I viewed ahouse with them and put in an offer, I found conflicting information from different members of the branch. They appeared to be vetting each case accordingto AIP in place, proof of deposit and i.d all of which I provided. Once I was told I am in a good position, it seemed indirectly they entered my offers in a biddingwar and kept returning back to me urging to increase my price. Anyway as you’dguess, I stuck to my best and final offer and missed the house.

Moving swiftly, they had shown me another house that has been on the market since April. Now considering houses with this particular estate agent sell within a week, I was surprised this house was still available. After viewing I submitted an offer which the branch manager at thetime of booking the appointment had told me the price of what they are trying to achieve. I started off slightly under the price and again I was told there is another buyer whose offer they did not disclose to me. I gave them my final offer and it now seems they are playing games. To call their bluff, I phoned them this morning saying I am going to view a house this afternoon and don’t want to find I am committing to buying two properties therefore I require a response whether my offer has been considered and if it is accepted/declined.The chap who I viewed the house with told me I can’t commit to buy two houses at one and he will call me back before 2pm with a response on my offer.

He did call stating to go ahead and view the house as he cannot tell me if my offer is accepted at this stage as the other person has offered thesame so both prospective buyers’ cases are being looked into by the seller. I can’t understand how difficult it would be as they have all my information and they even have details from my last offer where they contacted my estate agents who we sold the house with to enquire how far we are into the sale of our house.

So now I don’t know if I should withdraw my offer because of their under hand tactics to increase the price offered or to wait it out which I know they are deliberately prolonging.

Any advice would be much appreciated

fairy_lights

I'm not sure exactly what it is you think is underhand about the agents tactics? You've offered under the asking price, the vendor has received another below asking price offer, and is thinking about what to do. Maybe they want to hold out for another, better offer.

nidO

Can't honestly see anything terribly underhand or unusual in what you describe.
If the seller has several offers in for a property, obviously they're going to consider them all before accepting one.

Seems like the first time you did this your offer wasn't as good as someone else's, so the seller went with the other offer.

This time, if you and another party have offered the same, the seller will probably want to consider which offer to proceed with (if either, if they're both under asking price). The estate agent can't *make* the vendor get back to them with a response in one day, and the fact that you've provided the agent all your offer details previously is entirely immaterial to how quickly the vendor (not the agent) decides which offer to accept.

From what you've said, frankly it sounds like the agent (and vendor) are being rather more on the level than a lot, be grateful they're coming to a decision before accepting your offer or not rather than just accepting your offer then withdrawing further down the line when they get a better deal in.

Surrey_EA

As above, not really sure what your issue is here?

The EA has told you there are two similar bids for the same property, and the the owner is giving them consideration before making a decision.

WHy is this underhand?

JencParker

I don't understand why you think the EA are underhand or there are 'Ghost offers'. The fact that the first property was sold to someone else with a higher bid suggests the offer was genuine not a 'ghost'!


Please also bear in mind that a seller may take a while to decide if they are prepared to accept your offer. It is only an offer after all! If you offer asking price then you may find the response is quicker. I know I had a couple of offers I thought about for several days. It was a big decision and I was not prepared to be pushed into a hasty decision.


I also don't believe that these 'fake' offers are as common as reading this forum would have you believe. Getting a few thousand pounds more makes very little difference to the overall fee that an EA receives - it is in their interest to get a house sold, not to delay it and risk a sale in order to try to achieve a few more £1000 for the vendor.

Landofwood

I'm not seeing any "under hand tactics".

stator

Get a friend to arrange a viewing for the house and get him to ask if there are any offers. If they say there is one offer then you know they are making stuff up. If they say there are two offers then you know they are consistant with their lying. Heads they win, tails you lose.

eddddy

... and just to add, it's perfectly reasonable for you to view more houses whilst your waiting for a response to your offer.



If it came to it, I would even be happy to say to the agent(s) something like "My offer on property 1 stands, but as I haven't had a response, I'm going to make an offer on property 2. I'll go with whoever accepts my offer first."

jimpix12

Estate agent Surrey_EA doesn't think the estate agent is using underhand tactics.

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

In all seriousness, I don't think you can do much except either wait for the vendor to decide which to go for, or find another property. Putting a timelimit on it might pressure the vendor into choosing the other person, unless of course you know for a fact you are in a better position. Depends if you feel lucky. Well, do ya, punk?

Surrey_EA

spunko2010 wrote: »

Estate agent Surrey_EA doesn't think the estate agent is using underhand tactics.

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

And neither does anyone else!