Do EAs make up 'offers'?

societys_child

nubbins wrote: »

I agree but you'll always get the odd know-it-all who thinks they know better but will get bitten on the Uranus one day.

Unfortunately, I've dealt with some pretty dumb surveyors over the years :eek:

jjlandlord

societys_child wrote: »

What do you think a survey is going to tell me that I can't see for myself?

I am not an expert, and unless you are one you won't know until you see it written in a survey report.

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
-- Donald Rumsfeld

Immers7

societys_child wrote: »

Saved myself loadsa time and money - never come unstuck yet;)

What do you think a survey is going to tell me that I can't see for myself?

The professional indemnity insurance to cover you if he makes a mistake.

I imagine you don't make any mistakes:)

nubbins

societys_child wrote: »

Unfortunately, I've dealt with some pretty dumb surveyors over the years :eek:

Dumb surveyors, dumb solicitors, dumb EA's, dumb teachers, dumb doctors, there are dumb people in every profession, if you started growing a third nut (I am presuming you are male) would you self diagnose?:D

societys_child

Dumb surveyors, dumb solicitors, dumb EA's, dumb teachers, dumb doctors, there are dumb people in every profession

Exactly!

if you started growing a third nut

What's that got to do wiv buying houses. Anyway I might end up going to one of the dumb doctors you mention . . .

Look, we get buyers posting extracts from surveys regularly, on here, and so many of the things "flagged up" is just @ss covering.

Eta:

I imagine you don't make any mistakes:)

Maybe I'm just lucky . . or maybe I've always bought knowing full well what I was buying? I always buy cheap:cool:

Windsorcastle

societys_child wrote: »

No, cash buyers don't have the costs of arranging mortgages, they don't even need to have a survey or searches and can therefore pull out at any time right up until they sign, at very little cost to themselves. As they don't have to make a large financial commitment, they are not always preferred by vendors, over anyone else.

Thanks, that's an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I've had a few EAs recently mention that there's a cash offer already on a property and I always wonder why the vendor isn't snapping it up, but I suppose their lack of financial commitment does make it easier for them to pull out without consequence.

Windsorcastle

I wasn't meaning to start an argy-bargy about cash buyers - good luck to them I say, I only wish I was in that position.

What I was originally asking about was whether it is common for EAs to lie about offers in order to push the price up, and how to call their bluff. And yes, yes, I know there are probably plenty of honest EAs out there who wouldn't dream of it, but what do you do if you have a gut feeling that they are telling porkies?

roje

They definitely lie.
I was searching for a new home last week and the EA knew I was in a position to put in a good offer. They called me before the viewings to let me know that one of the houses had been so popular that they were asking all viewers to put in their 'best and final offer' by Thursday morning. This property has been on the market quite a while. On viewing, the EA kept saying how popular it had been and that several offers had already been made (so why not accepted?) He said 'I wouldn't offer less than asking price now as there is already competition.' I did like the house but chose a different one (same agent). Guess what? The 'popular' house still has no offer on it as far as I can see (they updated my prospective house to 'under offer' within hours). It seems a bit weird to me.

jacko74

Most estate agents I've dealt with can't even be bothered to answer simple general enquiries, let alone go to the effort of telling lies and inventing offers.

jimpix12

Of course they sometimes lie, but you don't mention how much the price is. £10k more on a £600k house isn't much in terms of the % that the agent gets as commission. Would they risk losing a sale for £50...? Probably not...

If the cash buyer is desperate and has been let down before, as my buyers have been, then they may just offer over asking to secure the place and not be messed about again. Especially if they have fallen in love with it.

Either way there isn't any way for you to tell. You could ask the agent to put your rejected offer in writing but it will be so hard to prove. That's the problem with the way that homes are sold in this country, and it won't change without lots of pressure.