Do EAs lie about other offers?

andre_xs

Dear All,
we may have found "the" property and may make an offer in the next few days. This is the first time for us (FTB), and we don't know the "rules" of negotiation. It is a sought-after area, but still we think the asking price (on rightmove called "Guide Price") is slightly too high. We think of having our first offer ~9% under the asking price.

My question is basically, would EAs go so far to lie about other offers? For instance, when we offer 9% below the asking price, that they may make up another potential buyer and say something like "Thanks for your offer, but we have another offer which is close to the asking price". Or could you trust EAs at least so far that they won't do this. Sorry for being paranoid

Best wishes,
Andre

mart6

I have had them do it to me several times.
One sticks in my mind, i put offer in and agent said they had had a higher offer.
I said i would think about it, she said do not ring back tomorrow as it was her day off.
So i rang next day and guess what they had not had any other viewings or offers.

HouseBuyer77

EAs make a commission on each sale which is a percentage of the purchase price. So you might think it's in their interest to push the price as high as possible.

However they are probably more worried about getting the sale than getting it at a slightly higher price. By the time you've put an offer in they're already done a fair amount of work so they wouldn't want to jepordise the sale by scaring you off with a fake offer.

From listening to people on these boards you would think it happens all the time, but in reality I think it's pretty rare.

mrginge

Looking at only a marginal increase in one off commission is often quoted as a reason why EAs would not be incentivised to produce fake offers. However, this is a misleading, short term view when you consider the actual role and aims of an EA.

A successful EA is one who consistently achieves the best price for his clients. If they can demonstrate a track record of achieving higher prices than competitors then they improve their reputation, help to attract more customers, drive their local market up and increase their future commission potential.

These are their overriding aims. You should expect them to employ tactics to get you to raise your offer. If they are intelligent they will know how much or how little to push you up and what tactics to employ.

theartfullodger

Only if their lips move

DUTR

andre_xs wrote: »

Dear All,
we may have found "the" property and may make an offer in the next few days. This is the first time for us (FTB), and we don't know the "rules" of negotiation. It is a sought-after area, but still we think the asking price (on rightmove called "Guide Price") is slightly too high. We think of having our first offer ~9% under the asking price.

My question is basically, would EAs go so far to lie about other offers? For instance, when we offer 9% below the asking price, that they may make up another potential buyer and say something like "Thanks for your offer, but we have another offer which is close to the asking price". Or could you trust EAs at least so far that they won't do this. Sorry for being paranoid

Best wishes,
Andre

They can and do, but not always.
If it is a well sought area then the houses do not appear on the market for too long anyway, the vendor and agent will already have their bottom line price and it's 1st past the post and in a reasonable position to complete that will get the deal.
I notice where I'm looking the property appears then after a couple or 3 weeks the price is reduced then it is SSTC, the ones that need lots of modernising or move straight in, appear to be the overpriced ones.

Davesnave

I've had direct experience of estate agents saying things which weren't true in order to:

• push up the price
• put us off buying so that a business friend could purchase
• put us off buying so that an agricultural house wouldn't sell and the tie could then be removed

There was also a matter of :

• advertising a house very badly and then selling to a local solicitor

Some of these incidents were quite funny, especially as we didn't want the properties anyway.


However, in the case of the house which was photographed from behind a tree, (I kid you not!:rotfl:) hit Rightmove on Saturday and was 'sold' on Monday at 9am when they opened again, we'd have been keen.

Although there was a very strong smell of fish, it was just coincidence that a relative working for the solicitor concerned, confirmed what had happened there. We accepted it was a done deal even before the awful advert appeared, so we moved on.

Finally, I don't know what the negotiator subsequently told my purchaser in 2006, when they rang to tell me they'd achieved an offer matching what I was looking for.

I was asked, "Would you now like me to pay my own fee?"

I replied something like "Err, well, yes, of course."

Within the hour, an extra £3k was offered. I didn't ask how or why.

DaftyDuck

Agents do brazenly push the boundaries. I still have a recording of an agent I was buying through, asking me, the buyer, for a £5,000 bung from me, to negotiate the (elderly lady) sellers price down by £10,000... (Oh, hi Mark S in Bi......ton.... I know you look in occasionally :hello:... you are a complete slimebag.... ).

No. I didn't. Mind you, I did get the house, fairly, for a lower price than even he suggested. (Mark, not only are you a slimebag, you are incompetent as a crook. Stick to being a lousy estate agent; suits you better).

However, it's rarely in the agent's interest to push the offer they have got up by a few thousand quid (it won't even buy them a new pair of those ridiculous pointy shoes!). Would I trust an agent to tell the truth? No, not often. But, would I start out believing they were lying? Nope, most are not sharp enough to carry it off repeatedly.

(And, Mark, if you are passing, may I, again, state you are shoe-sole stinking effluent)...

kinger101

Some agents will lie about other others. Some won't. From your point of view, if they vendor already had an offer which they viewed as acceptable, the house would most likely already been taken off the market.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Remember though that they may actually have another offer and just be lying abut the amount. In addition, if they do have another offer then they are probably lying to them as well about how high your offer is; and even if you hold your ground, if the other person caves in and offers more then their lies become self-fulfilling.

kayleighae

I don't know about a fake offer but I'm pretty convinced one lied to me about speaking to the seller about an offer. Made an opening offer, quite low admittedly and had a call back in under 5 minutes to say it had been rejected. We instantly went back with a higher offer, she then couldn't get hold of the seller for 5 days. I'm guessing she didn't contact him on the first offer. As it turned out the house was already sold, not through the EA somehow and the seller changed the locks on the house so when the EA turned up to do a viewing they couldn't get in.