Unusual Estate Agent Email Re House Viewing

f2f

Not-particularly-humble Abode :rotfl:

cloo

Never seen anything like that. My first thought was maybe the owner has some sort of mental health issue and finds dealing with the whole thing very stressful? I'm just thinking of a person I know who lives with a mental illness and tends to stress and overthink tiny details - someone like that could find the process very difficult to deal with and worry about how things they might say or not say would be taken and so on

But the suggestion made before that a previous buyer had harrassed them might be on the money as well.

[Deleted User]

I am probably completely wrong, but if I read an email like that I'd be wondering if it was a small one man/woman band who thinks they know better than anyone else how the house buying process should be!

I'd probably avoid any properties they had listed.

sibyl_weekend

Who is the online agent? I know that Abode is named, but I cannot find an online agent with that name. I would be interested to know more about them, and where they are based. They seem unusual for an online agent in that they appear to insist on conducting all viewings – very rare for an online agent.

sibyl_weekend

I would be interested in knowing more about this online agent, Abode, as it is very unusual indeed for an online agent to do viewings, let alone insist on doing them. Where are they based, and do they list on Rightmove and Zoopla?

MataNui

I would be VERY wary of this EA and more likely to 'check' anything the EA tells me with the vendor. EAs have a bad (and not entirely undeserved) reputation. They are not all dishonest but a fair few are. They play both sides and work only for themselves and maximizing commissions.

Also a sale would be unlikely to fall through because of an honest conversation between buyer and seller. Thats total BS for them to claim that. It would very likely fall through if the EA had told lies to one party and had been caught out because of a conversation between buyer and seller.

I would say this EA is likely to be a bit dodgy and has probably had vendors cancel on them after they were caught lying thus wants to make sure neither party knows what the EA has been telling the other.

TBagpuss

As a buyer, ignore the mail. You are free to ask the seller whatever ou want, and they are free to reply, or not.
The bits about not discussing the price - it is fairly normal for agents to encourage their clients to refer negotiations to the agent, but that doesn't stop you from mentioning it direct to the seller. It would also be reasonable or the agents to ask *their clients* to kep them informed about any private discussions they may have with a potential buyer, but that is a cojversation they should be having with the seller, who is their client, not with potential buyers.

The mail reads to me like a generic one; if iot was specific to the particualr property then I would be more, not less, likley to want to aks the seller questions directly. Things such as why they are selling and wat their timescale is are both entirely reasonable and normal questins to be asking, and I'd be very suspicious of a vendor who was unwilling to answer.

As others have said, the email would make me very wary of trusting anything the agents might say.

Arthritic_Toe

This is bonkers. I've come across this sort of thing before in various guises. Some bright spark who is not customer facing has come up with this great idea to protect their interests, but has no clue about customer relationships - and that actually, you need to be nice to your customers or they'll go elsewhere.

I would reply to the email, or forward to their customer services if they have such a thing, pointing out that this is no way to interact with customers.

Dan-Dan

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

This is bonkers. I've come across this sort of thing before in various guises. Some bright spark who is not customer facing has come up with this great idea to protect their interests, but has no clue about customer relationships - and that actually, you need to be nice to your customers or they'll go elsewhere.

I would reply to the email, or forward to their customer services if they have such a thing, pointing out that this is no way to interact with customers.

A buyer is not a customer of the estate agent