How to tell if you're being played by EA

kilby_007

Are there any tips, or questions that can be asked to the Estate Agent in our scenario to suss out whether they're telling the truth...

We found a house we liked that's been on the market for 10 weeks, "offers over 300K". The vendors had mentioned they'd found their dream home and wanted to move quickly. Oddly, we didn't get a follow-up call from the estate agent within the next couple of days so I called them myself and they seemed disinterested in speaking to us really, but I put forward an offer of 280K, which we think is about the going rate, judging by other sold prices down the same road. They rejected our offer, and, thinking they were probably waiting for us to call back we played the waiting game for a week to no avail. I rang today and upped our offer to 282K. The EA said they would pass on the offer, and then she called back half an hour later and said there were now "other offers" (plural) on the table. Again I upped the offer and said 285K best and final offer,. She came back an hour later and she said the vendor rejects our offer as the other offer is still higher (note the singular "offer" now). At this point I could see me getting into a game of cat and mouse (despite perhaps foolishly using the term "final offer"), so we left it until late afternoon and went into the estate agent's to ask how far away we are from the other offer and if it's worth putting another small increase or we're wasting our time, to which we got the response "we can't tell you what the other offers are or give you any information about them", she then completely contradicted herself and looked at the offers on her screen and said "the other offer is still quite a bit more" so we said we'd go away and have a think about it overnight, and that's where we are now.

I'm quite aware of the fact that there could be no other offers and the EA could be playing us like a fiddle, getting us to bid against ourselves, but we also love this property and now we just want to get on with buying it, at the right price, but without getting shafted. We're in a really strong buying position as we're renting and completely flexible with completion dates.

ellie27

I would think that since they are not rushing to get you to up your offer, they didnt even chase you up at the start for feedback etc, then I would say they do have a buyer with a higher offer. I do not think they are just making up a buyer.

kilby_007

ellie27 wrote: »

I would think that since they are not rushing to get you to up your offer, they didnt even chase you up at the start for feedback etc, then I would say they do have a buyer with a higher offer. I do not think they are just making up a buyer.

That's my thinking, however they haven't accepted the other offer either, as it's still for sale, so part of me thinks they're waiting to see if the other buyer's offer will push us up a bit further and then go with us, if we are in a stronger position (it's not exactly a first time buyer's house here, so there's a high probability the other offer have a chain behind them).

We were in this same position as sellers a few months ago, and in the end we took an offer 7K less that the highest offer because they had no chain, but I guess everyone reacts differently in these kind of situations...

Linus2864

Kilby,


My own view would be that they are playing you every time they open their mouths!


As Ellie says, it sounds like they have a buyer, but they are probably trying to get you to outbid each other.


Bear in mind that the EA's job is to get the highest possible offer for the vendor (and a higher commission).


It may be worth calling the EA pretending to be new buyers and see if they disclose that the property has any offers.


Hope this helps


L

AdrianC

The EA will be receiving less than 1.5% of the sale price as their fee.

Why would they risk jeopardising the sale for 1.5% of an extra five grand? £75...?

alchemist.1

Sounds like they have an unreasonable vendor who won't accept anything less than the 300k.

The other offer being higher than yours and being rejected leads to lack of interest in pushing yours forward.

Dan-Dan

Offer what you think its worth end of

By the sounds of it, your the one game playing

kilby_007

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Offer what you think its worth end of

By the sounds of it, your the one game playing

Helpful response, thanks.

We offered what we thought it was worth, and now we've offered 5K more than we think it's worth, simply because the house ticks all of our boxes, but there's possibly (or possibly not) another offer on the table. How is that me game playing?

Dan-Dan

you have offered three times and in total by only 5k , the estate agent probably thinks your a time waster who cant afford the house

Like i said,offer what you think its worth, and if you have done and it isnt being accepted then you need to accept you cant afford it

AdrianC

kilby_007 wrote: »

and now we've offered 5K more than we think it's worth

Why would you do that?

kilby_007

Dan-Dan wrote: »

you have offered three times and in total by only 5k , the estate agent probably thinks your a time waster who cant afford the house

Like i said,offer what you think its worth, and if you have done and it isnt being accepted then you need to accept you cant afford it

We can afford it, but I think you're missing the point as the question is not whether or not we can afford it or whether it's worth what we've offered, but how to ascertain whether there is actually another offer on the table or if we're unnecessarily bumping up the price. 285K is 95% of the asking price, which believe me for this area is a good offer. I'm watching similar properties that have been dropped from 350 down to 275 and still aren't selling. I'm not in London where there's dozens of buyers scrambling to get it.