hoew truthful are Estate Agents?

Boatdweller

aviii wrote: »

The EA wanted to see proof of funds before they gave the Vendor my first offer - people i have spoken to say that was odd - this is why i was suspicious.

You are right - i will have to think with my head not heart and pay want i feel the house to be worth.

Because you'd be surprised at how many people make offers on properties to then realise they can't actually afford what they offer.

an EA is working on behalf of the vendor, and in doing so, needs to make sure they are getting the best buyer for the property- the one who is most likely to be able to see the purchase through til the end.

csgohan4

Surrey_EA wrote: »

I'm not convinced that it happens anywhere near as frequently as some suggest.

Look at it this way. The firm will probably receive roughly 1% of the sale price of the property, and the individual EA will probably receive around 10% of the firms fee. As an example, for a £200k property the firm will take £2000, and the individual gets £200.

I find it difficult to believe that it is incredibly common for an EA to invent another offer, and risk losing a genuine potential buyer. An extra £10,000 means £100 to the firm, and £10 to the individual. It's not exactly worth the risk, hassle and aggravation.

You forget, an extra 10,000 means 10,000 for the vendor, could be the vendor asking the EA to play games. They do after all work for the vendor

hazyjo

They often do it even though the other party isn't proceedable - that would be my first question, what's their position. They may not have a buyer, they may have a tiny deposit, they may have a massive chain behind them... you may be the more favourable buyer.


I would arrange a second viewing if you're not sure - speak with the vendors direct. See what they have to say. Remember, the nicer you are, the more likely they are to want to sell to you!


Jx

TBagpuss

If you have a mortgage broker or have already instructed a solicitor then you canask them to do you a letter saying that they have had sight of an agreement in principle / proof of funds for at least £xx where £xx is the amount you have offered, which allows you to priovide the agents with proof without necessarily showing them how much more you may have available.

But you do need to decide how much you, personally, are willing to pay for the property. If you don't think it is worth more than you've ofered, then don't increase you offer just bcuase someone else is willing (or alleged to be willing) to pay more.

It's not uncommon for agents to mislead. thye are salespeople, and their job is to try to get you to buy at the best possible price.

Surrey_EA

AdrianC wrote: »

But, then, looking at your user name... you WOULD say that, wouldn't you?

There is a possibility I may be a little biased...!

Surrey_EA

csgohan4 wrote: »

You forget, an extra 10,000 means 10,000 for the vendor, could be the vendor asking the EA to play games. They do after all work for the vendor

Nope, I have not forgotten that. £10,000 for the vendor is a significant amount of money. However, I think most vendors would be pretty pi55ed off with their EA if the EA were responsible for dissuading a genuine prospective buyer as a result of the EA inventing a fictitious buyer.

It is also a breach of the Estate Agents Act of 1979 for an EA to invent an offer. Proving that an EA may have done this is not always easy I admit.

HiToAll

Good wind up thread. How honest is an estate agent? Possibly, slightly less so than Robert Maxwell.

AdrianC

csgohan4 wrote: »

You forget, an extra 10,000 means 10,000 for the vendor, could be the vendor asking the EA to play games. They do after all work for the vendor

If the vendor rejects the offer because it's £10k lower than they want, then the vendor's rejected the offer. The reason really doesn't matter. More money or another property.

connors07

They aren't truthful at all in my experiences. Have caught them out on a number of occasions. They always start off claiming bogus ethics but very quickly they show their true colours. I had an experience with one where there had been no previous bids for over a month since a breakdown caused by the potential buyer. I made an offer of the same amount previously accepted, I asked if there had been other viewings, I was told no.

An hour later, another bid was made higher than mine. I offered slightly higher, again 30 minutes later an offer was made higher than mine. I naively asked what they had bid, 'I can't disclose that information'. So after some back and forth of increased offers by £1000, I increased my offer by for example '£150,500'. This time the EA returns and said, so the other interested party has offered £151,500... I said hang on, you previously told me that offers cannot be disclosed, how did they know to now offer up in '£***,500'? He couldn't really answer me so I said withdraw my offer and remove me from your records etc. The next day, "the house is still available, the interested party has dropped out, would you like to offer what you started with yesterday?".

I was a chain-free FTB with a mortgage offer accepted and a healthy deposit, that house remained up for sale for another 3 months because of an EA's games. Hindsight, something else may have come up for sure, but quite unlikely given the standard of the house. I felt bad for the vendor, I was tempted to speak to them directly but they worked away all of the time (part of the reason for selling).

I'll never trust an EA, with three different companies I had experiences of them lying. Homes are an emotional purchase and an EA's just take advantage of that. Not looking forward to the day I decide to sell/buy/move/etc as they are a nightmare. A different EA lied about rodents where I did eventually move to, although to be honest I preferred dealing with the rodents than the EA's - genuinely. Bitter I know but things have worked out, I'm sure there are some good EA's out there, somewhere.

Nicolefury

Sounds like an estate agent we dealt with - who changed their tune about our offer when we revealed we already had instructed our own broker and wouldn't be using their services.


Don't fall into the trap and walk away. We did and ended up having an offer accepted on a much nicer property just 10 days later.