Conflict of interest

Hoploz

I would hope you got more than one EA valuation before choosing one.

Assuming this is the case, I would treat the staff buyer just like any other buyer. Refuse the first offer and see what happens next.

It might be pertinent to ask whether it is for investment or to live in. If they've fallen in love with the place they might increase their offer and if refused, reoffer in a few weeks if no other interest. If its for investment they might not be so keen on increasing.

I wouldn't just reject the offer because they are staff, that's not fair.

I did smile to myself when I discovered a house near me that'd been for sale for ages and I considered to be hugely over-priced (100k or so) was bought as a family home by the branch manager. They had actually paid the asking price! I can only assume he loved it so much when he first walked in that he over-valued it haha!

eddddy

kat_holly wrote: »

... Appriciate any help as I've never sold a house before .

Sadly, over the years I've come across a few examples of EAs that exploit naive sellers.

They work like this...

The EA gains the sellers trust, persuades the seller that they don't need to speak any other EAs...

...then they undervalue the property, and buy it themselves.

Could that be happening to you?

Did you get valuations from a variety of EAs?

Even if you did, it's not sensible to accept an offer before the property has even been marketed.


Hopefully you are still in the 14 day cooling off period. In these circumstances, I would cancel the EA's contract, leave the EA's offer on the table, and see if another EA can market it and get a better offer.

martindow

spadoosh wrote: »

Every piece of advice on this forum seems to be valuations are a load of rubbish and a house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I would assume the op was quite happy to market at the price it was valued at, ie happy to accept that amount of money.

I would doubt the person doing the valuation would be the person wanting to put the offer in and due to a potential conflict of interest you would think most people would make sure everything is above board because of it. It would be silly to risk the reputation of the business for the sake of £5k potnetially a bit more if your thinking along the lines of undervalued.

I wouldnt bother with other agents or valuations. I would research local similar properties and see how much theyve sold for recently. If it seems in line and your happy with the amount accept the offer, or ask for an improved offer.

I know estate agents have a bad rep but the majority of the time the process is complicated by the seller or buyer, this could be one of those times.

If your happy with the offer take it, if not, refuse and take the chance.

The executor is required to realise the maximum possible sum for the estate. If they do as you suggest a beneficiary of the will could complain that there had possibly been some collusion and that the house was sold below its value.

Accepting the first offer, especially as this is from the agents involved could make it difficult for the executor to show they had correctly fulfilled their duties.

I would note the offer and continue to market the house, moving agents if I had doubts about how actively they were promoting it.

robatwork

Ask them if they will forego the commission.

The answer to this should be the same as yours as to whether you accept the offer.

Kynthia

The good thing is they been upfront about it being an employee who's interested in the property. The time to worry is if they hadn't told you. So this means you can be aware of any possible conflict of interest and check you are getting fair treatment.

So follow the suggestions above and check that the price is an achievable one with an unrelated estate agency. Then check that people aren't being put off to view and tell tge agent in writing you want all offers passed on. After that treat the offer like you would any other. Estate agents need to buy homes too so it does happen.

Guest101

robatwork wrote: »

Ask them if they will forego the commission.

The answer to this should be the same as yours as to whether you accept the offer.

Why would they?

If anything the buyer is less likely to mess about as their boss will see the commission loss as their fault

robatwork

Guest101 wrote: »

Why would they?

Why would they forego commission? Or was it rhetorical?

If you really are asking, it's because they wouldn't have needed to do the work normally necessary to market a house. Advertising, showing people around, negotiating....

kat_holly

Hi guys. Just a quick update. We refused the original offer from the EA and asked them to up it . Im pleased to say they wouldnt because, that took the worry away of the 'Conflict of Interest' issue. We have since had a better offer and they are especially keen on a very quick sale . We've even been given a completion date . ! Seems to be an association of some sort . No surveys done yet . Is it the norm to give a completion date b4 anything is done/ might be done ? Thanks again for all the feedback already given .:)

Guest101

robatwork wrote: »

Why would they forego commission? Or was it rhetorical?

If you really are asking, it's because they wouldn't have needed to do the work normally necessary to market a house. Advertising, showing people around, negotiating....

No it's an actual question.


They did market the house, to a buyer on their books.


Advertising, viewings and negotiations are separate.


You wouldn't be happy if the agent charged more after the first 5 viewings would you? So no reason to charge less when they got a quick offer in.


(this is fairly basic stuff)

Rain_Shadow

martindow wrote: »

The executor is required to realise the maximum possible sum for the estate. If they do as you suggest a beneficiary of the will could complain that there had possibly been some collusion and that the house was sold below its value.

Accepting the first offer, especially as this is from the agents involved could make it difficult for the executor to show they had correctly fulfilled their duties.

I would note the offer and continue to market the house, moving agents if I had doubts about how actively they were promoting it.

Although that may be true there is no indication in the OPs post that they are the executor. They may well be the beneficiary having been transferred the property under the terms of the will.