Skulduggery from estate agent - so insulted thinking of pulling out of negotiations

pawlala

OP I sympathise, but EA's really are trying their very very best, at all times....

blueskyrooftop

The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to think that the vendors aren't aware of this negotiation tactic. The manager of EvilAgency wasn't even aware of the price they were going on at with their new agent, for a start. I had to tell him during the conversation.

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm going to give the vendors the benefit of the doubt, for the moment. I've written a letter to them outlining the situation without directly accusing the estate agent of anything underhand, basically saying that if the 'race' goes ahead then I'll have to pull out but if they'd like to discuss my offer of £340,000 with me directly then here's my number.

AnotherJoe

seashore22 wrote: »

We had sellers who wanted us to enter a contracts race and happily walked away. You don't have to play anyone's game if you don't want to.

To be fair a race to a price is very different to a contracts race.

DaftyDuck

Never cut off your nose to spite your face. Never do it.

If you really want house X, fawn over the estate agent, compliment them on their perfume and admire their eloquence. Tell them their children are blessed to have saints for parents, and they should sit as models for the life drawing class.

Only ever pull out if it is in your interest (or if the Pope recommends), and crawl over hot coals bathed in acid if the house is your "dream home for life". ... ( bleughhh...) until contracts are exchanged.

Then...

THEN hire a muck spreader to spray over their garden wall, post home phone number for "services" in phone boxes, and make wax dolls and stick pins and ice picks in their ar5e..... but only then....

That's the time you blackmail them (hi Mark, how's Birchington treating you, you scabby cheating fat lardy twot..., I still have the tapes ). I know you pop in now and then, keep sweating).Then is the time to point out to the vendors how underhand their agent was, to tell friends what they are like, and to contact a hitman.

Just get the house first. If you want it.

“La vendetta è un piatto che va mangiato freddo”

moneyistooshorttomention

seashore22 wrote: »

We had sellers who wanted us to enter a contracts race and happily walked away. You don't have to play anyone's game if you don't want to.

This may or may not be a "contracts race" situation. Well - actually - as there is no other bidder from next agency that doesnt apply anyway at the moment.

You may or may not land up in a "bidding race". That is rather different to a "contracts race". A "contracts race" is that two offers have been accepted and they're both working/spending on getting it. A "bidding race" concludes quite quickly and, once the winning bidder has been accepted, then that's that and the vendor sticks to their agreement to sell to that successful bidder.

I did a "bidding race" on my last house. But it was all over within 24 hours - as buyer 1 made an offer, buyer 2 made an offer within hours afterwards. There was some toing-and-froing over the phone as they both upped their bids. I had decided which one to accept within 24 hours (mainly down to both my EA and I had a clear preference for one of the buyers - and they offered very marginally more). That was that. The successful bidder then had a clear run to proceed through as per normal and fast forward some weeks they were in the house.

[Deleted User]

The problem is, the OP is saying EA1 is stating there is a bidding war that doesn't seem to exist.

csgohan4

Just walk, they will get what they deserve

AnotherJoe

csgohan4 wrote: »

Just walk, they will get what they deserve

Who is "they"? The vendor? The EA? What if the EA made it up? Why punish the vendors and the OP if its the EAs underhand tactics?

And why should the OP be concerned who gets what they "deserve" (especially if the vendor wasnt involved) if the OP misses out on a house they want as DaftyDuck points out.

david1951

csgohan4 wrote: »

Just walk, they will get what they deserve

...and the OP will get nothing.

I agree with DaftyDuck and AnotherJoe - the key is to assess the situation without emotion. You did the hard part (working out that there isn't actually a bidding war) and so are in a great position to just stick with the original offer and see how it goes (which I see is what you have done).

If you were unsure about the house/price to begin with then, by all means, walk away. But don't do it to 'stick it to the man'. The estate agent won't sit there crying about losing you as a buyer, they will move on immediately.

csgohan4

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Who is "they"? The vendor? The EA? What if the EA made it up? Why punish the vendors and the OP if its the EAs underhand tactics?

And why should the OP be concerned who gets what they "deserve" (especially if the vendor wasnt involved) if the OP misses out on a house they want as DaftyDuck points out.

If the EA/vendor plays games, they could Gazump them prior to eXchange