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

AndyBSG

TBH, I don't understand why people get so irate at EA's or take their deviousness so personally as it's just their nature... It's like being angry at birds for pooping on your car!

You find a house, decide what YOU want to pay and offer that. If it isn't accepted then you find another house and repeat the process.

I never got involved in any of the haggling or competing offer games when buying and made it quite clear every time that was my offer and they either accepted or rejected.

Sure, I did miss the first couple of properties I offered on but at least when I did get one I knew I'd paid what I wanted to pay(also found a couple of the ones I missed out on were still on the market and had price reductions below my offer which cheered me up)

pinkteapot

EA making up a phantom 'other offerer' is really common. You're taking it too personally. Usually, you have no way of knowing if there is another offer or not so you either:

1. Be brave and say "My maximum offer is £x. That's my limit on this particular house so just let me know if it's a yes or no."

2. Increase to the amount they've suggested, or near it.

Which you do will depend on:

1. How desperate you are for the house. Whether houses that match your criteria come up very often.

2. How likely you think it is that someone else is interested.

We ended up increasing our offer by 2.4% (that sounds better than £11,000 ) in response to a supposed other bidder, but houses on our estate very rarely come up for sale and they do generate a LOT of viewings and interest so there was a reasonable chance that someone else was offering. We don't know though - we might have wasted that money. But it's a long term house for us and we wanted it.

Surrey_EA

pinkteapot wrote: »

EA making up a phantom 'other offerer' is really common.

I don't believe that to be the case.

Whether a property is sold for £335k, or £340k, or £350k, makes very little difference to the commission an EA receives. Therefore, inventing a phantom 'other buyer' makes virtually no difference to their income, and could potentially lose the real buyer.

I am not saying it does not happen, and it does seem to have occurred in this particular case, but in my experience it is not 'really common'

There are some very unscrupulous agents out there that make the rest of us look bad!

steampowered

I don't think you should get mad at this. These sort of silly games are part of any negotiation. In business you come across this kind of stuff all the time. In reality it is all games and I am sure the vendor will want to accept the highest offer.

Don't let your emotions get in the way. It would be a bit silly to lose out on a house because you don't like the agent. You'll be able to forget about the agent soon enough.

You just make an offer for what you would like to pay. Don't get sidelined by silly games. If your offer gets accepted, great. If not, not a problem, look for somewhere else.

blueskyrooftop

Thanks everyone!

Please note, yesterday's red rage was not about the phantom other offer - yes, have experienced this before, though entitled to be !!!!ed off at this as it's not within Ombudsman guidelines for conduct - it was about this 'race to a price' tactic. That was really rude and suggested they thought I was completely naive.

I have spoken to EvilAgency this morning. I told them that I was not interested in playing games, did not appreciate the 'price race' suggestion, and the offer of £340,000 is still on the table, but only just. I will drop round my letter to the vendors later today so they'll be clued in, if they aren't already.

Also, I now have it in writing from the new agents that they have received no offers on the house.

blueskyrooftop

Latest update: Sellers called me immediately on receipt of the letter and are LIVID with the estate agents. The whole 'price race' thing was EvilAgency's concoction.

Over the phone, the sellers were very upfront and said they had turned down the £340,000 and said that if I want it then I'll need to pay the full price that it's on with RandomAgency - £349,995. They're retirees, both in their 70s, this will be their last house sale and they've seen a property they like for which they'll need the full asking. I can understand why they want the full price (especially as if I buy then it means they'll still be dealing with EvilAgency), although I'm disappointed they won't budge from that.

Some thinking to do.

csgohan4

don't offer more than what you think the house is worth.


Is it Connell's?

SuzieSue

Well, it depends on how much they want to move and how much you want to buy it. If it's been on the market for over 6 months then it is probably over-priced.

The Evil EA has broken their code of conduct so the vendors might be able to get out of their contract with them.

AnotherJoe

blueskyrooftop wrote: »

Latest update: Sellers called me immediately on receipt of the letter and are LIVID with the estate agents. The whole 'price race' thing was EvilAgency's concoction.

I don't see why they should be livid, EvilAgency came up with a clever and creative way of getting to the amount that the sellers are adamant about and say they won't budge on. The alternative is just a blanket statement that not a penny under asking will be accepted, but doesn't it all come to the same thing ? If you were ultimately willing to pay full asking, and vendors won't accept anything under, it doesn't really matter which mechanism got you there does it?

Over the phone, the sellers were very upfront and said they had turned down the £340,000 and said that if I want it then I'll need to pay the full price that it's on with RandomAgency - £349,995. They're retirees, both in their 70s, this will be their last house sale and they've seen a property they like for which they'll need the full asking. I can understand why they want the full price (especially as if I buy then it means they'll still be dealing with EvilAgency), although I'm disappointed they won't budge from that.

if you are willing to pay a tadge more but not full asking, why not suggest to them, since you are now in direct contact with them, that you'll meet them half way (or whatever meets your wishes) and they can suggest to their prospective sellers that they drop the corresponding amount to match ?

Some thinking to do.

Ultimately this comes down to, "Can they afford to buy the house they want" , rather than "will they accept below asking price". So try my suggestion. Otherwise you'll just have to pull out or pay the extra 3%.

Thinking about this deeper, I wouldn't be sunprised if they haven't tried getting their vendors to drop at all, and at these figures I also doubt that they actually "must" get that amount as they would be cutting their retirement plans remarkably close to the bone.

They may just be canny and/or stubborn pensioners. After all if they don't budge, there is a danger they will lose the place they are going after.? I'm not sure I believe them any more than EvilAgency.

blueskyrooftop

On reflection, I'm tending to agree with you AnotherJoe - stubborn, canny pensioners I think.

My inclination is to go back and ask to meet in the middle with a best and final of £345k and then forget about it. If they get in touch, fine, they've shown themselves to be rational. If not, let it go - the house ticks most of my boxes, but it's not worth the hassle if they're not fully committed to selling.

I'm doing everything in writing from now on, with the vendors copied in on all correspondence.