Selling a house, what next?

John00100

I'm selling my house through an online estate agent, but really doing it on my own because I've not been able to get them to do anything (I will take it further when it's all finished, but now I need to focus on selling my house because I'm in a chain).

I've received an offer at full asking price which I'm going to accept.
Now in theory the local agent is supposed to conduct all negotiations, but I've not been able to get her even to make a single phone call to people who had made an offer, ended up doing it all myself.
I was told that the next stage would be for her to 'qualify' the offer before I formally accept it, but from previous experience she won't even dial their phone number, while telling me she's waiting for them to get back to her..

So what do I do next? i.e. if I was doing it on my own without an estate agents what would I need to do?
I'm thinking of requesting proof of funds (bank statement/mortgage offer letter), then take the property off market and hand it all over to the conveyancer.
Is there anything else I need to bear in mind?

eddddy

At this stage, an EA might check how 'proceedable' and serious a buyer is.

An EA might check...

- Have they got a property to sell? If so, what's the status?
- Do they need a mortgage? If so, do they have an AIP?
- Do they actually have deposit funds?
(It's worth seeing what LTV they're looking for)
- Have they arranged a solicitor
- When do they want to move? (ASAP or not)

But lots of people on this forum get very offended (rightly or wrongly) when EAs grill them about this kind of stuff.

And it's probably more difficult for a seller to ask these questions than an EA. You need to judge how hard you can grill the buyer without offending them, so they walk away.


(If, for example, they are clueless FTBs, they may need pushing every step of the way.)

Pixie5740

It's not so much that people are offended when EA grill them it's that usually the grilling is accompanied with the EA trying to push their mortgage broker and solicitor on the buyer.

John00100

I've got most of the information, so it sounds like I should be fine. I just need evidence that they have the money.

eddddy

Pixie5740 wrote: »

It's not so much that people are offended when EA grill them it's that usually the grilling is accompanied with the EA trying to push their mortgage broker and solicitor on the buyer.

I agree.

But
- the OP has shown the buyers around the house
- the buyer has made an offer
- the seller is potentially now saying "I won't accept your offer until you come back and show me your bank statements (to prove you have a deposit)"

Or perhaps even,
- "As it's a gifted deposit from your granny, bring me your granny's bank statements as well."

There is lots of scope for a (tactless) seller to handle that situation badly, and for a buyer to get offended.


(And for the real conspiracy theorists, the buyer knows nothing about the seller. The seller won't have signed up to any 'codes of conduct', or be bound by the data protection act. And an incompetent online EA may not have done thorough ID checks on the seller.)

John00100

Let's add 'reluctant seller' because this is all costing me a lot of money as I'm self employed and have had to take a lot of time off... let alone being interested in looking at other people's bank statements..

The online agency have checked my passport and proof of address, BTW.

I'm going to ask my conveyancer for advice, maybe he can help me with this.

The local agents had asked me to refer the offer to her to negotiate, but as she failed to even talk to any of the people requesting a viewing or making an offer, saying they never got back to her I'm not going to take risks (never had problems contacting anyone, they all got back to me quickly when I was dealing with them) .

Surrey_EA

John00100 wrote: »

Let's add 'reluctant seller' because this is all costing me a lot of money as I'm self employed and have had to take a lot of time off...

Maybe you should have employed a proper estate agent who would have been able to provide you with a better service!

DumbMuscle

eddddy wrote: »

(And for the real conspiracy theorists, the buyer knows nothing about the seller. The seller won't have signed up to any 'codes of conduct', or be bound by the data protection act. And an incompetent online EA may not have done thorough ID checks on the seller.)

My thoughts exactly - handing over that kind of personal info to a business is OK - but if I'd applied to an agent and then been contacted directly by the seller, and then they asked for this, alarm bells would be ringing!

John00100

Doesn't apply in this case, he's only ever had contact with myself, the online agent is very much out of the equation.

John00100

Anyway things are progressing quite nicely, which is a relief.
What happened can only be described as fraud, the more I think about it, it goes well beyond the usual salesperson/estate agent's bull. Once the sale has gone through I'll look into legal action, and see if I have enough evidence.