Estate agents being sneaky?!?!

Newthings

Hi all,

I'm at my end of my tether. I've worked hard saving over the last 5 years for a healthy deposit for my first house.

I saw a house that I was interested in and called up the estate agents -haart to explain I'd like a viewing. They didn't get back to me so i phoner until they eventually agreed a date but explained there were two people who were in a bidding war for the house already.
The estate agent showed me around and mouthed all it needs is new carpet and paint. I put an offer in and the agent explained I put the highest offer yet. He explained that it was the last day to see the house because of all the offers that were coming in. That was last Saturday . I phoned on Monday and they explained that they were going to have just one more viewing. They lied as the viewings continued till Wednesday. I had phoned them everyday to see what was happening with the house (bearing in mind I have had no contact with this agency unless I contact them).

I phoned them today just to see what was going on but at the same time I didn't want to feel like I was bothering them, lucky I did because they explained the new people who had seen the house since Monday were in a bidding war. I asked to see why I wasn't informed...they said they were going to inform me what was happening with my offer via a LETTER. Worse yet the manager took over the call (could tell he was so young he was still going through puberty) and explained that the house needed doing up and did I really want the burden. He said I would be out of pocket and they wouldn't be accountable if the property was devalued.

I spoke to an estate agent friend of mine who said that particular branch had a bit of a bad rep with lying. In addition he thought the agent was either getting a kick back or wanted to sell it to a family/friend. He even explained he may pretend to have been putting through my bid.

The vendor lives around the corner.

Is there any point of increasing my offer?
Should I talk to the vendor?
How do I ensure the vendor has seen my offer?

I'm so confused and angry. Please help !!!128512;!!!128512;!!!128512;!!!128512;

kinger101

That particular branch? Haart are snakes everywhere. Tried to block me from viewings for not seeing their mortgage adviser.

Stick a note thought the vendors door saying you were being discouraged from buying the place, and don't believe you offer has been put forward.

If the vendor doesn't live there, you can do a land registry search.

theinbetweener007

Go and knock on the door and tell them you made an offer. If they were never informed, report the estate agent. They have a professional obligation to forward all offers even if they are pathetic.

Newthings

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I called Haart and they said cold bids would take place tomorrow. I had to ask the manager to inform me of the bid cut off point (3pm) as he was acting as if he didn't have any information.

I visited the vendors house but she wasn't in. I'll pop bye in the morning.

My estate agent friend thinks it's really dodgy how the manager tried to make me rethink about buying a house.

Ps I heard about the mortgage advisor thing from someone else too!

Smodlet

"Estate agents being sneaky?" Yep, it's in their job description and haart? One of the worst I have ever dealt with.

If you have a friend who is an EA, why don't you ask them to find you a house?

MoveSelf

It's underhand tactics like this that gives estate agents a bad name (although I'm sure it's only the minority).

I remember viewing a house once - a period property that needed a fair bit of work. And the Estate Agent actively discouraged me from making an offer and her responses were a bit murky. I later discovered that the property had sold....to the Estate Agent's son!! Ha. To say I was fuming was an understatement. And when I later consulted Zoopla's Sold Prices it turns out I would have offered more!

Luckily for me I found a place shortly after which, in hindsight, is much more suitable and required much less work to make liveable.

takman

MoveSelf wrote: »

It's underhand tactics like this that gives estate agents a bad name (although I'm sure it's only the minority).

I know of one agent using a really underhand tactic. They setup an account on a forum in their company name and post on the forum about estate agent matters and promote their own company. But they completely ignore the rules that say they must get permission to post as a company first.

Very dodgy and i certainly wouldn't recommend using any company that sneakily posts on a forum pretending to be an individual but using the company name!.

MoveSelf

takman wrote: »

they must get permission to post as a company first.

Ahh ha ha. Made me smile. I didn't know about the 'username' rule - only the 'signature' rule. I'll email the forum team....

takman

MoveSelf wrote: »

Ahh ha ha. Made me smile. I didn't know about the 'username' rule - only the 'signature' rule. I'll email the forum team....

Well when you first posted on here it seems you didn't read any of the rules but even after the MSE forum team removed your signature you still didn't read the rules and continued to break them.

But I'll let you off as we all know Estate Agents need be given every bit of information and you can't trust them to do any research

MoveSelf

takman wrote: »

...you still didn't read the rules and continued to break them.

....and I still am....possibly because I'm too busy responding to 'spam & inappropriate posts'. (see what I did there?) :cheesy:

Anyway, I've been in touch with the forum team as aforementioned....but thanks for your input all the same.

Newthings

So an update..
I went to the vendors house 3 x but no one was there.

I put in my final bid for Wednesday at 3 p.m. didn't hear anything on Thursday and phone just this morning as it's Friday to ask what was going on.
The agent said he'd emailed me to say I wasn't successful I explained that was really funny because I hadn't given my email address to him to which he changed his story to can I email you.

He explained that he couldn't tell me if my bid was the highest bid but it would be released on Zoopla or via a letter.

I'm really not going to deal with that agency again absolutely unprofessional to the nth degree. Can't believe I had to phone up to see that I hadn't got the house what absolute morons I hope their business continues to get a !!!! reputation and they eventually fold.