FTB advice on EA.

S_J.

Hello all,

I am a first time buyer with a mortgage in principle and deposit. Hopefully I've got all that side boxed off! (avid follower of this site and has come in useful many times)
I need advice on how to deal with EA. As mentioned this is will be my first purchase and this part is alien to me.
Do I just treat them like car salesman? (don't give to much info to them about my budget as they can push towards that if I under offer etc)
Also house that mention offer over, it us not insulting to put under the figure? Don't want to come across as messing a seller about.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Any advice is appreciated, thank you

Thrugelmir

EA is the broker between you and another party. EA isn't selling you anything. Only the vendor can say whether the offer you make is acceptable. The EA's aim will be to bring you together.

verybigchris

Thrugelmir wrote: »

EA is the broker between you and another party. EA isn't selling you anything. Only the vendor can say whether the offer you make is acceptable. The EA's aim will be to bring you together.

Not really true any more. Many EAs will want to sell the buyer their mortgage brokering, their conveyancing, their surveyors, their home insurance, their utilities services, their removal services. A gullible buyer will bring them more profit than the actual sale of the property.

S_J.

Don't they earn there money from a percentage of the price the house sells for? Thought this would be motivation to keep the price as high as possible?

S_J.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

EA is the broker between you and another party. EA isn't selling you anything. Only the vendor can say whether the offer you make is acceptable. The EA's aim will be to bring you together.

verybigchris wrote: »

Not really true any more. Many EAs will want to sell the buyer their mortgage brokering, their conveyancing, their surveyors, their home insurance, their utilities services, their removal services. A gullible buyer will bring them more profit than the actual sale of the property.

Every EA I have my name with keep ringing not with houses that match my criteria but to use their mortgage broker to see "if I could borrow more". Current broker I have used is free and has access to all the market! Don't take no for an answer

verybigchris

S_J. wrote: »

Don't they earn there money from a percentage of the price the house sells for? Thought this would be motivation to keep the price as high as possible?

Typical commission is around 1%, so getting an extra £5k on the sale price only generates an extra £50 for them. Hardly worth the effort, and definitely not worth losing out on thousands from selling other services.

Thrugelmir

verybigchris wrote: »

Not really true any more. Many EAs will want to sell the buyer their mortgage brokering, their conveyancing, their surveyors, their home insurance, their utilities services, their removal services. A gullible buyer will bring them more profit than the actual sale of the property.

You can apply the same principle to virtually any other business. Buy now pay later. Motor finance. O% interest etc etc. Price of the product is inflated, no such thing as a free lunch.


Bottom line is that if EA's don't sell houses they'd go out of business.

Thrugelmir

S_J. wrote: »

Don't they earn there money from a percentage of the price the house sells for? Thought this would be motivation to keep the price as high as possible?

Time is money. A business has bills to pay. A few £'s of commission is neither here nor there.

[Deleted User]

S_J. wrote: »

Every EA I have my name with keep ringing not with houses that match my criteria but to use their mortgage broker to see "if I could borrow more". Current broker I have used is free and has access to all the market! Don't take no for an answer

Your broker doesn't have access to the whole of the market. No broker does. You've fallen for a sales pitch. If free is important to you and you are happy with the products recommended then that's great, but don't believe the whole of market bit, it's just a sales tool that lazy brokers use to make themselves sound big and impressive.
Personally I think the phrase should be banned

S_J.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Your broker doesn't have access to the whole of the market. No broker does. You've fallen for a sales pitch. If free is important to you and you are happy with the products recommended then that's great, but don't believe the whole of market bit, it's just a sales tool that lazy brokers use to make themselves sound big and impressive.
Personally I think the phrase should be banned

The broker we are currently with are called first mortgage. Seem to have good reviews from different review sites and Facebook. I had another appointment with a local estate agent and they got a similar figure of what I could borrow but wanted £300 If I remember correctly.

[Deleted User]

S_J. wrote: »

The broker we are currently with are called first mortgage. Seem to have good reviews from different review sites and Facebook. I had another appointment with a local estate agent and they got a similar figure of what I could borrow but wanted £300 If I remember correctly.

As in this one: https://www.firstmortgage.co.uk/?