Estate agents not letting house go on the market after offer!

ElizabethRose

The house has been for sale for three years and now you have three offers at asking price but won't accept. No wonder the estate agent us unhappy they probably feel like they've wasted three years for nothing.

I also don't understand the planning permission as if it was needed why wasn't it applied for previously? Secondly surely it hasn't been marketed with planning permission so are the buyers bothered?

You either need to accept an offer or stop wasting the poor estate agents time.

steampowered

Did I read correctly that your house has been on the market for THREE YEARS ?

If you were likely to get an offer that is better than the offers you've already got, you would have got that offer already !

If you keep marketing the property and accepting viewings you risk losing the buyer. If I offered above asking price on a property, and the agent continued to market it / accept viewings, I would walk away.

Dithering over an offer when you've had the property on the market for 3 years makes it sound like you are not serious about selling, and suggests that I'd be wasting my time and money having a survey done / instructing solicitors.

numbercruncher8

Reminds me of that scene with Krusty the clown and the thief guy....

As with a lot of threads I don't think enough information is given. What was the difference in the original asking price and the new reduction? If it is large perhaps you have a point but then again, why agree to such a reduction.

If we're talking a small 5% decrease I think you're a bit deluded. The agent is actually doing a fine job, in saving you from yourself. 

MaryNB

To be honest, if I was buying a house and the vendor refused to take it off the market, I would pull out. I'm not paying all those fees with a high risk of being gazumped. At best I would keep viewing other houses in case a better one came along. I won't keep away from the market if the vendor won't. It's not against any rules but it's very unfair to accept someone's offer and continue looking for another buyer. 

steve866

Did I recd correctly that you need to apply for planning on the property before it can be sold? Would you not have applied for this when you first listed 3 years ago?

phillw

Does the person who put the offer in think it has planning permission?
Or have you realized that planning permission would give you leverage to ask for more money?

bucksbloke

Rinzler said:

Yeah well it is very strange as we have been getting offers for for well under the asking price for a long time not even at the reduced price as it is now and then all of a sudden we have had 3 offers for the full amount within a week?

This has totally changed my view on this property and it's giving us more confidence that we can get a better price.

You are joking right? I think you are really lucky to have got a number of asking price offers and you should take one whilst you can. Stop timewasting. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Elizabeth, what do you think is the purpose or aim of an Estate Agent?  Is it to sell your property and for the best price? Half right.

From the EA's point of view, it's to sell your property. As quickly as possible. 

Why aren't they bovvered about getting the best price possible? Look at the sums - if a house sells for £200k and the commision is 1.5%, then the EA pockets £3k. Nice work if you can get it.

If the buyer holds out for another £5k (that's nice for the buyer) but this makes the sale drag on - as it almost certainly will - why does the EA grit their teeth - surely they'll also get more? Yes, a further 75 squid for all the extra grief and delay.

(Yes! I've just read Freakonomics!)

Your house has been on the market for 3 years. That's quite a long time. Only kidding - that's a hell of a long time. That's just about as long as I've ever seen. Only kidding - that is as long as I've ever seen.

That's why the EA is getting a bit bolshie, and I can't really blame him. 

He is sooo pee'd off with this house on his books that he's telling you what he's going to do, and I doubt he's bovvered if you'll take your 'business' elsewhere; good chance that the only offers you'll get from a new EA will be from the same people as before, ergo the old EA will still likely get the commission.  

Little risk of that, tho' - 'cos there's little risk of any other EA taking you on. 

AnotherJoe

If i was your prospective buyer i'd be walking because no doubt you'd cut me out as soon as you got offered an extra fiver. We've had buyers here complaining that their AP or even AP+ pffer has been refused, you're the first of those sellers with the chutzspah to turn up here.

Rinzler

Sorry I forgot to mention the house was on the market for 1 year but we had little no to interest even with planning permission agreed.

We agreed an offer with a landlord who asked us to take the house off the market (for 2 years) for him to tell us last minute that he didn't want it. Which is why we are quite apprehensive to agree to this buyer.

In those two years we saw many houses that we liked but missed out.

We put the house on the market again  after taking a break from being so disappointed and upset over the time wasted. We only had offers of £40k under the asking price. We then eventually reduced the price by £20k and now the last few weeks these offers and interest has flown in.

In the two years wasted by the landlord the planning permission has expired and we are in the middle of reapplying for that.

The agent is asking us to move into council houses which is only what we can get at the moment with the money offered for this house. I have been looking every single day but the houses are in really bad areas.

We have lived in this house for over 30 years it is a great house but the area has been taken over by students and landlords. I do not want to sell this house only to go to another bad area which is why we are really taking our time with finding a house.

Tldr: The house was started on the market 3 years ago. 2 of which were wasted by a landlord pulling out of a personal agreement.