The 'wildcard'

BrOz

I rang the estate agents to book some viewings for properties I liked the look of with the same agents. I have the afternoon booked with them viewing properties in the area. I was informed on the phone of another property that I may be interested in which is not yet on the market that I can also view on this day if I was interested but it was a bit more money than the other houses I was going to view (about 20k more) . It sounded like the exact home I was looking for, it sounded beautiful and it even had an extra bedroom but they can't give me any details on the property other than its basic features as the advert isn't yet live. 

Is this some sort of sales ploy? 
I feel like I'm on that TV programme viewing the 'wildcard' property. 

eddddy

BrOz said:

Is this some sort of sales ploy? 

Well... yes.  That's what estate agents do - sell!

The reasons they're doing it probably include:

• To impress the seller. The details aren't even written up yet - and they're getting viewers in through the door!
• To impress you. You're getting special treatment, seeing the property before anyone else - so perhaps you should snap it up quickly with an offer, before the hoards get to see it!

youth_leader

I am normally very cynical after my selling experience, however, I recently viewed a house and it wasn't suitable.  The agent said a bungalow I might like was coming onto the market with them very shortly, they were still taking the photographs etc and she'd phone me as soon as it was 'live'.   She did phone me first, and as the first viewer, I was really lucky as my asking price offer was accepted.

Davesnave

If they think you're a good bet, they may well pull a property from 'under the counter' like that.

This happened to us when we told an agent to stop sending us more details when we were suited with a private buy. Suddenly, the agent 'found' a couple of suitable properties; one new to their books and I think the other was described as something like 'discreet marketing.'

Being human, we looked and both were OK, but we stuck with the one we'd found for ourselves.

AdrianC

It may well be at face value.

They've got the instruction from the vendor, they know the basics and the price, but the photos/floorplan/etc aren't done yet, so they simply can't give you any more detail.