Estate agent etiquette

Thrugelmir

lookstraightahead said:

What has happened to the art of negotiation of an estate agent knows exactly what you can afford before you even see a property? 

EA doesn't care as long as you've the funds to meet your actual offer.  EA wants a sale. Not an extra £20 of commission. Vendor is the one you need to come to an agreement with. The agent is the one with the skills to bring both parties together to arrive at a compromise. 

lookstraightahead

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

What has happened to the art of negotiation of an estate agent knows exactly what you can afford before you even see a property? 

EA doesn't care as long as you've the funds to meet your actual offer.  EA wants a sale. Not an extra £20 of commission. Vendor is the one you need to come to an agreement with. The agent is the one with the skills to bring both parties together to arrive at a compromise. 

Yep but don't you think the EA having that extra bit of knowledge might slightly change the way the EA advises the vendor to approach negotiations? 

big_saver_5

lookstraightahead said:

big_saver_5 said:

If someone is looking for an excuse to get out of the house and take their kids to have a nosey around some houses having to do a credit check on themselves first may just put them off. As I say it isnt fool proof but estate agents are getting a lot of bored day trippers who have no intention of buying anything at the moment and are trying to put them off. They may put off genuine people however if someone really likes the house it isnt too much of an ask to get a decision in principle or produce a piece of paper to show you have a buyer for your house. 

An AIP isn't a credit check.
it would be better to insist that a viewing is limited to 15 mins and only two viewers at the most, or something similar. The EA need to do their work and investigate rather than just ask for a couple of random useless bits of paper that tell people nowt. 
I remember being asked to prove I could afford over the asking price before I was shown round a property. I politely refused and it's still on the market. Why on earth would I try to prove that 😂

an aip is a credit check. Regardless of whether it is a hard or soft search it will still only spit out a certificate if you pass their credit search even if you give them inflated income details
If you have adverse credit outside the lenders tolerance you won't get the certificate saying they would lend you the money even if you tell them you are on 200k a year

MysteryMe

Those acting like a PITA before even setting foot through the door are highly likely to be a PITA at every stage so it's a helpful self defining red flag. At least the vendor is forewarned.

[Deleted User]

big_saver_5 said:

an aip is a credit check. Regardless of whether it is a hard or soft search it will still only spit out a certificate if you pass their credit search even if you give them inflated income details
If you have adverse credit outside the lenders tolerance you won't get the certificate saying they would lend you the money even if you tell them you are on 200k a year

You are of course correct but people like London and Country give out documents called Agreement in Principe even though they havent approached a single lender.   Just glorified affordability calculators.   Once you know how they work it is easy to challenge people but if you dont know they are worthless then you dont know

Thrugelmir

lookstraightahead said:

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

What has happened to the art of negotiation of an estate agent knows exactly what you can afford before you even see a property? 

EA doesn't care as long as you've the funds to meet your actual offer.  EA wants a sale. Not an extra £20 of commission. Vendor is the one you need to come to an agreement with. The agent is the one with the skills to bring both parties together to arrive at a compromise. 

Yep but don't you think the EA having that extra bit of knowledge might slightly change the way the EA advises the vendor to approach negotiations? 

Sounds as if you are over thinking everything if you believe that this "extra knowledge" gives any negotiation advantage or benefit to the vendor. 

lookstraightahead

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

What has happened to the art of negotiation of an estate agent knows exactly what you can afford before you even see a property? 

EA doesn't care as long as you've the funds to meet your actual offer.  EA wants a sale. Not an extra £20 of commission. Vendor is the one you need to come to an agreement with. The agent is the one with the skills to bring both parties together to arrive at a compromise. 

Yep but don't you think the EA having that extra bit of knowledge might slightly change the way the EA advises the vendor to approach negotiations? 

Sounds as if you are over thinking everything if you believe that this "extra knowledge" gives any negotiation advantage or benefit to the vendor. 

I believe the overthinking is by the vendor in the first place. How many people go round other people's houses with absolutely no intention of buying somewhere? Possibly a tiny few, although no more than vendors with unrealistic expectations of how exciting and entertaining their front room is.
i can't think of a single time as a vendor when I thought viewers were just on a day out or having a nose. And I'd quite happily entertain that fact if it meant having more prospective offers.

youth_leader

I definitely had people viewing just for curiosity, I was selling my listed railway station.  First offer the viewer had blatantly lied to the EA, said he was in rented and a cash buyer, turned out he had a £750K house to sell and wasn't even on the market.  Second offer said he was a cash buyer, but his ex-wife in Sweden had the cash and he wasn't getting any of it.  I'm all for checking that viewers are proceedable.  I sold at auction in the end, which is supposed to be 10% deposit on the day of sale - viewing agent told me one of the viewers said she liked it so much she was going straight home to put her house on the market.  I'd assumed auction houses also checked their viewers, I had 33 people muddying my carpets and looks like some of them were there for the view.   I trust no-one now. 

Thrugelmir

lookstraightahead said:

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

Thrugelmir said:

lookstraightahead said:

What has happened to the art of negotiation of an estate agent knows exactly what you can afford before you even see a property? 

EA doesn't care as long as you've the funds to meet your actual offer.  EA wants a sale. Not an extra £20 of commission. Vendor is the one you need to come to an agreement with. The agent is the one with the skills to bring both parties together to arrive at a compromise. 

Yep but don't you think the EA having that extra bit of knowledge might slightly change the way the EA advises the vendor to approach negotiations? 

Sounds as if you are over thinking everything if you believe that this "extra knowledge" gives any negotiation advantage or benefit to the vendor. 

I believe the overthinking is by the vendor in the first place. 

Seems as if you have only perspective, your own.  

Soot2006

My experiences with Estate Agents have always been very professional, both as buyer and as seller. Their job is to be easy to speak with, and I've generally found that to be true.  They need to make a risk assessment prior to the viewing, and they do use their common sense.  If EA asks for AIP and you say "I SHALL NOT" out of principle, that's very different from having a house on the market or a decent deposit ready to go, etc ...  My friend is viewing right now and didn't have any trouble pre-AIP because she's a pretty straightforward/boring buyer.

Also, even Pre-Covid I passed all the notes we got through our door to the agent. That's what I was paying them for and I had no interest in speaking with potential buyers.