Something suspicious or just change mind

James-may

Hi I'm a bit curious about something, nothing huge as Im in the precess of purchasing somewhere else, but curious as to how things happened.

I seem a property I really liked, was on the market months, once i got in the position to buy, I arranged a viewing.
2 mins from the viewing time while sat outside I got a call from estate agent saying viewing was cancelled as seller had accepted an offer, I was annoyed at the timing, but moved on.

Around 6 weeks later I noticed the property was still marked as available, so I called up and asked for a viewing using my partner's name, viewing was arranged and on day of viewing got a call from estate agent saying again, seller just received an offer and has accepted.

I thought it strange as the property had been unoccupied for approx 7 months by then.
As I was in the area I drove past the other day and noticed the property had a sign outside saying it was "let" by the same estate agents that were selling it originally.

Now it could be that someone bought it to let out and the estate agent offered there services to the buyer.

But as they seem to have not told the whole truth with regards to offer previously I'm suspicious.

I mean would an estate agent cancel viewings do the property doesn't sell, then offer to buy the property it's self?

I'm purposefully not mentioning company names here, as wouldn't want to accuse anyone if anything.

I'm just curious if that sort of thing goes on.

AdrianC

What possible benefit is there to the vendor or the EA to do that?

James-may

AdrianC said:

What possible benefit is there to the vendor or the EA to do that?

The vendor gets a quick sale if something that's they've been trying to sell for better part of a year, and the ea gets a £100k property for £90k on the promise of a quick sale.

PollyWollyDoodle

I had this happen twice on a house I was very keen to view - had a viewing booked and then cancelled because they'd accepted an offer in April.  It came back on the market in July, I asked to view, and the same thing happened again.  I had just offered on another property (which I am proceeding with) when the agent rang me to say it's suddenly back on the market ... and the price has gone down, from £380 to £370 and now to £360k.  I suspect there's a major problem with it. 

It may be that this is what's happened with the one you are looking at, they have tried to sell twice, and now decided to let it instead because for some reason the buyers can't get a mortgage.  Or perhaps it was bought with the intention of letting, and they have used the agents who acted on the sale - nothing sinister there.  As @AdrianC says, no incentive for the vendors or the EA to arrange viewings and then cancel them.

warwick2001

Just a wee story.....

When I was looking to buy a house a few years back, I had two very dubious viewings. On the first, the EA (who conducted the viewing) gushed about how gorgeous the house was (it was nice, but nothing amazing). She was constantly telling me the house was in demand, and that I'd HAVE to offer way over the asking price if I was to get the house. I didn't, purely as it was already at the top end of my budget, and I offered the asking price. It was accepted. It turned out that it was the EA's daughter that was selling the house. (Sale later fell through, but that's a different story).

Second event, when viewing another house, EA conducting viewing (different company) basically told me the house was a total dump, loads of problems the vendor was hiding, and did his absolute best to put me off the property. It worked, and I didn't offer. A few months later the EA's son bought the property for a much lower price than asking. A few years later I met the original vendor, and asked him about it. He told me that the EA told him there was no interest in buying the property after the potential buyers had viewed, and that he should sell for whatever offer he gets.

To clarify, I was a FTB at this point, was a bit naïve and believed what the EA's were telling me, as I assumed they would be upfront and honest...... 

James-may

PollyWollyDoodle said:

I had this happen twice on a house I was very keen to view - had a viewing booked and then cancelled because they'd accepted an offer in April.  It came back on the market in July, I asked to view, and the same thing happened again.  I had just offered on another property (which I am proceeding with) when the agent rang me to say it's suddenly back on the market ... and the price has gone down, from £380 to £370 and now to £360k.  I suspect there's a major problem with it. 

It may be that this is what's happened with the one you are looking at, they have tried to sell twice, and now decided to let it instead because for some reason the buyers can't get a mortgage.  Or perhaps it was bought with the intention of letting, and they have used the agents who acted on the sale - nothing sinister there.  As @AdrianC says, no incentive for the vendors or the EA to arrange viewings and then cancel them.

You are probably right, as I said I just had a bit suspicion.

But then, I'm quite a untrusting of strangers person🤣

James-may

warwick2001 said:

Just a wee story.....

When I was looking to buy a house a few years back, I had two very dubious viewings. On the first, the EA (who conducted the viewing) gushed about how gorgeous the house was (it was nice, but nothing amazing). She was constantly telling me the house was in demand, and that I'd HAVE to offer way over the asking price if I was to get the house. I didn't, purely as it was already at the top end of my budget, and I offered the asking price. It was accepted. It turned out that it was the EA's daughter that was selling the house. (Sale later fell through, but that's a different story).

Second event, when viewing another house, EA conducting viewing (different company) basically told me the house was a total dump, loads of problems the vendor was hiding, and did his absolute best to put me off the property. It worked, and I didn't offer. A few months later the EA's son bought the property for a much lower price than asking. A few years later I met the original vendor, and asked him about it. He told me that the EA told him there was no interest in buying the property after the potential buyers had viewed, and that he should sell for whatever offer he gets.

To clarify, I was a FTB at this point, was a bit naïve and believed what the EA's were telling me, as I assumed they would be upfront and honest...... 

Wow, you would think there would be some legal comeback open to the original seller over that.

ProDave

My "less than honest" estate agent story.

30 years ago, buying my second house.  I had already viewed it but could not make an offer until I had a buyer for my first house. this took a while in a slow market.

When i did get an offer, I made an offer for the house I wanted.  Agent calls back to say someone has made a higher offer. So I increased mine. this continued to the end of the day when I could go no higher and still there was a higher offer.

I went straight from work to the house I wanted, unannounced, and spoke to the vendor who knew nothing about another offer and said that had been no viewings since I viewed.

Yes the "other offer" was just a pack of lies by the agent.  Are there not laws against this?

Jeepers_Creepers

ProDave said:

Yes the "other offer" was just a pack of lies by the agent.  Are there not laws against this?

It would appear there are: https://allaboutuklaw.co.uk/shill-bidding/

trevormax

ProDave said:

Yes the "other offer" was just a pack of lies by the agent.  Are there not laws against this?

If this had occurred today, this would be fraud by false representation under S2 Fraud Act 2006. 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

Gavin83

I wouldn’t increase an offer if an EA rung me up and told me I needed to. I’d wonder what makes me so special that they want me to get the house over someone else….