Something suspicious or just change mind

deannagone

Years ago I knew someone who proudly boasted he did much the same as above, and purchased the house himself, getting a really good deal on the price because of what he said about previous offers (from people he'd introduced to the sellers deliberately to create the idea the house wasn't worth as much as it was.  He did it to someone who was very insular, and trusted him, didn't get 'proper' EAs involved).  He wasn't a very nice person generally but I could well believe he'd do some one this kind of disservice. At the time, there was even less regulation of EA's than there is now, From what he said the seller didn't realise he was selling to the guy who was supposed to be selling the house. He wasn't officially an EA (didn't have offices) but in his community he was a mover and shaker and arranged things.  Fortunately I realised he wasn't to be trusted very quickly

keiratea

AdrianC said:

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

I think the hypothetical situation is there are four parties involved:

• vendor
• dodgy EA
• BTL/Flipper mate of the dodgy EA
• other potential buyers

And then we have:

• Benefit to the dodgy EA in the form of a kick-back from BTL/Flipper mate
• Benefit to the BTL/Flipper mate who gets the property cheap to rent out or sell on (even allowing for the kick-back)
• No benefit to the vendor, who loses out by selling cheap (because they think no other viewings/offers due to lack of interest ... well, according to the EA ...)
• No benefit to the other potential buyers, who lose out by not being able to compete.

James-may

Yeah, as I said I might just be paranoid🤣