Estate agent issues

[Deleted User]

I put my property up for sale with a local agent that sells most of the flats in the area.
I had 5 viewings on the first day it was uploaded to Rightmove & Zoopla etc which was great.
Was advised that a couple may want to come back and see it again who have since put an offer in, and then I was advised that I had rec'd the full asking price from an investor, both offers were based on removing it from the market immediately. 
I told them, with the market at the moment (and having a slight feeling they may have undervalued it) I'd like to see what other interest there was in it, as it had only been a day. 
Anyway, this all happened towards the end of last week.
This morning, I got a colleague to call the EA and pretend to be interested in viewing & they advised them 'The vendor already has an offer and we think they'll be accepting it, so can we show you something else'. 
I hate that my gut feeling was right & that the EA is doing this and I'm worried that they have turned away possibly multiple people who have enquired & reduced the amount of interest as since then.

They are the EA who have the most flats on in the area, and none of the other EA in the area usually deal with flats.
I'm at a bit of a loss with how to move forward if I'm honest as I don't feel like I can trust them anymore. 
Do I just keep an eye on them and hope that they don't cause anymore issues? 
Would this constitute a break in contract? Could I move agents, if I wanted to?

eddddy

It's probably best to discuss your colleague's experience with the EA. Maybe tell the EA that you'd like them to say something like "There is a full asking price offer which hasn't been accepted yet, so you're welcome to view if you think you might be prepared to offer above asking price".


TBH, if they've done this because the investor is their favoured buyer (e.g. the investor uses their letting services), the EA might still find other subtle ways to discourage other buyers. But if the EA knows 'you are on to them', it might make them behave more honestly.

I can't really see that you can use this as an argument to cancel the contract. The EA will just argue that they were expressing their genuine opinion to your colleague - to avoid your colleague potentially wasting their time.

babyblade41

Just remember some investors go all the way to exchange then drop the price . They have no emotion invested in the property.

It sounds like the agent has priced it about right .You can accept an offer from whoever you want to ,

As for holding out for more then you might be lucky you might not, depends on how quick you want to move 

Exodi

To be honest, this is a direct consequence of you listing the house at a value you were not happy with. If you felt it was undervalued, or that there was a strong market, why not list it for more?

The estate agent is probably put out by the fact that they have secured a full asking price offer from an investor - and you're  moving the goal posts.

k3lvc

Deleted_User said:

Would this constitute a break in contract? Could I move agents, if I wanted to?

It's probably more likely that they'd invoke the (likely) part in the contract that said they introduced a 'proceedable buyer' at the asking price and you then rejected/reneged on the deal

You have checked your contract and read the terms haven't you ? 

[Deleted User]

Sorry, I probably should have explained myself a little better. 

I got it valued by two agents & both said the same amount, so maybe it is correct value, but the EA himself stupidly said to me 'It's hard to price things at the moment, we made a few mistakes on this other block and didn't put the price high enough' so it's sort of suck in my head now that they may have undervalued it. 

In hindsight, I should have told the EA how I would like things to go, but I've not sold a property before so I just assumed that it would go how all the others are in the area. A week or so of viewings & then offers full & final. The EA was unbelievably pushy with the investor offer, and if I had just accepted that, I wouldn't have had a chance to hear the other offer, which is £2k more.

It all just feels very rushed and like they are trying to make 2k fee's for 1 days work. At the end of the day £5,000 to me is £50 to them in fee's so it doesn't matter if I get the highest price or not. 

My contract states that I just have to give 7 days notice, I think I'm just going to talk to the sales manager about my expectations & check they line up with what he thinks is reasonable.

Thank you everyone. 

TheJP

Deleted_User said:

Sorry, I probably should have explained myself a little better. 

I got it valued by two agents & both said the same amount, so maybe it is correct value, but the EA himself stupidly said to me 'It's hard to price things at the moment, we made a few mistakes on this other block and didn't put the price high enough' so it's sort of suck in my head now that they may have undervalued it. 

In hindsight, I should have told the EA how I would like things to go, but I've not sold a property before so I just assumed that it would go how all the others are in the area. A week or so of viewings & then offers full & final. The EA was unbelievably pushy with the investor offer, and if I had just accepted that, I wouldn't have had a chance to hear the other offer, which is £2k more.

It all just feels very rushed and like they are trying to make 2k fee's for 1 days work. At the end of the day £5,000 to me is £50 to them in fee's so it doesn't matter if I get the highest price or not. 

My contract states that I just have to give 7 days notice, I think I'm just going to talk to the sales manager about my expectations & check they line up with what he thinks is reasonable.

Thank you everyone. 

All an EA can do is advise on the value, you are the person that decides what to market your house at.

You accepted their advice on the asking price and they have got you an offer at asking price, now you want to challenge them on if they understand your expectations. You could end up souring your relationship with the EA, which in any case isn't ideal.

searchlight123

Exodi said:

To be honest, this is a direct consequence of you listing the house at a value you were not happy with. If you felt it was undervalued, or that there was a strong market, why not list it for more?

The estate agent is probably put out by the fact that they have secured a full asking price offer from an investor - and you're  moving the goal posts.

Sorry but that is just tough on th EA. it's your property and if you feel it's undersold you are entitled to ask them to carry on marketing it to achieve a higher price (if possible).

googler

Deleted_User said:

This morning, I got a colleague to call the EA and pretend to be interested in viewing

 I don't feel like I can trust them anymore. 

You ask someone to deceive the EA, then say you don't trust them? Really?

Why should they trust you?

ashe

Deleted_User said:

Sorry, I probably should have explained myself a little better. 

I got it valued by two agents & both said the same amount, so maybe it is correct value, but the EA himself stupidly said to me 'It's hard to price things at the moment, we made a few mistakes on this other block and didn't put the price high enough' so it's sort of suck in my head now that they may have undervalued it. 

In hindsight, I should have told the EA how I would like things to go, but I've not sold a property before so I just assumed that it would go how all the others are in the area. A week or so of viewings & then offers full & final. The EA was unbelievably pushy with the investor offer, and if I had just accepted that, I wouldn't have had a chance to hear the other offer, which is £2k more.

It all just feels very rushed and like they are trying to make 2k fee's for 1 days work. At the end of the day £5,000 to me is £50 to them in fee's so it doesn't matter if I get the highest price or not. 

My contract states that I just have to give 7 days notice, I think I'm just going to talk to the sales manager about my expectations & check they line up with what he thinks is reasonable.

Thank you everyone. 

7 days notice to leave? I would be very surprised at that... check for any minimum contract term as the notice probably applies after that is up 

Exodi

ashe said:

7 days notice to leave? I would be very surprised at that... check for any minimum contract term as the notice probably applies after that is up 

Plus, it would be interesting to know if there's anything stipulations regarding offers.

I know the OP doesn't seem to indicate so, but I just find it unbelievable that an estate agent can get a full asking price offer from a proceedable buyer, and regardless still be served notice by the vendor with no fees payable.

What purpose does the notice serve if the estate agents services are irrelevant to the contract? What is the point of the contract at all?