Connells estate agent experience

TheJP

NoFaith said:

TheJP said:

NoFaith said:

Hi, I am in process in buying a property. Vendor'ss estate agent is Connells. Initially there were quick feedbacks on phone. Really quick feedbacks in the span of just 5 minutes. Then they asked for to go for my financial eligibility through their in house mortgage agent. Their Mortgage estate agent was charging fee. I asked them I can get mortgage without fee. I told them, I won't be taking mortgage but you can evaluate financial eligibility. After that evaluation, I was told that vendor is not happy with offer, I increased the offer on the spot on call. I didn't get any feedback for more than 2 weeks. Then I sent them an email on their branch office email adsress asking about my offer. I immediatelly got call that there is another higher offer. They should have told me about that. I sent them revised offer in email, and they are not responding again. Is something fishy ?

I sold my house using Connells and they were exceptional.

FYI the EA don't have to tell you anything about other offers, they don't even have to tell you whether your offer was rejected. The EA wants to sell the house as quickly as possible whilst getting an offer the seller is happy with. They wont have a hidden agenda against you.

TheJP, I have seen you have been defending Connells quite hard in other threads also. Are you from Connells by chance?

Nope i would never want to be an EA. I couldn't sell ice to an eskimo. I'm speaking purely from experience, they sold my house in 2 days and the service was great. I haven't bought through them so can understand the hard sale push of using their connected services. 

TheJP

MaryNB said:

I was very frustrated as a buyer because how hard they pushed their mortgage services. They booked an appointment for me after I told them not to. Then they told me it was for a financial check before my offer could be accepted so I agreed. It was all a sales pitch and mortgage advice session. I refused and still got the house though. 

It very bad form that they rejected your offer after you went through the procedure, not before. 

Is it bad form to have an offer rejected after you have provided proof of affordability? Surely that helps the seller make a decision. It was the seller that rejected the offer not the EA. The local EA i bought my house through made me proof funds first and then submitted my offer, that's common practice isn't it?

NoFaith

TheJP said:

MaryNB said:

I was very frustrated as a buyer because how hard they pushed their mortgage services. They booked an appointment for me after I told them not to. Then they told me it was for a financial check before my offer could be accepted so I agreed. It was all a sales pitch and mortgage advice session. I refused and still got the house though. 

It very bad form that they rejected your offer after you went through the procedure, not before. 

Is it bad form to have an offer rejected after you have provided proof of affordability? Surely that helps the seller make a decision. It was the seller that rejected the offer not the EA. The local EA i bought my house through made me proof funds first and then submitted my offer, that's common practice isn't it?

I have dealt with other EAs also. They did not ask proof of fund. Only my own mortgage advisor asked for proof of fund. At the max, one EA just asked for DIP (which is not really proof of funds). So no, Its not a common practice at all.

CardiffCrank

Similarly aggressive experience with a connected agency. Mortgage advisor sold as an essential part of having our offer accepted. I just strung him along until after the offer was accepted. Didn't give me details on his fees until really pressed, never gave a standard information sheet on the products he was recommending.

movilogo

If they tell you another higher offer on table, lower your offer and say good luck to other buyer. 

However, if you have fallen in love with the property, you lost any negotiation power.

nicknameless

TheJP said:

MaryNB said:

I was very frustrated as a buyer because how hard they pushed their mortgage services. They booked an appointment for me after I told them not to. Then they told me it was for a financial check before my offer could be accepted so I agreed. It was all a sales pitch and mortgage advice session. I refused and still got the house though. 

It very bad form that they rejected your offer after you went through the procedure, not before. 

Is it bad form to have an offer rejected after you have provided proof of affordability? Surely that helps the seller make a decision. It was the seller that rejected the offer not the EA. The local EA i bought my house through made me proof funds first and then submitted my offer, that's common practice isn't it?

No, but it's bad form to favourably represent an offer from a buyer who you think you will get additional money from (mortgage, conveyancing) and Connell's quite patently do this.  This is clear from their process, their patter during viewings and their 'affordability checks'.

We played the game and had an offer accepted (fell through because they lied about other circumstances - but that's another story) on a house we really wanted.

They are not working in the vendor's favour.  You might have sold your house quick, but that is happening with most agents for attractive properties, and I would not be confident that all offers will be represented in a way that ensures your best decision as a seller.

Con artists.

michelle09

We sold through Connells.

The person who came to advertise their services talked up his skills (not the branches) and all of his experience.

As soon as we'd signed on the dotted line we got passed to a colleague who we would not have agreed to as he was utterly incompetent. Missed an entire floor of our house the first time he conducted a viewing. Was 45 mins late the second time.

We were at fault for not checking but I did feel misled and it has put me off.

But for the OP- it doesn't sound like you'll get this house so I'd just move on.

NoFaith

movilogo said:

If they tell you another higher offer on table, lower your offer and say good luck to other buyer. 

However, if you have fallen in love with the property, you lost any negotiation power.

 Question is: Are Connells really communicating offers to the seller ? I do not think this is happening. Otherwise after my higher offer they should have at least acknowledge my calls and emails when I asked for the update after few days. They do not even want to talk.

Not only that, It was me who chased them about my initial offer status, and then they mentioned that here is a higher offer. They should have mentioned about it on their own for the best interest of seller. And when I put higher offer, they have stopped responding at all now.

All this is happening may be because I refused to take their in-house mortgage and other services.

I am pretty sure sellers are also losing money if they are using Connells as their EA, because they are not communicating higher bids(if they exist) to other buyers who may like to counteroffer. This certainly has happened in my case. Why are they doing it? Because Connells business model is , lets not make money from seller only,  squeeze the buyer too (by forcing the buyer to take in-house mortgage, conveyancing and other services)

NoFaith

nicknameless said:

TheJP said:

MaryNB said:

I was very frustrated as a buyer because how hard they pushed their mortgage services. They booked an appointment for me after I told them not to. Then they told me it was for a financial check before my offer could be accepted so I agreed. It was all a sales pitch and mortgage advice session. I refused and still got the house though. 

It very bad form that they rejected your offer after you went through the procedure, not before. 

Is it bad form to have an offer rejected after you have provided proof of affordability? Surely that helps the seller make a decision. It was the seller that rejected the offer not the EA. The local EA i bought my house through made me proof funds first and then submitted my offer, that's common practice isn't it?

No, but it's bad form to favourably represent an offer from a buyer who you think you will get additional money from (mortgage, conveyancing) and Connell's quite patently do this.  This is clear from their process, their patter during viewings and their 'affordability checks'.

We played the game and had an offer accepted (fell through because they lied about other circumstances - but that's another story) on a house we really wanted.

They are not working in the vendor's favour.  You might have sold your house quick, but that is happening with most agents for attractive properties, and I would not be confident that all offers will be represented in a way that ensures your best decision as a seller.

Con artists.

Totally agreed.

NoFaith

Just came across another horror stroy from Connells in this forum :  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6331463/estate-agents/p1