Connells estate agent experience

NoFaith

tooldle 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 and bought just over a year ago. I do know that all viewers of our property had to first satisfy our agents of their financial ability to proceed. Basically, unless the interested party had their funds in place the agent would not show them the property. Given the speed of the current market I am not surprised the agent wanted to check that you could afford the property before passing your offer on to the vendor. 

The simplest explanation is often the correct explanation I.e. the vendor has accepted an offer that they are happy with. That offer is not from you. You’ve now made a further offer despite having been told the vendor has accepted an offer from another party. It is not always about who offers the most. It can be about who the vendor would like to see owning their house, equally it could be a lower offer from a buyer who is immediately proceed-able, either paying cash of with no property of there own to sell. Sometimes, if all things are equal it comes down to who will be the easiest person to work with. If you think something is fishy now, would selling their house to you be a smooth process?
You saying in your opening line that you are in the process of buying a property, yet your offer is rejected. 

Its not the Connells who told me about the counteroffer,  which they should have done on their own. I had to follow-up with them. In fact the moment I told them, that I am not going to use their in house mortgage service, they became very reluctant in making further communications. And When I increased the offer, they stopped responding completely.

My case is immediately proceed-able and straightforward and Connells knew and they verified. Connells' own mortgage advisor mentioned this. Only Cash buyers could surpass. So If the vendor has accepted cash-buyer, thats okay, at least Connells could have informed me. I am no match there.

And by the way, the house is still available on the market in online portal after more than a couple of weeks mine counteroffer. So has the offer from other buyer really accecpted by the vendor ? .

Vendors may be losing money if they are using Connells, because Connells are not communicating back to buyers for counteroffers.

tooldle

Houses tend to remain available on web portals until they become sold subject to contract, or at least they do in these parts. This allows time for memorandum’s of sale to be drawn up and issued to the relevant parties. 

It is not for you to determine what is ‘ok’ in terms of the vendors actions. The agent works for the vendor, not for you. You’ve been told the vendor has accepted an offer. You can counter offer all you like, and the vendor is under no obligation to consider or respond to your counter offer. 

nicknameless

There's been a backlash against the OP but my personal experience and that of many it seems (after results of online searches at the time we were dealing with Connells) was that as a buyer you would be disadvantaged in how they represent your offer if you are not seen as a source of extra income for them (mortgage and / or conveyancing).

Everyone defending Connells has been a seller.  At the time we dealt with them we vowed never to sell with them as it would be significantly possible that they misrepresent offers to us for their own bottom line.

Just because your transaction went swimmingly and smooth doesn't mean it was the best possible outcome for you as the seller.

Tiglet2

nicknameless said:

There's been a backlash against the OP but my personal experience and that of many it seems (after results of online searches at the time we were dealing with Connells) was that as a buyer you would be disadvantaged in how they represent your offer if you are not seen as a source of extra income for them (mortgage and / or conveyancing).

Everyone defending Connells has been a seller.  At the time we dealt with them we vowed never to sell with them as it would be significantly possible that they misrepresent offers to us for their own bottom line.

Just because your transaction went swimmingly and smooth doesn't mean it was the best possible outcome for you as the seller.

I have defended them and I was a buyer.  My own agent, Bairstow Thieves, were awful by comparison.  I did not have any of their services (mortgage adviser or conveyancing services).

tooldle

I’ve never heard of them. Certainly not an agent in my area.
I wouldn’t call the above comments a backlash, more so logical thinking from persons not emotionally invested in the situation. 

I’d apply the same to statements on the best possible outcome for the seller. Only the seller knows their full circumstances and what is right for them. The best possible outcome is not always with the highest bidder. 

nicknameless

Tiglet2 said:

nicknameless said:

There's been a backlash against the OP but my personal experience and that of many it seems (after results of online searches at the time we were dealing with Connells) was that as a buyer you would be disadvantaged in how they represent your offer if you are not seen as a source of extra income for them (mortgage and / or conveyancing).

Everyone defending Connells has been a seller.  At the time we dealt with them we vowed never to sell with them as it would be significantly possible that they misrepresent offers to us for their own bottom line.

Just because your transaction went swimmingly and smooth doesn't mean it was the best possible outcome for you as the seller.

I have defended them and I was a buyer.  My own agent, Bairstow Thieves, were awful by comparison.  I did not have any of their services (mortgage adviser or conveyancing services).

Fair enough - I must have misread your post.  I still wouldn't touch them as a seller with a plethora of bargepoles tied together based on my own experience.

TheJP

nicknameless said:

There's been a backlash against the OP but my personal experience and that of many it seems (after results of online searches at the time we were dealing with Connells) was that as a buyer you would be disadvantaged in how they represent your offer if you are not seen as a source of extra income for them (mortgage and / or conveyancing).

Everyone defending Connells has been a seller.  At the time we dealt with them we vowed never to sell with them as it would be significantly possible that they misrepresent offers to us for their own bottom line.

Just because your transaction went swimmingly and smooth doesn't mean it was the best possible outcome for you as the seller.

To be honest no one is defending Connells apart from sharing their own experiences, as someone stated each branch is different and this runs true for all EAs. The majority of posts that challenge the OPs views are based on generic EA practices. From what I've read the OP feels that the EA should divulge all information about offers to them, that because they took part in affordability checks their offer should not have been rejected and that the EA didn't respond to a new offer. All EAs are bound by their client, if a client says don't bother me with any offers lower than X then they wont, if the client doesn't accept nor reject an offer the EA will follow instructions. Just because you put in an offer and follow the steps doesn't mean you have an automatic right to know what the other offers are. I've bought 2 houses and sold 1, never have i heard what the other party offered, even after i completed the sale.