Pressure from estate agents

CardiffCrank

You should see their advisor, IMO. Too late now, but maybe next time. Then once the offer is accepted, tell them you've gone with another option. An hour out of your life but it might make the difference. We did see the advisor, did get the house. Proves nothing obviously!

NameUnavailable

The agent I bought through said they ask all buyers to have a call with their broker just to verify the information for the vendors. Obviously still a sales tactic but I'm glad I had the call as he actually found me a much better deal that I was going with.

What they can't do is tell you that you MUST use their broker - report them to the relevant industry bodies if that's what they're doing.

666666

This is just dirty tactic as usual used by Estate Agent. I personally used the mortgage advisor they “recommended” to us but I told them initially that I would try to talk to them to compare but will choose the one that suit us, which I did. I talked to 2 other mortgage brokers and fortunately the one recommended by our EA happened to give us the best deal and their reps didn’t sound fishy.

The one that you should really be careful in my opinion is the solicitor. I personally would not use solicitor recommended by EA because I want an impartial solicitor, if they have relationship with the agent they might be easily pressured to close the deal quickly and might not put your interest first. 

m0bov

Tell the vendors they risk the sale with the heavy handed tactics.

rdchick

Thanks everyone for your replies, I didn't see the notification that you had! 

So update for you, I had originally spoke to their advisor before we decided to go to the one we have chosen, they 'confirmed' to the vendor that we could afford it and that we should be able to get a mortgage... I got a call later to say the vendor has accepted the offer on the basis that we use the EA mortgage advisor. 

What the estate agents don't know is the vendor is a friend of a friend as they've said they absolutely have not made that stipulation and they're not using the inhouse 'help' because it's too expensive (we have that in written proof via a message) 

I told the EA we wouldn't be using their MA to which I got a snotty reply as to them having to confirm whether the vendor wishes to proceed... I've heard nothing since.

Yesterday we got a mortgage in principle from our MA and I've sent it to the EA as proof we're doing something. It's with Nationwide so there isn't much better on the high street for a solid mortgage application. They haven't got a leg to stand on have they?! 

Today we're going in for the ID check so I'm looking forward to letting the EA know they lied about the vendors wishes and that they're more than happy for us to be the buyers with the offer that was accepted. 

It wasn't Connells by the way, it's another snake, but aren't they all horrific to work with?! 

Anywho thanks all once again!

donutandbeer

Thanks for the update, very interesting. I would really like to know what happens next. 
 
We have not encountered estate agents that are too pushy for us to use their recommended mortgage advisors / solicitors .etc Most estate agents ask if we have someone already and if we would like a quote / quick chat from their recommendations. One estate agent (big one; starts with A) did word things in ways that I think misleading for people who are not familiar with the process, so probably first time buyers would be led to believe using their recommended services (mortgage advisor, solicitor, moving company) is just how it works and nonnegotiable.

Never seen anyone so blatantly lie like the estate agent OP encountered. Be careful OP & good luck!

Flugelhorn

I was looking at a new build as cash purchase and was told I would have to see their financial advisor before I could see the property to discuss mortgages, said I didn't need to but they insisted, so I went and bought somewhere else instead

Norman_Castle

As most businesses have online reviews remember to leave a factual review of the EA after completion.

newsgroupmonkey_

Norman_Castle said:

As most businesses have online reviews remember to leave a factual review of the EA after completion.

I dunno, I'd be going to the ombudsman. This is completely illegal. People would be sacked for this.

martindow

rdchick said:

Hi guys

This morning we got an offer accepted on a house and everything is really exciting!

However they're putting pressure on us to use their mortgage advisor... Which costs £600 and apparently we 'have to use this advisor to have our offer accepted'. 

Is this right?! 

I am a first time buyer but my partner isn't. We are in touch with a free and recommended advisor and they're progressing quickly with our application so don't even need them... 

How can I tell them we aren't interested?! 

They are asking you to pay £600 in order to see their advisor?!  Even for estate agents this is astonishing.