Awful Estate Agent Service

Emily_Joy

You would be spot on. Connells is the one I’ve been dealing with. 

One of their mortgage advisors told us that even after an offer has been accepted anyone who has viewed the property can still make an offer and that it will be passed to the vendor. So it appears to be their policy.

pinkteapot

LunaAndBelle said:

dannim12345 said:

Did you already have a mortgage in principle? If not, speak to a/some mortgage advisors now so you can get one or get one quickly when needed. 

My partners cousin is a mortgage advisor and as soon as I said that estate agents wouldn’t push. So could always say something like that if being pushed… I think they know you aren’t going to use their service so it would be a waste of time. 

Yeah I did have one already. I had one before I started viewings. 

They have been quite persistent in trying to get me to use their advisor - even when I’ve told them I’ve already sorted it. 

When this has happened to us - when they've been offensively pushy and we know we've got a really good interest rate for our mortgage - we say "Ok then, we'll see them because maybe they can get us a better deal." We waste half an hour of the advisor's time as they fail to beat the rate we've got and we say "Well, no thanks then." 

There's no harm in speaking to their advisor. Brokers do have access to deals that you won't personally, so they may be able to beat what you've found (unless you've got your own broker already). 

I know there's a view that giving their advisor your financial info tips your hand that you could afford to offer more. To me, that's irrelevant. We've never offered the most we can possibly afford on a house and EA's have known that. We're just clear with them that what we're offering is the most we're willing to offer on that property. Take it or leave it. *shrug*

pinkteapot

Emily_Joy said:

You would be spot on. Connells is the one I’ve been dealing with. 

One of their mortgage advisors told us that even after an offer has been accepted anyone who has viewed the property can still make an offer and that it will be passed to the vendor. So it appears to be their policy.

EAs are legally obliged to put forward all offers received to the vendor until contracts have been exchanged (unless the vendor has asked them in writing not to put forward offers below a certain amount). 

There's nothing you can do to stop offers being put forward, but you can push for the property to be taken off the market and for the EA to stop accepting viewings. (You could have the freak situation of someone still offering without viewing - but that's very rare).

jonnydeppiwish!

Just call their bluff and withdraw your offer. As for their mortgage advisor, make an appointment at your convenience, and when they ask for your details, don’t provide them. You can waste their time as well as them wasting yours.

Emily_Joy

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Just call their bluff and withdraw your offer. As for their mortgage advisor, make an appointment at your convenience, and when they ask for your details, don’t provide them. You can waste their time as well as them wasting yours.

Do not do that. The vendor might rely on the agent when sorting the offers and you need the agent to be on your side.