Dealing with Estate Agents

bertiebb_2

GDB2222 said:

It's always a good idea to start a business relationship with a lie. I can't see any downside there.

In a different area - never dealt much with contract employment agencies? They rarely tell the truth.

Bigphil1474

OP, I've found it depends on the property. We did look at a few houses before ours had sold, but they were pretty much ones that had been on the market a while so the EA wasn't so fussy. We did get some joy visiting houses being sold by our EA, as they knew what we were about. After we sold most just accepted that we were SSTC and it wasn't an issue.

Bear in mind they can easily check what you are saying anyway - it's not hard to find your house for sale once you tell them where you live!. Personally, I wouldn't view any properties now unless I was SSTC as you never know how long it will take to actually sell and I wouldn't want to find somewhere I love only to miss out due to not selling.

blueskies1985

bertiebb_2 said:

I get they don't want to waste their time with timewasters but they all seem to ask your current position before they'll agree to a viewing.....

Our house is on the market, had a few offers, its likely to sell very soon. I just don't want to tell the Estate Agents that its not actually sold yet in case they lose interest a bit.

What do most people do? I'm tempted to say yes its sold.

Because it’s a very important question. 

if you were looking for a buyer and had 2 to choose from would you pick the one who’s house had already sold or the one who still has theirs to sell? Also why are you declining several offers? 

There’s also no point in lying because if you put an offer in on the house you want to view they’ll know you’re lying.

EA do most of the work for free. It’s not fair to waste time perusing homes on a Saturday afternoon taking up time when you’re not even in a position to buy it yet. 

theartfullodger

GDB2222 said:

It's always a good idea to start a business relationship with a lie. I can't see any downside there.

Brilliant!  

cymruchris

blueskies1985 said:

 Also why are you declining several offers? 

Probably because they are below what they want to sell their property for? Or potentially they might not be in a position to proceed quickly enough? There are quite a few reasons why offers are declined.

blueskies1985

theartfullodger said:

GDB2222 said:

It's always a good idea to start a business relationship with a lie. I can't see any downside there.

Brilliant!  

Won’t work because EA have access to this information.

blueskies1985

cymruchris said:

blueskies1985 said:

 Also why are you declining several offers? 

Probably because they are below what they want to sell their property for? Or potentially they might not be in a position to proceed quickly enough? There are quite a few reasons why offers are declined.

A house is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If they’re not finding a buyer who is willing to meet the price they want then chances are their house is on the market for too much. 

Sounds like they’re stubborn and won’t listen to their EA or feedback. Either that or their estate agent is a bad negotiator. 

You can sell your house without having made any offers or interest on another property. It can take months to complete anyway. So declining on the basis you’re not ready to sell is a bit ridiculous. 

BarelySentientAI

blueskies1985 said:

cymruchris said:

blueskies1985 said:

 Also why are you declining several offers? 

Probably because they are below what they want to sell their property for? Or potentially they might not be in a position to proceed quickly enough? There are quite a few reasons why offers are declined.

A house is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If they’re not finding a buyer who is willing to meet the price they want then chances are their house is on the market for too much. 

Sounds like they’re stubborn and won’t listen to their EA or feedback. Either that or their estate agent is a bad negotiator. 

You can sell your house without having made any offers or interest on another property. It can take months to complete anyway. So declining on the basis you’re not ready to sell is a bit ridiculous. 

Presuming a huge amount there with just about zero evidence.

Knowing some of the ludicrous offers that get put forward, including "it's a falling market so I'll offer 25% under asking" and "I want to complete in 6 weeks otherwise I will withdraw the offer", I'm not surprised by anyone declining offers.

blueskies1985

BarelySentientAI said:

blueskies1985 said:

cymruchris said:

blueskies1985 said:

 Also why are you declining several offers? 

Probably because they are below what they want to sell their property for? Or potentially they might not be in a position to proceed quickly enough? There are quite a few reasons why offers are declined.

A house is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If they’re not finding a buyer who is willing to meet the price they want then chances are their house is on the market for too much. 

Sounds like they’re stubborn and won’t listen to their EA or feedback. Either that or their estate agent is a bad negotiator. 

You can sell your house without having made any offers or interest on another property. It can take months to complete anyway. So declining on the basis you’re not ready to sell is a bit ridiculous. 

Presuming a huge amount there with just about zero evidence.

Knowing some of the ludicrous offers that get put forward, including "it's a falling market so I'll offer 25% under asking" and "I want to complete in 6 weeks otherwise I will withdraw the offer", I'm not surprised by anyone declining offers.

I have over 20 years of first hand experience in the industry. 9 times out of 10 when a vendor keeps declining offers on their property, they end up being forced to lower their price eventually. 

The other 1 out of the 10 change agents and start back at square one. 

Yes people make ludicrous offers but it’s down to a good EA to negotiate and for the vendor to meet them in the middle. 

As for completion demands. Anybody that demands a 6 week turnaround is profoundly naive. Only those who are tying themselves into cash on cash chains should ever consider 6 weeks as a reasonable time scale. 

Everything you’ve just said proves my first point that asking a buyers position is an important question.

Millsandovis

BarelySentientAI said:

blueskies1985 said:

cymruchris said:

blueskies1985 said:

 Also why are you declining several offers? 

Probably because they are below what they want to sell their property for? Or potentially they might not be in a position to proceed quickly enough? There are quite a few reasons why offers are declined.

A house is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If they’re not finding a buyer who is willing to meet the price they want then chances are their house is on the market for too much. 

Sounds like they’re stubborn and won’t listen to their EA or feedback. Either that or their estate agent is a bad negotiator. 

You can sell your house without having made any offers or interest on another property. It can take months to complete anyway. So declining on the basis you’re not ready to sell is a bit ridiculous. 

Knowing some of the ludicrous offers that get put forward, including "it's a falling market so I'll offer 25% under asking" and "I want to complete in 6 weeks otherwise I will withdraw the offer", I'm not surprised by anyone declining offers.

This is definitely true. I had some mental offers for my property in a really hot market. They must have been told by the estate agent that there was a lot of interest but someone still offered 10k under asking price. 

Another couple who behaved awfully throughout made an offer saying the kitchen island (it’s a freestanding unit from IKEA) and Miele washing appliances had to be included in the bid without any previous mention of them being on offer. They were 40k under highest offer and kept insisting that they were kept updated if I accepted a higher offer. No respect for the sealed bids process. I enjoyed turning them down. Everyone else’s letters with their offers were genuinely touching and it was a tough decision on who to choose. 

I can see why people would decline them offers if they were the only ones they had. I certainly wouldn’t sell to people like that (as we’ve previously gone over!)