FTB offer help!

SouthCoast

It should be borne in mind that EA's are under considerable stress at the moment as they have insufficient income to fund their lifestyles.

Their jobs are also at risk.

Kez100

Surely, having come out of the early 90's crash, they have been saving for the past ten years to see them through the next lean time?

jatt

Thanks for all your advices.

I will hold on for a while as there r similar houses on market if my £200k offer is rejected, but will let u all know about what happens next.


Cheers

selectcase

I think its really important to make sure the buyer and seller kep in contact continually as I think the ea can sour the deal on both sides and/or things can easily be misunderstood

I wander if the seller really did get the offer and said sod off??
we swapped phone numbers with our buyers and they even come round for coffee to discuss progress - its interesting to hear what has been said by the ea on both sides - when the survey was done they popped it round and we arranged a discount for work that needs doing - things are currently progressing well

I think if we kind of removed the ea completley and just let buyer/seller deal with each other there would be a lot less animosity and probobly a lot less hassle although we would still need solicitors for the legal stuff.

if private sellers could list on rightmove like autotrader for cars just imagine the hassle saved!!

slipp_digby

selectcase wrote: »

I think if we kind of removed the ea completley and just let buyer/seller deal with each other there would be a lot less animosity and probobly a lot less hassle although we would still need solicitors for the legal stuff.

I just did this in december. Property on with an agent, but we offered directly having seen it through houseladder (thus robbing the EA of all of their fees, joy joy).

Dealing directly with the vendor built up a lot of good will and the deal went without any hitches.

The EA is a link which isnt needed after the offer IMO, they can only hinder clear communications.

tony_baduk

Is is possible to purchase a house without an EA? What do EA's do anyway?!

selectcase

tony_baduk wrote: »

Is is possible to purchase a house without an EA? What do EA's do anyway?!

good question - before the dominance of the net it was to get your house advertised in the shop window/paper and to liase between clients, organise viewings etc.

even though we had a ea it was only really to get our place listed on rightmove for the advertising - we did all viewings etc and liase with the purchaser direct.

you dont need a ea especially if purchasing - you could try knocking on the door and asking politly for a time to view or pop a note through the door

slipp_digby

tony_baduk wrote: »

Is is possible to purchase a house without an EA? What do EA's do anyway?!

In a word YES you can, we did. And it saved us money cos the vendor took a lower price from us because he knew the EA fees would not need to be paid. We effectively 'split' the EAs fees between us - win win.

you just need a conveyancer/solicitor and a switched on vendor who doesnt want to give a man in a cheap suit with a smarmy smile at least 3% of sale price.

once the offer is accepted the Ea does nothing its purely the solicitors. Some would argue that an EA has a role to play in keeping long chains together. i dont buy into that idea at all.

dont assume that knocking on the door is a good idea - some EAs will still treat this as an introduction "you saw my sign and approached the vendor" and they may expect their fee anyway - it all depends on the contract the vendor has signed with the EA.

also some people use an EA cos they dont feel comfortable dealing with the sale themselves.

dopester

The EA sounds like he/she is playing you.

Being rude to any client is wrong, especially a FTB. The EA sounds like they are taking the line of shocked disgust to your offer, perhaps in the hope you'll raise it, giving them more of a commission perhaps.

Although I wouldn't be buying in this market, I've read about EA's laughing and offers being rejected, and then the EA coming back saying they'll take the offer. That is the time to offer 5% less again. Depends on whether you are willing to play hardball with your hard-earned. You can't spend it twice.

tony_baduk

The latest is that I've written a letter to the vendor explaining the situation and the appaling attitude of the EA. I also apologised to him if we had offended him in anyway with our first offers. I have given my mobile number to discuss this further.

The letter was handposted last night and I did mention that if I did not hear from him in the next few days, we would take it that he's not interested.

I will update you if I receive a phone call.