Estate Agent fixes sale to developer "mate"

Stevieboy_2

Hi all, first time poster:-)
We offered on a property last week at full asking price yet have ‘lost’ the sale to another party at the same price. The house is 18th century and unique and has patently been underpriced by the agent (within a week 3 offers at full asking, 1 above!?!). The old lady living there has put her trust in the agent and finds the whole viewings process very tiring. He is a cash buyer, we have arranged independent finance (though we are scrabbling madly to sell so we don’t bankrupt ourselves!) – so we are in virtually the same position i.e. proceedable. The other buyer is from “out of the area” , has not looked at any other similarly priced properties in our town before, and is unknown to another agent we know well in our town. We strongly believe that the other buyer has been tipped off by the agent, he having underpriced it, and the pair of them are on the make (gut the place, tart it up, resell in 6 months=fat profit for the pair of them). How on earth can we prove this? The agent is very very cagey and there are some irregularities on how our offer was presented - though the agent has produced a letter (with fresh type;-) ) that suggests otherwise. Our objective is to get the other party to withdraw as we put the wind up the agent or (somehow) get the old lady to realise what’s gone on and pull out. Help!

Running_Horse

Stevieboy wrote: »

How on earth can we prove this?

Do you have any evidence apart from your hunch?

You could always write directly to the vendor with a better offer, but if you think the property under-valued, is it a case of being annoyed you might be missing out? Are you prepared to pay the true full value to this unfortunate old lady?

PasturesNew

I started a long answer then binned it.

You aren't the same as a cash buyer

So what if he's from out of the area, somebody might have told him about it from in the area, or he might have a thing called the Internet

Of course the agent is cagey, it would be illegal for him to answer your probing questions in all likelihood.

Re pricing it was probably priced to sell. There will probably be quite a lot of work to be done on it and only a developer would have the spare cash to be interested in a property like that at a time when nothing much is selling in most areas and the concept of buying/tarting up and selling on is over-risky.

The other party won't withdraw.

RoxieW

Had your offer been accepted I'm sure you wouldn't have minded the undervaluation - therefor you're also guilty of trying to take advantage of a little old lady. Sorry! Seems like sour grapes that you missed out. I'd contact the vendor directly with a much higher offer - in line with what you think the house is worth.

Stevieboy_2

We have already offered above asking but she's written us a nice letter saying 'she's made her decision' and will stay with it, but if sale falls though will definitely come back to us. The agent is using his position of trust to exploit her naiivety. We saw house first, made offer first but this guy's waited to see (be advised) what's on the table, offered on Wednesday accepted first thing Thursday am. And the agent has 'told us off' twice, and the old lady! for speaking directly with one another! She's now very nervous of direct contact! Only under value 'evidence' is the number of offers she got and the fact another agent valued it at £650k (she put on market at £610k)

Stevieboy_2

Hold on, we offered full asking and have since offered above. Who ever goes in at (say) £20k above asking price??!! There is of course some sour grapes but the agent is advising her to stay with the other offer despite it being lower - and if the place is undervalued the risk is minimised. Remarkably, the agent told another prospective buyer that 'with the right money spent on it it's a £1M house' - that buyer withdrew as he wasn't happy with the conduct of the agent..

PasturesNew

I don't mean to be rude, but you are coming across as a bit of a psycho on this one.

So far you've mithered the agent, hassled the old lady (probably scared her, maybe YOU are the reason she's tired of selling). Poor agent probably peeks out the door before he leaves his own office.

And now you are accusing people of all sorts of shenanigans.

The agent will be using his position of trust to get the most assured sale for his client perhaps, which is what he's paid for. A cash buyer from a developer will have that cash in her bank in a month no doubt. Then she's free to spend it on champagne, a cruise and some hot young men for entertainment.

As I said, I don't mean to be rude.

PasturesNew

Stevieboy wrote: »

Hold on, we offered full asking and have since offered above. Who ever goes in at (say) £20k above asking price??!!

Well, you would if you could.

Stevieboy wrote: »

the agent is advising her to stay with the other offer despite it being lower -

Because you don't have the money and the other guy does. Old lady, wants to sell without hassle and before it kills her.

Stevieboy wrote: »

the agent told another prospective buyer that 'with the right money spent on it it's a £1M house'

So are a lot of houses.... with the right money spent on them.

But the right money needed to make it a £1million property might just be £250k.

And at the moment nobody is buying £1million houses anyway. They're starting to stack up on RightMove.

Running_Horse

Stevieboy wrote: »

We have already offered above asking but she's written us a nice letter saying 'she's made her decision'

Then you have your answer straight from the horse's mouth.

What other outcome are you hoping for?

clutton_2

you have no evidence that anything illegal has taken place - move on and stop being bitter that you lost this house. you are not a cash buyer - the current developer buyer is ..... end of.

Doozergirl

I wouldn't say that £610,000 is a blatant undervaluation if the higher valuation is £650,000. That's pretty much the same valuation in my book. My house is cheaper and the valuations had a difference in range of £135,000!

And you're not a cash buyer when cash is king. And I've bought houses in different parts of the country. We have the internet these days!

All of this is irrelevant if the vendor is happy with the price she has acheived. It's none of your business unfortunately and the more you interfere, the less she will want to know One of those things unfortunately.