first time buyer submiting offer, help plese!

dreamlife99

sorry this is going to be long but i just want you to get an overview situation.

Last week, we went to an agents and she gave me details on a property. she told me there was viewings at the property later in the day and to turn up. she pursuaded me to turn up.

anyway me n dh went a long and saw the property. we really liked it but we didnt let out to the EA. she did say they were open to offers and maybe would consider 10k less. we were going past the agents office so decided to go in and put in an offer.

so we went in and put our offer of 15k less than the asking price forward, the agent refused straightaway saying that it wouldnt be considered so we offered 5k more.

anyway they put our offer down and said they would let us know. got a call on the monday saying they had had another offer on property which was slightly higher than ours. they wanted us to come speak to the finacial advisor about whether we could afford it so that they could put it forward to the seller.

went in and gave our details including the high deposit we had. we were told the other party also had a high deposit and would be in better position due to their 'slighlty' higher offer. we refused to 'up' the current offer.

got another call the next day saying they were meeting with the seller and would we again consider going just a little higher, i said maybe a grand maximum! but she said any higher? i refused to go further. got a call in evening to say the other offer had been accepted. so we thought that story was over.

the weird thing is, between the agents the story seems to vary, the first one said there was 1 offer, the financial advisor said a couple. bearing in mind this property had been in paper a couple of days.

a few days later the property has now appeared on net. and driving past it a week later there is no for sold subject to contract etc board on it. due to my suspicions, got someone to ring up 'interested' in the property. they were told it was open to viewing and open to offers etc.. No mention of the offers already been made!!!!

so somebody please help!!! What is their game?

chriswave

This does appear to be a simple situation of the estate agents taking full advantage of your niavety. In the past when either the estate agent or sellers have started to play games I have taken the moral high ground and pulled out. If I were you I would speak to the estate agent tommorrow and voice your disapointment. I would then make it clear that your offer is dependant on the market being withdrawn from viewings until the neccessary paper work can be completed. I would not mess around with them, ask them for their gaurantee with this (if its good enough for location location location, its good enough for you).
Remember that you are in control and you are in a good position at this time. and also bear in mind knowledge is power lol

geoffky

they are taking you for a mug....swapping info on your finacial status ,so they know how far too bleed you,,,,,scum ea

neas

I'd try and contact the owners and tell them how much they are trying to screw you around.

You should always offer an offer and then leave it for a few days.. dont be forced to discuss how 'higher' you can go.. be firm and if they screw you around inform them you will be contacting the seller and local newspaper about their behaviour.

Shame you cant name and shame the bas trds

Bf109

They are playing you for a fool.

Revert to your original offer and stand fast. Even if you lose it, prices are dropping and better houses will be along soon at lower prices.

selectcase

When we sold our propety it was updated as sstc within the hour - our agent then just took details of any interested parties in case the sale fell through. We certainly did not entertain viewings etc after accepting an offer - if the sellers are still accepting viewings i would be seriously tempted to pull out. the sign can take a while to be updated though

ryandj

Sounds like a con to me. They cannot refuse your offer - that is down to the vendor to decide I would think.

You should never let on too much information to the estate agent. Don't by any means let them know how much you can afford. They are working for their commission. If you say "I can afford £200K but I will offer £180K to start with" they will just tell the vendor you will go higher and to reject your offer.

The higher the price, the more commission for the agent and it sounds like you have been played by the EA!

I would always offer at least 10% below the asking price, maybe more. The worst that can happen is you get rejected, and then just go a bit higher.

dreamlife99

my biggest problem is that the house is empty! the lady who lived their has passed away and the house is being sold on by her niece. to be honest, the impression i got is she wants a quick sale. but looking at it, the agnets are not being honest with her. The worst thing is this agent is one of the most well known agents! no names mentioned!!!

thing is they have been shoving properties down my nose - they have seen proof of our financial status!i feel really annoyed at them now! by the look of things, they have played us for making us see their financial advisor when they had no intention of accepting our offer! ur right - they have played us for fools but like they say if u cant beat them - join them!

yes we really like the house but we are not desperate to have to buy right now, we have time to look around as we are living with my parents!

thing is i want them to be aware of how much i know - that we are not the fools they think we are. i think we were too fast in putting in our offer and we should have played them a bit more.

so what do u think my next step should be? inform them of how much i know or play it cool until they come runnig back to us! im soo frustrated that i want to laugh! if u cant beat em, join em.........

chriswave

dreamlife99 wrote: »

my biggest problem is that the house is empty! the lady who lived their has passed away and the house is being sold on by her niece. to be honest, the impression i got is she wants a quick sale. but looking at it, the agnets are not being honest with her. The worst thing is this agent is one of the most well known agents! no names mentioned!!!

thing is they have been shoving properties down my nose - they have seen proof of our financial status!i feel really annoyed at them now! by the look of things, they have played us for making us see their financial advisor when they had no intention of accepting our offer! ur right - they have played us for fools but like they say if u cant beat them - join them!

yes we really like the house but we are not desperate to have to buy right now, we have time to look around as we are living with my parents!

thing is i want them to be aware of how much i know - that we are not the fools they think we are. i think we were too fast in putting in our offer and we should have played them a bit more.

so what do u think my next step should be? inform them of how much i know or play it cool until they come runnig back to us! im soo frustrated that i want to laugh! if u cant beat em, join em.........

With this in mind, i would phone up tommorrow and withdraw the offer and move on.

nelly_2

We had a similar thing last week I offered on a house and the EA came back and said we've had a few look at it can you make the offer slightly higher?

NO!

Was my reply....................... she said OK they will accept it.

I swear to god............. EA's need burning with camping gas stoves they think its ok to try to drag a grand out of someone for the sake of £10 (1 % their commision)

How would they like it if someone said 'knock a grand off your commision and I'll give you a tenner!'

gordonstights

dreamlife99 wrote: »

What is their game?

A game - exactly. It's disgusting that they made you see their financial advisor because they said someone else was in a better position than you.

No wonder EA get a bad name with this sort of thing happening. Walk away. You said you are not desperate to buy right now. So take your time & keep looking. You are in a good position if you don't actually need to move right now.