Estate Agent - Never heard of this before

rd_ea

It sounds to me like the EA has just not explained things correctly. It is likely that he is referring to a lender holding a retention or perhaps wanting to point out that the property will need work and if the OP doesn't have the money to do this then it may be better that they do not offer. If the FIL works for the EA then it may be nothing mre than friendly advice i.e 'let your son & DIL know that they would need to have 10k handy to do the work needed here as well as a deposit'

Not all EA's are dishonest- if friends of mine ask for advice I'll often say if i see potential issues that they may not have thought of. Better for them not to waste money trying to proceed and then pulling out at a later stage.

Also in accordance with the estate agents act 1979 all offers must be passed to the vendor in writing within a reasonable time (at our agency offer letters go out same day). If you believe this is not happening then you can contact the ombudsman (unfortunatley though they have to have voluntarily signed up for this!) or trading standards.

SquatNow

If the EAs builder friend want to pay the EA a back-hander for the right to be in negative equity in a few months... let him.

Prices are falling off a cliff. If you're hoping to pick up a bargain, now is the bad time to do it.

The gullable fools with money will march in a snap up "bargains" only to see the market drop from under them and loose all their money.

This happened last time, it is happening this time (Search for BMV) and it will happen next time.

If you want a bargain, wait *at least* 2 years.