Estate Agents being pushy

[TheBouquets]

I am hoping to move house very soon. I have had bad experiences of being too open and honest with certain official persons. Therefore I have learned to be guarded.
I called an agent to arrange to view a property. I was asked loads of questions about my house owning position. As I refused to specify my house owning / financial situation I was not allowed a viewing.

This particular house has been up for sale for over a year, it has a good survey and in a desirable location.
If I am old enough to be buying a property, and a property which is not a starter price range for the majority of people, surely I am old enough to know whether I can afford this property or not.
What makes Estate Agents think it is going to do any good to put prospective viewers off before they even view? Surely our financial status is nobody's business but our own as responsible adults?

Um, it's not always a problem if your neighbours view your house. I know of two people who moved to the house next door...

I think you are going a bit over the top. Just state you are a cash buyer and leave it at that (if you are)

dontyoulovecalpol It is down to the solicitors to sort all of the paperwork and prove that everything is above board, but the EA has to be seen to be following all of the guidelines too, that are set by the government. Mortgage fraud is not easy to prove, but if you know how much somebody earns then you can know whether or not they are likely to get a mortgage, although those questions aren't asked for viewings. It is not down to the EA to prove mortgage fraud, only be aware of the obvious elements of it.

The office where I work only ever suggests IFA's that we know, we get no commission or kickbacks for it, and never recommend solicitors, although this probably goes on in some offices.

The Government guidelines on Money Laundering are very clear and those of us who work within certain fields have to be very wary of them or end up in prison ourselves.

How do you know it has had a good survey.

My neighbour had no intention of buying he just came round with a camera to take pictures to show his wife as we'd had an extension. To be honest I would have been happier if they'd just knocked on the door and asked to have a nose

Pinkunicornsarefluffy so how are they helping prevent mortgage fraud?
They're not asking people how much they earn.
and if they did- who on earth would be stupid enough to tell them? And why would the EA be stupid enough to believe their answer? And EA can not identify mortgage fraud. It's ridiculous to suggest they can or that this is their role.

Diamogs- asking about financial position before viewings isn't about money laundering though is it?

Lurking when I posted that they don't have to vet viewers for money laundering you said that's what the government expected- today at 14.12:

"Will you tell the government ? Or shall I ? 41 pages of regulatory advice means estate agents are equally wary of buyers and vendors."

It is not at all odd to enquire about your ability to proceed but I admit I have no idea how EA verify people are in that position when they say they are a cash buyer. If you get this thread moved to Property and specify exactly what they asked you may get a feel for how out of the ordinary it was. There are plenty of threads there, and a lot of people with anecdotal experience, to say they've been completely messed around by buyers who claim to be 'cash buyers' when their offer is accepted but it turns out they're waiting for a mortgage approval, etc etc. Surely you're aware of this? Maybe that is why this house has been for sale for so long, this has happened to the sellers before.

Pinkunicorn, I had thought EAs were obliged to pass on any offers, unless the vendor has specifically said e.g. not unless they're definitely proceedable, or not if it's under £XXXk. It is surely up to the vendor to accept or decline an offer, not the EA.

I have heard of EAs not passing on offers, esp. in the case of elderly vendors, so that they can tell them there have been no offers, and subsequently get it cheaply for themselves or a mate. I have had this from the mouth of an EA's mate - a property developer who was boasting about the great deals he'd been able to get, either from elderly/doddery vendors, or in the case of repossessions.

EA are obliged to pass on any offer

EA's pass on all offers and it is up to the vendor whether or not to accept them, but an offer cannot be made if they are not in a position to proceed. Anyone could offer money for a house but unless they have the funds or a mortgage offer then it is not a genuine offer and no vendor will accept it without knowing that there is either a sale going through or funds in place.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321830/MLR2007.pdf

That is a link to the Government regulations that EA have to follow in relation to Money Laundering. EA have to be seen to follow these guidelins.

The guidelines speak for themselves and are quite clear.

We don't usually ask people how much they earn!, but they do have to provide proof of earnings to building societies etc to get a mortgage, so it can come up in conversation. We are not working for the buyer, we are working for the vendor but obviously you do everything you can to make the sale happen for both parties.

But the actual person who pays the EA is the vendor, so that is the person you are working for. EA's have to pass on all offers, but you can't make an offer unless you can proceed.

We had fallen in love with a house near us fifteen years ago and joked that if it ever came on the market we would sell our souls do what we could to buy it... Last year it came on the market and we quickly spruced our house up to flog and instructed our EA that we wanted only cash buyers or someone who'd sold.

Worked for us. So, IMHE YABU.

I've recently sold my house and instructed EA not to arrange viewings unless viewers had a mortgage offer or were in a strong position to buy. Didn't want to keep hoovering and tidying for timewasters.

Pink unicorn anyone can make an offer who told you you aren't allowed unless you're ready to proceed? That's utter bollocks!

It's so so annoying when EA try and make people believe they have some kind of authority on this and it's total bull

As I refused to specify my house owning / financial situation I was not allowed a viewing

I don't think you have any idea about how things work when you're trying to buy a house.

We've just agreed a sale on our property. It's a bloody faff getting ready for a viewing and I wouldn't want to show anyone round who wasn't in a position to buy it. They weren't asking to see your bank details. They wanted to know how ready you were to buy the house.

Every estate agent we arranged viewings with asked us whether we were relying on selling a property to buy the next house and if we had a mortgage in principle.

Both of which (lack of chain and MIP) mean jack in reality purple. It will only deter the extremely obvious pisstakers

Funnily enough I have had 2 houses fall through because the survey results rendered them unmortgage- able (just made up that word) EA didn't manage to identify that before they wasted a lot of time and money marketing them to the wrong people

How does lack of chain mean jack dontyoulove? We need to move quickly. Not waiting for someone to have to sell their own property was a non negotiable for us.

I agree a mortgage in principle isn't in a guarantee that they'll get a mortgage (we had put sale fall though earlier this year due to the mortgage lender not liking the source of her deposit) but if someone has a MIP it tells me they are more likely to be a serious buyer than someone without.

I've sold to 2 cash buyers as have my parents recently. No guarantee of speed, and still lots of potential for things to go wrong. Sales took 3-4 months. Check etc still take the same amount of time. The risk is less granted but you'd be surprised what some people consider a cash buyer (my BF called herself one recently even though she had to remortgage 2 BTL properties to buy that house- v complex)

You get a MIP by asking for one- stating (but not proving) you earn enough and declaring (but not proving) that you have good credit.

I think that there are different levels of detail that might be asked about. The position of your existing house sale, mortgage in principle etc would seem reasonable. I wouldn't want an estate agent to know that I could afford £300k if I was looking at a £250k house as I'd be concerned that they might use this to push me for more money. So I'd rather not give detailed financial information. Obviously they might be able to piece together that information based on what we had viewed with them.

YABU

THe estate agent works for the vendor. I think they are only doing their job to ensure you can afford the house.

Don't You are getting a bit worked up by this, aren't you?

It isn't rocket science: The EA has to show due diligence, one way to show this is to ask such questions, to ascertain, short of interrogation in a windowless room, that the potential buyers they are showing round are good prospects. Money laundering is one of those Big Bad Bogey Men that means all sorts of individuals and trades have to ask daft questions... including our roofer who had to ask us check with our bank before promising him specific payment arrangements as one of his other clients had had her payment queried... because the bank wanted reassurance that neither he nor she were money laundering. Very embarrassing for everyone.

It is jumping through hoops, being seen to be doing something, but it is a hoop that many EAs do jump through in an attempt to be seen to be thorough!

I'm still waiting for you to come back and say how you know it had a good survey.
Here's my first

Of course I'm not worked up. I'm just surprised that people believe EA when they tell them they need to know xyz and it's a lie. They don't need to know anything. I can't believe people think they have such power and when other posters continue peddling their lies (like you. Can't make an offer if you're not ready to proceed: that they are asking you to produce a MIP for money laundering reasons and not because they're self important sales people: that they need to verify you're not commuting mortgage fraud) it gets more more stupid

Why is it a good idea for someone to offer when they aren't in a position to proceed Dont? Waste of everyone's time.