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?

A local estate agent wouldn't even give me the particulars of a house they had on display so I could decide whether it was worth viewing. They asked how I'd be purchasing. I said if the property was ideal, cash and then we'd need someone to sell our property once we'd done the other up.

They didn't want to know. I was asked three times where the funds were from and told them, and was still sent away to view it when it came online . They were less the pleased when they discovered the property I purchased in the end was 3 x the amount of the first. Their loss they, they made the wrong judgement call. I gained, I love this house and didn't need to do any work to it

I would be furious if I thought I could not move because I don't fit the Estate Agents little check list.
Honey Dragons experience is what I hope I can achieve. Ending up with a better property than the one the estate agent refused to be co-operative on.
I don't have a job or salary. I do own more than one house. I don't have a mortgage or a mortgage agreement in principal.
I do want a new (to me) house, and I will want an estate agent for future selling of property.
I don't want aggressively questioned about my circumstances and I cant just fit boxes on demand.
None of this makes me a bad person, perhaps just a bit different. Honey Dragon didn't fit the boxes either and it turned out well for her and badly for the estate agents.

You sound very precious OP. It is common practice for an agent to do a basic vetting of prospective buyers to ensure they are not wasting the vendors or their time. Prior to you calling them or you walking in off the street they know nothing about you. They are not seeking to examine your bank statements, they just want to get a feel as to where you are in the purchasing process. Some vendors will specify cash only and chain free buyers, others will be more relaxed and will be happy to take viewings from those who have still yet to get a mortgage sorted. I used to work as an estate agent in a former lifetime and believe me when I say you get an awful lot of timeswasters. Most agents will have some kind of grading system for buyers, those on the 'hot list' are the keen as mustard folk who have their finances sorted, solicitors on standby, are not in a chain and will drop everything to view a new property instruction if it matches what they are looking for, in short they are serious. At the other end you have timeswasters and faffers, the ones who don't show up to arranged viewings, the ones who have a house to sell but refuse to put it on the market, the ones who will not do Saturday viewings because they will miss Chelsea playing, you get the picture.

As for the conspiracy theorists who seem to think asking what your financial situation is part of some wider plan to 'screw you over', well, that's just laughable. The increase in an estate agents commission on a few thousand pound increase in a sale asking price amounts to not much more then a small round of drinks. Most agents are delighted to just to get an agreed sale price without any need of any dirty sales tricks.

Pan,
You would be surprised at the occupations of some of the people who have tried to "screw me over" to use your term from professionals to dodgy workers who are noted to pick on women alone as well as the elderly. This is why I now do not wish to give any indication of my circumstances. I am not the bad person here. I trusted certain professional person and they lost my respect.
Estate Agents and Car Salesmen get much the same reputation here.
If you had read the thread you would have found that I am not in England.
We do not have chains here nor can we get out of a purchase once the property is under offer and that offer accepted.
I will view at a moments notice and I will drive miles because I want a property in another area and not close to here.

I am very precious about my own safety as any person should be especially after previous experiences of dodgy folks.
My relatives work in a Law Enforcement and Security occupation and they say better to walk away if there is anything unusual in the conversation. I have viewed a few houses, as I had 2 areas in my choice list, and I was never questioned quite like this at any other time. I was asked to wait for a viewing so that an elderly person's carer could be present at the viewing and I did this without any objections at all.
It is a question of you would really have had to hear this conversation to understand how demanding and pushy the agent was.

Have you posted about your housing problems before? Are you in a HA flat at the moment?

When I bought my house (not UK), I went to a number of open homes in my price bracket. Anyone can turn up to an open home here.

I had a couple of agents who were searching for properties for me but they were only really interested in things that would help them find appropriate ones. Things like knowing it was a first home and how much I was going to spend.

No doubt other things such as my profession and current living situation came up but it was more a conversation rather than being pushed for information.

I don't think I would bother time wasting with an EA though as they then proceed to bombard me with phone calls about other listings etc etc. I have no issue with them asking for identification and a phone number though.

I don't get how you can own multiple homes and never have encountered this before - what on earth do you think is wrong with them checking you have the money for the house before the viewing?

You seem to have some massive chip on your shoulder that they are out to deceive you in some way.

We just sold our flat, and most viewings are on Saturdays. This meant if viewings were lined up I would spend my Friday nights cleaning, money buying fresh flowers etc to make the property look appealing, and then all of Saturday staying out all day, with the dog, so that people could view. If I had been going to all that effort only for the estate agent to let people who just fancied a look for something to do book viewings I would have been furious!

And if you turned up at my doorstep ranting about my estate agent not letting you book a viewing without proof of funds I would a. Be glad they were doing their job and b. Think you were a total loon!

Checking status works both ways. We are in the process at the moment -cash purchasers, no house to sell, everyone's dream buyer. We have rigorously questioned the agent on each property we have viewed as to how motivated the sellers are. You'd be surprised how many people put their house on the market "just to see", who have no real intention of selling and who think that "negotiable" means "might drop a grand after three years with no offers" - yes, really.

We have been very clear about our budget, our position and that we won't look at anything where there isn't a properly motivated seller i.e. someone who has had an offer accepted on the next property or who isn't in a chain.

As a result, we are buying a property from an elderly lady who is moving in with her daughter, wants to get on with it so she is out before Xmas. She has accepted our very cheeky offer, much to the chagrin of the agent. We did have to prove we are in funds, but that was after the offer was accepted.

Bill - I am not in Local Authority Housing at all I live in a property that I own.
Smurf - I have not seen any open viewings where I am looking. That would mostly be brand new houses and that is not what I want.
Fenella - I don't understand how you are confused that I have not bought a house for many years but now own more than one house. Have you never heard of inheritance? The family just did not sell houses when someone died so being the current "oldest" I am now the person in charge of the properties. I also had my own property bought years ago. I hope that makes it more clear for you. Incidentally I am not a loon but you certainly come over as very nippy especially as you clearly seem to lack information and knowledge particularly on what you chose to discuss.
Carabos - It seems to me that Estate Agents cant understand if the prospective purchaser does not have a property to sell, need a mortgage. I am not a person who goes out to view houses for a hobby. I really want a new house to live in.
To All - another property has joined the market today in the same area and a similar type of property. I called the (different) Estate Agent and when asked politely I answered her questions openly and honestly but without giving exact details. I am meeting a male estate agent at the property and I am not bothered about that at all.

TheBouquets - I'm snippy?! Yeah, good luck with your house hunting - your attitude is going to get you far. As I told you, it is normal practice to ask for proof of funds - I have both just recently bought and sold a property. We were required to provide proof, and we in turn required proof. Seems if one of us is lacking knowledge on this subject, it isn't me....

Also, I never said I was confused you owned many houses but hadn't bought one for years, I said I was surprised you owned many properties and had never been asked for proof of funds.

I have often wondered if I am just not tough enough to cope with some people. It certainly seems to be the case here.

This was about 1 estate agent who was aggressive, I have no problem at all with people who are polite as opposed to pushy/aggressive.
I said nippy

"Aggressive" is never pleasant but if you were being evasive, (s)he may have become a bit frustrated.

We're selling our house and our agents have been great (we bought our house from them, the house we want to buy is with them and we're selling with them so that's probably why they are being so nice!) but as soon as we put our house on the market the pushiness of other agents was breath taking.

We've had loads of phone calls, the best one was two days after it went on the market asking how many offers we had. Then the letters began, just nice ones initially but then they change tact and started to be persuasive and pushy. They're shameless, some more than others.

Pan - when working with the public you really should not let the polite façade drop. If I became evasive it was due to her aggression.
The estate agent today was completely different and got all the info they asked for which was not as much as the aggressive one wanted. If I could I would probably put my rentals with them but they are area specialists and would not deal with any properties as far away as my places.
My 2nd - It is so much more pleasant to deal with agents who are polite and decent. I have put of new windows for a property because I had awful experiences with double glazing salesmen in the past. Police were often called out here to get rid of Double Glazing Salesmen. I wonder why the aggression because if I had to call out the police I certainly would not have them replace my windows.
Aggression is horrible and there is no need for nastiness anywhere. It does no good

I have worked as an estate agent, firstly they take your address for the system, you have to provide it when you send a lead via zoopla/right move anyway usually. I dealt with high worth property so I would then check you out on street view to get an idea of you. Also the financial situation details is for the vendors, it gives you a bad name to have loads of interested viewers but can't tie them down (because they can't bloody afford it!) also you need to know how quickly they want to move as some want quick buyers, others not so much. I never had anyone question when asked before but likewise unless they outright said they couldn't afford it I would still let them view. I remember viewing my first flat and it was £910pcm, my partner mentioned our originally budget was £900pcm, the agents called me the next day to say they wouldn't accept our offer to rent as we clearly couldn't afford it!

It is s bit stupid that with our EA you can't technically have an offer accepted until you have a buyer for your house. We did this, had offer accepted, then 3 days later our buyer changed their mind. Whole chain collapses. Also, with Barclays at least, you can't get a mortgage amount confirmed until you have had an offer accepted, so have to make offers using just an 'agreement in principle' which is pretty worthless. It sets chains up to fail.

I have already worked out my financial situation and I know my total worth and how much is in money at the bank and how much is property. Then I worked out how much I want to spend on a new property. I have also thought through what I would like in the house, number of bedrooms, bathrooms. I definitely do not want certain things such as a house with one shower room and no bath anywhere. I have rough ideas of what a bathroom and/or kitchen would cost and other stuff like carpets etc. I know how much I want to spend if a house was perfect and I have researched how much each improvement would cost.
I really have done my homework on this. I am also financially cautious so I am likely setting a figure lower than others would in my position.
I also know a lot about house purchasing and finances given previous occupations. I really don't need aggressive questioning. I have got it worked out. I will be friendly and accepting of people who act properly and professionally.