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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To put a note through the door?

75 replies

NoRoomForALittleOne · 05/10/2018 11:31

DH and I are currently house hunting and the house we are looking for has some specific requirements for working from home. Last week we phoned the agents of a house that has been on the market for a long time and asked to view a property. They never called back so I chased them up to be told that it was now under offer. I’m frustrated that they never told the vendor about us while they were considering the offer. We are a cash buyer and have our own surveyor and legal team so will not be held up at any point of proceedings. I’m considering putting a note through the door along the lines of ‘if it all falls through, will you let us know and explaining our situation. However, the vendors are elderly and frail so I don’t want them to feel harassed. I’m just not convinced that the agents are doing their job otherwise I’d happily leave it up to them.

OP posts:

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 05/10/2018 14:58

When we put an offer on our current house, part of our conditions were that the house was taken off the market with no further viewings. You been told there's no more viewings so you should accept it and move on

bettytaghetti · 05/10/2018 15:02

Myimaginarycat as you say, your experience is in a small town.
We got shafted by an unscrupulous estate agent and have heard many stories by a bragging 'friend' of the family when I was younger. Sorry, but I tend to have quite a low view of the "profession" now.

pumkinspicetime · 05/10/2018 15:03

I might do this if the owners weren't elderly and frail. When we sold our last house we accepted one offer after the house had been on the marker for ages and someone else said they would have liked to put another in but we had just taken it off the market, which is usual when you accept an offer that can proceed. We said if the first offer fell through we would get back to them. EA's while often rubbish do actually want to sell houses so if the first offer falls through ask to be contacted but talk to the EA.

Yabbers · 05/10/2018 15:13

Yetalkshitehen RTFT I did say that it was based on what I’d been told in my limited experience.

Calm your jets. Neither yours nor Newgrandad’s responses clarified that the original premise was incorrect. It’s a well trodden myth that Gazumping can’t happen

Here’s the actual rules on the thing and why your estate agent told you what they did. Guessing your EA was also your solicitor (different system than in England) This means they have to follow guidelines (not law, just a guideline) from the Law Society which says they aren’t supposed to speak to another offerer. However, most solicitors understand this is working against their clients so will advise them of an alternative offer and explain they as solicitors can’t facilitate that, they need to have someone else act on their behalf. If a client has a separate estate agent from the solicitor (happening more and more up here) the estate agent has no such issue.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/10/2018 15:18

Calm your jets

I’m perfectly calm, and I can clarify what I don’t know.

Ironically, what you’ve just written couldn’t be further from the truth. The EA was nothing to do with the conveyancing solicitor, and the only communication they had was to conclude the missives via the other solicitors (again, independent from the EA)

No idea why you thought I needed to calm down, I suspect that might be you.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/10/2018 15:19

The EA informed me (wrongly it would appear) without influence from any solicitor, that it wasn’t allowed to accept offers or arrange viewings once an offer had been accepted by the seller.

Now I realise that it was just the decent thing to do, but your description is wildly inaccurate and assumptive.

Which I find quite funny.

HotChoc10 · 05/10/2018 15:30

I'm currently buying a house from an elderly couple that had been on the market a while, and had fairly useless estate agents. I'm worried I'm the buyer you're trying to usurp! Not East London by any chance?

NataliaOsipova · 05/10/2018 15:31

This has happened to me - actually after we had been to see the property once and so knew the estate agent was talking crap. The estate agent is supposed to represent the vendor; in fact, they represent their own interests. It's always in their interests to get a chain through which they are managing and not always in their interests to get the best price for any individual vendor. It should most definitely be the latter! Some of them are barely disguised crooks. Write the letter. If the vendor can't be bothered and doesn't want you to view, that's up to them. But I wouldn't trust an estate agent.

AuFinch · 05/10/2018 15:35

There is nothing wrong with putting a note through the door to say if it falls through you would be interested, just be polite leave your details on the note and leave it there, if they are interested they will call so the one note is enough.

Unfortunately in the past we tried to buy a property that went to final bids, then phone calls asking us loads of details, jump through hoops of fire and all that. In the end we were told our bid was not high enough. I wrote to the head office asking what the final bid was, as ours was for the asking price..... unknown to me (but found out later via another estate agent who was gossiping about that particular estate agency) the property ended up in the hands of the lady that worked there and following my letter head office investigated and she got the sack - it seems she bought it nice and cheap even though our offer was on the table. So after that experience I no longer trust some estate agents, particularly if they dont seem to be following the usual procedures. Everyone should be careful, be they a buyer or a seller and if I had an elderley relative I would certainly oversee the whole thing myself. The vendors of that property we lost out on were a repossession and I hate to think of how much money they lost out on their equity because of that estate agents greed to get a bargain.

Lamona · 05/10/2018 15:37

The estate agent wants to sell quickly. And some are not so careful with the truth - especially when dealing with those they think they can get away with it.

If your note is polite, factual and in no way pressuring then i can't see the problem. You could be offering more. You could help them to sell quicker and with less hassle.

You don't owe the current buyer anything. Yes it might not be nice if they then get rejected but even if you are the most caring person ever, i don't see how it's your responsibility to look after total strangers.

carnitine · 05/10/2018 15:43

YES, do it !

When we were selling our house, my FIL got a call from some random person, who tracked us down and who wished to view our house, but told us the agent wouldn't let them view it as they already had an 'interested party' and were waiting for an offer from them. It was the first we heard of a potential offer. When my DH called the agent about it, they admitted they had 6 requests for viewings, but this first couple had already started the process with the bank and were going to make us an offer of X, which he thought was a great offer, , and as the agent felt they were a good bet, he decided not to 'waste our time' with other viewings.

We ended up getting about 50 grand more than the planned original offer, as we had 3 offers from the other people who viewed it. The eventual buyers were the ones who the agent was 'keeping' the house for, they wanted the house and clearly were not happy to have to pay the extra. We wanted to get the best price for our house, but the agent was doing a 'favour' for one of his clients by not letting anyone else view it.

So yes, drop them a note or even call at their house to see if they will let you view it !.

Oliversmumsarmy · 05/10/2018 16:03

Friend bought her house from an elderly couple and was the only viewer as after her viewing they found the idea of people walking around their home too stressful.

Friend put in an offer the following day and they took it as long as she didn’t want to view again.

I used to work with a woman whose house was very desirable, not for sale at all, but they'd have notes through the door from people who'd be interested if they did want to sell. Did no harm

I have these letters coming through my door every week and not just this house I have had the letters through the door in our previous property.

It gives me the rage because the people writing think you are stupid and offer you 1/3 of the value of your house.

My last house I had one of these people My house went up for sale and we sold within 10 minutes of instructing agent.

Sold subject to contract board went up.

This person who had bid £40,000 on a house that was sold for £125,000 was telling people they were buying the house as the current buyers were going to drop out as it was vastly over priced the day before we moved.

They were a PITA. Kept writing to us, knocking on the door.

If you do put a note through someone’s door asking to buy their home please don’t think we are stupid and you are going to get a bargain because we don’t know what other houses in our neighbourhood have sold for.

Battytwatty · 05/10/2018 16:12

@bettytaghetti

Is it possible that the estate agents have not been pushing the house as much as they could in order to get the 'elderly & frail' owners to settle when someone "miraculously" puts in an offer. It's not been unheard of for unscrupulous purchasers to pay dodgy estate agents 'fees' for keeping properties away from other potential buyers.

^^^^
That is fucking bollocks!

Micke · 05/10/2018 16:21

Yes, do it. My MIL worked at an estate agents for a few years, and some of the things some agents do would make your hair curl.

Engineering viewing cancellations so their preferred buyer (ie their relative/builder mate) got a property at a bargain price was not an uncommon tactic at all.

Elderly does not equal frail - my next door neighbour (who's husband has had both hips replaced) would give you very short shrift if you suggested she was too old to read a polite note put through her door regarding her house!

SillySallySingsSongs · 05/10/2018 16:23

I used to work with a woman whose house was very desirable, not for sale at all, but they'd have notes through the door from people who'd be interested if they did want to sell. Did no harm

We get these regularly. They annoy me a lot. We don't want to sell we aren't selling so please stop it!

Tahani · 05/10/2018 16:30

Completely unreasonable and not your place to attempt to break a probably established chain

Sorry what now?
Of course its ok

ichifanny · 05/10/2018 17:13

A lot of the time it’s within the estate agents benefit to keep a chan going if they are also selling the house of the person buying the property so it’s a double incentive to sell to them . So you may find they give preferential treatment to the buyer as they are handling their sale also .

ichifanny · 05/10/2018 17:13

Chain not Chan

trevthecat · 05/10/2018 17:41

Currently in a similar situation! We knocked on the door and explained. They were great but didn't want to pull out of the current offer. But we feel better for trying. If it falls through though they have said we have first refusal

EmperorTomatoRetchup · 05/10/2018 18:02

What is it about buying and selling houses that runs normally completely normal and nice people into utter ratbags? I'd put this kind of stunt into ratbag type behaviour.

Original poster

NoRoomForALittleOne · 07/10/2018 17:37

Jus tot clarify a few things - the agents said that the sellers are elderly and frail so have to get a friend to do the viewing (no idea why the agent doesn’t do accompanied viewings for them). When I phoned to ask if it was still on the market, I was told ‘yes’ and that they would arrange a viewing. I never heard anything so phoned back as I thought that I would at least be given a holding phone call if the owners were currently unavailable. At that point I was told that the house was now under offer. From what the agent said, it sounded like they hadn’t told the owners about us. I get the feeling that the agent is fed up trying to sell the house so has encouraged the seller to just accept an offer. For the sake of another day or two on the market, they could have potentially had a better deal. It all seems a bit unusual to me. When we’ve sold places, we have waited for other viewings to happen before agreeing to accept and offer.

OP posts:

TwitterQueen1 · 07/10/2018 18:17

I'm glad you came back OP! I'm sorry you've had so many rude comments and insults here - totally undeserved. Try to ignore them.

Even if a house is 'under offer' it makes not a jot of difference. I hope you have written that note - if you haven't, and still want to - go ahead! You have nothing to lose and neither do the vendors.

triwarrior · 07/10/2018 18:19

Do it, we got our current home by contacting the seller after we were outbid and said that if anything happens, call us. A week later the negotiations fell down and we got the call!

Oliversmumsarmy · 08/10/2018 06:48

Even if a house is 'under offer' it makes not a jot of difference

Of course it does. If the owners have said no more viewings then why would the OP get a viewing.

TinyLittleTextMessage · 08/10/2018 17:45

If the owners have said no more viewings then why would the OP get a viewing.
She won't get a viewing if that's the case - the sellers will put her letter in the bin. No harm done. But OP is rightly concerned they were never told about her interest.

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