We are interested in a house. Two of the vendor's estate agents (Agents A. and B.) have independently told us we can 'get' it for a certain amount. We offered a little below this amount initially, as you'd do, and because it's right at the top of our budget. After a lot of soul-searching and sums, we then offered this disclosed amount this morning (the one quoted to us by two separate EAs on about 3 different occasions).
A third EA (Agent C!) at the office just rang to say, not to worry if we don't hear anything from them for a few days, but because she doesn't really know the vendors, and because Estate Agent A. does and has a good working relationship with them, she hasn't forwarded our offer on to the vendors and it won't be until Agent A. is back at work on monday. Arghh!
To make matters more annoying, Agent B. told us this morning that she'd forward the offer on and made no mention of whether this would be today (as you'd expect) or in three bloody days.
So what do you think? Is the agency playing us in some way? On the face of it, Agent C. was being purely altruistic (ok, ok, I know. She's an Estate Agent). She said she thought the offer had a greater chance of being accepted if it came from Agent A. who has a 'relationship' with the vendors. But I'm now suspecting everything, and I'm not sure I entirely believe this.
And we have to wait until Monday now before the vendors even know about this (assuming they haven't already been told and this isn't some elaborate scheme). Let alone hear back from them.
I'm being paranoid, aren't I?