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Original poster

Estate agent won't let me see house!

22 replies

goingtoofast · 29/11/2011 16:05

A couple of weeks ago we had our house valued. One of the agents sent a buyer round that evening , the women wanted to buy the house.
There is very little in our budget where we want to buy so we decided not to take the offer or put the house on the market until we saw something we liked.
A house I may be interested in has now come back on the market as the original buyers pulled out. I asked for a viewing but the estate agent said only peple in the position to buy quickly may view it! It was on for a few weeks before they found byuers last time, I imagine there is not a long line of people queing or it wouldn't need to go back on the market.
Do you think the agents are not allowing me a viewing becasue they are pissed off with me? Should I ask the vendors directly?

OP posts:

munstersmum · 29/11/2011 16:11

Just go knock on the door. Worst they can say is no.
The estate agents probably think you are not serious - most would vendors would bite their hand off for a reasonable offer.

londonlottie · 29/11/2011 16:12

Hm, I think they may be being honest. I also think you were a bit hasty turning this woman down... having an offer on your place before you start viewing yourself puts you in a much better position.

There's such little movement in the market that many vendors aren't remotely interested in hearing from you unless you're under offer and even then, under offer with buyers who are also ready to go. It's great that when you did have the place valued, you got a potential offer quickly. I'd get it on the market again and keep your fingers crossed!

Also, if the place you like went under offer quickly but then fell through, it's likely they're confident it'll go under offer quickly again. And they may well be wary of being messed around again, so only want people in a genuinely good position to look around - hence the EA's statement to you.

threeisthemagicnumber · 29/11/2011 16:12

I don't image the EA is pissed off with you, or if they are they won't let that get in the way of the sale and their commission!

Perhaps the vendor has stipulated that they only want people who are able to proceed with the sale to view and the EA knows you're not in a proceedable position.

Original poster

goingtoofast · 29/11/2011 16:16

Thanks munstersmum. I will consider asking the vendors directly.

OP posts:

Original poster

goingtoofast · 29/11/2011 16:21

The woman who wanted to buy our house had a tight time frame which put us under pressure to find somewhere. There is one suitable house of the market for our budger but I really don't like it!

The one that has just come back on would be a comprimise but may be worth it as we could use one of the receptions as an extra bedroom which is what we need. It was on the market for weeks before it sold last time. A friend sold it two years ago for £260,000 now it's on the market for £385,000.

OP posts:

Fourstickymitts · 29/11/2011 17:49

They are probably hoping to hold the old chain together by finding a cash/already under offer buyer. That maybe wishful thinking on their part but it's their choice. I wouldn't take it personally.

pinkytheshrunkenhead · 29/11/2011 17:56

But you are not in a position to buy quickly so why would you waste the vendors time by looking at the house? If that is what the vendors have stipulated then the EA is just doing their job. The EAs will show as many people as they can round to make themselves look as good as possible so the fact that the aren't says that this is an explicit instruction from the vendors.

afishyweddingfairy · 29/11/2011 17:57

I've had this happen in the past with agents as a buyer - and as a vendor would be a bit annoyed with the agent if they were refusing viewings. Surely someone new to the market would be better placed to find a buyer than someone with a house that had languished unsold for months. Also, even without your house on the market you can move quickly via bridging loans/equity release/conversion of your current home to buy-to-let. The estate agent sounds a bit ridiculous tbh.

cat64 · 29/11/2011 18:04

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MitziKinsky · 29/11/2011 18:19

So you turned down an offer on your house, then when a house you like is available and you are not in a position to proceed you are annoyed that you can't view because the vendor has speculated you are not in a passion to proceed.

Ask the vendors directly. They may be in a good mood. But they obviously don't want time wasters, andt if I were those vendors and you approached me I would ask you if you can buy quickly. Can you?

noddyholder · 29/11/2011 18:19

You are not in a position to proceed that is the end of it really in an agents eyes

MitziKinsky · 29/11/2011 18:37

noddyholder, you said it so much better than me!

Original poster

goingtoofast · 29/11/2011 18:57

cat64, I didn't put my house on the market. The ea did a valuation in the morning and the same evening sent someone round to view to test the market - getting an offer so quickly was a shock! Our buyer had a short timescale and we didn't want to feel the pressure of finding somewhere quickly just so we didn't lose our buyer. The ea suggested a few times in the space of a week we should sell and rent another place until we find one we like - would be crazy for us as our martgage is very low and about half the price of a rental.
Realise that we have probably missed our chance on this one. Thankfully it isn't our dream home!

OP posts:

londonlottie · 29/11/2011 19:02

fishy "Also, even without your house on the market you can move quickly via bridging loans/equity release/conversion of your current home to buy-to-let."

I'd be interested to know if many people ever realistically do this. We just looked into it because we had a deadline for putting an offer in on a very desirable house and at that point our house had only just gone on the market. Despite having a sizeable chunk of equity and borrowing at under half our maximum limit, the costs were preposterous - not one of the mortgage brokers or the vendor's estate agents recommended the bridging loan option, saying it could very well bankrupt you; and we found that the fees/redemption penalties on converting to a BTL were unbelievably punitive too... £20k just to set up the mortgage in one case!

cat64 · 29/11/2011 19:11

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40notTrendy · 29/11/2011 19:15

We tried to sell a couple of years ago. We initially said the only viewers we wanted were those that had sold or in a position to move. However, a family friend who used to be an estate agent suggested we be more flexible as people's circumstances change very quickly. I'd think they are just following the vendor's instructions. Try again, be nice as pie on the phone and sound keen!

Original poster

goingtoofast · 29/11/2011 19:17

cat I was very honest and did tell the agent and buyer we weren't sure if we were going to go to market.

OP posts:

mrsravelstein · 29/11/2011 19:18

there was a house we really liked which we weren't 'allowed' to view as we didn't have a complete chain. it was still on the market about 12 months later when we finally managed to get a complete chain and moved house....

SkinnyGirlBethany · 29/11/2011 19:24

I went on Market yesterday and got 2 calls from my ea. 1) arranging a viewing tomorrow 2) asking if I would be ok with someone viewing who was just on the Market with no offers (unlike number 1 who are cash buyers).

The ea said she would Completley understand if I didn't want them to show 2 around. I said the more the better!

afishyweddingfairy · 29/11/2011 19:46

londonlottie it's something we're seriously considering at the moment. We've gone to the market today and may not sell in time to get the house I want. We have spoken to our brokers about splitting our equity and raising a new btl mortgage on our current flat. Costs aren't a huge amount more than the moving costs, and in fact are considerably less than they would be when you factor in EA fees as if we went down that route we'd keep our flat as a rental property for the foreseeable future. We're fortunate in having a tiny mortgage and moving out from central London so wouldn't be looking to increase our mortgage for our move to the burbs if we sell, so are seen as good risks for mortgagees. As I said, it's something we're seriously considering- but the numbers are pretty scary (more total debt than fees iyswim).

Jealous of your viewings already SGB - hope we're as swift with ours!

purplepidjin · 29/11/2011 19:50

There is often a "story" behind why someone is selling their house - an elderly relative who needs to fund care, or trying to stave off repossession...

zipzap · 29/11/2011 20:11

When we moved we finally sold our first property several months after we moved into our second property. Instead of getting a bridging loan which would have been extortionate, we got an ordinary mortgage but one that had no early exit penalty and I think it was on the lender's standard rate. so whilst it wasn't the cheapest mortgage for somebody wanting a mortgage to stay in their house for a good while, for us it was perfect as we just had the standard arrangement and exit fees of a couple of hundred pounds each and an interest only rate of about 4-5%. Compared with the best bridging loan offer we got of at least a couple of thousand set up fee, higher monthly interest rates and penalties if we didn't pay back within about 3-4 months we saved thousands and thousands - so much that we wouldn't have been able to afford it if we had to go the bridging loan route.

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