When is it reasonable to chase an estate agent?

[ireneadler101]

We put an offer in on a house last Tuesday evening. The agent mentioned that a higher offer had also been put in that day, but that it had been rejected by the vendor (they have a house to sell).

By Saturday, we hadn't heard anything so I called the agent and was told that the seller was still thinking about our offer and the higher offer (which I thought had been rejected), and said that it was highly likely that the higher offer would be rejected as the people had a house to sell, and that ours was very likely to be rejected. She said she would chase the vendor on Monday.

It's now Wednesday and I've heard nothing. I would like to call them again and find out what's going on but don't want to appear too keen. I also don't want to seem like a doormat - I think a week is long enough (particularly as no reason has been given for the delay).

What do you reckon - to chase or not to chase?

Ring them. Definitely.
Tell them your offer is only on the table for the next 24 hours because there is another house you want to offer on if you can't have this one.

Appearing keen is no bad thing. Kirsty and Phil, Sarah B and Amanda Whatsit all recommend it, especially when a seller is slow or a property is popular. It makes a connection with the seller. We used it when buying our forever home. Much as we thought the seller was/is a complete pillock we flattered his house, his ego and helped him feel superior, for a while. We snuck it out from under a full price offer saying we could move in 4 - 6 weeks, reduced our offer when we got the survey results and then waited for 12 weeks, the seller didn't move quickly enough.

Ring them and tell them that you really like the house, remind them that you are in a great place without a chain, but that with no response from the owners for you to work with you will be forced to look elsewhere. Ask them if they have anything similar you can view immediately.

Remember (even if you believe otherwise) the EA is your friend, it is the owner that is dragging their feet. Keep the EA on side and see what happens.

Good luck.

Keep chasing the EA.

Just chased - turns out the seller agreed a sale on the house yesterday to someone who (after contacting the estate agent initially) turned up on spec at the house and negotiated with him directly. They've offered more than us, and are apparently "known" to the seller as they're both in the building trade.

I knew the seller was a nightmare, but seriously, I was not expecting this.

When I asked for confirmation that the house was under offer, the agent didn't directly answer and effectively said he thought that this may all fall through. Am I being overly suspicious in thinking that this is all a ploy to get us to offer him more money?!

It might be. So one last call to the EA. You still like the house and, should it come back on the market in the near future you would like to be informed.

Then leave them to it. You will have called their bluff, if they are playing games, and left the door open, regardless.

reasonable and estate agents are not two things that go together in my experience

i often found it necessary to chase mine every day

good luck, the whole thing's such an unnecessary farce

Sounds like the Estate Agent used you as leverage to get the other people to offer more money. Sorry it didn't work out.