need advice on how to deal with estate agent

[Macey78]

TIA for anyone who can give some sound advice. We have been house hunting for over a year now and it's getting really tiresome stressful as though our life is on hold.

Have seen a house (this must be 5 th house we have put an offer on) it just feels as soon as a buyer puts an offer in, strategic games start by the agents.

Yesterday we called the agent, the guy we have been dealing with was off, the person answering the phone sounded more like a robot nevertheless Said I wanted to put an offer on the house we saw he took the details and said he would pass the information on to the agent dealing with the property tomorrow,which is today and so far nothing no news.
Shall I call them? Or not?

Give it 24 hrs, then it's 48 hrs since your offer.
The vendors may be at work, hard to get hold of, on holiday etc so don't worry that you've heard nothing so far. Even though they're selling a house, they still have other things going on.

Thanks fieldfare

Have you actually made an offer or just told the agents you want to make one?

Yes made an actual offer.

Sorry - wasn't clear to me. I would ring and ask whether they have now put your offer to the vendor.

Yes. Definitely ring and ring first thing. Good luck.

Def call them first thing. Even if they can't reach the vendors or the vendors want more time to consider, both those things should be fed back to you - it's just professional.

The only time I didn't hear back was when I put what the agent considered too low an offer in. Could that be happening here? The agent was a dick, in my case, and once I started dealing with a colleague, we and vendor reached an agreement within 24 hours. I was clear at the outset that it was an opening offer and my reasons for it.

I wouldn't chase up like that tbh. You are right, estate agents (being generally utter gits) are indeed making this a strategic game, which they intend to win.

If you chase up, they will read that as an increased level of desire for the house and will be more likely to recommend that the vendor refuses the offer I'm the hope you will increase it. Obviously they may do that anyway but the keener they think you are the more greedy they will be in negotiations as they will believe that nothing they do will make you walk away.

Wish I had read the responses before. Any way called them, on the get go he said the offer was too low we put in 5k under the guide price which we thought was a good offer due to the location. He is saying she is likely to say no. It feels she is likely to say no because he is going to tell her to errrrr! If we do it get this house we are cancelling the search it's just too much. When our house was on the market we accepted 8k!

You can always just leave your offer on the table for a set period - say that it is your best and final offer, which expires on X date. Then walk away...you may find that it suddenly becomes an attractive offer all of a sudden!

Agree with panic

Depending on where you are buying, if the houses are selling like hot cakes then you may be in trouble. Otherwise, agree with Panic.

I am currently in the process of buying a house too, and I find most of the time it is the estate agent who would not go back to the seller and gave their own opinion on whether the seller would do this/ that. I even had a "raised voice" conversation during the purchasing process with the estate agent, and when I threatened to walk away 2 weeks before exchange, she calmed down and offered to speak to the seller. I guess that's estate agent trying to do less work and squeeze more money out of buyers.

Remember estate agents work for the seller, not the buyer.

Thanks everyone. Like I thought agent called today saying the offer is declined and that the vendor is looking for an offer upper end of the guide price. We have done our sums made a final offer which is nowhere near the upper guide price but certainly over it. Hoping for a positive outcome!

Yes, the Estate Agent works for the seller not the buyer. So it is SO much easier for them if the buyer just accepts an offer!

If your offer has not been accepted then it is the vendor who has turned it down. Can't you see? The difference in commission earned by the EA would be miniscule at the prices you are talking about. Why on earth would they risk losing a sale for the sake of £50 or whatever?

Sorry mintyy but I feel that the EA can influence the vendor weather to accept an offer or not but yes the final decision will be the vendors.

Of course I realise that they work for the vendor doesn't mean it's not frustrating and no we are not talking about £50 here or there buying a house is expensive business! Thanks for your helpful comments.

I think you've misunderstood me Macey.

I am saying that to an Estate Agent the extra amount they are going to earn in commission is going to be really tiny (like £50) if the vendor pushes for a higher offer of a few thousand more.

So, if you have said let's say £95,000 is your top offer (obviously I don't know the actual figures) but the vendor turns it down because they want £100,000 then the Estate Agent is actually going to be really frustrated (unless there are loads of keen buyers lined up making offers) to lose that sale.

In my experience (and I do have proper solid experience) agents want lots of sales, lots of properties going through their books. They don't want houses going stale on the market while the vendors quibble over small amounts of money.

OP the commission lost to the agent would be in the region of £50 if you assume a 1% commission rate and a difference of 5k on the sale price, is what mintyy means.

Sorry mintyy x-post

Mintyy Ahhhhh right I see. I do apologise perhaps I'm just getting over sensitive over it all. Sorry!

Still not heard back on our final offer so hopefully they are considering it.