Estate agent wants to market property privately to selected developers....?

[another20]

He believes that this will save time wasters.....

Well the obvious question is, 'How will I know what price my house might acheive on the open market?'. He could be just getting some cheap deals for his cronies.

I would see a different estate agent...

Get some other EAs so that you can compare. Our agent did this for us, he had a pre-vetted list of buyers had a deposit and mortgage agreed.
He suggested an open house with offers above 300k. 10 people came to the open house, 4 made offers and we settled for £325000. Sale went through really quickly.

We have already vetted other agents and chose this one on recommendation and credentials etc. Just suspicious that he has suggested this now -- as it is a development opportunity he doesnt want offers to come in "subject to planning" - but we could be clear that these would not be accepted.

Would make sense to have a pre vetted list as per your experience pith but still going to market on an open house / sealed bids / shorter time frame?

Or does he just not want to do the leg work???

"Time wasters" - wasting whose time? Presumably you are paying him to market the property and handle the sale? So it would only be his time which is "wasted" - for which you are paying him anyway? I wouldn't entertain the idea and would tell him to get his finger out and market it far and wide!

I don't know if we were exceptionally lucky with our Agent. The house was my parents, a complete state. We had it cleared but it was grubby/dirty, the garden and sheds were full of stuff and we said it had to be sold 'as seen'.

The first and highest bid came from people who had offered £25000 over the asking price. We kept waiting for it to fall through or to come up with a problem bit they did not. I think that the main advantage for us was that these buyers had confidence in the Agent, that we were not going to keep doing open houses or advertising the house. After the lower bids were rejected two original views made higher offers, but we kept with the original buyer. The Agent told us he trusted him more than the other two.
I think you have to go on your instinct with regard to,the Agents honesty.

I should just add here, that this particular Agency had much higher fees than the competitors. I wonder if that is because of the amount of leg work they do, prior to receiving instructions.

I wouldn't entertain the idea and would tell him to get his finger out and market it far and wide!

Yes I think this is what I need to do here. It is a probate sale by 2 siblings - so expect that he hopes that we want it done quick and simple over getting the best price....

I heard directly from a friend-of-a-friend investor/developer that an EA mate gives him first refusal on certain properties for a really 'good' price - and he then gives the EA a backhander for the favour.

Personally I'd be a bit wary.

Have also known a butter-wouldn't-melt EA go through all the motions of supposedly selling a property I had my eye on, and made an offer on, only to find out later that it sold for WAY below my offer, presumably to some mate or other.
I'm not saying they're all dodgy, but a certain number certainly are.