Vendors EA is shocking - is it a sign of things to come?

[Everywhichway2018]

We had an offer accepted on a property 2 weeks ago. Waited a week for the memorandum of sale, nothing came. Rang vendors EA and was told they were waiting for our ID. Firstly they hadn't asked for our ID but secondly, as we live far from the office, our solicitor had emailed it to them the day after the accepted offer as we knew they would need it.

I waited a few more days and still nothing, I check with my solicitor and they hadn't recieved anything either. So I called again. I was assured it had been sent out.

We are now 2 weeks later, no memorandum of sale so I called again. Was told that they thought it had been done and that it would definitely be done today. I asked for a copy to be emailed to me also.

Email arrived at 3pm. Branch closes at 3pm. In the memorandum there is a clause that states that they will continue to market the property until exchange of contracts. WTF??? I actually said my offer was on condition of the property being removed from marketing.

I am fuming and am seriously considering retracting my offer. If this is what they are like now, what is the procesx going to be like!!! Anyone experienced this?

Given your eager behaviour, the EA knows you are very keen, and I expect they are now working up to try to screw more money out of you on the basis of your eagerness to buy the property. This is exactly the kind of game that EAs play, and you are a perfect 'mark'.

@FabulousSophie can you explain what you mean?

However, you are wrong in your comment. The house is just a stepping stone to us and we are more than happy to walk away. We would like to move quickly as our house is nearing exchange but we can easily go in to rented if this doesn't work out. The EA knows this.

Or perhaps they are incompetent or the vendors have delayed in finding a solicitor because they really want more or something else has happened.

Go back to them and re-state your offer was conditional on the house not being actively marketed. Are those the actual words they used btw? If it's a deal breaker and you're prepared to walk away then tell them that. The EAs act for the vendors so it may well be the vendors who are behind this.

Once an offer has been accepted, most EAs want to get their commission and whilst they can be plenty of things ime, they tend not to be game players once a deal has been agreed.

Hi Everywhichway2018 They probably want to keep marketing it, so they can try to find someone to gazump you, and get you into a bidding war further down the line. Or else try to get you to increase your offer by other means. I think you need to get tough with them and tell them that if they do not pull their finger out, plus keep to their original agreement, you will withdraw your offer by a certain deadline. Many EAs assume buyers have fallen in love with a property unless the buyer can prove otherwise; and even then they like to think the buyer is just bluffing. Your role is to disabuse them of the notion. It sounds like unless they are reined in, the EAs will try to get you to increase your offer until final completion.

Hi @wowfudge
My exact words were, We will agree to a price of £???,??? on the agreement that the property will be removed from marketing on all platforms and that XYZ is included in the purchase price. This was done by email and confirmed verbally by EA.

@FabulousSophie thanks for explaining. We are definitely not in love with the property but we can see it's potential at the price we got it for. We will walk away without a backwards glance if need be.

I have emailed to say they can either stop marketing or we withdraw our offer. Part of me thinks there may still be games to come and should just walk away but another part thinks it may be that they are so incompetent that there may have been a mix up with what I said and that the guy who wrote the contract thought the vendors had said they want it to still be marketed. Guess I will wait for their response on Monday.

It's very unusual for EAs to actually take a house off their own website, RM, etc. They will normally mark it as SSTC or under offer and won't arrange any other viewings. It's a back up plans if the agreed sale falls through. That's why I asked if "will continue to market the property until exchange of contracts" was what they actually stated.

If you get convincingly tough now, I think you can probably head off any (more) games further down the line. With EAs it is always best to assume they are playing games (which they are), until proven otherwise. They will try to use any eagerness you might show against you, even if the eagerness they see is in their own heads. I hope I am making sense! Let us know how it goes...

@wowfudge sorry I thought you meant my wording. Yes it says under special instructions 'We will continue to market the property until exchange of contracts.' I am not expecting them to remove it just, like you say, mark it as sstc or under offer. There is no way I will be spending money on survey's and searches if they are still marketing it!

@FabulousSophie thanks, will do.

Approx 1/3rd of all sales fall through before completion, I will keep my house on the market next time. It might save me THE YEAR of messing around, I.put up with before selling and buying our current house- not that I am ever moving again.

User5trillion Would you refuse point blank to sell your house to any buyer who wanted the advert marked as 'Under Offer', even if buyers were rare as hens teeth?

Buyers aren't rare as hens teeth around here. Good stuff is shifting in days. 1/3 of all sales fall through before completion for various reasons, so it makes sense.

On my last sale I had 3 sets of buyers and they all pulled out, not because of problems with our house but because they didnt have the funds or found somewhere else in the interim or their chain collapsed. We lost good potential offers/buyers because we had agreed to sell to original people. So no I wouldnt refuse them but I would keep marketing until they had spent some money and shown commitment I.e surveys, instructed solicitors etc. Until that point you are taking them on their word. It took a year to secure our current property - although admittedly the big chunk of that was the vendor struggling to find an onward purchase. There must be a better/ less stressful way of selling.

Our solicitor was instructed the day after our offer was accepted and we will pay for the survey once the vendors have their mortgage approved for the on going purchase. We are cash buyers so will be able to move quickly once they have their affairs in order. We have given them no reason to not trust us and we are in a much better position than they are in their ongoing purchase.

There is no chance that we move forward with the purchase if they continue to market it. I don't know why anyone would!

User5trillion It's probably even more stressful for a buyer than a seller, because the buyer is handing over such mega sums of money. At least the seller is in the happy position of being the recipient of all that money, and not handing it over! It's not surprising transactions do not go smoothly these days, when such huge amounts of money are involved (much more so than a few years ago).