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Original poster

Estate Agents - playing games?

34 replies

Pud2 · 12/08/2018 16:23

I feel like I’m being strung along. I’ve made an offer on a property that’s been on the market for 6 months. I was told they couldn’t confirm if the offer would be accepted until Monday as there are two more viewings. I find this slightly odd as the property has been on the market for quite a long time. Were there really three viewings suddenly on the same day? Why couldn’t they put my offer forward even if there were more viewings?

OP posts:
FluffyMcCloud · 12/08/2018 16:27

They may have put your offer forwards but the seller doesn’t want to make a decision until the other viewings have been done. Regardless it doesn’t make any difference even if they accept your offer, if there are other viewings they will go ahead anyway and if one of them offers higher the seller will likely go with them!
It’s all a game, house buying, and it is bloody stressful. Good luck!

NapQueen · 12/08/2018 16:31

They will have put your offer forward. They are legally obliged.

The seller wants to allow the other viewings. You could have gone back with a higher offer to incentivise them to take it off the market but you dont have to.

Original poster
Pud2 · 12/08/2018 16:36

It’s very irritating! I made a good offer but not the full asking price. Will be really annoyed if someone now offers the asking price having being told what I offered as I could offer the asking price.

OP posts:
BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 12/08/2018 16:40

What sometimes happens is that there is someone interested but they are either not quite ready to put in an offer yet, but will if someone else does and they might lose the house, or they are stalling in the hopes that if they wait long enough and nobody else is interested then they can go in with a really low offer.

A couple of months ago my DB put an offer in on a house that had been on the market for quite a while and immediately two more offers came in, so those two potential buyers had obviously been biding their time for whatever reason. My DB's initial offer was 710K and I think it went for 805K in the end (not to my DB though).

NapQueen · 12/08/2018 16:45

I made a good offer but not the full asking price - the seller would be daft to accept the first offer and dafter still to cancel viewings when the offer is below asking.

You will get the opportunity to make a counter offer if any of the viewers offer higher than you.

NapQueen · 12/08/2018 16:46

The EA wont tell any other bidders how much you have offered. They may sugest "go in at asking price", in which case they may not offer at all if they think asking is too high.

LifeHackQueens · 12/08/2018 16:57

We had this whereby we viewed a house. EA said there was no interest/viewings on it. We didn't put in an offer. DH and I agreed it wasn't for us. The Estate Agent rang the very next morning saying he had had a viewing that morning and they offered the asking price and did we want to put in a counter bid. We didn't no and we didn't put in any bid. I doubt there was another bid because it has been three weeks and it's still sitting there. The house next door has been for sale for over a year and won't sell for the same reasons. We've been looking for a while and in no rush. There is a lot of fantom bidders around. Hmm Eyeballs local Estate Agents

Alexalee · 12/08/2018 16:58

Napqueen... there is another thread on here where the op complained that she never got a chance to make a second offer and it was sold to another buyer.

If a full asking offer comes in I would doubt you will get a 2nd chance

Italia2005 · 12/08/2018 17:37

My understanding is that you have to start formal proceedings by presenting evidence to the estate agent that you are actually in a position to fund the purchase before the vendor accepts your offer and agrees to stop viewings. That usually takes a working day (Mon-Fri) to establish and complete the preliminary forms. This also applies even if you are a cash buyer.
A vendor must have some confirmation that a buyer has adequate funds or embarks on cost outlay (solicitors, mortgage, surveyors, etc) and until that is proved they would be naive to stop marketing the property.
If an offer is accepted, the vendor may agree to stop viewings and the property should be listed as ‘sold subject to contract’ or ‘under offer’ but technically it is still for sale until the sale is finalised (in England, at least).
Don’t worry, if you want this property start the due processes tomorrow and if your offer is genuine and accepted by the vendor you can look forward to moving. However other potential buyers can still make offers.
I am going through a similar process right now and have been assured that the estate agent is bound by law to communicate all offers to the vendor.

SassitudeandSparkle · 12/08/2018 17:42

That does sound more like the vendor wanting to get a bit more money, which is why they'd wait for the other viewings before doing anything about your offer OP.

Original poster
Pud2 · 13/08/2018 18:42

My offer has been accepted so fingers crossed it all goes through!

OP posts:
user1487194234 · 13/08/2018 18:52

The estate agent won't tell the other parties what you have offered
Mmm
They shouldn't ... but they probably will

Alexalee · 13/08/2018 19:03

Congrats

LifeHackQueens · 13/08/2018 23:54

Congrats. Now it's a waiting game to see if there are any other bids.

SassitudeandSparkle · 14/08/2018 00:10

Yay, hope it runs smoothly from here for you!

jemihap · 14/08/2018 06:59

I'm convinced a lot of the time EA's have friends/relatives/associates (with brown envelopes) who are interested in a property but the EA advises them to hold off from making an offer, wait for another offer to come in, then tips them off to it, allowing them to make a slightly higher offer... then the EA advises and encourages the vendor to go with their ''preferred buyer''

Twice in the past I've made offers on properties that have been sat on the market for a considerable length of time, only for another offer to suddenly materialise within 24 hrs of me submitting my offer and in each case the EA didn't try to encourage me to increase my offer at all, just informed me that ''unfortunately there has been a higher offer'' and that was that, in each case the properties immediately removed from the market.

beachcomber243 · 14/08/2018 15:48

I'm also convinced that in some cases the friends, relatives and builders/developers get first dibs at certain places.

If EA are also letting agents then they will have a bank of trades who look after the repairs in their rentals...plumbers, carpenters, electricians, roofers etc all of whom have trade contacts, who are able to do up out of date properties and are on the lookout for good little numbers.

I'm pretty certain I've lost 2 in this way in the past.

Lilmisskittykat · 14/08/2018 15:54

@beachcomber243 and @jemihap

I wonder now if this is what happened to me.. a house was on the market a year no interest. I viewed the Saturday and was after second viewing and all of a sudden that Monday it was under offer but I was welcome to put an offer in

Mildura · 14/08/2018 16:22

@jemihap, beachcomber243 & Lilmisskittykat

I would be incredibly surprised if what you suggest was even remotely common, to have it happen twice is almost beyond comprehension!

I worked as an estate agent for over 20 years, at time for a large multi-national PLC, other times for a large multi office independent firm, not currently a partner in a single office operation. I've genuinely never heard of a colleague or someone in another firm nearby selling a property to a mate/relative on preferential terms.

What is far more likely is that once an offer has been received, even if a property has been on the market for several months, is that the EA will call other prospective buyers who have viewed, or expressed interest to let them know an offer has been put forward. Sometimes this encourages a viewer who was sitting on the fence to commit to an offer.

I'm not for one minute suggesting there aren't a very small minority of dodgy EAs, and certainly a larger group of annoying ones, but to suggest this is common practice is simply untrue, imho.

However, it is a lot easier to accuse the EA of being dishonest, like the OP on this thread chose to accuse the EA of "playing games" when they have presented not the remotest indication of any games been played.

anonymousbird · 14/08/2018 16:24

We had this, we viewed a house which had been on market for ages and then "all of a sudden" viewings and offers left right and centre.

We immediately withdrew without offering and then got begging call from the EA two days later, whereby all the other viewings and offers had come to nothing (surprise surprise and were we still interested. Hmm.

Sadly, for him, in those two days, we had seen another, made an offer and had it accepted. The extreme joy I experienced in telling him this felt naughty but wonderful.

That house then took another 4 months to sell.

Lilmisskittykat · 14/08/2018 16:37

@Mildura hmm that reason seems rubbish too though doesn't it?

Phoning up and playing people off one another when really if they'd been interested they would have offered in the first place.

I know it's business and all that but still doesn't mean I have to think it's right.

AnalyticalChick · 14/08/2018 16:46

I have have seen many a property that had been sitting unsold on the market for ages. And then as soon as I showed an interests, it suddenly became the world's most sought after property. And then again, when I stopped showing an interest it suddenly returned to sitting on the market unloved and unwanted, and unsold. EAs seem to be able to rustle up these strange coincidences out of thin air. They are truly miracle workers.

Mildura · 14/08/2018 16:48

hmm that reason seems rubbish too though doesn't it?
It may seem that way if you're a prospective buyer, but it's exactly what a seller is paying the EA to do!!

It also tends to reduce the chance of being gazumped. If the EA has notified anyone who has previously expressed an interest, offering them the opportunity to put forward an offer, it is less likely that someone who has viewed the property before is going to come back when a sale is 4 weeks down the line and put in a bid.

I've read posts on here recently of people complaining when they'd expressed interest in a house then it suddenly went under offer with them being contacted.

Feels like you can't win sometimes.

Mildura · 14/08/2018 16:53

EAs seem to be able to rustle up these strange coincidences out of thin air.
It makes very little financial difference to the EA whether a property sells for £250,000 or £260,000.

It might be as little as £10/£20 to the individual, and maybe £100 to the company. What's far more important is a sale of some sort actually happens.

That's why I struggle to believe estate agents all across the country are busily inventing offers left right and centre to increase their commission by £10, at the risk of losing all commission completely.

It makes no sense.

AnalyticalChick · 14/08/2018 17:06

@Mildura, with all due respect, that is exactly what EAs want us to believe. But it doesn't tally with all that interest simultaneously disappearing as soon as the prospective buyer loses interest (and then probably reappearing, as if by magic, as soon as another prospective buyer comes along).