Anyone bought an estate agent’s own house?

[MrsHogwallop]

Found a great house belonging to the manager of our local agent. Can’t work out if this is a good/bad thing. They’ve already had offers on it and are pretty much making it a condition of offer acceptance that we market our house through them. Am I setting us up for a rubbish deal?

If they are a good agent and you would of considered them anyway and they're not charging an exhoritant fee then i don't really see the issue there.

If you like the house anyway and think it's worth the price.

Means they will have incentive to show your house more and get you a good offer quickly and then push buyers through as it's not just their own commission at stake. They may push you to accept a lower offer though so just make sure you know your houses worth and the floor level you are willing to go down to.

That sounds really dodgy, to be honest. Is it even legal to set a condition like that?

It’s not been presented as a condition, just made clear our offer would be more attractive if we chose them. And apparently they’ve already had an offer from a chain free cash buyer.

Yeah sounds like a potential conflict of interests. He will want to sell your house fast, which is good and bad in as the other poster said, you may get good marketing, or you may be asked to accept a low offer.

Thanks very much all. It is a good house and the description ‘rarely available’ is accurate - have been watching for about 3 years. Made an offer, but was told today that it will be sealed bids! Can’t believe this in the context of other threads talking about a downturn. We are in outskirts of London, inside M25.