“One off” estate agent viewing Is this too good to be true?

[Stresssy]

my house is currently on the market with an online estate agent. It hasn’t sold in 6 weeks. Decided to request two valuations from local ES’s and they were done yesterday! I then received a phone call yesterday from another local estate agent requesting a “one off viewing” they claim to have a buyer who’s purchase has fallen through and my house is exactly what they are looking for. They have their mortgage and everything in place! The contract will be for that one viewing and we can negotiate sellers fees as there will be no viewings or advertising. I feel like this may be a cruel EA tactic to get me on their books? Has anyone ever heard of this? And why hasn’t this buyer who’s purchase has fallen through, requested to view my property through RM? Has anyone had this happen to them? I would love to know. I will of course keep you all informed. 🤞🏼

I'm just about to plunge into selling my pile and if this happened to me I'd be tempted to go for it - you can always say no to a longer contract and if the buyer doesn't like your place what have you lost? I'd nail them down on the fee though - maybe a fixed amount rather than a percentage.

Possibly a sales trick to hook you in. What are they asking you in return for the one off viewing?

I’d be tempted to go for it but would want to know what they want from you in terms of fees.

However, it is not possible for the buyer to have their mortgage in place. Mortgage offers are for specific properties so they would have to redo it.

And why hasn’t this buyer who’s purchase has fallen through, requested to view my property through RM?

surely you’ve hit the nail on the head there. I’ve never heard of this and now I’m intrigued- it looks like a sales trick to me. Personally, I’d still be looking at going with a local agent as the online method isn’t necessarily working for you and then this mystery couple will find you that way. Good luck OP!

We requested this. The house was under offer but buyers had been messing g around for months.
We viewed once, offered asking price and completed in 3 weeks. It is possible.

Mortgage offers are up to a certain value, not property specific, so yes it’s possible to say that as a selling point for those buyers.

@Laughingravy I'm tempted to see if this is genuine but I do have reservations.
1, How long it will take them to decide if they want my house (it could take weeks to decide if my house is right for them)
2, I don’t want to play ping pong with offers 😂
3, If they were eagerly looking for a specific property they would have seen mine on Rightmove surely.
4, What sales fees the EA is expecting for this “one off” contract.

I just smell BS if I’m honest. But I’m very surprised if it is because this is a well known EA in my local area. I didn’t choose them because the vast majority of their listings have all been reduced and only a couple of SSTC since March. I will let you know what comes of this.

How do you know it's not some potential burglar looking around your house? Sounds very dodgy to me.

Do you have definite contact from the EA or just phone calls? I'd pop in myself nand make sure it's kosher.

So tell the EA this
1, How long it will take them to decide if they want my house (it could take weeks to decide if my house is right for them) give them a time limit
2, I don’t want to play ping pong with offers 😂 tell this this
3, If they were eagerly looking for a specific property they would have seen mine on Rightmove surely. they may have a property that fell through with this EA
4, What sales fees the EA is expecting for this “one off” contract. - no one here can answer that

@roses2 i also think that’s the case here. They’ve asked for nothing just a “one off” viewing contract and if the viewers like it I don’t have to list the house with another agent. (The agents I’ve chosen are next door and over the road from this one) I pay them the sellers fee and we can negotiate fees because no advertising or viewings are necessary. He also said this is a popular thing to happen with properties like mine 😏 Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful home all modernised and needs no work but the majority are like this on RM 🥸 I definitely smell BS 🤣

@NeedToThinkOfOne im the same I’m so tempted to negotiate but I think I’ll just give 48 hours for an offer to be placed so I’m not left waiting weeks. @Freyya i may have got that mixed up, agreement and large deposit are in place. They purchased through this estate agent and they lost the house I don’t know the reasons but maybe hadn’t gotten too far in to the purchase hopefully. @Mosaic123 the number that called me was for that EA 😊@TheSeaDoesntKnowMyName you're spot on! Thank you for this. 🤩

I imagine what is happening is that the prospective buyers have indeed lost their purchase with these agents, and the agents have told them that they have a great house not yet on the market that would really suit them and they can be the first to view.

So the buyers don’t know that your house is already on RM, and may already have discounted it. Or their sale fell through at a point which means they haven’t been looking on RM for the last couple of months and are suddenly back looking. If they have a mortgage offer at old rates, they might be looking to find somewhere quickly enough that they could feasibly keep it for a different property (this can be done but is challenging for time) and the agent is taking this opportunity to grab you as a client.

It’s something that gets them through your door and might preserve their fees from a lost transaction with the buyers. It’s something that happens.

The risk of course is to your time if the buyers have already decided against your house online for good reason then this whole thing will be pointless. But I’d go for it in your position, but prepared to be very robust about the fees you will be prepared to pay.

Sounds very odd. And not standard. If they like it do you have to sell it to them? what are their marketing fees? Read their contract very carefully.
But I would choose a local, experienced agent over some weird internet agency any day.

@MrsSkylerWhite you've given me hope 🙌🏼 I didn’t believe it was a thing as I’ve never heard of it. I really do hope this is possible then because it would save a lot of messing around. Thank you.

@Whenwillglorioussummercome thank you so much for your reply this is incredibly helpful and has given me hope that this may not be pie in the sky. I will update the feed with any information I get. 😊

What about your existing contract with the online agent? Would you have to pay fees to them too?

It could be the potential buyers are not keen on using the online agent, I know some avoid.

I don't know why you would give a time limit though or say you don't want ping pong - both of these sound like you don't really want to sell your house?

I was an estate agent and it was quite common to request a one off viewing. Nothing sinister about it. Make sure you negotiate a fee first though.

That’s the decision in principle not the actual mortgage offer. The offer is specific to the property.

@Chewbecca I've paid with the online EA so no contract with them ☺️ it’s now off line with that EA had 2 valuations done yesterday decided on one photographs and floor plans will be done on Thursday to go live that day. I won’t be able to play ping pong because I won’t be able to lost it with another agent if I’m waiting on the “one off” agent as it will be a contract for that buyer so I imagine they can’t put a time on that decision that they will need to make about my house. I suppose I could say 7 days but I don’t want to hold things up too long on the house being listed. I’m downsizing and relocating for work reasons and needed to be relocated for Aug (if the sale hasn’t gone through by then it’s ok I have options arranged) I definitely want to sell I wouldn’t market my house if I didn’t and I’ve already paid online estate agents almost £1400 and they were shite lol 😆

@Framilode thank you so much. I’m thinking of a set fee. The property is valued at £430k I’ve got it listed for £400k no chain. Set fee in my mind is £1,500? Is that cheeky lol

Of course, but I meant in context to the OPs situation it’s reasonable to use as a sales tactic ‘my clients have their mortgage in place’ because it’s usually just a tweak if you buy a straightforward property which isn’t falling down or has other issues. It’s a really strong selling point/tactic from the EA, I would say.

Balls to that, sounds like the viewers were buying and selling with this speculative agent, tell them yes, one off viewing and a fee free sale at x price to complete in x weeks.

Why not ask the agent to pay the OP £1500, and a weekend away somewhere nice?

Agree with MyDogSToodOnabee the agents are desperately trying to salvage a sale that won't go through unless they find a house for their sellers.

Fee free sale as you are missing out on potential competition.