Is it worth hiring a buying agent?

[Messymama1]

Our bid on a property has been accepted although we feel we are paying a bit more since it's currently the buyer's market. The initial bank survey quoted the price of the property at amount which the bid was accepted. Wondering if it's worth hiring a buying agent to reduce the price. Let me know your thoughts please!

Are you in the UK? Never heard of a buying agent. If you’ve offered a price and it’s been accepted, it’s a pretty shitty thing to go back and reduce the price. Not unheard of but you may lose the property if the sellers put it back on the market/can’t be bothered dealing with you playing games.

I'm not aware this is a thing, assuming UK?
The main wriggle room you will have on the price would be a survey - are you having one of those? Or what other justification do you have to think you're overpaying?
I'm not sure I would take kindly as a vendor someone trying to renegotiate without a survey or other reasons.

@TheOneWithUnagi : we are definitely getting a survey done before going back with any negotiation else it wouldn't be fair!
Buying agents are probably not that common but apparently they do exist.

Sorry but your post doesn’t make sense. People are paying less because it’s a buyer’s market and thus things are better for buyers than sellers. And this really isn’t a thing, sorry!

They do exist but you'd have to be paying a lot to justify their fees. It comes down to maths, what are their fees, what discount do you want to get and probably more importantly likely to get. Obviously if it's a very expensive property you've potentially more wiggle room.

As a seller I'd not be keen on a buyer renegotiating after bids unless they have clear structural issues flagged in the survey. And if you've got that then it's something you can do yourself. If it's renegotiating after bid because you think you've offered too much despite the bank having the same valuation- you have to ask yourself are you ready to lose the house if the seller decides you're hard work? Not saying you will but it's a possibility.

You think you over offered so to want to pay someone to tell the vendor that?

If your offer is too high then reduce it. You don't need a buyer's agent to do that, just send an email to the agent saying 'We have done some further research and think the appropriate offer is in fact £x.'

If you regret the price you paid it’s up to you to re-negotiate not pay someone else to do it. A buyer’s agent is generally used by international buyers to find a property in the UK and advise on price. You are beyond that stage as you have found a property you like and already agreed a price. It may be that you can re-negotiate after the survey, if it suggests some major work is needed like a new roof, for example.

I'm not sure what you think would be achieved by having a third party deliver the news you want to gazunder. As a seller I'd just think you were nightmare buyers full stop and put the house back on the market.

Buying agents are definitely a thing in the UK. Have used one multiple times.
Not sure they will work or are needed in your case though.
People use them if they have no time to look themselves, usually higher value properties, in a new location not local to them, or very competitive markets.
Their fee is usually worth it in what they can see you in your time, or their negotiating money off for you

This.
(I was aware of companies who do the search for you, there are quite a few in the south but I didn't know they negotiated the price as well.)

I’ve never heard of it either.

If something serious comes up during the survey I think the estate agent would help you negotiate a discount.

While I realise that they may seem to be on the seller’s side, it would be a pain for them to start advertising and showing it again, so I think they would be a good mediator.

Buying agents usually charge around 3%. And that is in addition to the EA's fees.

3% is high. I've never paid more than 2 inclusive of vat

But there are no EA fees for the buyer.

The buying agent fees can be significant. When we sold my Dad's flat in central London a lot of the potential buyers were international and used buying agents. One of them kept offering low on the property and narrowly missed doing the deal because another buyer offered slightly more.

I worked out that if the buyer with the agent had paid the 3% fee to us instead of their buying agent, their offer would have been the highest so they would have got the flat. Their buying agent didn't offer much to them in my opinion because the Buyers were in the UK at the time, the property was on Rightmove so visible to everyone, and their buying agent wasn't a great negotiator.

@Twiglets1 Totally agree that buying agent fees are outrageous and probably unnecessary if you can do your own legwork and aren't immensely wealthy. They are probably unnecessary for most buyers in a market like UK. It works well in the US, but I don't know why.

As for EA fees for the buyer, @VanGoghsDog when you buy a property another approximately 3% of your purchase price goes to EA. So if I seller wants a certain amount, the EA will jack up the price to obtain his/her fees.

You're buying, you're the one paying, and twice if you have a buying agent.

Why are you planning to reduce your offer already before you've even done a survey? Do you regret the offer you made? It's not normal to negotiate the offer down unless there is a clear issue from the survey or the mortgage valuation is a lot lower than the agreed price.

Do I understand your comment about a buyer’s market to mean that you think you could have got away with offering less?

You could certainly have offered less, but they might not have accepted it. And if you attempt to gazunder now, even with survey in hand, they still might tell you to sling your hook.

If a survey throws up a significant problem but you still want the house, it is usually possible to negotiate something — either a price reduction or for the seller to fix the problem themselves. But planning in advance to use the survey as a tool to force the sellers to accept a lower price from you is pretty damned low.

As for EA fees for the buyer, @VanGoghsDogwhen you buy a property another approximately 3% of your purchase price goes to EA. So if I seller wants a certain amount, the EA will jack up the price to obtain his/her fees

Run that by me again?

Surely the seller has already factored the fees due to the agent they have appointed in to the number they say they're happy to sell at?

Also, been a long time since fees were 3%!

We are mentioning 3% fees as that is what some buying agents charge, we aren't talking about Estate Agent fees (different job).

Yeah, noone views it like that.

There are no EA fees for the buyer.

I think @Whataretalkingabout must have referred to 'EA' above then, when they actually meant 'buying agent,' which as you correctly say are two different jobs.

Sorry I don't know what EA fees are in UK; where I live they are almost 5%.
Whatever.
@VanGoghsDog you still don't seem to understand that though the EA works for the seller it is the buyer who pays in the end.
I don't know how to make that any clearer for you.

Why don't you approach the sellers estate agents with a lower offer and save yourself the fee a buying agent would charge? That would surely be the sensible way of doing it & what most people do anyway. My last buyer offered £25 k after the survey came back. We declined because the only thing that needed replacing was a £5k boiler which didn't equate a hefty asking price reduction.

Why don't you just ask for a reduction to save yourself money if the vendor turns you down?