Why won't they show us the property

[dowestinkorsomething]

We’re in a strange position re a house we want to view. Over the past three weeks we’ve called an agent 4-5 times and asked to view a house but they don’t call us back. Yesterday my partner asked straight out if there’s a problem with the property or if it's 'almost sold' (no), then if there’s a problem with us given that they don’t come back to us (no). They said they’d get back then too but still haven’t.

The same agent has shown us other properties before and we’re good buyers without a chain. They've got our details so they know this.Is there anything we’re missing, we’re not originally English so wonder if we’ve done something wrong or if there's a message we're missing.

I’m now wondering if we should pop a note in the letterbox to let the vendor know that we’re interested but that might be weird too.Any thoughts welcome on what else it could be…

The estate agent probably wants it for a family member or close friend so is actively stopping others from viewing is my best guess. Put a note through the door stating you have tried numerous times for a viewing. They might not know the agent is doing this.

The most likely explanation is simply that the EA is being incompetent.

Honestly, when looking at flats with my daughter there was one EA (Dexters) that were so awful when trying to organise viewings that she would never consider selling the property through them when the time comes, despite the fact they are a big EA in her area.

They didn't return phone calls or emails. Yet when we called in once as that seemed the only way to actually book a viewing, they were all sitting around chatting - not busy at all!

I think it's a good idea to pop a note through the vendors letterbox telling them you are struggling to organise a viewing. Hopefully they will put a rocket up their EAs arse!

I would put a note through the door with your contact details saying something along the lines of 'you're interested but you've had no response from the agent. Is it still for sale?'

I did hear of a situation where an agent wanted to buy the property and so didn't let people view it and then bought it, through a third party, at a reduced price. I'm sure that isn't the case here though.

Thank you very much for your comments. Really interesting that you think it might be ok to put a note in the letterbox, I thought I'd be strongly advised not to.

We've spoken to different agents there and we haven't had problems viewing other properties before so it's really odd. We keep getting e-mails from them, almost daily, with other houses (not rarely in completely different locations!).

It's been out for a while and the price has been reduced quite a lot once so you'd think they'd be interested in us!

Will mull over this. Thank you again!

Sounds like the house might be under offer but they're still collecting interest about it.

My mum's house is under offer but the agents are still advertising it and still taking information on interest. It's extremely odd compared to other agents.

But wouldn't they tell us if it were? Wouldn't that be a good thing, to make us even more interested and perhaps willing to pay more so to speak? I don't understand the point in hiding that...

@dowestinkorsomething Don't worry or try to second guess as to why the EA will not let you see the property, write a nice letter to the vendor and give them your telephone number so they can conctact you. Maybe ask them to call you to discuss a viewing time. Def tell them you have tried numerous times to book a viewing via the EA and also highlight the strong position to you are in.

Edit to add - it may be you will not use any in house mortgage from the EA, I know I said do not try and second guess though!

Thank you! We might try this... Glad to hear we wouldn't be seen as crazy :-)

(And yes I should try to second guess agent. It's kind of driving me crazy to think about if we might have offended someone :-/ )

We once tried to view a house, in fact we got to the front door twice and the agent wasn't there to meet us.

We eventually bought another house in the village and found out through the grapevine that the vendor of the first house only wanted to sell it to someone local. We were moving from another part of the country so they didn't want us. I just wish the estate agent had been honest as we had an three hour round trip for the pointless viewings each time.

We've never asked them, which is our mistake.

Sounds like a note through the door might give you some answers.

We had this several years back. The estate agent wanted the house himself so they were stopping everyone else from looking and then tried to offer a low value. Parents were cross and took the house off the market.
I believe the same is happening with their house at the seaside. It is a good size and within real walking distance (5 minutes) of the access to the sea front, has parking and a garage, easy access.to all local amenities, yet apparently no one wants it despite it having been reduced by more than fifty thousand pounds.
Some people ought not to be in the job they are in.
Good luck.

Do the nite but expressly say that you have tried to arrange via Xx agent but XX haven't gotten back to you.

Highly unlikely you have offended anyone @dowestinkorsomething it doesn't sound like you have done a thing wrong.

Lots of people put notes through doors. It’s fine. When we bought one house it felt like the agent was actively trying to prevent a sale. Very strange. We had to fight the agent to buy it! When we sold we did not choose that agent, needless to say! It had been on the market for eight months when we bought it yet they seemed completely unmotivated.

Def a note. Sounds strange

Pop one through door with your phone number

Tech if not via the EA would they need to pay them

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who said that it'd be fine to put a note through the door! We did, and are viewing it this weekend, very exciting! The sellers didn't say what happened, only that they wouldn't use that agent again.

I'm still baffled why the agent didn't just tell us anything at all, it wouldn't even have needed to be the truth but something like 'they may not sell so not sure they want viewings...', instead of keeping us hanging!

In the meantime another house has come up that we're also viewing. I may like the old one better, my partner potentially the new one, so we'll see when we get there :-) Thank you all!

Well done.

I assume that the agent wanted it for himself.

Another vote for "put a note through the letterbox".

Estate agents can be notoriously useless, and if I was selling, I'd want to know if people were calling up for viewings, and not able to get them!!

As my old dad would have said "never put down to malice what can be escribed to incompetence."

It sounds like the EA wanted it for themselves or family/friends, or even an investor they work with. The EA's local to me all tried to tell someone I know that their house was worth fuck all, but they've got someone that would be interested, all three did that, then the persons friend that is an EA looked at it and valued it for a much more realistic price and its gone on the market with them.

I'm glad you are getting your viewing.

One trick that agents sometimes pull is that they will only allow people to view if they are also selling the viewer's house. Double commission that way, see? They are not supposed to do it, but they do.

Another trick they pull, especially for doer-uppers, is to price it too high to start with, to give their property developer mate time to get their finances sorted. Price then gets reduced to what the developer wants to pay, and bingo - sold immediately.

Glad you've got your viewing! Hope it goes well! We're in a similar position now. Estate agent just isn't getting back to us, and the property is empty so don't think there's much point putting a note through the door...

Put a note through the door explaining to the vendors that you have made contact with the agent many times and they aren't contacting you.

Give the vendor your phone number or email address.

Do it quickly before someone else gets in.

The vendor is paying a lot of money for the estate agents service and deserves to know what is going on!

Great note worked

DRTFT

Well done.