Estate Agent doesn't want to show a house after we pulled out from buying another

[kokos1]

Hello! Please help! We've sold our flat and found our next home, made an offer, it was accepted. Then we've had a discussion with mortgage advisor and while we still can afford that house, our payment will so big so we won't be able to save any money at all and if anything happens with the house we simply won't have money to fix it. We called our Estate Agent and said that. We've also found much cheaper house from the same Estate Agent and when we asked if we can view it, they said it's fully booked. I asked my friend to call them and ask about the same house and they booked a viewing for her on the next day. We're desparate to get that house as we simply don't have any other options at our price point. But looks like agents don't trust us anymore and don't even want to show new houses. So what to do? When we see that house and would make an offer I know that they must forward that offer to sellers, but they can tell sellers that they don't suggest to accept such offer as we're not serious buyers. But we are! Don't know what do. Please help with any advise. Thanks

Why did you make an offer on a house that was so far out of your budget? Didn’t you figure out what you could afford before you started looking?

It’s not really surprising if the EA thinks you’re not serious buyers.

How long between having your offer accepted and the pulling out? I imagine the sellers were mighty pissed off that the estate agent hadn't established you could afford the property before letting them accept your offer.

Why did you offer on a house you couldn't afford?

Unfortunately you have been blacklisted by that agent, it happens.

It happened to us through no fault of our own, The EA refused to show us unless we spoke to their mortgage advisor (who they get paid for each referral - dodgy and a touch illegal as it was insisted on before booking any viewing and did not declare they get paid). We don't need a mortgage as cash buyers and so we cancelled the appointment. They then blacklisted us which is frankly nuts.

There nothing you can do though, you can't FORCE them to show you round and big you up especially as in your case you have proved untrustworthy in the past.

You could go with your friend to view and offer, they HAVE to submit it but they likely will tell the seller to avoid your offer but its up to the seller ultimately.

I understand the EA position here, especially if it's a newly listed house with loads of interest.

It can be difficult to not be impulsive, especially if circumstances mean you need to find somewhere quickly, but you definitely should have understood what your budget was before making offers on places.

We understood our budget before making an offer and we pulled out within 5 days after accepting it. So what happened is mortgage advisor said we can afford it and that’s why we made an offer. Then we had consultation with another mortgage advisor as the first one didn’t reply and that’s where we found out that some of our expenses hasn’t been calculated. We still can afford that house but with 0 savings. Also 1st mortgage advisor hasn’t calculated nursery at all which is 2500£

I suggest you view it with your friend (probably at a weekend, with weekend staff). If you still like it/want it - then offer. If you have any doubt the Estate Agent has put the offer through then put a note through the owners door.

All you can do is call up the estate agent, explain the issue with the mortgage advisor the first time round, confirm you have everything in place now and are ready to offer on the day if you like the house.

Or go round to the house and speak to the owners. Ask to view and make the offer.

So did your mortgage advisor give you an incorrect mortgage in principle? E.g. calculated on the wrong figures.

The Property Ombudsman code of practice includes a section that says agents must take reasonable steps to find out the source and availability of a buyers funds when passing an offer to a seller. If they did this and it turned it out the information you provided was incorrect, they might not trust you to provide information that’s accurate in the future. If there’s very few options like this house on the market like you say, they’ll have their pick of buyers so why take the risk?

I think some of the comments on here are pretty harsh. We've nearly suffered a similar problem. Got a mortgage in principle that said we could borrow a certain amount and then subsequently got declined by the same lender on affordability. In our eyes, we did everything with the knowledge that we would be accepted. Luckily we've worked with a broker to secure a mortgage and are expecting our offer in this week. Just saying, sometimes we have good intentions and it goes south, so I understand your position. If I were you, I'd just explain to the EA what's happened.

Hi, thank you for you message. We have explained everything to EA but they haven't even replied to our email. For us issue was that we had a discussion with one mortgage broker in March and we made an offer for a house at our top range of affordability. When EA asked us to provide us with agreement in principle, we've done it on our bank website (same AIP amount as in March so we proceeded without hesitation) and as our broker hasn't replied, we found another one who told us some things that have not been considered back in March, e.g. increased nursery price by 30% since march and if we're considering 2nd child we simple won't be able to afford anything, even no nursery. We haven't thought about it and 1st mortgage broker didn't tell us anything.
It's such a shame EA now think we're not serious buyers as we're ready to make an offer for another cheaper house and they just don't even want to show us any houses :(

The agent thinks you’re time wasting flakes.

Go with your friend to view it and put in an offer if you like it, if challenged just say your friend liked it too and since she got a viewing but it was booked when you asked you decided to go together. I don't think they can refuse to put your offer forward.

Why on earth did you need someone to tell you you wouldn't have any money?? mental. All the calculators are available online for free so you would have known what the mortgage payment would be.

Of course we knew what the payment would be. But that was in March when did all calculations without realising that new nursery is now 30% more expensive. We're not considering 2nd child at the moment, but that was a good point from 2nd broker to think about. If we want a child in future we won't be able to afford anything.

Currently selling and received final offers, and my EA is clear on checking finances as much as possible but also checking likelihood of potential buyer's commitment to buy. He then advised me on this to make my choice - I took his advice and actually didn't take highest offer.
I think that even if you view you won't get far if there are other offers - the EA has made a decision on you rightly or wrongly.
Whilst I received all offers even those it was reckoned couldn't make good I am aware just some EAs may not be as clear on their duties to submit all.
It is upto seller at end of day but you have to get past EA normally. I probably wouldn't take your offer over a similar one though tbh if I had some facts.
My relatives just pulled out of a house justifiably due to survey but they're assuming they can't use that EA again and not requesting viewings under their remit.
Sucks perhaps but there will be other houses.

Just contact the seller yourself.

And if you make an offer make sure you mean it, otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time.

Thank you for letting me know.
Your politeness is also very poor.

I'd write a letter to the original vendor and EA apologising for the issue and recognising the inconvenience you caused. You can explain that circumstances changed since your original financial review but you have learnt from this episode. Wish them success with a new buyer.

Don't bother going behind the back of the EA - viewing the other house with your friend. If you act like that then the EA will just advise the vendor to discount any offer you make.

Let the dust settle for a while and then start again. Good luck.

I agree with advice not to go behind the agent's back. I don't think I would go to a viewing under those circumstances either.

It sounds as if you might not have had more than an initial affordability discussion before offering. If you can make sure you predict all your incomings and future outgoings as accurately as possible before getting an agreed and documented mortgage in principle, that's normally where an offer is made and should be credible.

People take an offer seriously and you set all kinds of things in motion once you make one, even if you withdraw it days later. I don't think the agent is acting unfairly, they're protecting their clients. If you made an offer on my property and my agent told me you had recently withdrawn on a property for financial reasons, I wouldn't accept your offer.

It may be this relationship isn't repairable with this agent and this property in the shorter term but hopefully there'll be other opportunities.

Sounds like the agent doesn't believe you're a reliable, serious buyer - or at least, that there are better buyers out there. They may book you a viewing if the house is unsold after a couple weeks.