Obvious estate agent lies

[Splattsagain]

I'm inspired to start this thread by the house I found on RightMove with a garden described as (and I quote) "a very private garden to enjoy al fresco dining during those balmy summer months". This is then accompanied by a photo of said garden, quite clearly showing the block of flats right next door overlooking it.

I viewed what was supposed to be a one-bed flat once that was actually an overpriced studio with a bed in the loft space (not a proper loft conversion). The ceiling was only about 5ft 7 high! I’m 5ft 11 and my partner at the time was 6ft 4. The estate agent was still cheerily asking, “So, what do you think?”, as if he somehow hadn’t noticed that we were contorted like Alice in Wonderland about to burst through the ceiling.

I’ve since learned it isn’t even legal to market a room with such a low ceiling as a bedroom.

That's hilarious, @HotChocolateNotCocoa. On a similar note I remember viewing a house that claimed to have three bedrooms - one of them was, quite obviously, an airing cupboard that had had the boiler removed. There was no way you'd have got a bed in it and it had no window. TBF it wasn't the EA who showed us round but the owner, and when we left she said, in apparently genuine puzzlement 'I've had lots of viewings and no offers yet'.

It was really weird because it was quite a nice two bedroom house and the price wouldn't have been excessive if she'd only been honest about it having two bedrooms! It was in a street of similar small terraced houses, so you weren't struggling to compare like with like.

You can always tell when an estate agent has invented a new area by adding a prefix or suffix to the name of an existing one.

”Old” before an area name means there are a couple of nice Victorian or Edwardian streets nearby, but the rest of it is all rundown 1960s and ex-council. “West, North” etc. means it borders a more desirable area in that direction. (See also “Borders” at the end of a desirable area name.) “Wood” or “Waters/Lakes” at the end means there’s a row of trees or a stream/puddle vaguely nearby.

There was a house for sale in a local village. From all of the photos it was a detached house, but when you looked at google earth, there was a house attached to the back of it! The details did not mention this at all.

I always thought it meant 'small and paved/tarmacked' possibly with some sort of dog pen.

Pretty much that too .. we’ve been househunting and are finding that aren’t even showing a picture of the “back garden “

A one that does my head in is our town is mostly decent but there is one area thats VERY VERY rough. I keep seeing houses advertised as 'in the center of town/just a stone throw to the shop/only 1 minute walk to the high street' and its always the descriptor used as a selling point for this area of town.

Thing is its nowhere near the bloody center/shops, its at minimum for a healthy young person 20 minutes away walking and the area is a deathly steep incline. In fact its the edge of town so about as far as you can get from the center before you officially leave the town all together. So the nicest thing they can think to say about the area is a bare faced lie.

I told an agent I was looking for a house on a quiet road. He would send over details I'd do a drive by first. One house was on a pretty sounding street called Florence Terrace, backing on to Richmond Park. Well, if you know the A3 at all this was a street separated from it by a 10ft verge. The traffic is heavy and constant. So I called the agent and said that I wanted a quiet road, not a major route in to London. He had the nerve to say 'oh I never noticed any road noise when there'. I don't understand how he thought I wouldn't!

There is an air BnB up the road from me,that is very very expensive. It is situated in 9 acres of woodland. The adverts read that you can wander through those 9 acres and run wild,ect. Only 8.5 of those acres belong to someone else,so no one has any right to access them at all.
There is a house up the lane from me that was for sale for ages,the photos online showed the gorgeous views from the windows. No buildings in sight,just rolling fields.Only the estate agent must have practically hung out of the dormer window at a bizarre angle to take a photo that missed a) the massive new build opposite,and b) our falling down grain silo and slightly ropey looming farm buildings. It didn't sell and is rented out now.

Viewed one once which the particulars mentioned a conservatory, but with no photo. It turned out to be a grotty lean to shed accessed by the kitchen door.
A "small" back garden (again no photo) was a metre length triangle of grass. You could not have fitted one deck chair out there. It was what was left over from the garage extension. And the agents knew we needed a garden for 2 dogs so wasted everyone's time.

Both in the days before street view & google earth. At least now you can research more before wasting time with a visit.

Sea Views always gets me. Viewed a property recently with a lovely conservatory that looked straight into a pig farm. The sea view could be glimpsed from one top window and just glimpsed. Estate agent omissions are also a real pain. Same house described as on a peaceful dead end road. Forgot to mention that the dead end road was a part of a coastal trail that was very popular all year round.

Yep watch out for these so called cash buyers.
They try to secure a ££ reduction based on quick sale as cash buyers then take 20 weeks lying their way through the sale process and you’ll only find out they were arranging a mortgage all the time when you check out land registry afterwards.
Just had this
Supposed to complete quickly for a cheap sale mid November. They finally completed mid January and had used their dads bank account to lie to get us to accept the offer
We won’t be fooled again

I once saw a house but couldn't view the upstairs. The estate agent told me confidently that the house needed absolutely no work doing at all as we stood at the gap where the stairs should be and gazed up, because that is right. It had no bloody stairs to go upstairs. I did reply well stairs seems to be an obvious piece of work needed.

I had the same once, when I drove to a place 30-40 mins away for a viewing, only to find a substation right in front of the house which had carefully been omitted from the photos.

We have a big new estate in our town which is separated from a busy dual carriageway with another road and a very narrow field. DS and I went to look round the show homes which faced on to the dual carriageway - when I commented on the road noise the sales person said you couldn't hear it. At the time we were standing inside one of the rooms, and I was commenting on the noise I could actually hear at the time (with the windows shut). Maybe I should have told her to get her hearing checked.

“Sought after” and “executive”.

When we sold our house last year, one agent was extremely critical. I’d put out new towels, posh bedding, cleaned and tidied absolutely everything, the garden was looking its best and his comment was that I should put away the letter rack.

We had ‘cash buyers’ too. They were keen to move, were exchanging the following week and completing the week after. Twelve weeks on, they tried and failed to get a mortgage. I don’t know who was to blame and who lied, but someone certainly did.

My dad has similar. Alleged cash buyer puts in offer mid June 10% below asking which we accept. Next day another person puts in full asking price offer which we reject as already accepted first offer. The buyer came round so many times for various surveys, electrical and heating checks, septic tank checks. By end of September everyone in the chain was ready to exchange except him. He wanted a land survey and a visit from the planning officer to assess what he could build on the land. We refused him access to the house for this and told him the chain was likely to collapse. Eventually we changed mid November.
I did some detective work afterwards and found out that he has sold a property in Bath for £2.4m just a weeks before we exchanged. He evidently wasn't a cash buyer. My Dad's house was a drop in the ocean compared with the property in Bath.
Mr F you were a pain in the arse.

Local EAs to us.always say something along the lines of lovely friendly.family community.

Well, it was, 30.years ago! ...now its all second homes on air b and b. They are the ones that have sold them and still.they don't describe how it's changed!

We often laugh and wonder if they'd still say the same if we sold as, since the COVID crazy selling times, we are literally the last family standing!

I fondly remember the ‘feature fireplace’ in a bedroom that turned out to be a cast iron fire surround just glued to the blank wall and painted magnolia like said wall.
When we were signed up to EAs as ftb we specified certain things, 3 bedrooms and definitely not 2 or 1. The number of contacts from them saying “we think this is exactly what you’re looking for!”. Nope, we don’t want a 1 bed flat with no parking, thank you.

https://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/

This site is hilarious.

'Town garden' - you mean back yard?

Always thought the estate agent in Gavin and Stacey who cheerfully shows them the flat with a shower hose in the kitchen where you stand over a drain was about right.

Well said these liars are a pain in the arse
So for us it’s Mr and Mrs S…..r you were liars and cheats and I hope the council take you to court for taking down every single tree. Including the ones that were TPOd, because I’ve reported you !

I will never believe someone who says they are a cash buyers ever again and would advice all MNetters to take heed and not accept lower offers on this so-called basis.

We like over 15 miles inland according to google maps, up on the first street in a village on the edge a mountain... but technically we had an unspoiled sea view from the master bedroom as everything between us and the sea was at a much lower elevation so not blocking the view. We literally 'looked down' on the ocean.

Useless if you want to actually GO to the beach though.

I'm a cash buyer, I literally have had to prove I have the cash sat in my bank every single time I have offered on a house... I really don't understand how someone could lie about this as its checked and vetted in advance.

Once you get to conveyance you also have to prove you have the money and origin of the money too.

This is the biggest lie we got when selling my mum's house.

The mortgage offer will be sorted in 7 days then we can talk dates. Email same person for an update received automated response this person no longer works here. Asked for an update from the updated contact. Not only had the buyer not received a mortgage offer they'd not even instructed a solicitor. Was absolutely fuming, pulled out immediately.

So it's not just ads they lie in. That was the worst of the lies. The notice was served on the contract and they didn't even acknowledge it.