First Come First Served?

[NoseyNooNoo]

We have really struggled to view properties this year. Only about 10 have come on the market, often posted on rightmove as sold already. Very few agents ever call us to say something is coming on the market.

We have leafletted the area several times and 2 Sundays ago we had a call back. The homeowner was about to market his propery with X estate agent. We called X estate agent who said they'd call us when the house was ready to be marketted. I noticed it on Rightmove last night so popped in to the agent today. He said that it was not 'first come first served', that we'd have to wait until Saturday to view it and then they would wait 3 weeks before accepting any offers that might be recieved on the first weekend. It sounded very much that this was the EA's postion, not the vendor's.

I wouldn't mind this no first come first served rule if there weren't other people who were clearly being served first. We are renting, have a mortgage agreed and a hefty deposit. I'm starting to thing they want a backhander!

I'd call the homeowner back and ask them what they think !

Some EAs are very much a case of pleasing those who they like/know, and IME, you are better popping in once a week to see them, rather than waiting for them to call

We have been ringing the EAs to ensure we're on their radar.

If we do like the house on Saturday and make an offer I may call the owner direct to check he has our offer.

By law the EA has to tell the vendor about any offer given. You are also entitled to deal directly with the vendor if they agree. There are so many dodgy EA's out there it's ridiculous. If I were you and was interested in the house I would deal with the vendor as much as possible.

If you feel that the EA is controlling things, can't you drop a note to the homeowner, and deal with them direct - after all, you've already leafletted them. That way you'd know who was choosing to do things in this way - whether it is the EA or the vendor.

I have written to both EA and owner and made offers before. Nothing wrong with doing that to make sure your message gets through.

Make sure you write SUBJECT TO CONTRACT at the top of the letter though and any conditions such as survey your offer deends on. Point out in your letter how you are ready to move as you have finances arranged already.

It's never been first come first served though.

our buyer was putting offers through our EA (no commission though as we are with housenetwork) came back for a 3rd viewing and offered more to us in my lounge. I agreed to the increased price and then they went back to my EA to inform them as did I.

There is nothing to stop you stating to the vendor that you are in rented, have a mortgage ready to go and make your offer directly to them.

Lots of vendors are very open about their plans of when they are looking to move and whether they are flexible on price. We were flexible because we had a cash buyer.

The problem is that the vendor said to me that he'd prefer to go through an agent because he's had a bad experience selling privately before. However, if we do put in an offer I think I'll put it in writing to the vendor once I've told the EA. Thanks for the tips everyone.

Well I'm starting to think the EA just wants us out of the picture. I have repeatedly asked them to put us on their mailing list to no avail so I e-mailed him today saying (I've changed the numbers to be discreet but assume its £100k):

We are currently registered with you as looking for a 4-bed detached house in the 'nosey-town' area but don't seem to be on your e-mail mailing list. Would it be possible to be put on this list please? Many thanks, Mr & Mrs NoseyNooNoo.

His reply was: Hi Nosey, You already are, but we only have you registered up to £103K max.I assume as you were looking at 28 Nosey Road that you have increased the upper limit to £108k and have changed that accordingly.

Well, we have never received a mail shot or phone call for a house of any value from them so our budget is irrelevant. I'm not sure where he got the £103k figure from and have you ever heard of an EA that doesn't try to get you to see a house that is slightly above your price range. His e-mail implies he only contacts people with a budget equal or greater to the asking price - which might explain why he has a fair few houses within half a mile radius at that £108k figure that have remained unsold for up to 18 months.

I've told DH that it's best that I don't speak to the EA during the viewing...

Nosey - frankly I have never been contacted by an EA either on a mailing list.

Instead, I have set up automated searches in Primelocation and Rightmove websites that just email me everything with my set criteria every 24 hours.

I set my upper price limit about 25% above where I want to pay and there is not really a deluge so I don't miss anything. Might be worth considering rather than relying on EA phoning you.

Also if you want to make an offer, write simultaneously to EA and owner. Don't write to the EA first. No vendor is going to be upset by that approach. At least the vendor knows you are interested. I rented my current house that way. Wrote to both EA and owner as I had seen the house for sale but I just wanted to rent the house not buy it.

The EA ignored me but the owner wrote back a year later after he could not sell it and we quickly reached a rental deal at 10% under my original offer.