I'm getting wound up by the EA already

[NoseyNooNoo]

A recap

We offered on a house on May 11th. We were outbid and not allowed to match the bid by a couple in a chain whilst we're renting. On May 26th it transpired that other couple had lost their buyer so we're now being allowed to buy the house.

When we spoke last week with EA she said we'd have to complete by end of July because the builder of vendor's new house requires that. I said we'd do all we could but could they send Memorandum of Sale that day so our solicitor could get cracking. Our solicitor only recieved it today because it took EA 3 days to send. DH popped in this morning to drop off some documentation and the EA said we had to exchange by end of June 'because that what the builder wants'. DH just smiled and said, "We'll do our best, it's up to the Bank and solicitors to do their bit' and walked out without waiting for her to respond.

I'm sick of it already. Presumably the builder who does not have a family to move will also be dictating the completion date. Now if there was a genuine sense of urgency I would expect the vendor to accept the offer of someone not in a chain originally or for the EA to get the Memorandum of Sale sent ASAP.

Last summer we spent £3k not buying a house from someone buying from a builder. The builder wanted a 4 week exchange. We spent the entire summer stressing out, the vendor's solicitor wouldn't reply to our's and the EA kept changing the timescale and telling me that DH must have got everything wrong.

It's like groundhog day and I'm just having a rant but I'm not repeating last summer again and I half expect that the other couple who bid on the hosue are still in play.

And breathe...

You get 2 types of estate agents, those that lie and manipulate and those that do not.

Firstly, you were not allowed to offer while you were renting? Bollocks, the EA cannot stop you making an offer, it is up to the vendor to decide whether they want to accept you offer or not.

As for telling you when you must complete, don't sweat too much, they do it all the time. An EA will get paid commission when the sale complete. She is after her commission. (a good estate agent won't need to bully you as they will have a good pipeline of sales waiting to complete!) This EA has now said she wants you to complete by the end of June...guess what the end of June if you work in sales? The end of quarter 2! Most sales targets are set quarterly and if you go into a meeting not having met your targets it can be pretty unpleasant (not your problem though!)

Rules then: Bypass the EA and converse through the solicitors. Take everything the EA says with a pinch of salt and double check it with the vendor's solicitor.

Best of all, if you can, make an excuse to go to the vendors house to measure for curtains or furniture and make sure it is at a time when the EA is unavailable. If you can have a chat with the vendor about the sale date etc and let them know you are serious, it will give them peace of mind. Even swap numbers if you can. A lot of new build properties don't finish on time anyway!

Also, you watch, if you haven't completed by the end of June the EA probably won't bother you until it is time to start nagging again so your house can complete in time for the next month's end.

As I said, I know some honest EA's who do a good job. But I also know some that are very unscrupulous and they make me cross because they cause people a lot of unnecessary stress!

Good luck with it all!

Thanks Livingbyriver.

When I said we weren't allowed to match the bid I mean that we offered and the EA was unavailable until the following day when she said another couple had bid higher and it had been accepted and the sale was proceeding. I suppose I should have insisted that our offer be put forward.

Unfortunaley it will be quite difficult to bypass the EA because the EA and vendor's solicitor are the same company - it's a small little 'property centre' and they are in adjacent rooms.

I think I'll pop to see the vendor in a few weeks time. We did have a very nice chat when I did the second viewing.

I'm just worried the other couple are still in play but no one is going to be honest about that.

I can honestly say that all of my successful property transactions have been where I have built a relationship with the vendor/purchaser.

Call them/talk to them/email them but make contact and stay in contact. You can smooth out lots of problems this way and keep the EA interference to a minimum.

Good luck.