Disappointed with estate agents

Soldato
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Know of a couple of instances one with a colleague and the other my previous neighbour where someone in the chain decided to drop off the face of the earth mid sale and expect everyone to wait on them - in one case they'd gone on holiday to the south of France for 5-6 weeks or something and were surprised when they came back to find they'd lost the sale/purchase.

House moves are up there with my least favourite things - I'm not sure our last one would have even gone through if it wasn't for the estate agent was so pushy with the solicitors (I find it strange to credit an estate agent).

Just had that with my youngest buying her first home. Sellers already had another house, so took their sweet time completing paperwork and responding to anything. Apparently both my youngest’s and the seller’s solicitor were totally ****** off with the vendors for making a super easy no-chain sale very hard work.
 
Associate
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If the roles were reversed and you saw the house was listed as "sold" and you really wanted it, would you put in an enquiry or cheeky offer to see what happens?

I put in the asking price for a property and to take off the market, the EA got back to me and said several others had since offered the asking price and the vendor wanted us all to put in sealed bids.
I didn't bother with it and pulled out.
Was I annoyed as a purchaser? Yes.
Would I have done the same thing as the vendor? Probably!

Just the way it goes!
 
Soldato
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If the roles were reversed and you saw the house was listed as "sold" and you really wanted it, would you put in an enquiry or cheeky offer to see what happens?

I put in the asking price for a property and to take off the market, the EA got back to me and said several others had since offered the asking price and the vendor wanted us all to put in sealed bids.
I didn't bother with it and pulled out.
Was I annoyed as a purchaser? Yes.
Would I have done the same thing as the vendor? Probably!

Just the way it goes!
The housing market in the U.K. has effectively moved to an offers over system the asking price is never the sale price in my experience. Houses local to us are going for 25% over asking currently and the only people I know who have purchased a house without going to best and finals made offers well in excess of asking on houses where the vendors wanted a quick sale. We have been looking for ages and are fast reaching the conclusion that our current house will be our last as the idea of saddling ourselves with the kind of mortgage needed for a better house doesn’t really appeal when compared to the advantages of being mortgage free next year. A world where a nice 4 bed terrace with a small garden and no parking in a northern city is worth 400k is too bonkers for me.
 
Soldato
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The housing market in the U.K. has effectively moved to an offers over system the asking price is never the sale price in my experience.
You can't really say that for the whole market though, it's very different in different areas. Houses are going for less than asking around here (west London).

To the OP, that really sucks. As mentioned unfortunately if someone had viewed before it was taken off the market, the EA is still legally bound to put forward any offer made. As I understand it people can still offer without seeing the place too (mad).
 
Associate
OP
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You can't really say that for the whole market though, it's very different in different areas. Houses are going for less than asking around here (west London).

To the OP, that really sucks. As mentioned unfortunately if someone had viewed before it was taken off the market, the EA is still legally bound to put forward any offer made. As I understand it people can still offer without seeing the place too (mad).

I know the market is madness. We just heard back that we have now lost out even considering our increased offer. Back to square one!
 
Man of Honour
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Houses are going for less than asking around here (west London).

Around here in Somerset (more where I work than where I live) it is a mixed story - seems to be quite a few who have moved back to parents and/or house shares due to social or financial reasons or both with this pandemic which has bumped up supply of 1-2 bedroom flats, etc. which are going below asking price while on the other hand nicer places are being snapped up by people who can now work remotely and wanting to get out of built up urban areas and paying in some cases well above asking.
 
Associate
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Estate agents don't have to work hard to earn their money. Does anyone use anything other than Rightmove in looking for a new home? They show you around you either love it or hate it.
 
Soldato
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Estate agents don't have to work hard to earn their money. Does anyone use anything other than Rightmove in looking for a new home? They show you around you either love it or hate it.
It is certainly an easier job than it was pre Internet most of the time the advert online is enough for me to know if I want somewhere it is rare to go round a house and get a radically different impression!
 
Associate
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my parents have been trying to sell my aunt's house for over a year. She went into a home but then passed away at the start of december last year. They have had 4 offers on the house, including one today which they have accepted. The previous three pulled out at various points in the process which was frustrating to say the least.

we're just in the processes of getting our house ready to sell. We've been in full renovation mode for about 10 days now and are track to get the house on the market in about 2 weeks. It's funny, we're simply doing the jobs round the house that we put off doing but I didn't quite realise how much we'd just added to the list of jobs to do later! we'd actually planned to move in 2 years time but fortunately we find ourselves in the position where we can move this year :)
 
Soldato
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Disappointed with estate agents

Just remember - the EA works for and is paid by the seller of the house, not the buyer (you). They are paid a lot of money to act solely in the best interests of their client (the seller).

If you were selling a property and the EA came to you and said "I know we agreed a sale a few weeks back, but we've now got another offer that is £10k more. Would you like £10k more money in your pocket?" you'd be very pleased with them.

It's a rubbish system but in my opinion there is no reason to attribute blame on the EA in this situation.
 
Associate
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We have completed, but I have mixed feelings about the EA.
On one hand they pushed the sale and the solicitors hard, and helped us to get to exchange.
On the other hand they lied about the purchasers, we were told they were cash buyers buying for their son. It turned out once we got deep into the process and saw the documents they were a BTL company, buying with a BTL mortgage to rent. Was a nightmare process as a result with the due diligence their solicitor demanded...
At least there was no chain though.
 
Man of Honour
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On the other hand they lied about the purchasers

Surprise. When we were selling my grans old house they flat out lied to someone who was really interested in the property that it had been taken off the market to try and get them interested in other properties they were having trouble shifting. Fortunately they approached my mum when they saw her at the property and found out the truth.
 
Soldato
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Just remember - the EA works for and is paid by the seller of the house, not the buyer (you). They are paid a lot of money to act solely in the best interests of their client (the seller).

If you were selling a property and the EA came to you and said "I know we agreed a sale a few weeks back, but we've now got another offer that is £10k more. Would you like £10k more money in your pocket?" you'd be very pleased with them.

It's a rubbish system but in my opinion there is no reason to attribute blame on the EA in this situation.
This is mostly irrelevant. Estate Agents are almost solely concerned about getting properties sold and getting their commission as fast as possible. To an agent an extra 10k on a sale price is worth pennies to them in commission so it's not worth spending weeks or more to them to try and wait for that.

I agree the blame in OPs situation isn't on the agent though
 
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OP
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It's a rubbish system but in my opinion there is no reason to attribute blame on the EA in this situation.

I agree the blame in OPs situation isn't on the agent though

Yes, it's not their fault it's just a crappy situation. I was initially mad at them because there wasn't anyone else to directly blame, but it was obviously somewhat misdirected.

The EA said on the phone if we were 6 weeks in they wouldn't have entertained accepting a new offer, which is rubbish because if someone was insistent they would've had to inform the sellers legally.

We were gutted because there hasn't been anything for months and we thought we were getting somewhere and 3 weeks in this came totally out of the blue.

Might just go back to our original idea of extending our current property, can't keep looking forever.
 
Soldato
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This is mostly irrelevant. Estate Agents are almost solely concerned about getting properties sold and getting their commission as fast as possible. To an agent an extra 10k on a sale price is worth pennies to them in commission so it's not worth spending weeks or more to them to try and wait for that.

I agree the blame in OPs situation isn't on the agent though

I'd disagree, most people expect their EA to sell their house. EA getting an extra £xk above an agreed "we'll get a sale for this price" value is going to win bonus points..... points mean prizes and they'll only be 1 EA you go to for your next sale.

Case in point - I recently agreed a sale for a property of £360k which fell through (on the buyers end) about 8 weeks into the process. We went back on the market and had another offer of £360k within days, I told the EA I would obviously accept but asked him on his thoughts regarding the new buyer - could they go further, would they likely etc..... He came back a few hours later with £362k, the additional £2k paid my moving costs and solicitor fees.

He could have told me £360k is their limit and guaranteed the sale that second (as we'd already agreed that £360k would be what we proceed on), but a few hours of his time got me an extra £2k and in return he'll be getting my business on any future sales.
 
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Soldato
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The EA said on the phone if we were 6 weeks in they wouldn't have entertained accepting a new offer, which is rubbish because if someone was insistent they would've had to inform the sellers legally.

I think at this point the EA would have passed on the offer but delivered it in a way to convince the seller than it would be a risk not worth taking to change. They can easily say at week 12 we've had a new offer of £10k more however we can't guarantee they won't be adding extra links to chain, the new buy knew about the house for weeks but has only just decided to make an offer (indicating that the house wasn't first choice so they may change their mind, or that funding was potentially an issue).

It's at that point in the sale the EA would be partially looking out for themselves but would also be advising the vendor that switching buyers that far into a transaction adds complications and has a higher chance of falling through.

It would obviously be up the seller to decide to take the advice or go with the higher sale cost. Someone selling a BTL and who owns multiple properties would probably be happy to take the risk and switch sellers, someone moving from a starter home into a family home and have a baby on the way would likely skip the extra £10k in order to continue smoothly with the existing sale.

EA are (or should be) masters of persuasion and will use this to guide a purchase, sale or entire chain to a successful conclusion - their number one aim will be to keep their client happy and they should gauge whether this is the biggest figure, the smoothest sale, a combination and also what will guarantee return business.

FWIW - best friend has been a very successful EA for 10+ years and we regularly discuss markets, work, techniques etc...
 
Soldato
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I'd disagree, most people expect their EA to sell their house. EA getting an extra £xk above an agreed "we'll get a sale for this price" value is going to win bonus points..... points mean prizes and they'll only be 1 EA you go to for your next sale.

Case in point - I recently agreed a sale for a property of £360k which fell through (on the buyers end) about 8 weeks into the process. We went back on the market and had another offer of £360k within days, I told the EA I would obviously accept but asked him on his thoughts regarding the new buyer - could they go further, would they likely etc..... He came back a few hours later with £262k, the additional £2k paid my moving costs and solicitor fees.

He could have told me £260k is their limit and guaranteed the sale that second (as we'd already agreed that £260k would be what we proceed on), but a few hours of his time got me an extra £2k and in return he'll be getting my business on any future sales.
Definitely a mistake in this post. :p
 
Soldato
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Definitely a mistake in this post. :p

Argh, post updated - it's £36xk, our purchase price of the proeprty was £26xk hence the confusion when remembering the numbers. I definately didn't accept an offer £100k (or £98k) less than a previously agreed sale.
 
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