Disappointed with estate agents

[Crizzy]

Damn why is buying a house so stressful, 2 weeks ago we had an offer accepted on a property both my wife and I fell in love with.

Today we had a call from the sellers estate agents to say that they have received another offer on the property which was substantially higher than what we offered.

It seems like at any point during the sale someone else can just come in and make a higher offer which renders all the time you have spent dealing with solicitors, mortgage lenders and survey companies completely useless.

Luckily not out of pocket but looks like we are going to loose a property we fell in love with and had a deal agreed

Just came on to vent a bit really

 

[montymint]

Yeah it sucks right now - we were in the position where we had to have out house sold STC and the mortgage in principle sorted before some agents would even let us view!

Houses up here were selling within a few days of going on the market and when we were offering it was straight to full and final offers.

Luckily, we've managed to land on a house that we love after being dissapointed three times.

 

[dlockers]

"Subject to contract"

 

[Buffman]

Yeah it sucks right now - we were in the position where we had to have out house sold STC and the mortgage in principle sorted before some agents would even let us view!

Houses up here were selling within a few days of going on the market and when we were offering it was straight to full and final offers.

Luckily, we've managed to land on a house that we love after being dissapointed three times.

This is because a house is not a liquid asset and for example if you have an ambition to sell your £100k house for £1million to afford an onward purchase (all the estate agents main priority is the commission clearing).

I (possibly stupidly) under the advise of my EA accepted an offer from someone who hadnt sold their house last year. Turns out when they tried to sell their house they had it overvalued (in their own minds eye) by £25k and were not willing to drop the price! I subsequently pulled the plug on them.

I also had people wanting to come view my property (during covid/early this year in lockdown) who lived on the same street and just fancied a day out! They didnt have their house on sale and it was bit of a wreck outside/not in a seellable state. So this position gets rid of time wasters (not saying you are but still!)

 

[montymint]

This is because a house is not a liquid asset and for example if you have an ambition to sell your £100k house for £1million to afford an onward purchase (all the estate agents main priority is the commission clearing).

I (possibly stupidly) under the advise of my EA accepted an offer from someone who hadnt sold their house last year. Turns out when they tried to sell their house they had it overvalued (in their own minds eye) by £25k and were not willing to drop the price! I subsequently pulled the plug on them.

I also had people wanting to come view my property (during covid/early this year in lockdown) who lived on the same street and just fancied a day out! They didnt have their house on sale and it was bit of a wreck outside/not in a seellable state. So this position gets rid of time wasters (not saying you are but still!)

Oh I know and with the market being so hot right now, it's best to remove a lot of chaff. It's just a bit annoying compared to even two years ago. It'll calm down again I'm sure!

 

[Buffman]

Oh I know and with the market being so hot right now, it's best to remove a lot of chaff. It's just a bit annoying compared to even two years ago. It'll calm down again I'm sure!

Yeah unfortunately estate agents don't make the effort to understand your actual position (i.e. If your home is immaculate and you're willing to take a swing on the price)

At least I could take a view on that with mine as I used purplebricks.

I am glad I no longer need to sell a house and I hope to never have to sell again!

 

[Rroff]

I (possibly stupidly) under the advise of my EA accepted an offer from someone who hadnt sold their house last year. Turns out when they tried to sell their house they had it overvalued (in their own minds eye) by £25k and were not willing to drop the price! I subsequently pulled the plug on them.

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).

 

[montymint]

Yeah unfortunately estate agents don't make the effort to understand your actual position (i.e. If your home is immaculate and you're willing to take a swing on the price)

At least I could take a view on that with mine as I used purplebricks.

I am glad I no longer need to sell a house and I hope to never have to sell again!

Fingers crossed this chain that I'm in completes (it's locked in pending valuations for the mertgages involved) then hopefully I'll be in a similar position!

 

[Buffman]

Fingers crossed this chain that I'm in completes (it's locked in pending valuations for the mertgages involved) then hopefully I'll be in a similar position!

Valuations is the easiest element to be honest! It's getting the queries answered (if any), surveys, any oddities in land agreements, then youre plain sailing!

 

[Crizzy]

Yeah it sucks right now - we were in the position where we had to have out house sold STC and the mortgage in principle sorted before some agents would even let us view!

Houses up here were selling within a few days of going on the market and when we were offering it was straight to full and final offers.

Luckily, we've managed to land on a house that we love after being dissapointed three times.

Yeah our house is sold STC and we have our mortgage in principle. Plus our buyers are first time buyers so there's little chain.

It was actually 3 weeks ago we had our offer accepted and then things seem to be going smoothly until we got a call from the EA today. It's crushing as everything seemed to be going so well!

 

[Buffman]

Yeah our house is sold STC and we have our mortgage in principle. Plus our buyers are first time buyers so there's little chain.

It was actually 3 weeks ago we had our offer accepted and then things seem to be going smoothly until we got a call from the EA today. It's crushing as everything seemed to be going so well!

Was the house you had an offer on not taken off the market (and no more viewings)? Quite underhand way of doing things by the EA, but to be honest for the seller, more money is more money!

 

[montymint]

Yeah our house is sold STC and we have our mortgage in principle. Plus our buyers are first time buyers so there's little chain.

It was actually 3 weeks ago we had our offer accepted and then things seem to be going smoothly until we got a call from the EA today. It's crushing as everything seemed to be going so well!

The EA have been naughty (not that you can do anything about it), an acceptable offer should have been presented, accepted and a memmorandum of sale written up, causing the EA to stop marketing.

 

[montymint]

Valuations is the easiest element to be honest! It's getting the queries answered (if any), surveys, any oddities in land agreements, then youre plain sailing!

Thanksfully my solicitor is my best mate and is good at his job - he's a pitbull hahaha

 

[Rroff]

Maybe you are far enough along they think they can squeeze more money out of you :s

 

[Crizzy]

The house was off the market but was still on Rightmove as 'sold', apparently someone who viewed the property three weeks ago changed their mind and decided to put in an offer.

The EA said the new offer was substantially higher, we have increased our offer which the EA said was very competitive, but I wouldn't have said it was 'substantially' more.?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but something seems dodgey.

 

[theone8181]

The house was off the market but was still on Rightmove as 'sold', apparently someone who viewed the property three weeks ago changed their mind and decided to put in an offer.

The EA said the new offer was substantially higher, we have increased our offer which the EA said was very competitive, but I wouldn't have said it was 'substantially' more.?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but something seems dodgey.

I'm pessimistic and think they're trying it on. I do think that it should be legally binding though, I think in Scotland ot is, gazumping I think is what it's called.

 

[Crizzy]

The EA have been naughty (not that you can do anything about it), an acceptable offer should have been presented, accepted and a memmorandum of sale written up, causing the EA to stop marketing.

It was, we had a letter from the EA in the post accepting our offer, we thought it was a done deal.

 

[touch]

Buy a house in Scotland instead.

 

[fastwunz]

Until exchange of contracts, legally, the agent has to put all offers forward to their client unless agreed, in writing and with authority of their client that they won’t.

It’s not the agents fault I’m afraid. They have no choice. Sucks though

 

[Crizzy]

Until exchange of contracts, legally, the agent has to put all offers forward to their client unless agreed, in writing and with authority of their client that they won’t.

It’s not the agents fault I’m afraid. They have no choice. Sucks though

Yep, I do get this, it's just that the EA handled the situation with very little tact, but it's just business as usual to them I suppose.