Buying a house, Warnings from other estate agents

Woogie

Woogie

Woogie

Soldato
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18 Nov 2011
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Caddington
Myself and my girlfriend are currently buying a house in Luton that has had 2 buyers pull out after having put offers in. We have been told by the estate agent that the first buyer couldn't get a mortgage after putting an offer in and the second buying pulled out on the day of exchanging contracts with no word to anyone, they just did not turn up and all instructions via Solicitor and bank were stopped.

Now we have the survey being done today yet over the course of the last week I have had 2 other estate agents call me and tell me to be careful when buying this property as it has already had 2 buyers pull out. The estate agent we are buying through has not hid anything from us but are being very pushy for a quick sale and as far as I am concerned 90% of Estate agents are just out for themselves and I refuse to take anything they say as gospel.

Do you think this is just the other estate agents being sly and trying to put us off buying or should we genuinely be concerned. Obviously we will find out ourselves in the coming week I was just curious as if others had seen this kind of behavior before.
 
Wait for the results of the searches and survey. It could just be that people have pulled out for the reasons given. However if there is something more suspicious afoot your survey and the searches will draw them to light.
 
See that is what I thought, I mean we had a good look around all 3 times we have viewed the property and highlighted 2 potential issues that we cannot see as being deal breakers. I just found it highly suspicious that 2 unrelated estate agents have contacted us with regards to this house.
 
I haven't tried to buy a house yet but that sounds rather odd - why do the other estate agents care if you buy the property and there is a problem? I wasn't aware of it being a profession that was known for its vast and everlasting concern for buyers - particularly not buyers who aren't even with them...

It may be there are good reasons for the other buyers to pull out but I think my horribly untrusting and cynical nature would be making me wonder what benefit the other estate agents could gain through you not purchasing that property. Maybe it's simply that they want you to go through them, maybe they've got an interested buyer in that property, maybe they're trying to gang up on this estate agent or maybe they're genuinely concerned for your purchase but the latter sounds a bit weak to me.
 
As above I'm sure your survey etc will throw up anything untoward. I'd be inclined to ignore these other agents, estate agents hardly have a reputation for being helpful and doing anything out of the kindness of their own heart!

Though it does sound like something from a horror film, it's not in the Amityville area of Luton is it?
 
The property is only for sale via the Estate agent we are buying through and not other estate agents so this is what initially got me curious as to why the others were calling me. One of them I can guarantee he was trying to put me off to buying a house through them as the house we viewed with them was on our shortlist of potentials where as the second one really surprised me when he called.

The area we are buying in is one of the most sort after areas in Luton and houses do not come up very often and when they do they go pretty quick. There are very few nice areas of Luton this just happens to be one of them.
 
Something wrong with the area, previous tenants.

Known of this only once, house was in a nice area, but a little research found house had been used for drugs, etc, plus credit history of previous tenants made house blacklisted for getting utilities reconnected, suppliers wanted large deposit first, plus for other things insurance, credit cards, etc.

Get friends to view the house using the other estate agents & see what they find out.
 
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How would the other estate agents even know your looking to buy? All seems a bit odd to me. Wait and see what the survey report says is all I would suggest.

My biggest issue with it all is this kind of thing is *exactly* how almost all haunted house stories start. Ask the seller if you can spend a night there before deciding to buy, see if anything creepy happens.
 
Don't see it so much as a negative. 2 other potentials have pulled out at the last minute. That may help you negotiate a lower purchase price.
 
Woden said:
How would the other estate agents even know your looking to buy? All seems a bit odd to me. Wait and see what the survey report says is all I would suggest.
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They knew we were looking as we have looked at houses through these sellers and they call me weekly to ask if we want to stay on the mailing lists or if we have found somewhere.

House has now been taken off the Market as our offer has been accepted and Survey has been completed.

Just got a phone call from my Estate agent saying that 1 concern was raised during the survey, the vendors have been approached and are willing to either get the work done themselves or depending on the cost give us a contribution towards having it done. The issue was 1 of 2 that we highlighted ourselves. The drive way is quite steep and appears to have shifted slightly and the drive way will need redoing and a retaining wall putting in.

mattyg said:
Don't see it so much as a negative. 2 other potentials have pulled out at the last minute. That may help you negotiate a lower purchase price.
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It did, 10k less than they wanted
 
Woogie said:
The issue was 1 of 2 that we highlighted ourselves. The drive way is quite steep and appears to have shifted slightly and the drive way will need redoing and a retaining wall putting in.
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I would myself avoid buying a house with that problem, how will that affect your house building insurance for possible/future subsidence?
 
I would approach with caution and check everything you can.
You will need to get the house looked at before getting the mortgage, maybe pay extra for a more detailed report.
 
We have had the full report and will hear back within a week with regards to it all. The house itself is fine as it has proper footings but the drive does not hence the slippage and only had single brick retaining wall. If you look at the Picture below you can see the wall on the right is leaning ever so slightly.

House_zps32e32e52.jpg
 
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