do estate agents have an obligation to be honest?

[j1979]

ok so i vewied and made an offer on a 1 bed flat that had been on the market for a while, it had not had any offeres, and then i go and make an offer and guess what!?

someone else viewed and made an offer on the same day i did.. how do i know that im not being played by the EA? do they have a legal obigation to be honest, and how could i find out if they have been honest and there truly is a higher offer on the table?

i feel like i am being played, but i cant prove anything!

[GheeTsar]

How much do you want the place? My advice is to offer what you would be willing to pay for the property and leave it at that - ignore any other offers as they could well be spurious.

[SammEl]

The EA might be the ones who own the property, so they might be trying to get as much as possible.

Just say that's your final offer and you're willing to move in ASAP.

[Lucio]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4826444.stm

Ok, the article is a couple of years old but I suspect things are still like that. Yes, it's dishonest and there's probably a law against it but proving it's going on is a pain.

Best bet, stick to your guns or even drop your offer slightly!

[greenalien]

Tell them that your offer is valid for 2 weeks and after that it will be withdrawn. If they're serious, they'll deal.

[Kumagoro]

Well Estate agents aren't often despised for no reason..

Problem is what kind of system could you have in place to stop them being the dodgy
sales people they generally are.

[j1979]

thanks for your input guys,

i came to the conclusion i was being taken for a mug, so i asked my dear old mum to call the estate agent as another potential buyer. the agent said they have only received one offer..

it makes me wonder if practises like this are as much to blame for the current "global depression" as the bankers. making houses vastly overvalued has led to stupid lending..

[BlackDwarf]

How much do you want the property?

Get back to them, tell them what scumbags they are and that you'll be taking your business, and money elsewhere. In the current financial climate, hit 'em where it hurts...

[j1979]

How much do you want the property?

Get back to them, tell them what scumbags they are and that you'll be taking your business, and money elsewhere. In the current financial climate, hit 'em where it hurts...

lol.. i do want it, but at the same time i know id prob be better off waiting!

it would feel good to do that tho.

[Rave]

Of course they're trying to play you mate. At the end of the day they're working for the seller, and they're supposed to try and get the best price possible for them. Don't take it personally.

Do let them know that you know what's going on and that you're not impressed though. No sensible estate agent can afford to lose a sale at the moment. They'll soon buck their ideas up.

I take it you did your homework before making your offer? Found how much the property previously sold for, and how much other similar ones have sold for over the last 5 years? At auction, stuff is going for 2002-2003 prices, so to offer more than that would IMO be foolhardy.

[Cus_de_Sparta65]

An obligation to be honest, esate agents?? just read some of the discriptions of the houses they are selling "Rustic" means old and decrepit "Airy" means no roof and "Quaint" means could'nt swing a cat in it. LOL They are among the biggest villains out.

[Saracen]

I'm sure there are honest estate agents. No really, there must be. Somewhere. Mustn't there?

Personally, though, I've yet to come across one, and I've dealt with some right cowboys. One rejected an offer from me, and I was a bit surprised a few days later to receive a call from the vendor ('cos, being a bit of a cynic, I'd left him my card ) to enquire if I was going to make an offer? The agent had rejected my offer without even bothering to inform the vendor it had been made. The vendor, incidentally, was not happy about it. Not at all.

I then dealt direct with the vendor, we agreed the price between us and then told the agent that the property was now sold. And that sale subsequently concluded and I moved in.

On another property, the agent rejected the offer. I'm sure (but can't prove) he was after an improved offer. I walked. A few days later .... phone call from agent, they've reconsidered and would like to accept offer. Too late, I told them. I've found something else ..... with another agent.

On another occasion, I had an offer accepted, and was proceeding down the purchase process when I got a call telling me the vendor had decided the price was too low, and he upped in several thousand. I declined, and withdrew. Several days later the agent tells me the vendor had reconsidered, and would go ahead at the original price. The hell he will. He tried to screw me once, and I am like hell giving him another shot at it - he might time it better next time, like after I'd incurred lots of survey and/or legal costs. I don't have proof, but I suspect that that was the agent playing games, and not actually the vendor. Either way, I told the agent in anatomically precise and eye-watering detail precisely where his vendor could stick their re-acceptance of the offer, because I wouldn't touch them with a red hot bargepole ..... not if it was the last available house on the planet.

Another agent wanted to make acceptance of the offer conditional on me using both a solicitor and mortgage broker recommended by them. Well, the finance was already sorted and in place, and the solicitor was a family friend that had been doing our conveyancing for three generations. And, on principle, no way on earth am I using a solicitor recommended by, and no doubt having an active relationship with, the agent for the other party. Never mind that I had it sorted already, or that my solicitor was a long-term friend ..... I wouldn't do that because I want at least a chance that my lawyer's looking out for my interests, not for his next commission from his estate agent buddy. I'd find an independent lawyer merely on principle and common sense.

I could go on with stories like this all night, but suffice it to say, my attitude about estate agents is cynical in the extreme. And maybe there's some honest ones, but all I will say is that my cynicism is a realism, borne of personal experience.

[Saracen]

An obligation to be honest, esate agents?? just read some of the discriptions of the houses they are selling "Rustic" means old and decrepit "Airy" means no roof and "Quaint" means could'nt swing a cat in it. LOL They are among the biggest villains out.

That sort of thing has now been clamped down on a fair bit. The old "DIY opportunity" meaning "be careful you don't sneeze, it'll fall down" has (or should have) vanished from agency details. They're much more accountable for descriptions than they used to be, and can be liable for what they say, so most now stick to pretty vanilla facts, measurements, etc. But that doesn't necessarily stop them playing silly beggars with phantom offers, or from buying a particularly juicy morsel of a property themselves, with even the vendor perhaps not realising there's a reason he got one very quick offer on a low valuation, and no more.

[Whiternoise]

My advice would be to go direct to the vendor if you can, let them know the score, that you'd like to give them an offer. If you find a way to cut out the middle man, so much the better.

Have a look at this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tips-Tricks-...?tag=miro04-21

[Saracen]

You'll probably be unable to cut the middle man out in terms of him getting his fee from the vendor. But as the buyer, you don't care. You certainly can, if the vendor will go along with it and not all will, bypass any agent's antics by keeping in direct touch with the vendor, even if it's nothing more than keeping him/her in the loop. Agents tend not to like it when you do that though. I wonder why?

[SammEl]

Saracen, very biased post IMO, I am guessing you haven't sold many properties? (Neither have I personally, but my parents have sold many and bought many, therefore I know how they think).

When you sell, you want the most money possible, and you don't care about the buyer at all, the more money the better, you're not making friends with them, they are your money bags. We sell a house at £350,000 and someone offers £345,000, sod off, I want my £350,000 and that's the end of it, you want the house? Add an extra £5000 and it's yours, after all, you're spending £350,000 already. If the buyer refuses to add the money and you know they aren't coming back, then you'll say "I'll reconsider your offer and we can work something out between us". If they say no, then that's their loss not the sellers tbh, there will always be buyers, and if someone wants to wait an extra week for £5000 more, then so be it. The buyer will be unhappy, but the seller doesn't care at all.

Now if you are buying, you want to bargain of the year, you find your dream home but you would like it £50,000 cheaper, so you'll put in a offer and hope for the best. How do you think the seller thinks of this? He thinks your is taking the absolute piss, but the buyer just wants to see how much he can get off of the price. If you negotiate you might get £30,000 off, maybe £20,000, but at the end of the day, a saving is a saving. You're laughing if you are the buyer, and the seller is cheesed off.

It's just haggling.

Now regarding this situation, I have spoken to the parents about it and you can't do anything at all, but when you put an offer in you should get a letter back to state you have done so, and you can use this if something goes wrong regarding anything to do with the offer etc.