Estate agent and Vendor trying it on....

[surveyor]

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

[blade7]

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

[surveyor]

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

To those not clued up it could well be. I see nothing wrong or funny with the footer - in fact I think they are to be commended for it being there. Some would not make the effort.

[CoolHands]

I'd tell them your upping your offer and string them along, while looking for another property. Eventually they'll work out after a few weeks you've been pissing them about.

[blade7]

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

To those not clued up it could well be. I see nothing wrong or funny with the footer - in fact I think they are to be commended for it being there. Some would not make the effort.

I have no issue with the warning. It's the implication that being an Estate Agent somehow implies integrity.

[surveyor]

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

To those not clued up it could well be. I see nothing wrong or funny with the footer - in fact I think they are to be commended for it being there. Some would not make the effort.

I have no issue with the warning. It's the implication that being an Estate Agent somehow implies integrity.

Some do some don't. Come across both in my time.

[FrankAbagnale]

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

To those not clued up it could well be. I see nothing wrong or funny with the footer - in fact I think they are to be commended for it being there. Some would not make the effort.

I have no issue with the warning. It's the implication that being an Estate Agent somehow implies integrity.

Some do some don't. Come across both in my time.

A product of their environment in a lot of cases. Doing the sellers dirty work when they raise the price after offer acceptance and re-negotiating the sale on the day of exchange when the buyer lowers their offer. Of course, some buyers and sellers do have integrity. Come across both in my time.

[TA14]

FrankAbagnale said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

surveyor said:

blade7 said:

I like the note on the bottom of the EA's letter "It has come to our attention fraudsters have been posing as Estate Agents" .

It's actually a real issue - and even bigger that some people are sending phishing emails as solicitors trying to divert funds before they reach the clients account.

Not the same thing though is it.

To those not clued up it could well be. I see nothing wrong or funny with the footer - in fact I think they are to be commended for it being there. Some would not make the effort.

I have no issue with the warning. It's the implication that being an Estate Agent somehow implies integrity.

Some do some don't. Come across both in my time.

A product of their environment in a lot of cases. Doing the sellers dirty work when they raise the price after offer acceptance and re-negotiating the sale on the day of exchange when the buyer lowers their offer. Of course, some buyers and sellers do have integrity. Come across both in my time.

Quite an appropriate user name to comment on this subject

[Murph7355]

blade7 said:

I have no issue with the warning. It's the implication that being an Estate Agent somehow implies integrity.

That's not what the full footnote is saying though...

I'm the last to defend estate agents, but what they've actually written is fair enough and useful info for those not versed in house dealings

OP - I'd tell them the offer remains as it was and start looking for another property.

[Hoofy]

thebraketester said:

edit... they have offered 305 now as a take it or leave it offer.

They're trying to pull a fast one if they're willing to drop so quickly. They have no other options on the table (apart from put it back on the market).

I'd be pretty pissed off and not so keen on the property. I'd offer the difference under the amount in the letter.

Make sure everything is covered in the contract or you may find the kitchen has been removed as well as all the lightbulbs.

[Andehh]

TheLordJohn said:

Personally, even before the £305k counter offer, as soon as they tried getting more out of me after accepting an offer, i'd have revised my offer to £290k and started looking for another house.

SIL is in a massively strong position, so I would be tempted to do this. Unless the house is totally & utterly perfect, more WILL come up. If she is dicking round, she is highly likely to do it further down the line!

We went through it all a few years ago....

We offered on a house at 5% under asking, then at asking, then at 5% over asking (!) and were accepted. 2 weeks later she asked for £10k more. We refused and wouldn't budge, estate agent went into over drive to try and convince her/us otherwise but failed to do so.

A long ''heart to heart'' chat with Estate Agent after it had all clearly fallen apart brought up she had accepted an offer at +5% a few months prior, then pulled out mid way through the process wanting more money and dicked the buyers round. Struggled to sell, so dropped it back to original asking price which is when we came along. He said he was removing her from their books as he had his doubts about her originally & wasn't going to waste any more time on her.

Few weeks later a house opposite hers(!) came up, and 4 weeks from viewing we had the keys in our hand to it. A week after we completed I got an email from original women saying she was considering accepting our offer! Much glee was had telling her we were completing on another house.

2 months after we moved in I got a snidey email from her pointing out we had bought the smaller house opposite (she had an extra study & ensuite compared to ours, but hers was over 3 small floors vs our 2 large floors).

3 years later her house is still on the market, with a third set of estate agent (all online only ones) and for +25% more money. She is well known in the Neighbourhood - not for any good reasons.


edit: just checked and the house is still for sale, and she has increased the price by another 2%! Not sure she understands how this buying & selling houses thing works...

Edited by Andehh on Monday 16th January 10:34

[Jasandjules]

Your sister is a FTB?

Personally I would ask the EA to continue providing suitable properties for her to view then. And I'd instruct the solicitor to hold off doing any work for two weeks just in case.

I don't like the games people selling houses play - last time I put in offers on two houses and informed both that whoever accepted first would be bought. Within a day one had accepted. About 3 days later the second one came back with a counter offer, only to be told I had already bought the other one.. The EA actually said something like "oh you weren't just saying you had put offers in to another house then"...... Uh, no.....

I have also had someone come back (once the sale was agreed and their house removed from market) wanting more. I told the EA the offer is now withdrawn and we bought a different house (took a few months to find one) - to me if they are going to mess you about at the start, who knows what other "games" they will play. I am not interested in that kind of hassle nor do I wish to do business with a person whom you can't trust.

[Efbe]

Jasandjules said:

Your sister is a FTB?

Personally I would ask the EA to continue providing suitable properties for her to view then. And I'd instruct the solicitor to hold off doing any work for two weeks just in case.

I don't like the games people selling houses play - last time I put in offers on two houses and informed both that whoever accepted first would be bought. Within a day one had accepted. About 3 days later the second one came back with a counter offer, only to be told I had already bought the other one.. The EA actually said something like "oh you weren't just saying you had put offers in to another house then"...... Uh, no.....

I have also had someone come back (once the sale was agreed and their house removed from market) wanting more. I told the EA the offer is now withdrawn and we bought a different house (took a few months to find one) - to me if they are going to mess you about at the start, who knows what other "games" they will play. I am not interested in that kind of hassle nor do I wish to do business with a person whom you can't trust.

This is what I would do.

A house is not just a financial transaction either, no matter how much you want it to be. Once you have moved in, you will think about the decision/cost of it in future. The idea of always looking back at it and knowing you were ripped off will stop you from falling in love with it quite as much

[superlightr]

Jasandjules said:

Your sister is a FTB?

Personally I would ask the EA to continue providing suitable properties for her to view then. And I'd instruct the solicitor to hold off doing any work for two weeks just in case.

I don't like the games people selling houses play - last time I put in offers on two houses and informed both that whoever accepted first would be bought. Within a day one had accepted. About 3 days later the second one came back with a counter offer, only to be told I had already bought the other one.. The EA actually said something like "oh you weren't just saying you had put offers in to another house then"...... Uh, no.....

I have also had someone come back (once the sale was agreed and their house removed from market) wanting more. I told the EA the offer is now withdrawn and we bought a different house (took a few months to find one) - to me if they are going to mess you about at the start, who knows what other "games" they will play. I am not interested in that kind of hassle nor do I wish to do business with a person whom you can't trust.

completely correct. We are lucky by having good contacts with most of the local EA's (real ones) as we deal with them via our normal work anyway and have a good relationship with most over many year with the owners/managers.

So like you when we have made an offer or said something as a condition we don't mess them or the vendor around, we don't make stupid offers, and don't put offers in when we don't want to go-ahead and equally we don't expect to be messed around ourselves. A solid understanding of no messing does work well.

As others have said I would walked after having your offer accepted and then the vendors wanting more. There are always other properties.

[brrapp]

A good few years ago, we were on the other end of the stick. We'd had 3 offers for our house, accepted the highest, only to have them come back to us on the day of completion wanting to drop their offer by £5000 or they'd walk away. A quick call to the second highest bidder and we'd agreed on £2000 lower than the initial higher bid.
The first buyer did come back to us offering to raise their offer back up again, but it was worth the £2000 loss to tell them where to stick it.

[Silverage]

We had a case of "gazundering" when we were selling a good few years ago now.

Our buyer came along with an offer a couple of grand below asking ( was a buyer's market at the time), which we accepted. Buyer then proceeded to string things out for weeks rather than exchange contracts. We were cracking on with the purchase of a new build at the time. After much chasing, buyer finally comes back wanting another 4 or 5 grand off. I wanted to tell him where to stick his offer, but my wife was set on the move to the new house. Fortunately, the same buyer's market helped us out as we went to the builder of the new house, told him what had happened, and he reduced the price we were paying for his house by the same 4 or 5 grand.

I'm surprised that we still have non-binding offers like this in the English property market.

[Hitch]

That's gazundering isn't it? If I was the OPs sister in law I'd progress so that everything gets nice and cozy with their onward purchase and then offer them her original offer late in the day as a take it or leave it. What goes around...