Use same Estate Agent to Buy / Sell?

[s1962a]

We're looking at another property in the same area that the mrs likes the look of, and a question I have is that if an offer is accepted using a specific estate agent, is it worth using them to sell your own house too?

My rationale for thinking yes is that they will be motivated to sell both properties and won't have another agent as a middleman to deal with. On the other hand, they might undervalue our property to push through a quicker sale in the chain.

What are your thoughts / experiences?

Cheers

[DocJock]

I wouldn't been entertaining offers from someone who hadn't sold, never mind didn't even have their house on the market.

[The Moose]

They will know exactly what the situation is all ways. Sometimes it's good to have some degree of separation...

[hornetrider]

Do you need to sell in order to buy? If so, then don't bother making any offers.

[s1962a]

hornetrider said:

Do you need to sell in order to buy? If so, then don't bother making any offers.

In this situation, i've made it clear to the seller our position and they seem to be ok waiting till we put our house on the market.

So no to using the same agent?

[jonah35]

Why use an agent?

Why not use house simple etc?

You can do viewings whenever, don't knock off at 5 or shut early on weekends, can deal direct with buyer, no risk of agent telling porkies, you get to negotiate directly and you get to show people round. Oh, if that's not enough you will save enough on fees for a nice holiday to the Bahamas.

[hornetrider]

s1962a said:

In this situation, i've made it clear to the seller our position and they seem to be ok waiting till we put our house on the market.

So no to using the same agent?

Given you are not in a position to proceed don't get attached to the house. If someone comes in who is they will simply sell it to them.

[alan-87]

We were in an identical position. Discussed it with the agent selling the property we had found and he was happy after seeing our place that he could sell it quickly. He spoke to the house we wanted to buy and negotiated that they take it off the market for two weeks provisonally accepting our offer. We then went on with the same agent and he did exactly what he said he would.

The way we saw it was keeping it all under one agent meant they had a rather big insentive to make sure the deals went through!

Should exchange and hopefully complete this week

[s1962a]

hornetrider said:

s1962a said:

In this situation, i've made it clear to the seller our position and they seem to be ok waiting till we put our house on the market.

So no to using the same agent?

Given you are not in a position to proceed don't get attached to the house. If someone comes in who is they will simply sell it to them.

I agree, and this is one of the reasons why we're ok with trying this out. Whilst we love the house, it's no biggie if it doesn't go through - it's more of a speculative future proofing upgrade rather than an imminent need. My thinking is that if it's kept in the same agent there is more of an incentive to keep it ticking along (as the other poster has said too).

I also did consider online agents - are they really that good as reviews suggest?

Ta

[s1962a]

alan-87 said:

We were in an identical position. Discussed it with the agent selling the property we had found and he was happy after seeing our place that he could sell it quickly. He spoke to the house we wanted to buy and negotiated that they take it off the market for two weeks provisonally accepting our offer. We then went on with the same agent and he did exactly what he said he would.

The way we saw it was keeping it all under one agent meant they had a rather big insentive to make sure the deals went through!

Should exchange and hopefully complete this week

Thanks for this! this is very similar to our position and we are thinking of doing similar. Although upfront costs of going with the same EA seem high compared to the online places, at least they'll try and keep the sale going as it affect 2 sets of commission.

[hornetrider]

s1962a said:

I agree, and this is one of the reasons why we're ok with trying this out. Whilst we love the house, it's no biggie if it doesn't go through - it's more of a speculative future proofing upgrade rather than an imminent need. My thinking is that if it's kept in the same agent there is more of an incentive to keep it ticking along (as the other poster has said too).

The thing is - if you haven't sold, to be blunt, they are not ticking along. You are not in a strong position to negotiate a price because you can't move. If your offer is accepted they won't take it off the market because you can't proceed. Ergo your offer is effectively worthless, made from a weak position. Hence you won't be able to negotiate a decent price.

Also consider that if you engage them they will be fully aware of your financial position, and they are acting for their client - the seller.

In my view, if you've decided you want it, make no offers at this stage. Stick your house on the market with a different agent and set your price depending on how much you want this place and how quickly you want a sale.

s1962a said:

I also did consider online agents - are they really that good as reviews suggest?

Ta

I used an online agent for our sale this summer - Hatched they are called. I did the viewings, they took the pics and put me on rightmove. We sold for more than most red brick agents were suggesting we list at, and I was happy to show people around pointing out the positives of the house, which all three agents didn't pick up on or tell me about when I invited them to value the place. It worked for us, anyway. Only cost £540inc VAT which was a saving of about 2.5k on normal fees.