Selling my house - offers from unappointed agent

[Mark V GTD]

No idea how this will pan out.

I m minded to sell my home. I invited a local agent to view and they provided me with a suggested sale price that was just about acceptable and advised their fees should I proceed.

I then had to travel on business for a few weeks and started to get emails from the agent advising they have this client and that client (both having sale agreed themselves) as potential buyers. One was indicated to be a buyer at £3k less than my minimum sale price and would I like them to come and view my place.

Now my question is that at this stage I have not engaged the EA and am actually considering using a new build home developers assisted service (developer pays the EA s fee). On the other hand if this agent has potential buyers then maybe better to go the traditional route. But how does it work if I have not appointed them? I m surprised they are prepared to introduce potential buyers without being engaged. How do they think they will get paid?

[OscarIndia]

I would expect that as soon as you sign up with the agent these buyers will mysteriously disappear.....

[Mark V GTD]

Haha yes. The odd thing is they have not invited me to appoint them (would have thought they would use the potential buyers to encourage me to appoint them). Just messages along the lines we have this potential buyer - can we bring them to view? They are kind of proceeding as if they are appointed !

Edited by Mark V GTD on Wednesday 6th August 12:01

[southendpier]

"we have a list of clients desperate for exactly the [insertpropertytype] you have"

[Mark V GTD]

It’s more specific than that. Can we bring this couple in on Friday who wants to offer £3k less than you are hoping to get? I politely declined of course.

[Huzzah]

The last 2 x house sales, the agent has had someone waiting.

Both were asking price, no hassle sales.

[Sheepshanks]

Mark V GTD said:

It s more specific than that. Can we bring this couple in on Friday who wants to offer £3k less than you are hoping to get?

If it's just to get you to sign up then it does seem an odd tactic to say they're going to offer less. Especially £3K - seems bizzare.


Friends of ours signed up with an agent. He went out to his car, made a call then knocked on the door and asked if someone could come that day. They did and they bought it. Just a standard house on an estate, nothing unusual.

[Mark V GTD]

I always presume if you have a sensibly priced three bedroom house in normal times they must have folk ready to view. From the EA’s perspective isn’t it the trick that you sign up the seller first though (you don’t earn a thing from buyers).

[Mark V GTD]

Sheepshanks said:

Mark V GTD said:

It s more specific than that. Can we bring this couple in on Friday who wants to offer £3k less than you are hoping to get?

If it's just to get you to sign up then it does seem an odd tactic to say they're going to offer less. Especially £3K - seems bizzare.


Friends of ours signed up with an agent. He went out to his car, made a call then knocked on the door and asked if someone could come that day. They did and they bought it. Just a standard house on an estate, nothing unusual.

yeah it’s a bit hard to fathom. I will be interested to see what they say next.

[Sheepshanks]

Mark V GTD said:

I always presume if you have a sensibly priced three bedroom house in normal times they must have folk ready to view. From the EA s perspective isn t it the trick that you sign up the seller first though (you don t earn a thing from buyers).

I can't image they'll actually bring them without you signing up first. Maybe they haven't told you that yet, but that's what will happen (unless they seriously mess up).

ETA: It could be that simply agreeing to the viewing could be construed as entering into a contract.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Wednesday 6th August 12:40

[Mark V GTD]

They do seem to have forgotten that bit. I’m certainly not inclined to sign up for them to wheel in buyers offering below that the price they just told me they could definitely sell it for. Seems like a strange tactic.

[Mandat]

Mark V GTD said:

They do seem to have forgotten that bit. I m certainly not inclined to sign up for them to wheel in buyers offering below that the price they just told me they could definitely sell it for. Seems like a strange tactic.

Aren't agents obliged to pass on all offers, even if below asking price?

[AC43]

They can't really lose if they have evidence that they made the intro to this particular party.

[Little Lofty]

Similar happened to me a few houses ago. One of the agents I had around to value the house thought I was going to instruct them ( I wasn t) and told one of their clients my house was coming up for sale, she knocked on my door and offered full asking price, I didn't have to instruct any agent so it saved me a few bob Agents will have a few buyers on their books that match your property, that doesn't mean they will love and buy it though. From experience you get way more interest when it hits Rightmove than you do from buyers on the books, a lot of those have viewed a hundred houses and are looking for something that doesn’t exist in their price bracket.

[Mark V GTD]

That’s a very helpful post. Thanks for that. I have not received any appointment papers or signed anything at this point.

Appreciate all the input so far :-)

[Inbox]

I would be cautious as agreeing to have a viewing could be considered as forming a contract with the agent.

If anything the approach feels a bit underhand, if they said we have a couple of prospects but you need to sign up with us first that is clear where the contract is agreed.

[Herbs]

Go in with eyes wide open but it actually sounds like a decent agent who is trying to progress one of his chains and thinks your property will help with that. So long as you confirm before hand that there is no obligation to sign up and what the commission would be for this customer only then it could be win-win with nothing to lose.

[LooneyTunes]

Inbox said:

I would be cautious as agreeing to have a viewing could be considered as forming a contract with the agent.

This.

Also consider the fact that this ready and waiting buyer may be one of several that you miss out on if the property never actually goes on the advertised open market.

Their standard fee will also include costs associated with drawing up plans, advertising, filtering out timewasters etc... so if the agent already has a buyer lined up, ask them what their fee would be for such an off-market transaction. If that doesn't result in a discount that lets you recoup most/all of the £3k difference then having it advertised seems like the way to go.

[JQ]

Huzzah said:

The last 2 x house sales, the agent has had someone waiting.

Both were asking price, no hassle sales.

It's how I bought the house I'm currently sitting in. The agent knew our very particular requirements and was approached by a vendor to pitch to sell their house, which was exactly what we wanted. Agent told us about the appointment and asked us to do a drive-by which we did and confirmed we liked it.

Agent went to the pitch and told the vendor he had a buyer lined up, we did a viewing that evening, and agreed a price with the vendor on a handshake that night. House never went on Rightmove, agent never drafted a brochure, there were no other viewings and the sale went through with a happy buyer and a happy seller.

Whilst there are no doubt some sharks out there who make up interest, there are good agents about and they do good work.

[Mr Pointy]

Sheepshanks said:

ETA: It could be that simply agreeing to the viewing could be construed as entering into a contract.

And what would the terms of this contract be?