Buying a house, why oh why are estate agents so difficult?
Discussion
I am new to house buying, I am a cash buyer, I may be a compulsive type of guy, but today I saw a house I liked in the paper, visited the estate agent, went for a viewing. Even took her in the "M" as we were in a hurry.
Saw the house inside and out, rang a good friend who is a mortgage valuer surveyor for his opinion on the asking price, thought for ten minutes and then said.
"Ok its worth the asking price to me, I'll Have it" and held my hand out in a deal making handshake kind of way.
The agent then sucked air through her teeth like a plumber, and replied that she will put it to her client but she is worried that she may have undervalued it and that she would rather go to a sealed bid auction.
WTF??? Is this common? I know its a lot of money but its for sale, I agree to buy it, now the full list price is not good enough?
How does that work?
Saw the house inside and out, rang a good friend who is a mortgage valuer surveyor for his opinion on the asking price, thought for ten minutes and then said.
"Ok its worth the asking price to me, I'll Have it" and held my hand out in a deal making handshake kind of way.
The agent then sucked air through her teeth like a plumber, and replied that she will put it to her client but she is worried that she may have undervalued it and that she would rather go to a sealed bid auction.
WTF??? Is this common? I know its a lot of money but its for sale, I agree to buy it, now the full list price is not good enough?
How does that work?
AUDIHenry said:
Sounds like she can smell a fool from a mile away. Hire an agent to represent you or you will get smoked.
/former estate broker in LA
But how does that work in her favour? I am not going to pay over the asking price and now dont want to deal with her. If the owner wasnt in a "home" I would go direct and tell her that the agent is a bulb! /former estate broker in LA
I bought a house for my mother not so long ago, I made my offer, which was 10% below the asking price and, like you, a cash deal, no mortgage) and the agent did the sucking of teeth routine etc. I said my offer would stand for 5 working days. The offer was rejected, I said thanks and cheerio..... guess what? At 5pm on the final day it was accepted.
Unless this house is the house of your dreams, walk away. You might be surprised at the end result.
I've just dug out my email to the agent of the house I mentioned:
"Our offer of £xxxx still stands and I would imagine we would make them a separate cash offer for the washing machine and wardrobes etc. Perhaps you might suggest this?
If they won't budge, please do continue to forward other properties of £xxxxk and below.
You have a couple that look quite interesting - The Links at £xxxxk, Beach Road at £xxxxk and I still like Estuary View at £xxxk - it looks a very pretty little place.
We are registered with a few agents and there seems a lot of choice in this range at the moment.
Our offer on this property expires on Friday.
Thanks and kind regards"
"Our offer of £xxxx still stands and I would imagine we would make them a separate cash offer for the washing machine and wardrobes etc. Perhaps you might suggest this?
If they won't budge, please do continue to forward other properties of £xxxxk and below.
You have a couple that look quite interesting - The Links at £xxxxk, Beach Road at £xxxxk and I still like Estuary View at £xxxk - it looks a very pretty little place.
We are registered with a few agents and there seems a lot of choice in this range at the moment.
Our offer on this property expires on Friday.
Thanks and kind regards"
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You can't be sure about that. Quite a lot of joint agencies will do commmission splits. The agent that secures the sale gets 60%, the joint agent 40.
We see it a fair bit, and it ties things up nicely for the local agents, as their oppo works on the "we're still getting paid, so no point in trying to find a better bid." basis
HBM, I think that you over offered. You didn't try to do a deal, so the agent can now sees you as a soft touch. By the sounds of things you are buying a place that needs work, they've become popular again, so she will be on the phone this morning rounding up any possibles interest in that place seeing if she can get better bids in. You've tried to be honest, which is a bit of a failing where buying a house is concerned.
humpbackmaniac said:
Thanks for all the advice guys.
They want to get more for their client. That's their job.People don't usually offer the asking price straight off. That worries them.
Put - in an email to them that the reason why you offered the asking price is that you are a cash buyer looking for a quick sale. You have other properties to look at but am happy to buy theirs.
You are not interested in a bidding war or a sealed bid situation, therefore to clarify your offer - you are offering the asking price on the proviso that you get confirmation that this is accepted in 48 hours, and it is taken off the market immediately.
Now, look back at the game theory. The agent is on 1% commission. They *thought* they might get an easy £5k or £10k more off you which gets them £50 or £100 more commission.
Now, you have changed the game. *Now* they have a definite sale in the palm of their hand for the full asking price, and they won't turn that away by messing you around as risk losing the whole deal.
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