Estate Agents

Parchment

Has anyone actually figured out how to get an open line of communication with an estate agent as a buyer?

I have had a house purchase fall through so sadly we are back searching. Found a house we like - put a bid in but cannot get a call back from the EA regarding it, he promises to call and then doesn't.

What gives? We really like the house, that's the only reason we are hanging on but we haven't made it obvious that we are that into the house but we did show our approval for mortgage, so he knows we are genuine.

I feel like giving up on buying a house at this point.

Tederick

Hello
I have had the same issue, saw a house liked it put in a bid, house on the market for 6 months reduced the price have had no offers on it

Bid 10% below price vendor said no, all of a sudden another bidder appeared and they were in chain I am a cash buyer. This buyer out bid me by 1500. I was worried about a crack in a wall and this new buyer was getting an engineer in before agreed a price. EA rang with all this and tried to get me to increase my offer by10000 said I would think about it. Put in another bid and he said he would present to. Vendor this was Thursday morning. Suddenly on Friday second bidder had completed engineer report scheduled for that morning had increase my bid By 5000. Didn't do anything and the. EA rang again on Monday to see if I would increase my offer, said I didn't know would get back to them on Tuesday. Put in bid on the Wednesday night matching the other bidder gave them until Monday lunchtime to see if they would accept, stated it was my final offer as this is my walk away price for property. Monday evening no reply from estate agent they have not acknowledged offer and not returned. Think that is it?

athtrasna

Mod note

Welcome to boards Tederick. Please note that posting the same comment in multiple locations is considered spam and is against forum rules. Accordingly I have deleted your post on the other estate agent thread

Tederick

Ok didn't know that

Kings Inns or bust

Parchment wrote: »

Has anyone actually figured out how to get an open line of communication with an estate agent as a buyer?

I have had a house purchase fall through so sadly we are back searching. Found a house we like - put a bid in but cannot get a call back from the EA regarding it, he promises to call and then doesn't.

What gives? We really like the house, that's the only reason we are hanging on but we haven't made it obvious that we are that into the house but we did show our approval for mortgage, so he knows we are genuine.

I feel like giving up on buying a house at this point.

Doorstep the vendors or pop a note though saying that you're interested at buying at X price but can't get a call back from the EA. You will probably find the vendors are progressing with a party they are happy with and the EA is just trying to keep you as a back up.

As a general point, don't commit to a single house; not even booking deposits are binding. You've learnt this the hard way. Go in on various properties and when one starts playing up say ta ta.

Parchment

Kings Inns or bust wrote: »

Doorstep the vendors or pop a note though saying that you're interested at buying at X price but can't get a call back from the EA. You will probably find the vendors are progressing with a party they are happy with and the EA is just trying to keep you as a back up.

As a general point, don't commit to a single house; not even booking deposits are binding. You've learnt this the hard way. Go in on various properties and when one starts playing up say ta ta.

I had actually considered doing this - but i didnt want to over step the mark. I think its a good pro-active approach though.

We have presented our mortgage approval and informed the estate agent that we are motivated buyers (we ideally need to move in the next few months). The EA has barely contacted us back so i dont see how he could have ruled us out at this point. the house has been on the market for for about two months now which is long-ish for the location.

I get what you are saying about not getting fixated on one property. We havent but this is a great house in a location that would be a great fit, its hard not to "want" it!

Has anyone had positive negative experiences with dropping a note in the sellers door?

SarahMollie

Estate Agents are just people. Some of them are really good and some are unreliable.

Maybe send him an email asking for an update, and that way theres a record that you've tried to contact him and it'll be harder to brush you off.

Henry Ford III

Parchment wrote: »

I had actually considered doing this - but i didnt want to over step the mark. I think its a good pro-active approach though....

If the EA isn't communicating (for whatever reason) it's the only way to progress.

Kings Inns or bust

Parchment wrote: »

I had actually considered doing this - but i didnt want to over step the mark. I think its a good pro-active approach though.

We have presented our mortgage approval and informed the estate agent that we are motivated buyers (we ideally need to move in the next few months). The EA has barely contacted us back so i dont see how he could have ruled us out at this point. the house has been on the market for for about two months now which is long-ish for the location.

I get what you are saying about not getting fixated on one property. We havent but this is a great house in a location that would be a great fit, its hard not to "want" it!

Has anyone had positive negative experiences with dropping a note in the sellers door?

He may have ruled you out because he's already at the advanced stages with another party. While I do believe some bid gouging goes on the reverse also happens: An EA has another buyer on the hook and ignores or fobbs off other buyers who come in later.

It happened to me. I was interested in a property down the road from where I eventually bought. I was quite frank with the EA and he with me. For various reasons he ended up fobbing me off a bit but also tipping his hand he had a buyer at around 360K - 364K as it turned out. I would have been prepared to go to 370-375 on that property. Is it worth it for an EA for 11K?

SarahS2013

I'm not saying this is the case here but....
My Mum sold the family home about 3 years ago. Had it advertised with a certian EA who obviously wasn't doing their job correctly as my Mum was out doing the garden one Saturday afternoon and was approached by a young couple who live in the area. They asked is the house sale agreed because they'd been trying to set up a viewing for weeks and weren't getting any joy with the EA. Mum then got a friend to call the EA to try and set up a viewing but after several attempts, no calls would be returned.
Mum swiftly sacked the EA and that young couple are now living in the house

Parchment

SarahS2013 wrote: »

I'm not saying this is the case here but....
My Mum sold the family home about 3 years ago. Had it advertised with a certian EA who obviously wasn't doing their job correctly as my Mum was out doing the garden one Saturday afternoon and was approached by a young couple who live in the area. They asked is the house sale agreed because they'd been trying to set up a viewing for weeks and weren't getting any joy with the EA. Mum then got a friend to call the EA to try and set up a viewing but after several attempts, no calls would be returned.
Mum swiftly sacked the EA and that young couple are now living in the house

Ha! thats such a great story. Im delighted it worked out for them all.

The killer with this house is that is is still 7k under asking price with us being the highest bidder - according to the EA. I think putting the note in the door is the best bet.

Parchment

SarahMollie wrote: »

Estate Agents are just people. Some of them are really good and some are unreliable.

Maybe send him an email asking for an update, and that way theres a record that you've tried to contact him and it'll be harder to brush you off.

We have been looking on the market for 1.5 years now and have placed many bids on various houses and throughout the entire time i only dealt with one decent and reliable EA (who actually was the only female EA we dealt with).

I dont think its down to personalities. If i left patients waiting in my line of work i would be fired. I think its an attitude EA's have - they seem to have some kind of superiority complex.

Muckler

I currently have a property listed for sale with an estate agent. My agent more often than not raises issues with me I perceive as levers to get me to lower my valuation. Am I entitled to know from my estate agent the identity of who viewed and/or bid on my property? as all I get back are vague answers like 'a builder/developer', 'a couple from Cork' etc.

niamh92

We are having something of a similar issue. We are first time buyers and approved. we have seen a house that we love and put in a bid straight away after an open viewing. We heard nothing from the EA and the following weekend rang to arrange a second viewing. at this point we were told that there was another bid in on the house but that our offer was the highest. The EA said that he would convey our offer to the vendor and then we heard no more from him. we rang last week to ask if there was any news to be told that the vendor was interested but would like a little more, as we are still quite a bit under the asking. we have agreed on an amount that we wont go higher than and unfortunatly I think today we are going to have to walk away from this house. but my issue is, we have been the only interested party and it seems we have been bidding against ourselves as we upped our bid by €10,000, yet we have been the ones to be ringing and hounding the EA to try and find out what is going on!

Muckler

niamh92 wrote: »

We are having something of a similar issue. We are first time buyers and approved. we have seen a house that we love and put in a bid straight away after an open viewing. We heard nothing from the EA and the following weekend rang to arrange a second viewing. at this point we were told that there was another bid in on the house but that our offer was the highest. The EA said that he would convey our offer to the vendor and then we heard no more from him. we rang last week to ask if there was any news to be told that the vendor was interested but would like a little more, as we are still quite a bit under the asking. we have agreed on an amount that we wont go higher than and unfortunatly I think today we are going to have to walk away from this house. but my issue is, we have been the only interested party and it seems we have been bidding against ourselves as we upped our bid by €10,000, yet we have been the ones to be ringing and hounding the EA to try and find out what is going on!

This industry seems to be very open to skulduggery. I'm the opposite side of the fence to you and I can get very little only vague answers at best. My worry is that certain interested parties have been discouraged in favour of others. If you have a ceiling before viewing you should not exceed it, within reason. This game isn't fully on the level.

Parchment

Parchment wrote: »

The killer with this house is that is is still 7k under asking price with us being the highest bidder - according to the EA.

This may be the problem. Vendors generally take some time before they are ready to accept an offer that much below the asking. Probably they had expectations of 'asking plus x' or asking at least. The EA can only get them to accept your offer when they become resigned that nothing better will materialise.
No excuse for not being available to speak to you though.

Parchment

Deleted User wrote: »

This may be the problem. Vendors generally take some time before they are ready to accept an offer that much below the asking. Probably they had expectations of 'asking plus x' or asking at least. The EA can only get them to accept your offer when they become resigned that nothing better will materialise.
No excuse for not being available to speak to you though.

Its now 4 months since the house went on the market - its now 3k under asking. We no longer make calls about it to the EA but he sporadically rings us to tell us that nothing has changed. i think all interest has died down in the house as the owners are so lacking in motivation!

Parchment

Parchment wrote: »

Its now 4 months since the house went on the market - its now 3k under asking. We no longer make calls about it to the EA but he sporadically rings us to tell us that nothing has changed. i think all interest has died down in the house as the owners are so lacking in motivation!

Houses go 'stale' after being about three months on the market.

Parchment

Deleted User wrote: »

Houses go 'stale' after being about three months on the market.

Totally - the sellers were silly to market it when unwilling to move on a sale.