Estate agents - buying a house

O

oli445

Senior member
I have just been to view a house and I am left a little dismayed by what happened.

Appointment was 12pm, I turned up at 11.50. Believing the property was not occupied, with a vectra' parked out front and windows opened I knocked on the door to be met by the vendors. They showed us round in 10 mins before the estate agent arrived. When the attractive (southern) blonde estate agent offered to show us around again, my Mrs wanted to.

All good until the doorbell rang when we were upstairs and the agent said "that will be the other viewers".

When we went downstairs, the other viewer was an acquaintance of mine, we said hello etc and me and my Mrs left.

At this point I was not happy that the estate agents had double booked us for a house that had been on the market since April.

Upon further thinking, why was this chap I know viewing the property on his own? I made some local enquiries and he has a blonde, attractive, southern Mrs.

Q - is it usual to double book viewings for a house that has been on the market for 5 months???


I am going to make further investigations as to the coincidence side of thingd
 
Estate agents mate. . . . . . .They can and will use any trick in the book.

Sounds like it has backfired on this occasion for them. :D
 
They are a miniscule amount above solicitors in the social pecking order of slimy dishonest bumholes.

I have never heard of a double booking for a house,and i have never viewed a house with any other vendors. If that happened i would feel a bit offended,but to find out it was probably rigged would get my back right up..

Are you in a position to just plainly ask your acquaintance if it was his girlfriend ?
 
Its a common practice, get potential buyers in at the same time, then everyone thinks they have to act quickly to beat 'the competition'. Nothing spurs people on more than thinking someone else might steal it from under them.
 
Z4M-2006 said:
They are a miniscule amount above solicitors in the social pecking order of slimy dishonest bumholes.

I have never heard of a double booking for a house,and i have never viewed a house with any other vendors. If that happened i would feel a bit offended,but to find out it was probably rigged would get my back right up..

Are you in a position to just plainly ask your acquaintance if it was his girlfriend ?
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I don't need to, I'll just find out in the next 30mins and go from there. If it is as I think, I will go and offer the vendors directly
 
And there was me thinking that this was going to be a post on the honesty, integrity and professionalism of an estate agent. What a surprise when I read it :o :o
 
I am currently looking at a new home too... And one viewing we had had 2 other people turn up!!

Its their technique to make a house seem to have more interest... And more convenient for the homeowners.

Our house is on the market and they have suggested this to us too!


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Makes no odds to me about what the estate agents say or do at the end of the day its whether or not the house is right for you.

If you've done your research and know its been on the market for 5 months and hasnt shifted then its unlikely they will double book an appointment but at the same time it is a Saturday and appointments can be hard to get for working people during the week.

I saw 2 houses where the agents had booked multiple viewings, the first on a reduced house which the 2nd viewing was booked 15-20 mins after ours (viewer may have been early). I bid 30k under the reduced asking price on this property and was told that there were at least 2 other buyers bidding at the asking price. I raised my offer to the asking price but being the first person wasnt enough. Kept raising my bid by 1k at at time till I got 5k over the asking price at which point I was thinking the agent was just messing with me. Gave up and moved on. According to Zoopla it sold for the asking price. Either the agent wasnt telling the seller I was bidding more or was trying to get me to up my bid for their benefit.

The next experience came on a house I was looking at on the same terrace as a house I purchased. I was actually only looking to see what the interior layout and build was like in comparison to my own. The property had not been on the market long and was relatively highly priced for what it was. When viewing the girl had just shown another couple around, showed us around and then had another viewing half way through our own. It didnt bother me as I wasnt looking to buy, but the property was sold very quickly and for the asking price. I presume due to demand and the fact it had all been done up.

As above estate agents seem to me as slimey conniving thieves. Unfortunately they must be dealt with if you want to buy a property but make your own decisions and stick to them, dont let their behaviour get to you in anyway shape or form :thumbsup:
 
Estate Agents work for the vendor and not the buyer, bad ones won't treat you with respect/ decency mainly as you're not their client

That said if I was a vendor and a buyer approached me directly I'd be very suspicious. Chances are, as the estate agents "introduced you to the property" the vendor will have to pay the agent the full fee even if you bypass them.

Personally, I've dealt with some shitty estate agents who I would only describe as c****, however, if the property is the right property make your offer regardless of the agents' games.
 
Edit: the 5 month thing could just be a coincidence. I went to view a house that had been on the market for a similar length of time. Agent told me over the phone that they had 3 viewings before us during the week, 1 of which were very interested and that I might want to try viewing earlier. I assumed they were merely bluffing so stuck to my weekend booking, not wanting to appear too keen with the intention of brokering a deal. However, I got a call Friday afternoon to say that it had sold.

I don't try to double guess agents now, or get clever with property. If you like it, offer what you think it's worth.
 
StevenH72 said:
That said if I was a vendor and a buyer approached me directly I'd be very suspicious. Chances are, as the estate agents "introduced you to the property" the vendor will have to pay the agent the full fee even if you bypass them.
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This is true my dad had a house for rent a few years ago in london, with the estate agent having a 10% fee.

A tenant my dad had previous rented too had returned (the turkish ambassador) and went straight to my dad to see if my dads house was free... Which co-incidentally it would have been.

When the estate agent found out they claimed they have claim to the fee even though they had introduced the client over 5 years earlier!


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If you do find that there has been something shifty going on then remember that estate agents have to declare if they have any connection with the buyer. I know this for 2 reasons, 1 our neighbour is an EA and he was helping his son buy a property and had to declare it (it was on his books) 2, when we had our house on the market earlier in the year, the buyer was an employee of the agent, this was all noted in the contracts. Not sure what difference it would have made as we pulled out, and also not sure who you would complain to but hope that helps.
 
What about the times when sellers or buyers pull out at the last minute or sellers decide that they no longer want to sell
Maybe after the estate agent has paid good money to advertise their properties, printed details and posted them off to lots of interested buyers, paid rent, telephone bills, electricity and staff and then got nothing because of a lost sale
Then you get people like Bluestreak who feels it's ok to waste a Estate Agents time by arranging to view a property in a road where he has already purchased just so he can look inside the property to see if it's the same lay out as his
It's not only the Estate Agents who are the Bad guys

By the way I'm not an Estate Agent but my daughter was for 22 years so have heard as many tales about dodgy clients as well as dodgy Estate Agents
 
Clearly not a waste of time if they had so many viewings and the place was sold in a week but I appreciate your angle. They did such a shoddy job I would never have considered their "service" part of my decision if I was a real punter anyway. Got to play the game to your advantage. They certainly arnt going to help you!
 
like someone else said, i wouldnt go into mind games or conspiracy theories. the property is either something you want or dont. you can either pay the price or negotiate on it and take your chances

i have bought 2 properties in the last 4 months and one of them i made an offer of the asking price on the spot and got a 5k discount due to the survey the second one was 2k below asking and then got another 2k off due to the results of the survey. personally if i see a property i want, i make an offer of what i am happy to pay and either i get it for that or dont. there will be always be something else that pops up within a few weeks that will fit the bill just as well

i have had a few misses where i felt that estate agents had messed me about but thats life and you just dont give them your business in the future. as for the estate agent not caring about you, they do as your purchase will be where their commission comes from and if you pull out because of them messing you around, they have missed out on a small lump of cash. in terms of viewings like someone else said, they try and do block viewings as they are busy and cant keep going out to the same property 5 times a day if they can get everyone in around the same time and likewise it is also hard to arrange 5 different dates, times with the sellers who could be working during the week etc. its all about making the best use of their time and resource
 
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