No more house viewings after 1 week

T

trading_up

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I have my house up for sale with an estate agent and had the first viewing on our house last week. In total there were two viewings. This morning, my mortgage broker called me to say that a client of his called to arrange a viewing and was told that there are no more viewings and that the property is in the final stages of negotiation. I haven't heard anything from the estate agent to this effect and was genuinely surprised. I got a colleague to call and same story. The offers so far have been good, but I am just a bit suspect at the thought that there are no more viewings and when somebody calls to enquire they are told that there are no more viewings and that the current offers cant be revealed! What would you think/do?
 
You know, I'd ring the EA and tell him that you were contacted and what they were doing! In my quest to find a house I've encountered two situations where I rang the EA repeated times to get a viewing and was always told it's not ready yet, etc. etc. only to see a few weeks later that it was sale agreed. I often thought to myself I should drop in on the owners of the house and point out to them that their EA is not acting in their best interest. You're paying that person a good bit of money, so I wouldn't put up with it.
 
We are in the saem position, well I think we are anyway as it seems impossible to get a direct answer from our EA.
We had asked him how long he reckoned it would take to sell it as we are completing a new build and wondered when to put the house on the market so as to sell in time to move, but not so soon as to have to rent.
He originally told us he had someone who wanted the house and what did we want for it.
Told him , came back and told us to get the house ready for viewing and his client would be up to see it.
This we did, then he came back to say he wasn't interested in viewing so he would put the house in the paper and we have had one viewing since......
Got the same story when we enquired, this person is going to buy it, getting her finances in order.
Why not let as many people as want to see it look at it and then ge the best price.
Going to change EA if we feel like he is playing us a merry dance.
What could be in it for an EA to not show a house......
 
I was always wondering about that myself. Maybe they're in with some investors and get money from them or they're doing a friend a favour... Most of EAs are also always asking if you're a FTB and if you're loan approved.
All the houses I've been looking at so far came on the market and were sold within 3-4 weeks. And the majority had 3 viewings on average. I know that because I always ask and try to go to the 2nd viewing as you get a better idea of where the price is going..

And by the way, I don't look in the papers at all, I look at myhome.ie and daft.ie as all the major estate agents advertise there, I wouldn't rely on having my house advertised in the paper alone!
 
I would think that your EA is either looking after a friend or is lazy. They could be letting you panick and accept a lower offer to what you originally had it valued at or just couldn't be bothered doing viewings - too much like hard work! Either way I would pull the house from them - NOW!
 
totally agree with Lorz - there may be a non-dodgy explanation for the EA's actions (though I'd be very skeptical), but either way I don't think the EA could argue that the have acted in the best interests of getting your house sold at the top price the market is willing to pay for it.

Why would you want to pay this person a few grand when they are either scamming you or are incompetent? I'd ring them and tell them they're fired and clearly outline with the next EA you want at least two viewings and status reports twice a week.
 
Bamhan said:
What could be in it for an EA to not show a house......
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Usually they are keeping it for a client. This happended to us before. A guy knocked on our door and asked us if we had considered his offer yet but the EA hadn't passed on any offer. Turned out he was "saving" the house for a client that where he was also selling her house.
 
Had considered pulling it from them all right. Only problem is, they have brought in some very good offers in excess of the asking.
 
Whatever you do, before making a decision, get onto the Estate Agent and find out what they're playing at. There's no way they should be claiming that the house is in 'the final stage of negotiation' and that there are no more viewings, unless you've instructed them to do so. It certainly sounds like they're holding it for someone.

What you could always do is ring the EA yourself (without saying who you are), ask if the house is viewing, and if they say it isn't, ask to speak to the actual agent responsible, revealling your identity at that point. He/She would want to have a very good excuse.

On the issue of the offers, I wouldn't be too worried about losing out. If the house is getting well in excess of asking after a couple of viewings, it's because the house is worth well in excess, not because the EA is some sort of sales genius. Did you get a couple of different firms to value it before you plumped for the one you're with now?
 
Called the EA and the conversation went along of the lines of: "When is the next viewing of x"; "There's none ... it's in the final stages"; "and what are the latest offers?"; "can't tell you that"; "well, x, I'm the vendor and I don't know anything about the final stages of negotiation"; "Oh, oh, mmmm, well, can you call the agent dealing with your house?"; "well, I think you should get her to call me!". The agent concerned called me and tried to say I must have been mistaken! But sure I heard it with my own ears! Anyhow, she is telling me there will be more viewings now. How many prospective buyers did she turn away though! She also told me that a similiar house to mine is due up on the estate, so I'm not sure whether that is a scare tactic so I just accept the [very good] offers on the table.
 
trading_up said:
Anyhow, she is telling me there will be more viewings now. How many prospective buyers did she turn away though! She also told me that a similiar house to mine is due up on the estate, so I'm not sure whether that is a scare tactic so I just accept the [very good] offers on the table.
Click to expand...

That smells very suspicious. How can there be new viewings now (did she tell you when they were? are they arranged? are people coming?) if they've been telling people that there are no viewings? It's also far too coincidental that she's only telling you now about this 'similar house'. If they're dealing with that property, is it even ethical for them to discuss it with you (and then does that put the other vendors at a disadvantage).

You may want to take the offers that are there, but be very careful. Are you saying they're very good because of the amount they're over the asking price (you may need to consider whether the initial valuation was deliberately kept low) or because they compare well against what other houses are going for in the area (remember, you need to compare against the final price, and not the asking price on those).

I'm sorry to say that you certainly seem to have picked a very rum bunch there. Just don't panic and make any hasty decisions. If the demand is there (and it certainly seems to be) you should have no problem selling. Just make sure you get the actual best price, and not the best price some Estate Agent's friend/sister/whatever would like to pay.
 
I'd agree with all the others give them the bullet and try to sell it yourself privately. Something similar happened to me a few years back, where the EA was not ringing underbidders on an identical property, I stuck an ad in the paper and sold it myself saving a few grand. Daft.ie is a great place to advertise it. You know what price range the EA was getting so pich it in or around that.

Christy
 
They have achieved 15% in excess of the asking. That might be the reason why they have started to either get lazy or genuinely (if EAs are capable of being genuine) feel that they have reached the max.
 
maybe the EA is on the ball but was that asking 15% too low to start with ?
 
Trading up,

I would arrange another viewing, preferably on a saturday morning, which suits most people and make sure that the house is advertised in the paper, on daft and on myhome.ie. You could even suggest that they post the viewing times with it, I find this very useful, some EAs do that and it saves you chasing after them to get the time and those buggers never ring back!!! This way there is no chance of them turning away any prospective buyers. And if you're unsure and not in a hurry anyway, ditch the EA. There are soo many buyers out there at the moment and there's a real buying frenzy, so even if you loose the two bidders, there will be another two. And if you went with a new EA and they adveritsed it promplty enough, the same two bidders probably materialise again.
And re asking prices and sales price - most houses in Dublin sell at around 40K more than they were advertised with, I think EAs delibertly put them on offer with a lower asking price to attract a wide audience.
Good luck! Hope it goes well.
 
Same thing happened wot my uncle a few years ago when selling his house. After a flurry or viewings and then nothing he was curious.

Few days later somone actually called to the door asking if they would accept a 'higher offer' as they really liked his house. Uncle was surpised as there was no offer anyway and did some research.
The EA has a cosy little deal with a developer who wanted to buy his house and level and develop the field out the back.

Maddddd
 
This stinks! The EA is def. upto something suspicious! This talk about another house in the estate/area and more viewings is just a well rehearsed EA trying to cover themselves!

I would agree with Petal - if the 2 bidders really are interested they will see the house with the new EA and place a new bid. That is if there are 2 bidders - perhaps there is just 1 - a good friend of the EA! You say you're in no rush - I would def. switch and the longer you can hold onto the house the more it will be worth! Our last house in Cork appreciated €100k in the last 12 months! Why should the new purchaser take that gain from you!?!

Switch EA and hold off on returning to the market until you have to!
 
What is going on??
I know someone who bid on a property yesterday, she got her friend to make a call to the EA about it and she was told "NO more viewings its in the final stages, the booking deposit is paid"
My friend has heard nothing back from the EA and this property went on the market last week!
The Q for it was big by the way. Any ideas?
 
Friend of mine got his sister who is works in an estate agents to 'hold up a house for them'. She was the secretary, but asked the estate agent to do it.
Said it was common practice.
The estate agent told the vendor that there was only one bid.
And it worked for my friend.

Then i was at the house warming and the estate agent was there so i mentioned i was thinking about investing. Told me that if i paid them an extra €5K that they could 'Hold up' a house for me and would save me about €20K by having no bidders against me. Told me that all estate agents do this.

Of course the talk was all drunken talk, but i'm convinced.
 
trading_up, it sounds like your estate agent is not acting in your best interests. If you have a contract he or she is probably in breach of it.

Personally, I'd fire his ass.
 
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