Property Agent is playing some game?

Hi all,

This morning wife and myself were viewing some shell houses in new development

We liked them before, just wanted to confirm some details what's inside etc.

talking to property agent She mentioned that three houses here (pointing on them) are available including the one we were in. She also provided price list where we saw these three house marked as FOR SALE.

As the price was reasonably good (with hope for further reduction) and location suits us we were happy and planning to sit with wife after hours today, discuss and make offer tomorrow.

Some time later today other property agent from the same agency called me and told that all three houses are gone (sale agreed/sold). He proposed other houses from this estate which really did not suit us.

At the end of this miserable call Mr. Agent mentioned that the last of three houses is to be deposited today/2morrow. If this did not happen the house will be put back on the market.


my question is:
- do you people believe such story considering we are faaaar away from the property bubble and these houses have been on the marked for last 2-3 years??


- IMHO i think it is part of the game to make potential buyer 'hungry' - if you know what I mean...

Olek

I have edited your post to remove the details identifying the house and the sales agent.

However, if they are reading askaboutmoney, they will certainly recognise the story.

Brendan

did I miss something in T&C that my post was edited to be anonymous?

I think it is worth to provide other potential buyers what kind of issues they may face in future if hey decide to buy. What happened to me today was kind of not fair game (which I believe it was).

I wasted my time, had to take time off from my work twice, drove some miles just to be told that all was for nothing at the end.

I definitely not feel good what I experienced.

Do you want to buy a house now or do you want to wait until you think the market has reached rock bottom at some point in the future?

I am considering buying now assuming price is reasonable.

Every so often on here we get people thinking the Estate Agent is up to no good. But Estate agents don't make money unless they sell houses. It's quite possible that the properties were sold between the time you viewed and later, or else they were never for sale. You cannot tell. You have to learn to take these things on the chin. And it's a very messy sales environment at the moment with banks and receivers and people in distressed sales not knowing if the bank will allow them to sell.

It is reasonable to expect that the EA would have informed the OP at the time of viewing that there were offers. Or if the offers came subsequent to that, it seems reasonable that the OP would be informed via phone call that there is an offer on the house, and be offered an opportunity to match or beat it. This wasn't the sale rack at a clothing store.

Another possibility is some type of mistake on behalf of the agent, whereby one hand did not know what the other was doing.

bugler said:

It is reasonable to expect that the EA would have informed the OP at the time of viewing that there were offers. ....

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Agree,
I would expect something like this.

There was only one week between these two viewings, and on the first viewing I was given full list of available houses which was also confirmed on second viewing.

And then all cancelled hour later.

There must be some game being played around - and I as innocent naive buyer got involved into

Bronte said:

...It's quite possible that the properties were sold between the time you viewed and later...

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do you really believe this? three houses sold in ONE WEEK? No price reduction, no massive advertising etc. They have been on the market for three years before.

Bronte said:

...It's quite possible that the properties ...were never for sale....

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what was the point of putting them on daft then? Sounds really confusing.

olektrolek said:

do you really believe this? three houses sold in ONE WEEK? No price reduction, no massive advertising etc. They have been on the market for three years before.

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Three properties (out of 250) in my estate went sale agreed within 48 hours of each other in the last fortnight. Two of them went on the market on the same day less than a fortnight earlier, and the third property, which had been on the market previously, went back on the market a couple of days after the other two. For want of a better example, it's possible that three properties sold quickly.

I've a client operating an estate agency, and all they want to do is sell houses. They only get paid when a sale closes, and generally have no interest in messing people around.

Are NAMA involved in it or something?

Ok, that is interestin what you say.,..
must be some bargain ;-)

Past30Now said:

Three properties (out of 250) in my estate went sale agreed within 48 hours of each other in the last fortnight.
...

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what area are you talking about if this is not breaking T&C here?

Folks

We do not allow speculation about house prices on askaboutmoney. I have deleted posts which refer to the future of house prices.

Brendan

No. No. No.

Some people like to do their business in a straightforward manner and some people like to play games. You need to decide which type of person you are. You started out in a straight forward way, but as soon as the game playing started you wanted to get into game playing mode.

When you do business with other people you will meet people who play games and straightforward people. You cannot control which they are. You can only decide which type you are.

If you want to behave in a straight forward way. Just stick with the offer price you are happy with on the house you want. You don't have to worry what the agent is up to. I predict that in the end you will get the house you want, but you must accept that you may not.

If you want to play psychological games, and to be honest I advise against it. Here is my opinion. The agent has a full development to sell, the house you want is the most attractive, if he sells that he then has to sell the less attractive houses. So the agent thinks that he can get you to accept a less attractive house. Then he can say that bad house sold for x price and the nicer houses should be at a better price.

So if you want to play, (rather than buy a house) make him a much better offer on the attractive house and then wait, delay drag out postpone.

He wont be able to sell to anyone else while he thinks you might buy, and he will be in a worse position to sell the other houses if it is known that there is a big offer on the other houses.

A word of warning, if you believed even for a moment that he got offers on the 3 houses, you are not suited to the game.

My advice; leave your offer on the table, rule out any other house and wait.

cremeegg said:

A word of warning, if you believed even for a moment that he got offers on the 3 houses, you are not suited to the game.

.

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That's a great post cremeegg. Very funny. Serious too.

cremeegg said:

No. No. No.



So if you want to play, (rather than buy a house) make him a much better offer on the attractive house and then wait, delay drag out postpone.
....

My advice; leave your offer on the table, rule out any other house and wait.

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Really appreciate this advise, thank you.


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