Estate agent stalling on responding to offer

ravendude

We put in an offer on a house recently. We were told we could expect to hear back from the agent last Friday re. whether our offer has been accepted or not.
Needless to say, - still no word from the estate agent.
The house is (very) well priced for the current market and I think the estate agent would reasonably have an expectation of good interest.

So, its obvious to me they're are stalling and stringing us a long, trying to buy time for other viewings and ultimately offers. Obviously it's in my interest to reign this in.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips/tricks as to how to neatly put a compelling deadline on them?
I sense that they hear the usual excuse of being about to put an offer in on another house a million times and tend to ignore.
I'm almost inclined to say we just want to hear back by tomorrow evening or we're out. The obvious downside is that if they have some other interest, they may be willing to call our bluff....

Any thoughts?
I find the whole weaseling very annoying to put it mildly.

D3PO

you ring them now and tell them the offer made last Friday is only valid for another 24 hours and then your looking elsewhere.

sou you expect a response on it by tomorrow afternoon or your out and mean it.

Your currently running the potential of making the biggest balls up you can do when buying getting emotionally attached to a house you dont even own. There are tens of thousands of them out there.

paul71

Ring them and put a time limit on your offer at the current price, and state that you may consider making a reduced offer afterwards.

Edit: beaten to the punch by post above.

ravendude

Have been generous and given them until the end of the week and told them that we won't be increasing under any circumstances.
To be honest, the stalling has been a good thing as we've (my wife mostly, - I've always been happy to walk) cooled off a lot now, and we'll walk away if they don't go for our initial offer (which is a low-ball one in fairness).
There'll always be another house, especially in the current climate and we can wait.

Always show your letter of offer for a mortgage to he EA ( with the actual amount you are approved for bocked out ) You will find its a great way to get EA's to be accommodating.

daltonmd

ravendude wrote: »

Have been generous and given them until the end of the week and told them that we won't be increasing under any circumstances.
To be honest, the stalling has been a good thing as we've (my wife mostly, - I've always been happy to walk) cooled off a lot now, and we'll walk away if they don't go for our initial offer (which is a low-ball one in fairness).
There'll always be another house, especially in the current climate and we can wait.

It must be frustrating for you both, but you have the right attitude and if the EA realises that then he in turn will pass this on to the vendor.

Never make a threat that you're not prepared to follow through on - this could be manipulated by the EA. If he knows you want this house and are anxious then he may try to increase the offer.


Good luck

daltonmd

ravendude

Well, we still have our money pocketed for another while by the looks of it.

You'd think he (estate agent) would have the courtesy to gve a quick call though (well i suppose you wouldn't really, we all know what they're like).
I guess they must be too busy with all the offers they're getting these days :rolleyes:

Don't think it was a time waster offer either, - it was a bit low, but certainly not cheeky.

Balmed Out

Having never had a mortgage my advice is probably useless but could you not say that you have mortgage approval till date x and need to complete sale by then as you have changed job and so do not have x yrs of stabile job and may not get mortgage approval again?

edanto

Tell the EA that your offer is now reduced by €Xk (maybe 2, maybe 5, depending on price) since you have found another property you are interested in.

Ask for email confirmation that the offer was indeed passed on to the owner and express surpise that you haven't heard back.

If the owner is living in the property, you could knock on the door and see if they want to talk. Don't force that last one at all though - some owners insist that everything goes through the EA, others are interested to talk to vendors.

ravendude

edanto wrote: »

Tell the EA that your offer is now reduced by €Xk (maybe 2, maybe 5, depending on price) since you have found another property you are interested in.

Ask for email confirmation that the offer was indeed passed on to the owner and express surpise that you haven't heard back.

If the owner is living in the property, you could knock on the door and see if they want to talk. Don't force that last one at all though - some owners insist that everything goes through the EA, others are interested to talk to vendors.

At this stage, I'm more inclined to tell them to get f****d.
Honestly, we'd have been prepared to come up a little bit had they engaged with us in a civil manner.

edanto

Look on it as an opportunity!

Selecting a bad EA is the vendors problem and one that will reduce the final sale price. Take full advantage. Just press them firmly and politely.