Contacting seller directly

fasttalkerchat

Supposing you are interested in buying a house and know the local area well and the seller by name. Before making an offer, could you knock on the door and tell the seller you are interested and tell them what the offer would be.
This cuts out some of the crap from the estate agent and also let's the seller know that you're genuine and that the offer is there.

Is there anything that could go against you?

riclad

People usually use agents ,cos they could give them a valuation on the house,
You might offer too much,
or seller knows exactly how much you can afford to spend.
in theory if house Go,s on public sale there might be say 2 buyers ,bidding against each other.
AGENT charges 2 per cent on sale price ,last time i checked.
IT might be better write a letter,
i,m interested in buying,heres my contact info.
What price might you be looking for the house.?
Without saying exactly, how much you can afford.

the_syco

If the house has been sitting there for a while, and your bid is turned down, then approach the owners directly.

D3PO

OP id absolutely do it. I don't trust EA's. Don't trust the pass all offers on and don't trust they don't wangle sweet deals for friends and families at the expense of sellers.

If you know the seller absolutely approach them directly. The EA will still unfortunately get their cut if you buy it but at least you know your offers has been given to the seller.

caew

We've been in the market for buying a house for the past 7 months. One house we bid on 6 months ago the estate agent laughed at our offer and said that he wouldn't pass our offer on as we were 'wrong' to offer that amount.

The price on the house has now been reduced for less than our bid was. We are not going to try and buy the house as we are interested in another house now. However, I am sure that had the sellers been informed of our offer at the time we could have done a deal. I'd love to ring up the estate agent and laugh at him!

In my opinion there is no harm in contacting the sellers.

Santa Cruz

If you really want the house make a direct approach. Ask him what is the best price he will let it go for. Then buy or walk away

marie rosanna

Hi, I have found yet another property that I am interested in, the seller has the property on daft with an EA but is also advertising privately. he is happy to go without the EA, and to just let our solicitors deal with the sale. We have agreed on a price. My solicitor is recommending I contact the EA and go through the sale that way,, that is..... the estate agent gets the deposit, then issues sales advice notice" and then my solicitor can contact the vendor`s solicitor. My question is "is it ok to go ahead without including the EA." Is my solicitor being over cautious, Cant we just complete the sale with the solicitors involvement? I am a cash buyer. any advice or thoughts would be great, thanks:o

P. Breathnach

There is a possibility that the vendor has, or will have, a messy situation with the EA. It depends on the arrangement they made between themselves. That is not your concern.

If you became aware of the property as a result of the EA's advertisement, or if the EA arranged viewings for you, I would think it dishonourable to bypass him at this stage. I'm not qualified to say whether it is illegal (and, in any case, we are not allowed give legal advice here).

Your solicitor's duty is to look after your interest, not that of the EA. It might be that he or she is being over-cautious. Or it might be that he or she is trying to steer you away from a messy situation. Or it might be that he or she simply wants to maintain good relations with the EA, because EAs often bring valuable business to solicitors.

Have you any compelling reason to do other than your solicitor suggests?

Marchbride

As mentioned above if you bypass EA but seen the house via his advertisements then he does have grounds to claw back his 1 or 2%. I've approached two separate people about buying their house and made serious offers but they just played me. One case I told the lady the offer was an offer and not a bid that she had 24hrs to decide (now I didn't say it that harshly). But there was a viewing later and she asked that we bring our letter of offer to the EA (who was apparently a family friend) And she would sell the house to us. She also said that she wouldn't mention anything to the EA about us approaching her. We turn up to the viewing and the EA knows everything about us and says that someone has bid 5k past our offer! I was very annoyed altogether. Similar story with the other lady I approached. And it's funny but her EA is one that would sell a lot of houses in the area we are looking at and he now appears to not be communicating with me re other houses. So just be aware that just because you're taking the direct approach, it's not always going to work. Vendors know the market is nuts at the moment.. And money talks!!

marie rosanna

P. Breathnach wrote: »

There is a possibility that the vendor has, or will have, a messy situation with the EA. It depends on the arrangement they made between themselves. That is not your concern.

If you became aware of the property as a result of the EA's advertisement, or if the EA arranged viewings for you, I would think it dishonourable to bypass him at this stage. I'm not qualified to say whether it is illegal (and, in any case, we are not allowed give legal advice here).

Your solicitor's duty is to look after your interest, not that of the EA. It might be that he or she is being over-cautious. Or it might be that he or she is trying to steer you away from a messy situation. Or it might be that he or she simply wants to maintain good relations with the EA, because EAs often bring valuable business to solicitors.

Have you any compelling reason to do other than your solicitor suggests?

Hi thanks for coming back to me on this. I did initially ring the EA and was in the middle of enquiring about the property and while on the phone to me he took another call and asked if he could ring me back. He has not to date and this was 2 weeks ago. I then made contact with the owner directly and we made an arrangement to view, which I did. Then I wanted to view it again and rang the owner. The owner did not get back to me so I rang the EA to arrange a viewing. The EA was not at the office and the secretary could`nt find the key to the property. She stated that the owner had come and picked up the key the week previous and had not returned it. (Sorry if this all sounds mad and confusing). The owner is very anti EA`s and would be happy for us to proceed without the EA involvement. (I think with a view to saving money) I have followed my solicitors advice to date. This is now the fifth property I have tried to buy, each time there has been complications. I dont want to upset any applecarts here, so a bit caught between rock and hard place. I can truly understand the need for EA at this stage because it keeps the transations impersonal. I have no compelling reason not to do as my solicitor suggests other than the owner wanting to keep EA out of the picture..... sorry if I also sound a bit wimpish, am worn down a bit after over a year trying to buy home...thanks in advance for any thoughts and for taking the time to read ....

P. Breathnach

If I were in your position (which I am not, and so am not stressed about the whole thing) I would think that the EA had not done much to make the sale happen. My conscience would be clear if I did not pay the deposit to him.

Yes, I think you are right that you need to keep things impersonal to the greatest extent possible. That can be achieved by your solicitor dealing with the vendor's solicitor. If there are negotiating loose ends to be tied up, things like what is included in the sale (floor coverings, curtains, blinds, light fittings, kitchen white goods, etc) you would really want that the be sorted in one go, and not involve legal professionals in an extended series of communications on what they would see as peripheral business.

There might be the makings of a tussle between the EA and the vendor. That is between them, and the safest place for you is outside the ring. If you pay the deposit to the EA, you will be stepping right into the ring.

I suggest that you tell your solicitor that you do not want to be sucked into any dispute between the vendor and the EA, that you have made your deal with the vendor, and that it appears right and proper that you stay in that channel, and not divert the transaction via the EA.

If your solicitor comes up with an argument that you should act differently, you should listen to and consider it (but not necessarily agree with it).

Trish56

I see no reason why not. As the seller will not want to upset the EA you need to convince the seller that you are serious and mention that you are a first time buyer and are mortgage approved and could have deal closed once there are no complications within 6/8 weeks. Once you inspect the property and agree price you will need to get name and address of sellers Solicitor and give seller your Solicitor details so that contracts can be drawn up. Once signed you will have to pay over 10% and will lose same if you do not proceed.
Once the EA did not show you the property or contact you to advise it was for sale the seller should not have to pay the EA however that would depend on what agreement they reached when it was put up for sale.

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Supposing you are interested in buying a house and know the local area well and the seller by name. Before making an offer, could you knock on the door and tell the seller you are interested and tell them what the offer would be.
This cuts out some of the crap from the estate agent and also let's the seller know that you're genuine and that the offer is there.

Is there anything that could go against you?

marie rosanna

Hi P Breathnach. Thank you very much for that information. I do think there is an issue between the vendor and EA. and I dont want to be a part of that, but I do want to buy the property. As you say the solicitor is there to look after my interests, thanks for helping me clear my head and thinking, appreciated.

P. Breathnach

I hope all goes well for you. It can be a nerve-racking experience. But do remember that most people manage to get through it okay.

marie rosanna

P. Breathnach wrote: »

I hope all goes well for you. It can be a nerve-racking experience. But do remember that most people manage to get through it okay.

I have written to my solicitor and am just waiting on her to get back to me. I have also checked the landregister.ie and it appears that the house if not on the land register...... thats not a big issue ? is it? trying to get a look at the deeds register, thanks again for help and advice, :rolleyes: