Estate Agent keeps saying Vendors only want Cash buyers/Chain free buyers

spot555

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone can give some advice/insight on the following. I've been trying to purchase a house for my family in my local town for the last two years. Any time I see a property I'm interested in (in all cases I've enquired its happened to be the same estate agent for each property I've looked into) and every time I enquire about placing a bid they always say that the vendors are only looking for either a chain-free buyer or cash buyer.

Now recently I've noticed I tried placing a much higher bid on a property a few months ago but am after noticing on the property price register that it sold for lower than the bid I was prepared to offer(had told the EA my offer) but the estate agent said the vendor only wanted a cash buyer/chain free seller - I'm just wondering is this allowed/legal/normal?

It's very frustrating as the local market is very buoyant and I would have no problem selling my current house (albeit it would probably take 1-2, maybe 3 months to sell).

I was just wondering would I have any recourse with the estate agent - I am currently looking at another property I am prepared to place a much higher bid than is currently on it however the (coincidentally same) estate agent says once again in this case that the seller doesn't want a chain buyer.

Any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated!

You need to be sale agreed on your house to be bidding on another. They won't entertain you otherwise.

Sesame

Just sell and rent for a while. Sound like hassle but puts you in a much better position as an attractive buyer who's ready to go.

Short term rents for around 6 months are not as difficult to find if you contact short term letters ( via Airbnb etc) and offer them 6 months up front. You'll have it from equity presumably. Short term suits many landlords as you've less rights but they know as homeowners you'll likely be tidy tenants.

I did this, although messy with two moves but it paid off.

wildwillow

No one wants to wait on another sale, particularly if your house is not even on the market. There may be problems with your planning or maps or anything which would hold up a sale.

Would you be willing to wait an indefinite amount of time to sell yours when you want to buy another.

I took a lower offer when selling as it was hassle free and the whole transaction took only three months from first advertising.

Chains are just not worth the hassle if it is a home, as opposed to an execetor's sale when waiting may not matter.

Their ball, their game. A vendor can sell to whomever they want, even if they are not the highest bidder.

If you need to sell in order to buy, wouldn’t you prefer to sell quickly to a bidder who does not need to sell their house in order to buy yours?

Kat1170

Could you not contact the seller directly.

Ginger83

Their property so unfortunately their choice so f them and move on

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271357#Comment_118271357

If I were selling & someone tried to do that then I'd never sell to them. If I wanted to deal with buyers then I wouldn'd engage the services of an estate agent in the first place.

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271405#Comment_118271405

But it's not you selling and it's not like the OP has anything to loose.

shesty

How often do houses come up?

We had this exact dilemma in the last few months.Eventually we put ours up, and it went sale agreed within about 4 weeks.We have 3 kids, I made it 100% clear to the estate agent we were going nowhere until we had somewhere to go and she passed that message to our buyers.Even if we wanted to rent, there is nowhere around here to rent at all.She knew we had been very actively looking for the previous months though, and we were putting ours up to sale through the same estate agent that was selling one of the houses we were bidding on.We had mortgage approval in place and 2 possible houses had come onto the market in the previous weeks.We did still endure a few wobbly weeks while we bid on other houses!We did get sale agreed on one though about 7 weeks after ours went sale agreed.

Worse case, as our agent said, we could take ours down if we didn't find anything.

I would definitely have mortgage approval in place before you go and put yours up though.

The seller probably doesn't care all that much about the chain, but the estate agent is advising them to care...ie, it suits him.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118272063#Comment_118272063

Well of course they do. Anyone can advertise a home on DAFT & sell it. The reason sellers engage estate agents is to filter out the bids & to have as little contact with buyers as possible. Why would I pay thousands to an estate agent if I have to engage with the tyre kickers myself?

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118275987#Comment_118275987

Tyre kickers tend to judge others as tyre kickers.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118276427#Comment_118276427

The point still stands though, sellers pay EAs to deal with buyers.

dubal

There appears to be a relatively high rate of vendors/ purchasers pulling out post sale agreed.

It seems reasonable that a vendor would be attempting to limit this risk.

Dubal

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118276464#Comment_118276464

I'd say most do it because it all seems a little (lot) daunting and a bit of a minefield.

OP would have nothing to loose contacting the seller directly if possible.

Apart from being told to **** off, and contact the EA, that’s what he/she is being paid for. Do not ever contact me again.

That kinda thing.

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118277251#Comment_118277251

And ????

If someone has that attitude instead of just being polite about it, they're probably the kind of person who's a nightmare to deal with anyway.

Kat1170, most people don’t like strangers turning up at their door trying to talk about a property that they are paying an EA to deal with. It’s creepy, and the obvious question the seller would ask is “why the fook are you bothering me for when you know I am paying an EA to talk to you?”. I’d be you concerned that you are either completely clueless or a tyre kicker.

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118278635#Comment_118278635

Letter through the letter box. 🙄🙄

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118278806#Comment_118278806

Hand to EA, or Bin.

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118278635#Comment_118278635

TBF, if the OP is being stonewalled by the EA, then they have literally nothing to lose by approaching the owner. Chances are they'll be told to go back to the EA as you say but it may be worth trying.

OP, your best bet is to have your house sale agreed and then starting bidding on other properties

C3PO

I certainly wouldn’t accept an offer from someone who hasn’t even put their own house on the market - even in todays market it could take 6-9 months depending on whether there were any issues!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271405#Comment_118271405

Even if the offer was more than the estate agent was getting for you?

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283947#Comment_118283947

It's very easy for someone here to say they'd turn down thousands of euro because someone dropped in a letter and the sale might take a bit longer. The seller might be delighted with the extra funds to do work on their next house and a couple of months difference might not make bother them at all. It's in the EA's interest to get a sale as quickly as possibe but the seller mightn't actually be overly pushed.

Money talks but, unfortunately, bu11sh1t lives on Boards

dubal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283947#Comment_118283947

I've seen this first hand, where a vendor will take a lessor offer for a higher chance of closing the deal.

There is no point in getting a few quid more in an offer, if after 3 months the person pulls out for whatever reason. The longer the closing time the greater the risk to the vendor. Risk has a value.

wildwillow

A good estate agent will filter out the tyre kickers.

I had letters into my post box accusing the agent of ignoring their offers. He knew them as dreamers and time wasters and dealt with them.

Another approached my friend asking for a viewing as they didn't like the agent. Told them where to go.

Selling is emotional and stressful without messers making offers even where they believe they are being genuine.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118284236#Comment_118284236

Why would you think the person dropping in the letter is offering more than someone going through EA?

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118284906#Comment_118284906

Did you even bother reading the OP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118285220#Comment_118285220

Did you?

The op is neither a cash nor a chain free buyer apparently and has stated that even though he/she bids higher, the bid is not accepted. So what is going to be in the letter that the vendor/EA doesn’t already know? A higher bid will not be accepted if the op is waiting to sell a property.