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Estate agent talking us out of buying house

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    #32
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    Bought a pretty derelict property recently. Had a mortgage agreed with the bank but when they saw the place they had a bit of a shock. They withdrew 20% of the mortgage until completion of the upgrading work and insisted that we get the equivalent of what they withdrew in extra Funding. All this took a few months and numerous surveys, engineers reports and even a QS report.

    So maybe the EA is a bit scared that the bank will not like the building and his sale will fall through.


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    #33
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    begbysback wrote: »
    Why would he be selling a property if he believes it to be unmortgeagble?


    Cash is King.


    Plenty of unmortagble houses in Dublin that I have seen. Many houses near a flood plain will be impossible to insure so impossible to mortgage.


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    #34
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users Posts: 13,981 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    begbysback wrote: »
    Why would he be selling a property if he believes it to be unmortgeagble?

    I would say he has been down this path before.

    Couple looks at it, close to max budget.
    They put a bid in and start down the process.
    Goes to the solicitors, house survey is done.
    Valuation and house survey end up with the underwriter down the line, underwriter says where you getting the 120k to bring the house up to modern standards.
    Couple says what do you mean 120k.
    Sale falls through.

    Right now, banks are very cautious about giving out mortgages, especially exceptions, to money pits. And large old houses with zero spent on them in decades are money pits.


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    #35
    Mad_maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,505 ✭✭✭✭Mad_maxx


    Ray Palmer wrote: »
    Most likely looking after a friend/builder. EA will get one purchase from you but others he will get multiple purchases if they 'treat them right.
    Pretty common practice especially in small areas. Morally and legally questionable but hard to prove.

    "preferred buyer" phenomenon

    Auctioneers like to keep the value stuff for those they know


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    #36
    bri007
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭bri007


    +1 on that, I don’t know the ins and out of the OP situation but I was thinking the exact same.

    Prob nothing the OP can do unfortunately!
    Mad_maxx wrote: »
    "preferred buyer" phenomenon

    Auctioneers like to keep the value stuff for those they know


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    #37
    Mad_maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,505 ✭✭✭✭Mad_maxx


    bri007 wrote: »
    +1 on that, I don’t know the ins and out of the OP situation but I was thinking the exact same.

    Prob nothing the OP can do unfortunately!

    It's less common during strong markets


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    #38
    LogicusRex
    Registered Users Posts: 48 ✭LogicusRex


    I was always told to buy the worst house in the best street.
    Location location location.


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    #39
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    LogicusRex wrote: »
    I was always told to buy the worst house in the best street.
    Location location location.

    thats what we did


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    #40
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    Some people say buy what you can afford in a good location,
    rather than a great house in a bad location.
    You can get a structural survey done ,on the house ,
    if you want to know what repairs it will need .
    The agent sounds very rude and unprofessional,
    as if he knows the person who is trying to buy the house and is
    not happy about you bidding on it .
    OR see if your bid is accepted , then maybe pay for a full survey .
    Banks usually send someone to survey the house ,
    eg he just looks around to see is the house worth x,
    say the loan is 150k, is the house worth 150k.
    Agents are supposed to treat everyone the same and to pass on all reasonable bids to the seller.


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    #41
    Claw Hammer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭Claw Hammer


    riclad wrote: »
    Agents are supposed to treat everyone the same and to pass on all reasonable bids to the seller.

    Apart from not breaching the equality Acts, agents are under no obligation to treat everyone the same. Their job is to find a ready, able and willing purchaser. The emphasis here is on ready and able. The OP is clearly inexperienced and the agent is rightly concerned that dealing with them will be a waste of time. His duty is to the owner, not prospective purchasers. With a house in bad condition, he clearly wants a purchaser who is going on with their eyes open and sufficiently well funded.


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    #42
    bilbot79
    Registered Users Posts: 1,980 ✭✭✭bilbot79


    Prob wants a cash buyer


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    #43
    bri007
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭bri007


    Are we all not inexperienced then as first time buyers, who would be experienced then unless they have bought and sold houses in the past?

    From my experience some EA would sell you a barn shed and say it has potential and only needs minor work, then on the flip side the OP has said that the house needs some work but is habitable so I don’t see the problem? We are all inexperienced but I know when a house is in bits and estate agent says differently and also when an estate agent is waffling away as the house or apartment is put aside or has a person in mind for it as it sounds here!
    Claw Hammer wrote: »
    Apart from not breaching the equality Acts, agents are under no obligation to treat everyone the same. Their job is to find a ready, able and willing purchaser. The emphasis here is on ready and able. The OP is clearly inexperienced and the agent is rightly concerned that dealing with them will be a waste of time. His duty is to the owner, not prospective purchasers. With a house in bad condition, he clearly wants a purchaser who is going on with their eyes open and sufficiently well funded.


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    #44
    Claw Hammer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭Claw Hammer


    bri007 wrote: »
    Are we all not inexperienced then as first time buyers, who would be experienced then unless they have bought and sold houses in the past?

    From my experience some EA would sell you a barn shed and say it has potential and only needs minor work, then on the flip side the OP has said that the house needs some work but is habitable so I don’t see the problem? We are all inexperienced but I know when a house is in bits and estate agent says differently and also when an estate agent is waffling away as the house or apartment is put aside or has a person in mind for it as it sounds here!

    Some first time buyers may have relevant experience such as working in the property business but the majority are green. The OP said he got an exemption from the bank which clearly means he is borrowing in the 90% range and also that he has relatively little cash at his disposal. The chances of any bank being impressed with lending on a rundown property to a person who does not have any experience of renovating an old house, are low. The agent has been able to deduce as much from his interaction with the OP. Not surprisingly he simply doesn't want his time wasted. He can agree price with the OP, turn up to allow the OP is served there examine the property, turn up to allow the banks so where examine the property then have the OP look for a reduction because of a fault identified in the surveys or the bank are refusing to accept the valuation. All in all, weeks wasted and an unhappy owner who wants to place sold. I am not surprised the agent is telling the OP to cop himself on.


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    #45
    Boardnashea
    Registered Users Posts: 828 ✭✭✭Boardnashea


    Do you know who the seller is? Can you inform them that you are being discouraged by the EA? And that you are worried the EA is not working in their best interests?


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    #46
    Claw Hammer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭Claw Hammer


    Boardnashea wrote: »
    Do you know who the seller is? Can you inform them that you are being discouraged by the EA? And that you are worried the EA is not working in their best interests?

    The OP was introduced to the house by the agent on condition that all negotiations go through the agent. The agent is doing his job, protecting the owner from having messers waste time.


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    #47
    bri007
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭bri007


    Messers??? What about the way estate agents then tell you mass to sell you a house yet a gust of wind and the house would collapse??

    It must be very busy in that estate agents office your in today..........
    Claw Hammer wrote: »
    The OP was introduced to the house by the agent on condition that all negotiations go through the agent. The agent is doing his job, protecting the owner from having messers waste time.


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    #48
    Claw Hammer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭Claw Hammer


    bri007 wrote: »
    Messers??? What about the way estate agents then tell you mass to sell you a house yet a gust of wind and the house would collapse??

    It must be very busy in that estate agents office your in today..........
    nobody believes puff from an estate agent.


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    #49
    steinbock123
    Registered Users Posts: 609 ✭✭✭steinbock123


    When the house I live in now went up for sale, there was no sign in the garden, just a listing on Daft. I rang the EA, and asked him when would a viewing be possible – his reply was that there were no viewings scheduled at the moment. So I asked could I have a viewing, and he said that he would prefer to wait until he had several prospective purchasers lined up and that he would have a viewing for all of us then. He said he’d let me know when this was happening.
    I had other big life events happening just at that time, so it sorta went out of my head (I had been looking at many other houses), so it was several weeks later when it occurred to me that the EA had not been in touch. So I rang him, and he blithely informed me that the house had gone sale agreed. I was somewhat surprised to say the least, but just took him at his word and didn’t make a fuss. But I got more miffed over the next few days the more I thought about it, so after about a week, I went to his office and confronted him and said he was out of order not coming back to me with a viewing and that the vendor was entitled to hear my offer, if I was to make one. He then went into waffle mode and said the vendor was a very difficult person and won’t make her mind up whether to sell or not, and he was trying his best to get a sale for her, but it was awkward, hard work, etc.etc.etc.
    I’ll try and shorten the story. What happened in the end was, having got no satisfaction from the EA, I went and knocked on the door, explained my position to the vendor (who was not a difficult person at all) and was brought in for a viewing there and then. She told me there had been only one family viewed it, and that the EA returned with the same man and an architect for a second viewing, when they spent an hour and a half measuring up the whole place. They then made a low ball offer. The EA said there was no better offer (this was at the height of the recession). The vendor wasn’t happy when I told her that the auctioneer had told me it was sale agreed, and she said it most definitely was not.
    So I came back again with my family for a second viewing, and made her an offer she was happy with, and we shook hands on the deal. As far as I know she went back and told the EA that she was taking the house off the market. I do know that she only paid his initial fee for advertising etc., but he got no commission on the deal, as we did it all privately. The vendor was very annoyed and told me that the EA had obviously had some friend or relative lined up and made no effort to sell to anyone else. She was delighted I had knocked on her door.
    So some EA’s are not paragons of good business in my experience.
    P.S. The EA was, at that time, the local franchisee for one of the big auctioneering chains. He has lost that franchise in the meantime, and now works independently. So he obviously dirtied his bib at some stage and was disenfranchised, it would appear.


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