Estate agent opaqueness

[clk208]

Spotted a house today on the web that looked to be something of a bargain.

Called the agent who was able to confirm my suspicions that the house was being sold on behalf of a company, but couldn't/wouldn't say if it was a repossession or not. I suspect a developer may have bought it with a view to knocking it down and building a couple of houses on the plot but failed due to planning/ran out of money or something. Who knows.

Anyway, the estate agent said there was an offer on the property (although not listed on the web as under offer). They said that they could not reveal how much the offer is. They were also reluctant to give a viewing.

Is this common practice?

I'd like to make an offer but have no idea where to pitch it and obviously it would be unwise without viewing the place internally anyway. Any tips on how to deal with this sort of situation?

 

[GordonTarling]

Many agents will suspend viewing when an offer is made. Tell them you're interested and ask them to let you know if the offer is rejected.

 

[Harrythedog]

Sounds like they have it lined up for someone they know.

 

[tintinmt]

The agent is not allowed to tell you the amount of the offer. It may be under offer,with the vendor having accepted the buyers request that no more viewings be carried out. You can always ask directly why the agent is 'reluctant' to allow a viewing.
Obviously you should view before making an offer and the agent will be bound to put your offer to the vendor.
You must do your homework by trying to find similar properties that have sold in order to come to your own valuation. Try asking the neighbours if they know more?

 

[finisterre]

I would contact them by email.

Less deniable.

 

[jaymanek]

There are a lot of repossessions on the market at the moment. I have been watching the houses being listed near to me and there are loads in the £60-100K area in which they list that an offer has been received and they are looking for higher bids. ...

Im guessing these will all be offered at auction and if an offer is received prior to auction that is above the reserve then they will sell it..

 

[V12]

I have been watching the houses being listed near to me and there are loads in the £60-100K area

Houses?! I'm living in the wrong part of the country...

 

[jaymanek]

yep loads of boarded up houses at 50-60K in Coventry & Nuneaton...
But they do need work!

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Jeez, a boarded up house in Cambridge would be around £150k mark!

 

[MicB]

Good estate agents, and there are some, will be totally honest......that does not mean disclosing confidential information.......but they should tell you exactly what the situation is with regard to, under offer, in negotiation, refer to vendor......there should be no ''left hanging'' without a time scale or reason.

As Finsterre.....create an audit-able email trail.

Mic

 

[Red C220]

Jeez, a boarded up house in Cambridge would be around £150k mark!

In Surrey that'll be a shed.

Nothing moving here under £500K, over that the market is absolutely booming.

 

[clk208]

I would contact them by email.

Less deniable.

Creating an email trail is an excellent idea. Should make it more likely that any offer I do make should be at least communicated to the vendor.

Property market in Greater Manchesterish is frustrating at the moment for what I'm looking for - not enough houses for sale in nice areas. Those that are for sale tend to be silly money. Anything realistically priced tends to go instantly.

I have had an eye on auctions for the past 18 months too and the only stuff that ever comes up is in dodgy areas. Tons of small terraces for 50k that would return decent rental yields if that is your thing but nowhere to park an MB! I saw literally 1 house of interest at auction in all that time, went to bid to found it had been sold prior that morning.

The houses in better areas tend to get put in those conditional stylie auctions with a conventional estate agent where the best offer is publicised and others have a number of days to submit a better offer as Jay said.

Anyway I'm now getting rightmove alerts and poised to snap something up if anything good turns up.

 

[developer]

A couple of points here.

When I have an offer accepted on a property I always stipulate that my offer is subject to the the sold sign going up (on the internet advert and at the property) and no further viewings to take place. There's nothing I can do to enforce this, but it generally works.

The agent needs a sale to get his money and if he has a "proceedable" offer he's unlikely to introduce noise in the process by showing other potential buyers round, (though I'm sure there are exceptions to this).

However, I undertand that if there are any offers, the agent is obliged to tell his client.

As a developer I can tell you that agents have their own lists of who to call first when a property is development ripe - though none will admit it of course.

 

[mejermy]

If it is a company owner, and a distress/administrator sale, in view of the response you've received it has all the signs of a prepack.

 

[davidjpowell]

One point that people miss.

Agent acts for vendor.

It's not his job to sell it cheap -but to get as much as possible..

 

[Dieselman]

yep loads of boarded up houses at 50-60K in Coventry & Nuneaton...
But they do need work!

Got any links?

 

[jaymanek]

I get daily alerts from rightmove.

one i saw this morning struck me as cheap...

3 bedroom end of terrace house for sale in Daffern Avenue, Gun Hill, New Arley, Nr. COVENTRY, Warwickshire, CV7

 

[ShinyF1]

One point that people miss.

Agent acts for vendor.

It's not his job to sell it cheap -but to get as much as possible..

But you can see how an agent might be disincentivised [is that a word?] from forwarding a marginally better offer that would delay completing the sale. At 1.5% or whatever agents charge now they're more likely to have their eye on cashflow rather than the increased fee...

 

[gdbushell]

I rather suspect that the agent acts in his own best interest, if our recent dealings with agents are anything to go by.

 

[davidjpowell]

But you can see how an agent might be disincentivised [is that a word?] from forwarding a marginally better offer that would delay completing the sale. At 1.5% or whatever agents charge now they're more likely to have their eye on cashflow rather than the increased fee...

Maybe - but equally if the sale is well progressed the vendor might be advised that the increase is not worth the risk of starting the process again - especially if a lenders valuation is needed.