When estate agents say 'we've already had several asking price offers'

And you think ‘fancy that, an estate agent suggesting I’ll lose the place if I don’t move quickly’… am I entitled to ask them for proof of those offers?
If it’s not a sealed bid auction then surely they’ve no legal right to hide any other offers from me?
I don’t fancy overpaying for a place when I needn’t i.e. the other offers never existed and I could have offered below asking.

Or is the only way to smoke them out to make a below asking price offer?

Make n offer. They are legally obliged to pass all offers on to the vendor. You will get an answer the minute they reject your offer.

I don’t think you have any legal right to know about any other offers.
Just ask them if they’ve been accepted or are still on the table. After yesterday’s BofE announcement they might not be…

If it’s not a sealed bid auction then surely they’ve no legal right to hide any other offers from me?

You have no legal right to know anything about other offers, only what they choose to tell you.

They have every right not to prove what they tell you about other offers.

It’s basically up to you wether you believe them or not.

Offer what you think its worth.

Is there a more sinister reason you are so keen not to loose this flat…

The EA is there on behalf of the vendor to get every last penny they can from you. Unless the vendor needs to move they’ll be happy to leave you playing silly buggers.
Best advice is offer what it is worth to you and that way if you don’t get it, you won’t be disappointed. Would you rather pay a few K more for a house you love or a few K less for something you like?

We’re going through to process ourselves. It seems easy enough to sell but by jiggers buying is proving a challenge due to the lack of supply

Edit – forgot to add – I think that’s one of the tools they use in order to get as much as they can (exaggerate the demand for a property)

Not many properties on the market at the moment so well priced places are selling quickly. As unlikely as it seems the agent might be telling the truth.

Offer what you think its worth.

Is there a more sinister reason you are so keen not to loose this flat…

I’m not taking the flat. £300k’s a total rip off when it’s got damp and £190 pcm on top for service charge…. I’m looking at houses in Bromley…

If they were asking price offers why have they not been accepted?

Agent says:

“We’ve already had several asking price offers”

You say:

“Are you proud of your inability to value a house correctly?”

The only thing you can rely on from the estate agents is when they provide their contact details.

Try (hard) not to get emotional about buying a house. Be objective and while it may not seem it there are other places out there.

Just look at the process objectively and it will be fine in the end and if its not right its not the end!

good luck

RP – here here!

We had this situation when we sold our last house (2 bed back to back in Armley/Leeds) 8 very interested potential buyers . Asking price was 68k eventually sold for 82k to the highest bidder.

however estate agents are not allowed to lie to the buyer,

Estate Agents act 1979.

Now the question is how do you prove the estate agent is lying, and saying their lips are moving is probably not enough for a judge!

Now the question is how do you prove the estate agent is lying, and saying their lips are moving is probably not enough for a judge!

If the judge is allowed to pass judgement based upon the balance of probabilities, that should be evidence enough!

Through my dealings with estate agents, at times you can’t even be sure the house you are looking at is even for sale…..
(Phone call from estate agent suggesting i view a house we’d previously shown an interest in but had been ‘under offer’, but not any more…. I’d just finished nights, but agreed to view that morning… Turned up and had a look around. Asked why the other seller pulled out, and was told by the vendor “we’re not really selling it any more”… Hmmm…”Why am I looking at your house then…”…”oh, the estate agent just rang saying you really wanted to look around…”!)

DrP

Don’t trust estate agents; most of what comes out of their lying mouths is fiction. An estate agent in Holcome Brook suggested a very low price for my cottage in Summerseat and I added £10,000 to that because I knew what others in the area had sold for. Subsequently I sold for the asking price and had another buyer offering me £3,000 above that once I’d agreed the sale. The agent would have had me lose £10,000 just so that he could get a quick commission.

Experience over several house sales and purchases has taught me to take anything an estate agent says with a large pinch of salt!

I my experience of having bought/sold quite a few houses, you get the Estate Agent you deserve – whether as a Seller or Buyer.

When buying/selling I’ve always been 100% committed and known exactly what we want to do. I’ve done my homework and also understand money and the various transaction that need to occur.

Never been ripped off, nor messed around.

Be straight with them, and remember they work for you as a Seller, and for the person selling if you are the Buyer. Either way they are in business to make money – end of.

I’ve never been ripped off either, but I’ve been blatantly lied to by them when viewing properties. How is that me “getting the estate agent I deserve”? When I asked how long a house had been on the market because I thought it was overpriced, the estate agent said “only a week or so”. When I pointed out that the photo on the details had winter trees on it and we were now in September, she was rather embarrassed.

its worth whats its worth to you.

make your best offer that its worth to you – based on what ever evidence you want to.

I paid 5k over asking for my place within a day of it going on market……. meant I didn’t go to sealed offers which id never had much luck with with bid frenzy taking over and silly offers going in. – small price to pay for missing that crap out.

gave up listening to EA and vendors after the first house.

Mine broke a chunk of render off the house by wedging his For Sale sign into it, then tried to pass the blame onto the contractor that did the signs. Which is weird, because I remember signing a contract with the agent… Have told them I shan’t be paying until it’s repaired properly or we agree to a cash settlement.

Fortunately I owe them a lot more than they owe me….

you get the Estate Agent you deserve

You get some strange things on this interweb!

HTF does that work? 🙄

As has been stated, the agent acts on behalf of the vendor – their job is to extract as much money from the sale as possible, in the interests of the vendor.

Remember also that a typical estate agent is on a very aggressive wage ratio of basic to commission (typically £15k basic), so before casting judgement, think how hard you would push on a sale if your take home pay depended on it. I know for sure that I’d be doing everything possible (within the law) to maximise every single sale.

Back to the OP’s question – decide how much you want the property. If you love it (rather than just “like”) then put a bid in that you think will close the deal and get you the property. You’d be gutted if you missed out for a few grand if it is somewhere you really like.

The estate agent on a house we just bought said there was an offer of 410k (but buyer wasn’t immediately able to buy) so an offer over 400k would get it for us. (House on market at 420k, reduced that day to 410k).

We offered 380k and eventually bought for 392k.

you get the Estate Agent you deserve

When selling there’s maybe some truth in that, well when I sold my last house in London Foxtons came along trying to get me to switch to them as they’d get more money for me; it felt like it would have been making a deal with the devil!

As it happens all agents I’ve sold/bought through have been fine and honest enough. Someone tried to gazump me on my last purchase in Surrey around the peak of the last house price boom in 2007, agent was having none of it and I only heard about it when I picked the keys up to move in – vendor had told them he wasn’t interested in further offers. Not sure how much it helped but I made an effort to stay in contact with my buyer and get friendly with them – not many suitable properties about then – similar to now I suppose.

I think it pays to remember that because of their quite flat fee structures they’re driven by the number of houses they sell much more than eking out 5% or even 10% extra on the price of the house they’re currently selling. Be the buyer they know will be easy to deal with and close a fast deal and many sellers and agents would take your offer before a higher one they’re not sure about.

One tactic they can use is to elicit some offers from folk with troublesome chains or other concerns first so they can say to the good buyers “we’ve already had several asking price offers”…

As has been stated, the agent acts on behalf of the vendor – their job is to extract as much money from the sale as possible, in the interests of the vendor Estate Agent.

FTFY

An asking price offer is fine. An offer under asking price, but from a buyer who has no chain, has cash, and can complete in a couple of weeks might be even better.

One tactic they can use is to elicit some offers from folk with troublesome chains or other concerns first so they can say to the good buyers “we’ve already had several asking price offers”.

As a FTB with deposit in cash and mortgage already approved I suspect I’m one of those ‘good buyers’.

Good to know I’m in a strong bargaining position 😀

I think it pays to remember that because of their quite flat fee structures they’re driven by the number of houses they sell much more than eking out 5% or even 10% extra on the price of the house they’re currently selling. Be the buyer they know will be easy to deal with and close a fast deal and many sellers and agents would take your offer before a higher one they’re not sure about.

Yep, and that is why with the last two houses I sold I offered a tapered commission deal. Up to the agreed value they got a lower percentage than normal, above it they got a far greater percentage.