Two Sale agreed prices?

[Ludmilla]

We are dealing with a very cagey/shadey estate agent we feel. We showed a huge interest in a house...not verbally of course...but went for multiple viewings, asked lots of questions and asked to be kept posted on any offers.

Went for last viewing on Sat and phoned on Monday to put an offer on.

Now this house is in bits, on the market for a long, long time and a complete doer-upper. Didn't even get to put offer on as we were told they had been offered the asking price. We were never even phoned to be given a chance to outbid it. Left a considerably lower offer on the table and asked to be kept posted if it went sale agreed/deal fell through etc.

Never heard back. A friend phoned today and was told the house went sale agreed at 10 grand below what we were told. We phoned a couple of hours later and were told it was sale agreed at the higher price once again.....aaaghhh!

We are thinking of dropping up to the owner in the hope of finding out the true version...any thoughts on this option?

 

[BrenG]

EA's like all service providers can be good or bad. There is nothing to stop you approaching the owner of the property if you have his/her details. In this instance you appear to have nothing to lose by this approach so why not go for it!

 

[MOB]

I have limited sympathy:

"Didn't even get to put offer on as we were told they had been offered the asking price." OP had ample prior opportunity to offer the asking price;

"We were never even phoned to be given a chance to outbid it. Left a considerably lower offer on the table and asked to be kept posted if it went sale agreed/deal fell through etc." Surely, when OP left the 'lower offer' on the table, the opportunity was there to instead leave a higher offer on the table, if that was what was wanted.

If you put an offer on a property and subsequently discover that it went sale agreed with somebody else at a lower price, you might justifiably feel aggrieved. But if a property is sold and you merely might have offered more for it, I see no cause to blame the estate agent. A prospective buyer who wants to be sure of securing a property should at a minimum ensure that he\she is the current highest bidder. If you suspect that there is a 'phantom' bidder against you, you may decide to step out of the bidding, but if it turns out that there actually is another bidder, then that is really just the luck of the draw.

 

[woods]

I have limited sympathy:

If you put an offer on a property and subsequently discover that it went sale agreed with somebody else at a lower price, you might justifiably feel aggrieved. But if a property is sold and you merely might have offered more for it, I see no cause to blame the estate agent. A prospective buyer who wants to be sure of securing a property should at a minimum ensure that he\she is the current highest bidder. .

I would think that the agent has a duty to the vendor to get the best possible price and if he even suspects that there is a possibility of someone else making a higher offer then he should give them the chance.
On the other hand his cut of an extra 1K is only €20 and a bird in the hand etc. but that is not giving the best service to his client.