Dealing with Estate Agents and Builders

snatch

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I'm not sure that anyone will be able to help, but I'd appreciate any pearls of wisdom on the following situation...

In early Jan, we noticed that an estate we were interested in has one house empty (with sale agreed sign outside) for the best part of a year while all other houses are now occupied. I contacted EA to enquire and the story was that the builder had held one back for tax purposes and would be willing to sell now. EA was to contact builder and come back to me with a price.

That was 2 weeks ago. Story from the EA in the first week was that the builder was to visit property and see what needed to be done (e.g. kitchens, bathrooms etc.) and would revert asap. Needless to say, getting hold of the president would be easier than contacting this EA. He hasn't come back since, and is blaming builder for not getting back to him. House value is €450-500k.

My question is how to proceed?? We are very interested in this house and EA knows we are keen because we called him about it (it's not advertised). I don't want to emphasise anymore how keen we are because that will prob result in €20k being added to asking price. However, on the other hand, I work in sales, and if a customer was calling to enquire about buying something from me for that amount of money, I would bite their hand off! Yes, I know builders/EAs are a breed apart but what's the next step?
 
Contact the builder directly, but you might find that it is the builder who is the problem. The auctioneer would probably be anxious to sell the house and get his commission.

Brendan
 
According to the Estate Agent, the builder is still 'deciding' what price tag to put on the house. So, if I call builder directly, am I not just going to indicate to him that he can charge what he likes? We have decided a max price that we are willing to pay for the house and will have to negotiate with him if he comes in above this.
 
It's been said before, you have to try and leave emotion out of this.

I would go to the EA with a best & final offer, with a time window on acceptance (say 2 weeks?), after which time I would move on to pastures new. There are other houses out there.

Good luck!
 
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