Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

As mentioned in another thread, my son and I decided to look for a reasonably priced flat for us to purchase, with a view to his future. We saw one dark and pokey little place which boasted 'a wonderful view across the valley' but failed to mention the row of five fully grown and well mature trees barely three foot from the window! Then on a week last Thursday we viewed a wonderful bright and roomy flat and decided this was our new home. The young guy who theoretically was there to show us around barely moved from the lounge leaving us to investigate alone. Well that eas our first thought, now I am inclined to think it was less a case of not being the 'typical' estate agent, and more a case of not knowing what the hell he was doing.

Anyway we said there and then we were interested and would be organising finance immediately. I went straight to my bank and sorted a loan to transfer as a gift to my son for the deposit. And on the Friday he went to his mortgage advisor to organise his 'mortgage in principal' and we were off, or so we thought. Because Friday afternoon the rang to tell him that another viewer had put in an offer, which had been accepted. And for some reason they seemed reluctant to even consider putting in a counter offer on our behalf. In fact they seemed to think that as the offer had been accepted, it was a 'done deal'. I pointed out that other offers could be made, and that the vendor had a right to consider these offers right up until the contract was signed. He reluctantly agreed, and on Monday of last week, that is nine days ago, he told us our offer had been accepted.

Today we went for a second viewing after which we returned to the estate agent to query why items we had been given to understand were being left, were gone. He tried to say that they had been removed before he could tell the vendors we would have liked them to be left. But in which case why were five things we wanted, left?

Anyway, while we were there one of the young men mentioned that the other person who had put in an offer, had actually gone abroad on holiday and they were unsure of his return date!! So we had spent the last nine days thinking that no news was good news, when all along it was merely a hiatus.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that by not telling us last week that this was the case, they were being thoroughly unprofessional? Is it normal to put in an offer on a property then go on holiday the day after? Am I right in fact to suspect some sort of shenanigans?

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

Sounds like it DM

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

It sounds "iffy" to me too.

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

I wouldn't deal with such an unprofessional agent.

Run & don't look back.

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

Estate agents I hate 'em Bought a house last year and could fill pages with all the problems they caused.

In your case it's fairly simple, there is NO OTHER BUYER it's jusy a trick to get you to the 'exchange contract' stage as quickly as possible thus bringing in their commission and improving their cash flow.

I suspect they are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and are desperate to 'close' all deals quickly.

Telling 'porkies' about the other buyer being on holiday is rubbish but then lying is one thing a lot of estate agents are good at

Is it possible there are some other flats you like, if there are then try telling this agent you have decided not to proceede and see the look on their faces

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

I think the most important things to remember when buying property are that an agent is not your friend,(s)he is acting on behalf of the vendor and secondly there are plenty of vendors so look around a lot even if you have an offer in on a place. You can put in offers on more than one place and can pull out just as easily as the seller.

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

I don't believe your thinking is unreasonable. I would ask them to replace the items since they were included in your offer.

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

Okay, update, on Monday the estate agent rang and said they had heard from the other buyer who had topped ours, so having been offer quite a substantial mortgage 'in principal' we upped ours, I had been waiting on pins to hear the outcome, when earlier today my son told me that our last offer was called a 'last and final offer' and that unless the others put in quite a substantial bid, then the flat is ours. Furthermore today I spoke to one of the other people and she confirmed that we could start packing, yay!

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

I hope that it all goes well Daisymay and that your son enjoys his new home

Re: Buying property, am I being unreasonable?

Well to be honest it will be 'our' new home. At the moment we are still getting our heads around the fact that it is actually happening. Have no, and I mean no, idea what happens next. Ah well, it will eventually sort itself out.