Even though estate agents are a vital link in the property market for both sellers and buyers, some of them are keen on squeezing every penny from you to their advantage. As such, you need to keenly study their dealings to be able to point out any tricks that they may employ to against you.
Here are some of the top estate agent tricks to avoid:
- Talking you out of the best deal – You will do well not to disclose to the agent your maximum price if you are buying or your bottom line in the case of a seller as you might end up settling for it.
Thus, you need to ensure that you do not let the agenda of your estate agent eclipse your agent. The best way to do this is to shop around for the right agent and get a reliable property valuation before you decide to sell your house fast.
- Whipping you into a frenzy – If you want to sell your house without having to deal with a lot of hassle, you can always turn to companies like https://webuyhousesinatlanta.com/. But estate agents need to create a buzz around your property. Also, some of them will try to make you panic by arranging for appointments when other buyers are viewing the property. In addition, rather than working through each offer at a time, they may go ahead and introduce sealed bids pitting you against other buyers without disclosing how much they are willing to offer.
Thus, you need to stay headstrong and not be quick to fall for this trick. Remember, this is usually aimed at getting you to increase your price to more than you can afford. Therefore, keep in mind the amount you are willing to pay and stick to it.
- Coming up with phantom offers to drive your price up – Here, you make an offer of a price that is below the asking price and it is accepted. Consequently, the property is taken off the market as you work on completing the sale.
However, this is quickly followed by a call from the estate agent informing you that someone that had viewed the property previously placed an offer that a little higher than yours. In most cases, this will be a false bid therefore challenge the estate agent by asking them to let you see proof of the offer in writing. This will help you confirm if the third party exists and their willingness to make a higher offer.
This is usually depressing and can be costly. Some of the ways of eliminating this is through the good will charter or a lock our agreement.
- Pressuring you to use their mortgage brokers – There are some estate agents that will resort to putting pressure on people to use their mortgage service while alluding it to the fact that you will receive preferential treatment or even claim they cannot work unless you do. All this is illegal.
Thus, you will do well to try to get a quote from the estate agent’s mortgage adviser before you shop around. Even then, keep in mind that estate agents may have a narrow selection of mortgages than if you look further. In addition, you may be required to pay your estate an upfront charge for advice yet banks and mortgage brokers can give this advice at no cost.
- Selling you extra advertising – in the event that your property is not selling and you are considering a change of tactics from your estate agents, they may recommend that you pay them more for advertising so that they do more in marketing your property. This is despite advertisement being included in their agent fees.
Estate agents do a great job in selling your property or facilitating the property buyer process. However, some agents use unorthodox means to obtain more money or even do business and this can be detrimental to you. Therefore, you need to be on the look out for anything that defies the process of buying and selling property.
