Somehow the estate agent manages to come over as quite the villain of the piece in a new article in the Spectator.
How come? Well, the seller found somewhere else to live, the agent took the instruction, and two days later had the writer’s flat under offer at pretty well the asking price.
And the buyers were so keen that they wanted to go and measure up for curtains.
So, what on earth could possibly go wrong?
Well – all agents will know exactly what happened.
The seller – writer Melissa Kite – changed her mind.
So, did the agent do anything wrong – apart, that is, from getting some good buyers happy to pay the price, and thus allowing Kite to move?
Where shall we start?
First, she “badgered” Kite into accepting their offer.
Apparently she invented a holiday that the buyers were about to go on, to try and get Kite to hurry up and agree to sell to them.
And then “a mess of leaflets from three removal firms fluttered on to my doormat because, naturally, as well as inventing an impending holiday, the agent had sold my details to every man with a van”.
Kite: “Right, that’s it. I’m not selling.”
Agent: “But they’re good buyers.”
Kite: “I don’t care if they’re Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. You can tell them they don’t need to measure my windows for their curtains because I’ve had a change of plan.”
Unfortunately, as we don’t know who the agent was, we can’t get her side of the story.
But if you’re reading our take on this, we’d love to know more, especially if the S word was ever used.
As in “Sorry for wasting everyone’s time and messing you all around”.
Somehow, though, we suspect it was the agent who was expected to apologise.
Comments (10)
I think that it is completely unacceptable for someone in a position of power (i.e. a column in something like The Spectator) to take an example of their own poor behaviour and go on to blame someone else entirely.
What a truly horrendous example of the human species.
Mind you, given all of that, the industry is set up specifically to attract this kind of behaviour.
It’s a shame that the world went into meltdown when the HIP was launched. That sorted the girls out from the reporters (ha ha!)
Having read the full article the seller was nervous and having second thoughts before she even put her house up for sale so in my opinion the seller wasted everyone’s time and efforts. With regards to the comment about her agent selling her details to every man with a van these business people watch Rightmove/Zoopla etc. and once a property goes under offer that when they start to target as its their business, the seller quite clearly has not moved house for some time.
Difficult to put anyone at blame, every situation is different. I have had buyers pull out at the last minute and also sellers decide to stay put, after the purchaser has already paid mortgage arrangement fees etc.
Thankfully, I did the best I could to manage every situation so my clients never pointed any fingers at me. These things sometimes just happen and in England, anyone has the right to pull out before exchange of contracts so this is a risk every has to take.
wow, I must say i feel awfully sorry for all these poor sheep like vendors who clearly have absolutely no will power of their own getting constantly bullied by the big bad estate agent who is clearly exercising jedi mind powers over these humble creatures.
come on people – lets all grow up here. If I don’t want to do something, I say “um..no”
If you change your mind about something, that’s ok. just have the spine to admit it instead of blaming other people. surely this sort of behaviour was left in school playground??
i dont usually rant on here but seriously, agency negotiation and quickbrit need to have a reality check. I bet they blame the oven when they burn the potatoes.
This shows how our industry ‘no sale no fee’ model encourages potential vendors to put their homes up for sale on a whim. A good agent will always test the vendors motivation to move so moving because the Potterton needs attention isn’t one of them!
Obviously we’ve not heard from the agent involved (I say name and shame), but it seems obvious that the agent pressured the seller and lied.
The agent acted poorly.
Case closed.
Are you for real Agency Negotiation Ltd? Or have I just missed the sarcasm in your comment?
And why would the agency not be to blame? Their client has to feel comfortable and the process should revolve around the vendors timeframe, not the buyer and certainly not around that of the agency. There’s always another time to sell with a better agency!
Maybe, just maybe the seller is paranoid! I think from the article who ever sold the property she would have an issue with.
I thought I would try and write something pithy and withering, but then thought “Why bother?” you have neither the wit or the intelligence to understand it do you?
Unless I have entirely missed the tone of your post.
If I have it wrong, please accept my apologies – might I suggest a smiley for clarification next time.