hi all,
last week I made an offer for an apartment and the owner accepted the bid,
under the conditions (made by the owner), that the tenants live in the
unit until November paying rent.But the agent has said this verbally that my bid was accepted by this price.
I have emailed him, but instead he respond to my question by phone.I feel I cant trust this agent because he doesn't put anything on paper.
My solicitor has done the due diligence, we have the strata reports,
but waiting for
the contract not the draft.But the agent tells me, all the solicitor has to do is fill in the blanks
and it's done. It's been 3 working days so far, and the agent is
behaving irrationally. And has threatened me, by saying that the other
bidder has matched my bid.I keep telling the agent that my conveyancer wont look at it, until the
copy of contract is sent, not the draft with letters ("Draft copy subject
to change").
And I told him he should call my solicitor to sort this out.
He calls up 1hr later, and tells me it's sorted. I called up my solicitor
and they telling me they havent received it.when I asked him if he spoke to my conveyancer. and he
says he speaks to alot of people.not sure what to do, I have dealt with agent's like this before. Halfway
paying for the conveyancer the property has been exchanged, despite the agent
telling me the unit is still on sale.one thing I have noticed is, he has pulled the ad from the listings, but
I'm not sure if it's to do with my bid. As he has told me that he cant
reach the vendor and it keeps going to voice mail. Also, he hasnt written
the accepted bid on paper, which isnt worth much verbally.I would have thought a big realestate agent firm operate professionally,
but I was wrong.At the end of the day, no big loss, just $200. Is the solicitor being too
cautious?my gut feeling tells me to walk away, what should I do?
Andrew
I would call the agent and tell him if he cant deliver the contracts to sign then you're walking away. Give him a deadline. He loses his commission if he doesn't.
thanks bjsaust, I will do that.
SS, can I assume that this is Victoria and the contract isn't prepared until a bid has been accepted? If your solicitor is saying that he talks to alot of people then I would also question his authenticity if he can't confirm if he has spoken to the vendor's agent/solicitor.
SNM – I thought in Victoria, you cannot put in a offer until the Contract of Sale and the Sec 32 (Vendor Statement) has been finalised. I have been told by the Real Estate Agent that offers can only be made when Sec32 has been finalised, and contract of sale is always made avaliable at the same time?
Andrew – Deffinately a difficult situation to be in!
I wouldn't trust Real Estate Agents if my life depended on it. (no offence to any REA out there
)
REA don't really take on much of the burden, post transaction (including incorrect advertisement). All that counts is what's on the contract you signed at the end of the day!I always email the real estate agent back to confirm the content of the phone conversation, so I have a record and I tend to document all conversations when there's a transaction going on. Because you have essentially established a verbal contract with the real estate agent, and if he turns around and sell it to someone else, or inflat the agreed price. You have grounds to sue for damages or apply for a court injunction to stop the agent from selling the property to another party before you are done dealing with him (I know, who would wanna go through all that trouble, but the potential exposure to the REA may make he reconsider his actions?)
An alternative solution you could have taken at the start, even before the documents are ready from the Vendor's side, is get your solicitor to set up a Header of agreement, which sets out the terms and condition of the purchase once the Vendor statement is ready. However, this will be additional cost to set up and there's no guarantee the real estate will act in your favour.
Good luck
Kenny
Please note that I am not a soclicitor, so please seek professional advice before taking action.strange story. certainly time wasting. probably also unprofessional.
if business cannnot be done promptly without this carry on i think i would move on.
plenty of other properties out there.wonder why such a muddle?
regardsan extension to 'should I walk away' , looking at an unconditional contract where seller is requesting that the 10% be released immediately obviously to use on a property they are looking at purchasing…it will be $130-$140K of hard earned, is it worth the risk and what measures can I put in place? additional complication is it is a silent auction, 1 bid, highest bid wins.
thanks
Hi Everyone,
thanks for all your advice, and the good news is, from what the agent has said to me today, exchanged occurred early today. so, hopefully the settlement goes smoothly. Last monday the agent gave all the right documents to the conveyancer. I didnt want to probe him. and I'm not sure what game the agent was playing, but I really doubt their was another bidder.
DavidGi wrote:additional complication is it is a silent auction, 1 bid, highest bid wins.yes, it was a silent auction. There was an initial asking price and he indicated that another bidder was willing to pay an extra 5k. He wanted me to submit my final bid the following day. And he kept reassuring me that he didnt want a bidding war.
I sensed it was fake, but I felt that an extra 5K on top of the other bidder was ok. Last friday, when I told him that my conveyancer wasnt going to proceed until they had the correct contract, he blurted out the other bidder has come back to him and has offerred the same amount I'm offerring.KennyJaiz wrote:Andrew – Deffinately a difficult situation to be in!I wouldn't trust Real Estate Agents if my life depended on it. (no offence to any REA out there
)
REA don't really take on much of the burden, post transaction (including incorrect advertisement). All that counts is what's on the contract you signed at the end of the day!I always email the real estate agent back to confirm the content of the phone conversation, so I have a record and I tend to document all conversations when there's a transaction going on. Because you have essentially established a verbal contract with the real estate agent, and if he turns around and sell it to someone else, or inflat the agreed price. You have grounds to sue for damages or apply for a court injunction to stop the agent from selling the property to another party before you are done dealing with him (I know, who would wanna go through all that trouble, but the potential exposure to the REA may make he reconsider his actions?)
yes, I tried to force a response. I guess I was hoping he would have replied to my final bid saying something like the vendor has agreed and to please forward the solicitor details etc. but nothing in this case. Also, I had nothing on paper to give to my bank manager that the vendor has accepted my bid only his word.
again thanks for everyone responses.
best regards
Andy
)
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