Sales Tactics of Estate Agents & Builders

Regardless of whether you are a potential First-Time Buyer in York actively seeking out your first home or a Home Mover in York with your house on the property market, you may have noticed that some of the larger estate agents and builders would prefer that you use their in-house mortgage advisor and conveyancing services.

Estate Agent Sales Tactics For Pushing You To Take Their Mortgage Advice

We have spent many years working as a dedicated and individual mortgage broker in York. We don’t work with banks, building societies or estate agents, we work solely for the customer. As such, we do often find ourselves speaking with customers who have been pressured by some estate agents to use their own in-house financial services. Some of the stories we have heard include;

Refusal To Put Forward an Offer

Many estate agents out there have track records of refusing to put an offer forward if you choose to use a different mortgage advisor instead of their own. At times they have also refused to put offers forward to the vendor, because someone who has used their in-house mortgage advice service has also made an offer that they’d rather show favouritism towards, even if it’s lower.

Overpriced Service Costs

Another sales tactic we see often, is the estate agents quoting immensely overpriced conveyancing fees. In the past we have had clients who have unfortunately had this happen to them. One was quoted more than £1,500 for a regular purchase.

With our dedicated mortgage advisors helping out, we got this cost down. Following this, we suggested that the client use another conveyancer in the nearby area and were able to get this down to £750. That’s exactly half of the quoted price.

Demanding Information & Being Pushy

Once you’ve made an offer, you might then expect a phone call detailing whether or not you’ve been accepted. It seems like the next logical step right? However, what tends to happen with some cases, is the estate agent will call up and demand to know which conveyancer you have used.

What follows is the estate agent refusing to take the property off the market, unless you agree that you will use their own in-house service. As you might imagine, their quotations will be extortionately overpriced and completely unfair to the customers, but they will put you on the spot and make you feel like you have no choice to take enlist their services. This is something a mortgage broker in York can absolutely help you be prepared for. So the questions that need answering then are…

Are These Tactics Legal? Do I Have To Use My Estate Agents In-House Mortgage Advisor?

Absolutely not, they are highly illegal. You have the freedom to go wherever you wish when it comes to your mortgage process. You can use any broker, any conveyancing or any other financial service. It’s all down to what you would personally prefer. You are under no obligation to use the services on offer from the estate agent, as their job is simply to foresee the sale between yourself and the vendor.

Popular Estate Agent & Builder Sales Quotes Include:

• “Keeping everything under one roof is easier with one point of contact”
• “If you use our services it will give the vendor peace of mind that everything will go through smoothly”
• “We will do all of the chasing of the solicitors for you and they’ll be more responsive to us due to the amount of work we send them”
• “You need to come in and see our mortgage advisor for your offer to be qualified”
• “Everything is likely to go through quicker if you use us”
• “We’ll give you a free carpet/washing machine if you use our (extortionately priced) recommended conveyancing service”
• “Your offer is more likely to be accepted if you use our mortgage advisor”
• “We get better deals than most brokers”

Be Careful & Stand Your Ground

Always remember, when negotiating a purchase price… Is it really within your best interests for the person selling the property you’re interested in buying, to know your personal financial situation and potentially know how much you’re able to borrow in order to pay for that property? Something which they can then use against you to convince you to use their own financial services?

Stay vigilant and make sure that if you don’t want to use it, they know this and do not guilt you into a trap. It’s your mortgage, your offer, your potential home. Getting in touch with a trusted mortgage advisor in York will help you be as prepared as possible, in advance of encountering these tactics.

Fast & Friendly Mortgage Advice in York