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AIBU?

Estate Agent & elderly parents

21 replies

currentbuns · 17/02/2013 17:09

An estate agent (from a well-known, reputable agency) turned up on my elderly parents door-step last week, and told them she wanted to discuss their house.

Being polite, my parents invited her in, offered her a drink and so forth. She presented a folder complete with information about their house, including picture of the property and a satellite image of the property from above, information about the local area etc. The sort of thing that would be used to sell a property. She said she had a couple of clients who were keen to buy.

The house is a large period property in an affluent area, but could do with some restoration etc and isn't as immaculate as other houses in the street. I suspect that this, combined with my parents' age (in their 80's) might make the house appear like a potential bargain to would-be buyers.
My parents have been approached by various people in the past, including a couple of times by their immediate neighbour, asking them to consider selling the house, but they have repeatedly said they did not want to sell.

This unsolicited visit from the estate agent just seemed a little off to me. My parents are completely in control of their faculties, so I am not necessarily concerned about them in that respect, but I feel this strategy on the part of the estate agent seemed slightly unethical. My mother also suspects she may have been acting on behalf of their (persistent) neighbour.
WIBU to ring the EA and complain about them targeting an elderly couple in his way?

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oldraver · 17/02/2013 17:12

I would go and tell the Estate agent you are interested in a large period property and would love a 'project'. See what they say.

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Bilbobagginstummy · 17/02/2013 17:12

YANBU - the bloody cheek!

IF your parents should ever want to sell, they now know one estate agent who will NOT be getting their business.

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HollyBerryBush · 17/02/2013 17:15

www.naea.co.uk/

^^ give them a call - thats the National Association of Estate Agents.

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magimedi · 17/02/2013 17:18

YANBU I would be fuming & would be mentioning harassment & solicitors when I spoke to EA.

And if they are part of a chain of EA's I'd be looking at writing to the CEO.

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scarlettsmummy2 · 17/02/2013 17:19

I would do what old raver has suggested!

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currentbuns · 17/02/2013 17:19

Thanks all, I wasn't sure whether this sort of thing was just becoming standard procedure.
oldraver that sounds like a choice errand for dh, he'd enjoy that
holly thank you for the link, looks useful

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porridgewithalmondmilk · 17/02/2013 17:20

It isn't Bridgfords is it!? They sold my house recently, but I would never ever use them again.

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PortHills · 17/02/2013 17:22

Our elderly neighbours needed to sell as moving into care. The estate agent didn't even put the house on the open market, it was sold to a developer with no one else being given a chance to offer. And they sold it to the developer for about £70k less than everyone thought it would go for. I think they totally took advantage of our neighbours, and fuddled them. I assume they work closely with the property developers and receive payment from them. So you are right to be wary of them.

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HollyBerryBush · 17/02/2013 17:23

Mature folks are either very wiley or ripe for the plucking, usually the latter, sadly.

My friend, not an estate agent, is dreadful - she researches areas she wants to live, finds a house that is obviously occupied by someone old and waits for them to pop their clogs - shes has no qualms whatsoever about sticking a note through the door to the grief stricken family in the hopes of a cheap cash sale - I just wouldnt have the balls! this is why she is now property wealthy and I am not

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zeno · 17/02/2013 17:33

Complain to the agents and tell them not to call again.

My granny (in her 80s) has been taken advantage of financially by charming callers, and it sucks. I hate that there are people on our world who think it's fine to earn their bread by conning the elderly out of theirs.

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currentbuns · 17/02/2013 21:00

porthills that is dreadful. I'm sure plenty of EA's are hand in glove with developers

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ChairmanWow · 17/02/2013 21:32

Is it Bridgfords? I've had an awful experience with them basically shutting me in a room with a financial advisor who tried to push me into borrowing an insane mortgage. I had to get a bit shouty to get out of there. I'd only gone in to get some property details. I've got friends who've complained about them as well. Sounds like they're getting more and more aggressive. Definitely put a complaint in about this. They have no right to cold call your elderly parents.

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currentbuns · 17/02/2013 22:12

No, it's not Bridgfords, it's another company. What you went through sounds dreadful though. I once had an EA around (another company again) to give me a quote when I wanted to rent out my old house. I didn't sign anything or agree to let him manage the property, but he went ahead and listed it for rent in the agency's window - complete with photos he'd taken (ostensibly as an aide memoire) when I was showing him around the house. I only realised when a friend told me she'd seen the advert.

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cozietoesie · 17/02/2013 22:21

Go t9 the local press.

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MidniteScribbler · 17/02/2013 22:46

I don't see that they have really done anything wrong. Marketing and cold calling is part of real estate, and if the property is desirable, then people may have been asking about that type of property in the area. A real estate agent isn't doing their job if they then don't try and find that sort of property. I currently have an agent looking for property for me in a specific area, and I hope they are actively trying to find it, not just waiting for it to fall in to their laps.

Satellite photos are easily available online, and if they haven't physically entered the property to take photos, then they haven't done anything wrong there either. She wasn't rude or pushy, you're parents invited her in and offered her a drink. She presumably left without forcing them to sign anything. The marketing material is easy to put together. You could give me any address anywhere and I'd probably be able to figure out an average market value based on websites which list previous sales, current sales, local demographics, etc. It's not rocket science, anyone can do that themselves.

Your parents are within their rights to say "no, we're not interested, please don't come back" and if she kept hounding them, then she would be out of line and you should definitely complain. But for now, she's not doing anything wrong at all.

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Bilbobagginstummy · 18/02/2013 07:05

It might be ok in whatever country you are in (you talk about real estate which is not a British term), but not in the UK.

The very most that us ok is putting a note through someone's door. The agent is being outrageously aggressive!

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Tailtwister · 18/02/2013 07:40

I wouldn't like this either OP. Your parents may live in a desirable property, but they should be able to go about their lives without people hassling them to sell their house.

We had the same problem with my father. Properties rarely come up for sale in his street and he had a string of people coming to the door asking about the house. He has lived there for over 40 years and says he'll be leaving when he's carried out!

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HollyBerryBush · 18/02/2013 07:46

Is this a new phenomenon in parts of the country? we certainly get nothing like that round these parts. The odd leaflet and thats about it.

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Sparklingbrook · 18/02/2013 07:59

That's dreadful. And they have no right to take photos of the house do they?

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Tulahoob · 18/02/2013 08:43

It seems that these days Estate Agents think they are God-like and can do as they please.

A friend of mine recently put her house on the market and the agents tried to impose a condition that only buyers that were getting a mortgage through their (not impartial) mortgage advisor could view the house and offer on it. My friend told them where to go, and said that she was happy for anyone to view, regardless of where they were getting their mortgage from.

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 18/02/2013 10:12

Oh, that's nasty.

We get leaflets through the door asking us to consider selling all the time - we do not live in a nice period property and indeed we rent so it's utterly pointless - but I think that is as far as it should go. I think this is deliberately taking advantage of elderly people. It makes me shudder to think how my granny would have reacted to something like this when she was beginning to get confused. She'd have been horribly upset and would probably have thought either that we were trying to make her sell her home, or that she'd called the estate agent in and then forgotten it. Sad

I just think there should be a responsibility not to prey on elderly people like this. Banks do it too. It's disgusting.

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