To trust or not to trust? That is the question.

July 26, 2015 by Rob Kahl

As an estate agent I am constantly torn between what I think is morally correct and having to work within the confines of a house buying system that is outdated and open to abuse.

A scenario that fell in to my lap this week is a prime example. We have agreed a sale on a house, but the vendors want to keep the property on the market, rather than take it off and stop viewings and marketing. Obviously my allegiances lie with the vendor, after all they pay my fees, but I am also a mediator and want to try and keep all of the parties happy and eventually get the sale through. 

There is a bit more to the story, so I will give you a bit more detail before you decide what you would do if you were in that position as either a buyer or seller.  Try to put yourself in both peoples shoes and then decide what you would do in the circumstances?

The purchasers have been let down twice previously having been gazumped by vendors who have actively marketed their properties whilst having agreed a sale with my guys. They are currently out of pocket by about £750 having paid for surveys, searches and legal fees not to mention the emotional strain of committing to a property and getting their hopes up only to be dashed later down the line.

The vendors on the other hand have accepted an offer that was less than the full asking price but have not found a property yet that they wish to buy so are in no hurry.

As I said I work for the vendor and I can understand their thoughts. They could find someone else who would pay them more money obviously or the buyers could get bored of waiting for them to find a house and move on to a different property leaving them in the lurch and back to square one.

The buyers on the other hand will have to pay for another survey, pay for searches and pay for solicitors to start the conveyancing. They will also stop looking at new properties that come on to the market and could obviously miss out on something that they could move in to more quickly or may suit their needs equally as well as my property.

The problem is that until both parties exchange contracts which could be at least a couple of months away there is no commitment from either party. The system we work with means that at any point along the line anyone can change their mind and pull out of the transaction leaving the other party high and dry.

I personally feel that at this early stage of a transaction there has got to be a little bit of mutual trust from the parties involved. The vendors should trust the purchasers to proceed and not look for anything else and the purchasers should trust the vendors not to continue to market the property to try and sell the property to anyone else and pull the rug from under them.

I do appreciate that it is easy for me to it here in my comfy office and be all high and mighty and pretend that everybody I deal with is trustworthy and honourable. Most people seem to have some sort of horror story about being let down or lied to during a sale or purchase and quite rightly it makes people very suspicious, jaded and inevitably, they lose a little bit of faith in human nature.

If however the transaction is based upon trust from the outset and everybody knows where they stand then in my experience the whole transaction usually runs smoothly. If there are issues further down the line, like problems with surveys or negotiating dates, if the relationship with seller and buyer has started on the right foot then these are usually much easier to overcome.

So maybe it is me being a bit naïve and trusting people too much, but if everybody is honest when entering into a property transaction then people can trust each other and the whole process will run smoothly (yeah right!)

This article is by Rob at Scott & Stapleton
Tel: 01702 471155