Buying a new home can be a daunting and stressful time as finding the property you really want, dealing with the finances and handling legal details is a lot of work.
This is often not helped by some estate agents who are more interested in closing a deal than making sure the right person and home have been matched.
This is why a property expert has revealed 6 common estate agent tricks used against home buyers when viewing or discussing a house or flat.
Property expert reveals 6 very common estate agent tricks to watch out for when buying your next home
(Canva) While most estate agents are honest, some may use trickery to pressure you into buying a home (Image: Canva)
While most estate agents are helpful and want to assist buyers, the expert over at Land of Rugs has warned of 6 common tricks used by some agents.
Being vague on the price
One of the most common tricks agents use is to be vague on the price as some may want to create competition on the cost to create competition with other buyers.
This can lead to buyers paying more for the home than if the agent was more upfront about the price.
Fear of losing the purchase
Some estate agents will create a sense of urgency by encouraging the buyer to act quickly or risk losing the property to someone else.
Using code words
Agents will sometimes use other words or positive synonyms to mislead buyers.
For example, using words like ‘petite’ or ‘homely’ as code for 'small' or ‘in need of work’ can mean ‘there are no floors or plumbing.’
Listening closely to how agents talk about a home is essential to work out if it has something to hide.
(Canva) Some agents will be extra chatty so home buyers divulge personal information (Image: Canva)
Being extra chatty
Buyers will sometimes be extra chatty to make the buyer open up about their personal lives and financial situation.
It is important that buyers don't divulge too much as this may provide the agent with information like how badly they need the home and their income.
Encouraging you to raise your offer
Some estate agents will create fictional rival offers to encourage you to raise your offer for the home.
It's critical to remain confident and not let the estate agent pressure you into paying more than you can afford.
Encouraging you to skip property surveys
Many agents will assure the buyer that there is nothing wrong with the property and pressure them to not undertake a survey.
This is especially common if the property has been on the market for a long time as previously interested parties may have been aware of the issues.
This is why undertaking a survey is crucial as such properties could have issues that may be worth knowing about when you make an offer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here