house-selling/buying scam?

Ooh er! Perhaps ask the same questions to the estate agent? It will be interesting to hear their response.

The information had to come from someone involved in selling or buying . There is no other explanation.

Could it come from someone who's house you viewed? Although I can't think why they would contact you.

x

J52: That did cross my mind too, but I doubt that they would be able to get hold of my parents' phone number even if they wanted to.

Maybe there will turn out to be a perfectly innocent explanation, but so far I don't have a clue what it could be!

Some agents in the U.S. Have you sign a sheet when you walk in to view a house. They ask for name, email,phone and name of your agent. It's not mandatory but they prefer you fill it out. Maybe it got in the wrong hands?

I would say it had to be leaked through someone working at the estate agents, That is not the same as saying the estate agency was responsible.

A staff member may have a scam going on on the quiet where they pass info on to a developer who tries to buy houses at knock down prices from people on the move who may either be unused to the procedure or trying to move fast because they have found a house that they want to buy.

The more I think about it, the more I think it could have been innocent.
The agents who arranged the viewing are a large, well-known company with offices all over, and presumably they share info.between offices via their computer systems. In fact, the two viewings my parents did last week were by different - though geographically close - offices of the same estate agents. Perhaps another branch in the region wanted to get in on the act too. Nevertheless, none of us will be volunteering any info to unidentifiable cold callers, and especially not ones with a very strong foreign accent!

If I find out anything definite, I'll let you all know

I think the info must have come via one of the agents. Although most of us know that all contact should be through the agents not all sellers and purchasers seem to.

DS is in the process of selling his house and one man kept coming to his door and leaving his card if DS was not in. He insisted he wanted to buy the house and offered a good price but it transpired he was known by the agent and had offered on several houses but not proceeded to purchase. The person buying it at the moment has also made personal contact, trying to get a reduction after the surveyor said the gutters needed cleaning and there was not enough insulation in the loft. Some people simply try it on and think individuals are more gullible than the agents.

Some people try it on, full stop. You do not need to be gullible for this to happen to you. Sometimes there is a genuine reason for reducing an offer after survey because it reveals problems that need to be sorted and cost money, but others push their luck.

When we sold DF house, the CH boiler was about 7 years old. The buyer tried to get a reduction on the basis as the boiler was a free-standing boiler with a normal flue rather than the, nowadays, standard balanced flue, this made the boiler dangerous . They wanted a reduction of £10,000. We told them politely where to go.