A house we were very interested was advertised 2 week ago, I contacted the agent immediately and got one of the first appointments to view it (this coming Friday).

We had finance with the bank etc all arrange and were good to go if we liked it

The agent emailed me this morning, saying they have sold the house already. Is the system here so bad for its lack of transparency that when an appointment is made for a viewing you do not even get the opportunity to view it and make an offer yourself.

First come first serve? Why would the owner have to go through multiple visits if someone wants to buy it immediately?

Selling a house is almost as stressful as buying one. If I was selling and the first viewer offered to buy at a fair price I'd snap their hand off.

The house market is pretty fast here... we went to see a house on a Wednesday - two days after it was listed. Put an offer in, and were told that the house was already sold (Friday).

Second house we liked, we decided to put an offer in on the same day as we saw it... agent said that the seller already had several offers at the asking price and anything below the seller's asking price wasn't interesting. We didn't get it of course.

The house we eventually bought was a totally different story - we haggled about 20% off the price, and agreed on an entry date that was mutually suitable (seller had tenants, we were willing to wait a few months before moving in).

To get a better offer?

Sounds like the ex-owner had severe liquidity problems and needed the money from the sale as soon as possible.

PS. The agent is an employee/consultant. The one making the decisions is the owner, and owners have no duty of transparency to anyone but the taxman.

?? its not like this hasn't been covered a million times on here already, any house that is half decent in a desirable location will sell in hours here, its been the case for at least 10 years, if you don't get in first and make an offer there and then you'll lose.

Is it really that stressful for a seller to wait another week until all appointments have been met and you have a number of offers on the table, after all appointments have been arranged and time off had been arranged and time wasted meeting at the bank going through the documents and discussing finance.

Its common courtesy I believe

Our neighbours put their house on the market in January this year for what we all thought was at a price that was very high - even the agent tried to get them to lower it. It was sold within 14 days at the asking price.

It's not uncommon to find a few people willing to pay the asking price and then the agent asking for best and final offers.

Compared to other countries there is very little housing stock that comes up for sale so if the property is in good condition and someone is willing to pay then it goes very quickly.

Another option for you is to drive around your preferred area. A lot of houses in our location get sold directly - the Swiss make their own banners or notices and skip the agents who take 2.5% commission who as others have noted before are usually total snakes.

Id have zero problem if I viewed it and mulled over for a view days but the fact an appointment was arranged, it should be honoured.

But hey not going to change the way things work

you snooze you lose, who's to say the seller didn't already have 3 people making bids?? when we where looking people where making bids there and then and the price was going way above the asking price, we'd offer the asking price to be told someone else had already offered +100k (in zurich)

You dont get the point I was making, we didnt even get the chance to snooze

MIL's house took several months to sell,but in the end it sold for 400k more that the original offer.

Tom

not having viewed it on the first day is already snoozing.

Hmmmm being given the first available appointment after the house is up around hour online is not

but hey the system is what is

Some people just drive by the moment they find out it is for sale, they look from the outside, like what they see and immediately call or ring the doorbell and offer price + 10% or even 20% no financial reservations and acceptance possible whenever the seller fits, all they want is an instant agreement.

Most sellers can't resist this.

If OP searched for another year he might end up doing the same. It happens in every very wanted region in the world.

An appointment was arranged. Then the appointment was dutifully cancelled by the agent a few days before the agreed date.

If this is not polite and honorable, what's the standard?

Its not an appointment for a hairdresser, its an appointment that is life changing to most

The honourable thing to do is to honour the scheduled appointments which have been made, that is the polite thing to do, at least where I come from

So you have your appointment, visit the house for a viewing and then hear that the house has been sold. Would that have made you happy?

There is only one reason why you should see a house that has already been sold and that is to make a connection with the owners in case the buyer backs out. However, the owners chose to cancel all other appointments which is their right. I'd do the same.