Estate agent Dublin - lack of interest in me as a buyer!

sophie01

Hi all,

I thought i would post this for anyone considering or in the process of selling their house at the moment. I know it is a time of concern for all property owners and houses are not seeling like they used to - and on top of this estate agents claiming that they might have to increase their charges because it is now "harder" to sell houses.

I just though i would share an example of how "hard" they have to work - I am thinking of changing house and saw 2 i liked on myhome. An estate agent (who shall remain nameless) was selling both.I emailed the estate agent as i was in work and asked them to contact me with viewing times - a short while later i had heard nothing but i noticed they were actually selling a third property in the area that i liked the look of so i actually rang up and explained that i was now interested in all three - the girl took my details and said someone would ring me that day (thurs) or at the latest the next day (friday) to arange a viewing of all 3 properties on the sat. i never heard from them at all so obviously didn't view anything on the saturday - i waited all last week and again heard nothing so rang again on monday this week. explained that nobody had got back to me and the receptionist apologiesd and put me through to a negotiator - i explained the same story to him and he again apologised and said no problem arrangign viewings - had nothing during the week so said it would be this sat - he said he would ring me that day or at the latest tuesday morning - it is now wednesday and i have heard nothing.

do these people actually want to sell any of these three houses. i have worked in sales and when a customer rings twice and emails to express an interest i would consider this a pretty hot lead!

i would have assumed they would be jumping at the chance to get some viewings for their clients and maybe even some interest but they obviously don't seem bothered and the service they have shown me is of a very poor standard.

i just feel so sorry for the people selling these houses and want to advise everyone in that position to keep your estate agent on a tight rein and make them give you daily/weekly updates.

do you think i should leave a note for the sellers directly? or make a complaint somewhere..

cold_filter

A similar thing happened to my brother a month ago, In the end he got so pissed off with the estate agent he just knocked up to the 2 houses he was interested in explained to the vendors about the situation and viewed the houses. He is now buying one of the houses and the vendors were none too impressed with the estate agent!

seamus

Depends on the agent I think. We've contacted a couple of agents who never bothered their ass, whereas other agents will be on the phone in a couple of minutes, and will ring to confirm viewings.

mad m

Arranged to view a property one time,waited outside the house for over half an hour before I rang EA to see where he was. Gave me some story about his partners car being lifted in town and he was on way to pound to get his car out. So arranged for a viewing the next day and same story,wait over half an hour and no EA again. Didnt bother my arse to ring for another viewing. The house is still now on myhome and the price has dropped over 120K...Mad!

bugler

From a renters perspective I've met some real specimens in the EA game. It is experiences like these that will see people happy when some of them go to the wall.

jdivision

Leave notes for the vendors. Tell them that EA has been rubbish and you wanna see the houses. In current market vendor'll be on to you straight away.

june28

I have had similar experiences. As a first time hopeful buyer, I am not impressed with the estate agents I have come in contact with this far. All they seem to do is unlock the front door and "can't remember" why the house is for sale, how old it is, and all sorts of other stuff. I was wondering if it was ok to approach a seller and arrange a private deal but it appears to be. I thought the EA's would have some sort of clause prohibiting this. It is really annoying.

Jo King

Estate Agents generally have a clause in their brochures stating that these particulars are given on the understanding that all negotiations will be carried out through the firm. They are entitled to a commission if they introduce a buyer to a house. A buyer seeing the "For Sale" sign or advertising on the net or newspaper or even a photograph in the EA's window is considered to be introduced. I know of a prominent firm who failed to show a prospective
buyer a house claiming a fee on the basis of a note of a telephone call he had made to the agency.

Victor

In fairness it is silly season at the moment with a lot of people (vendors, agents, solicitors, brokers, bankers, buyers) on holidays.

But no defence at the same time.

sophie01

well to give you a further update. i did get a message on my mobile late wednesday - i was in a meeting so rang the EA back on his mobile and left a message (so he definately got it). never heard back from him so rang the ofice on friday as i was under the impression he would have viewings lined up for me on the sat - he wasn't there but the receptionist (once again) asked for my details and what properties i was interested in. when i told her she said "well i do know that house X and house Y definately have no viewings for tomorrow but i will get him to ring me" so i didn't get to see anything on saturday - its now tuesday, i am still interested in 3 houses which are all still for sale, i have made contact 5 times with this company and have yet to hear about 1 viewing.
i am thinking about ringign up to ask for the owners/GM details and write to him (its an independent EA) to complain and in that letter say i have written a note to each of the sellers which will be arrivign in the post to them tomorow as well.
is that fair enough? but at this stage even if the EA came grovelling with some excuse of holidays how can i expect to buy a house from him - his obviously beign pissed off if i complain about him and me very frustrated with him.
i normally wouldn't bother ever contacting them again but i really want to see these houses!!!!! catch 22

jdivision

Who's the EA. Name and shame at this stage tbh. I'm guessing it has three letters

gandalf

LOL thats the one I guessed as well. Had a similar experience with them. Their loss I have bought with someone else.

A Random Walk

If it was me I would try and contact the vendors directly, either drop a letter in or go knock on the door. I wouldn't put up with any of this rubbish, it's a buyers market and you should move on rather than have your stress levels elevated.

MiaMia

I am in the process of buying myself at the moment and have had smilar problemes with some EA. I wonder though - Do we actually need EA at all? Advertising a single property on one the major Irish websites is quite cheap, you know the selling points of your own house better than the EA.

Hire a good solictor and what else do you need?

sophie01

well the estate agent is an indepentent one based in dundrum - the trouble is that they seem to have so many properties in and around that area - they must have a good reputation or word of mouth - I saw another 1 last night on myhome and they are selling that too - oh the frustration! Have heard nothing from them still... might use good cop bad cop technique and get my boyfriend to ring them and give them a kick up the arse.
But i really don't want to give them my business at this stage, they dont' deserve a penny in commission.

and people are wondering why houses aren't selling!!

bugler

Just bypass them. Have you contacted the sellers directly yet? Do it! And make sure to tell them how uninterested the EA has been.

There are plenty of worried sellers out there, and if these particular sellers are some of them then they won't be too happy the EA they're paying has been effectively working against them.

MoominPapa

sophie01 wrote:

well the estate agent is an indepentent one based in dundrum

They wouldn't happen to be based not a million miles from the luas bridge? If its them its down to the individual you're dealing with. One guy ( the idiot son of the owner) showed us the same house twice in three days, the second time we were waiting and he pulled up in front of the house next door where there was a car in the drive and turns around to us with a confused look on his face and says "looks like the owners haven't left yet." All the while this guys EA sign, with his surname (him being the idiot son) is staring him in the face next door, where there was no car and he had been 3 days before.
These guys were the agents on the house we eventually bought and the agent was grand (not related afaik), very helpful, she arranged with the vendor to allow us to drop stuff in the house and went up to the house with the gas/esb to get us hooked up before final closing, and easy to deal with.

DonJose

I know of one estate agent who got calls from people interested in a property. The property was viewed and an offer was made, the estate agent never forwarded the offer as he was interested in purchasing the property for himself. The owners thought nobody was interested in the property so theys had to reduce the price, after a couple of price reductions the estate agent purchased the house.

bugler

...and charged his commission!

gandalf

I have a very good idea of who you are refering to sophie