Estate agents, can you trust them?

ball ox

I'm currently looking for a house and have been dealing with various different estate agents over the past couple of months. I have been playing my cards close to my chest since the beginning under the assumption that ALL estate agents will lie in one way or the other in order to sell a house for more money. Already I have met a few who have "omitted" to mention certain critical flaws in the property they are selling which has shown up in the survey...

Anyway, I have at last found a property which I am thinking of putting an offer in on. The estate agent is aware of this and has recently been in touch to tell me another buyer has offered X amount and the vendor has turned it down. I am assuming this is bull s**t and the estate agent is trying to boost my offer so that they can get more commission. A colleague of mine tells me this is unlikely though as this practice is illegal and there was a big exposé on it on nationwide a few years back.

What are your experiences with estate agents? Am I too skeptical in assuming they are all out to rip me off? Do today's business standards and laws prevent this kind of thing or is it the norm?

Probably worth mentioning that the estate agent in question is with one of the bigger/popular real estate agencies.

super_furry

Short answer no, long answer no ****ing way.

AARRRGH

ball ox wrote: »

The estate agent is aware of this and has recently been in touch to tell me another buyer has offered X amount and the vendor has turned it down.

LOL.

Tell him to **** off.

ball ox

Ha ha, thought I might get that kind of response alright! Yeah I think I'll probably just make an offer and refuse to budge on it. I wish there was a way to get in touch directly with the vendor so that you don't have to play games with these clowns.

RIRI

ball ox wrote: »

Ha ha, thought I might get that kind of response alright! Yeah I think I'll probably just make an offer and refuse to budge on it. I wish there was a way to get in touch directly with the vendor so that you don't have to play games with these clowns.

EA's most certainly can't be trusted OP! You could drop a note with your offer into the vendors letter box. We ended up having to bypass the EA when we bought our place & it worked very well for us. I'd take a punt on that if I were you

Good Luck

nice1franko

Tell him your offer was going to be under that so there's no point in putting it in. Wish him all the best.... and don't move too far from the phone.

mathie

How do you know when an Estate Agent is telling a lie?

He just is and he's also a ****.

Jaden

EA's cannot be trusted. Anyone who does is going to get stung. Even if you have commissioned the EA, and they are supposed to be working on your behalf, you still shouldn't trust them. Double check everything you do, and believe nothing they say.

TommyT

When you see an Estate Agents lips move, you know he is lying. When they arent moving, he is thinking about his next lie.

ball ox

Out of curiosity, is it actually illegal for an estate agent to lie about/fabricate competing buyers?

TommyT

ball ox wrote: »

Out of curiosity, is it actually illegal for an estate agent to lie about/fabricate competing buyers?

You would have to prove that they were lying. I am sure they could pull a bidder from thin air if needed.

robd

ball ox wrote: »

Out of curiosity, is it actually illegal for an estate agent to lie about/fabricate competing buyers?

No it is not. There are no laws or regulations in Ireland governing the sale of residential or commercial property by private treaty. Of course, contract law applies once you sign the actual contract with a solicitor. Up until then either party can lie, bluff, bull****, pull out, gazunder, gasump, and generally make a nusance of themselves, etc. with no fiscal penalty whatsoever. There's no obligation on seller or agent to disclose any faults no matter how big either. It's up to buyer to get professional advice via survey etc.

Bit like buying a used car really. Think Dell boy, then you'll have the picture.

ball ox

robd wrote: »

No it is not. There are no laws or regulations in Ireland governing the sale of residential or commercial property by private treaty. Of course, contract law applies once you sign the actual contract with a solicitor. Up until then either party can lie, bluff, bull****, pull out, gazunder, gasump, and generally make a nusance of themselves, etc. with no fiscal penalty whatsoever. There's no obligation on seller or agent to disclose any faults no matter how big either. It's up to buyer to get professional advice via survey etc.

Bit like buying a used car really. Think Dell boy, then you'll have the picture.

Jaysus, didn't realize that they had free reign to make up anything they want to that extent, always assumed there was regulation of some kind.

It really is a mindf*^k dealing with these people. I'm planning on putting in an offer tomorrow and sticking to it.

EA's most certainly can't be trusted OP! You could drop a note with your offer into the vendors letter box. We ended up having to bypass the EA when we bought our place & it worked very well for us. I'd take a punt on that if I were you

Good idea, unfortunately in this case the house is unoccupied though as it is need of some work. Might be worth posting a letter though in case anyone pops in.

Thanks for all the responses, I'm not surprised nobody here has had a positive experience with an EA.

ellejay

never ever ever trust an estate agent

put your offer in as you intended, if not accepted, move on.
they're all liars

just think of them as doormen, let you in and show you around.

do your own research and put your offer in without listening to their opinions or advice.

can you knock a few neighbours doors to try to contact the vendours directly? would be well worth it if you can.

best of luck

run_Forrest_run

don't trust the fu*kers, I can't believe they are still up to ghost bidding, you would have thought given the state of the property market they would have copped one and started to have some morals...obviously a few more need to be made redundant before they learn a lesson.

irishguy

Hahahha NO!!

Graces7

Wish we had known all this before we met any of these ******

A US lady we know wanted to buy a cottage here; she gave the idea up after realising that the agents did nothing to help her .

We sold a wee house; the negotiations took over a year. Dilly dally, obfuscate....we finally told them that if it were not settled within 48 house we would involve a higher power.

Amazingly it worked.

But never again.

Sooner trust old nick.

the ostrich

It's common knowledge among business people at least , that agents are generally not to be trusted, the best rule of thumb would be to never accept what they are telling you is totally true.

Do your own homework, ask people who have had dealings with the agent, get a second, and a third opinion, from other agents if neccessary, and if you are not absolutely sure, walk away, and use someone else.

Remember, currently, it's a buyers market in Ireland, prices are going down, and will continue to do so, so take your time, there is no rush, the market is flooded with properties for sale, and never put in an offer anywhere near the asking price !

Cleopatra_Rebel

ball ox wrote: »

Ha ha, thought I might get that kind of response alright! Yeah I think I'll probably just make an offer and refuse to budge on it. I wish there was a way to get in touch directly with the vendor so that you don't have to play games with these clowns.

i totally agree with that! i don't trust estate agents in the slightest! be very weary of them indeed! i think we should over-throw the Estate Agencies and let the vendors independently sell their own houses :cool:

Zamboni

Just a point of order to throw in here.

Why on earth would you expect an EA to be trustworthy?
Their whole profession is based on making you pay more than you should.
It's inherant in the job.

Boom_Bap

I was in a similar situation when looking at a house, i put in an offer and they responded by saying another party has a bid higher than mine. I should match it and as they 'liked' me they would push my offer in ahead of the other persons.

I declined and said to offer my original amount and see what the seller has to say.

A few days go past and the 'other buyer' has pulled out and they wanted to meet me halfway between my offer and the 'other buyers' 'offer'. I said no and that i have offered what i am willing to offer.
A few more phonecalls and days go by of attempted negotiations without me budging.
I ended up putting an offer on another house, told the EA this and all of a sudden the seller would accept my offer. No dice as i much prefered the other house which i ended up buying.

Now, some of what the EA said could potentially be true, but when i had put an offer elsewhere, my originial offer was suddenly accepted...sounds fishy along with the 'other party'.

Basically, dont trust anyone except yourself when buying!


EDIT: But when it comes to selling my house i will be totally in favour of the EA doing this for me

Fighting Irish

like 90% of people who are trying to sell you something, you can't totally trust them
it's not just estate agents

robd

Fighting Irish wrote: »

like 90% of people who are trying to sell you something, you can't totally trust them
it's not just estate agents

89% of people trying to sell you something aren't trying to sell it to you for 500k+. This is a real problem. The lack of regulation of this industry and the lack of publishing transparent house transaction data has left consumers unacceptably open to this behavior. Notice how our elected representatives continue to dodge this issue.

tHE vAGGABOND

its their job to extract as much money as possible from you - they don't have a job otherwise and the more you pay, the more commission they get..

lazygal

I bought my house five years ago and it sounds like nothing has changed.
They all lie.
They all say there is a bid on and someone else wants the property.

When my parents bought the family home on the day they moved in the estate agent who they had bypassed to buy the property directly called up looking for a fee!!:eek:e because he said he deserved money as he found the house for them-they never saw him before in their lives. He also told them the people selling the house were tax cheats and the house would be siezed by revenue within the month! Well they've had 16 years so I guess my parents are safe.

They are all chancers. I only trust a survey and my gut.
One in my area is so bad no one will use him-I can't believe he's still in business as he has shafted everyone who bought or sold a house from him. He decides if you are "good enough" to buy in a particular area as he is a complete snob and has actually refused to show houses to people he thinks are not rich enough. Outright pain in the bum. I can PM anyone who needs details!

Chancers, all of them.