What is up with estate agents?

fayer

What is up with estate agents? I thought they were stuck for business; I am in the process of trying to find a house to buy and have received such a mix of reactions from several estate agents.

• One would not return a call, ever then didn’t show up for the viewing we arranged
• another nearly tried to talk up out of the property we wanted to view, and they responded with sure go and look yourself, when I asked to see the inside the response is, it’s very run down there’s not much point really
• a 3rd now had been given 3 calls in 2 days and will not return any, even though his staff keep telling me he will.

I am amazed at the complete lack of response and complacency being showed, is anyone else seeing this?

quozl

Houses used to sell themselves during the bubble years.
You did not need to be an actual salesman, or even able to organise your way out of a paper bag.

I think there's a lot of EAs who can't cut it in any kind of real job, which I'd imagine being an EA nowadays is, and for some reason they haven't all been fired yet.

There's also of course a percentage that are intelligent, organised competant individuals.

They seem to be in a massive minority in my experience.

bugler

Things changed hugely in the rental market between 2006 and 2010, but one thing remained constant: despite the utter change in supply/demand, the letting agents were still of seriously dubious worth. They wouldn't show up, they wouldn't call, they'd be late etc. I've never been in the market to buy but it seems the same problems exist there too.

There's not a lot you can do about them unfortunately. Unless the vendor is still in situ in the house(s) you're interested in. If they are then a brief note in their letterbox saying you're interested in the house but that the agent isn't responding might have a boosting effect on the agent's professionalism..or better still see them removed.

ntlbell

A lot of EA's currently have never actually had to do an EA's job.

Now times have changed they actually have to work at it, they don't know how.

The mind boggles how most of them have a job.

Graces7

Amen to all of this. We are having to relocate ( see thread on "eviction notice") and can we get proper responses?

If any reply comes in, it is evasive... eg.. we don;t know if that house is still vacant.... the owners are travelling abroad...... You need to contact the owner as she knows the house and area better than I do..

Just... and the majority simply ignore emails or refuse to answer questions.

Or ignore what you have written totally.

In many ways better maybe to look locally at small ads in papers etc; that is our next approach.... Sidestep them..

ricman

ads ore ok, but most homes are sold thru agents.You are limiting your choice alot.you can write to the owners,house adress , my name is, i,m interested in buying this home, i ,m having problems getting a viewing from the agent .just give your first name,and a phone no.maybe there are annoyed,lots of people viewing homes, few people making bids .IN the boom people were desperate to buy any old house.AS PRICES went up every month.

hoser expat

I completely agree they are a bunch of morons. Three times I have been in to the local agent to express an interest in a property that has been on the market for 8 months. Each time I have been told that the person dealing with the property is out, and if I leave my details they will contact me. I have not been contacted once. Now trying to find out who the owner is so I can contact them directly.

royston_vasey

Couldn't agree more about the negative comments being made regarding EAs. We are trying to change house at present and are tossing up whether to buy or build, every EA we have spoken to have been given a detailed specification of what we require but not one has yet presented us with an option that even meets 50% of the specifications given.

Any appointments/viewings that are arranged they normally turn up 15-30 minutes late, the size of the house normally differs from that stated on the brochure and if they tell you "it is beautifully finished" it normally means it isn't and that corners have been cut at every angle to penny pinch.

These guys still seem to think that they are operating in a market that lacks supply and that punters are anxious to buy any old crap on their books. People who are seriously looking to buy now know exactly what they want, how much it should cost etc and it is a sad reflection upon this "profession" that the client knows more that the provider.

furry

they're absolute hoors. Ours was incompetent re a bid so we put in a nice friendly note in the vendors letterbox (not being nasty) just outlining events to date and letting them know we were interested if they were interested.
Things improved.

phantom_lord

i remember ringing one guy to take a second look at a place because i was stuck between it and another and he practically abused me on the phone and first interrogating me about which viewer i was.

"why would you want to look at it again?"

lolz