Estate Agents?

BookBook

House #1
A few weeks ago I was going to be 5 - 15 minutes late for an opening viewing that was on and rang the estate agent to see if he would wait for me. He said he had at least 30 people coming and he couldn't wait. He never took my number to arrange another viewing if he didn't get a sale from the opening viewing and never suggested other properties he had for sale.

House #2
Saw a house last week that the vendor wants a quick sale. Offered 30k less than asking price. EA (different company to House #1) was disgusted and said not a chance would this offer be accepted. He never took my details to even discuss it with the vendor and never suggested any of his other properties that he has in the same area selling at the price I offered.

In both cases I was a cash buyer. Am I missing something? Am I doing something wrong? Are EA's not supposed to be sales people and at least take my details in case something changes or try tell me about other houses on their lists?

Milk & Honey

Yes, you are doing something wrong. Turn up on time and make realistic offers and see how you get on.
EAs do not want to spend time dealing with messers. There is no need to take details from a potential buyer. If they are keen to buy they will be watching the websites and making contact. EAs would waste inordinate amounts of time trying to get in touch with someone who expressed interest in a property in the previous few months.

BookBook

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Yes, you are doing something wrong. Turn up on time and make realistic offers and see how you get on.
EAs do not want to spend time dealing with messers. There is no need to take details from a potential buyer. If they are keen to buy they will be watching the websites and making contact. EAs would waste inordinate amounts of time trying to get in touch with someone who expressed interest in a property in the previous few months.

What do you consider a realistic offer?

Also why wouldn't an estate agent say something like ' sorry that offer is too low,/ that house is sale agreed/blah blah blah , I have two other houses in the area within your budget would you like to view these?

orlaanne

I thought that Estate Agents have to legally inform the vendor of any offer?

killers1

If a house is for sale for €150k for example the vendor may have had a conversation with the EA to say I'm not interested in any offers less than €140k and don't want to even hear about them...

Milk & Honey

BookBook wrote: »

What do you consider a realistic offer?

One that is reasonably close to market value so that he thinks you might come into range.

BookBook wrote: »

Also why wouldn't an estate agent say something like ' sorry that offer is too low,/ that house is sale agreed/blah blah blah , I have two other houses in the area within your budget would you like to view these?

Most agents have very few houses on their books and have no time for dealing with messers. Why should he go making an appointments and showing houses to someone who will just throw in a derisory offer? If he has other house you are interested in you will see them on his website. If you are serious you will contact him. He is working for the owners of the houses and will certainly not want to get involved with a messer, which is what you sound like.

OMD

Milk & Honey wrote: »

One that is reasonably close to market value so that he thinks you might come into range.

Why are you assuming the OPs offer wasn't realistic. Vendor wants a quick sale, so no way is anyone going to offer the asking price. You don't know the house, the area or the asking price but you know the op offer was not reasonably close to market value. Well done.

Milk & Honey

OMD wrote: »

Why are you assuming the OPs offer wasn't realistic. Vendor wants a quick sale, so no way is anyone going to offer the asking price. You don't know the house, the area or the asking price but you know the op offer was not reasonably close to market value. Well done.

How do you know that the asking price was not realistic? If the vendor wanted a quick sale they would not be asking a fantasy price. Some people who want a quick sale ask less than market value to get interest and then try and get the bidding up. Given that the agent did not even bother to put it to the owner it is obvious that he was offering a rubbish price. The o/p hasn't given any details even though he could have attempted to rebut the allegation.

Number_5

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Yes, you are doing something wrong. Turn up on time and make realistic offers and see how you get on.
EAs do not want to spend time dealing with messers. There is no need to take details from a potential buyer. If they are keen to buy they will be watching the websites and making contact. EAs would waste inordinate amounts of time trying to get in touch with someone who expressed interest in a property in the previous few months.

I completely disagree with your take on this. I think "30k less than asking" is probably a very realistic starting point (if a little high ). Everybody likes to be on time but i would not categorize being 5-15 minutes late as "messing".

My encounters with EA's have been very similar to the OP's. Out of say 10 agents I've dealt with over the years I'd describe at least 8 of them as being extremely incompetent and lazy. My statement doesn't just come from a "frustrated buyer" perspective but also as a seller. Any agent worth his/her salt would a) arrange anoither meeting with the OP after he/she was unfortunately late and b) continue with communication after the initial offer to try to get him/her to increase.

OMD

Milk & Honey wrote: »

How do you know that the asking price was not realistic?

]
I don't

Milk & Honey wrote: »

If the vendor wanted a quick sale they would not be asking a fantasy price. Some people who want a quick sale ask less than market value to get interest and then try and get the bidding up. Given that the agent did not even bother to put it to the owner it is obvious that he was offering a rubbish price.

Or, the the estate agent was rubbish which I think was the point of the post

.jacksparrow.

Had dealings with 3 estate agents,absolutely clueless,it amazed me how they make money so easy,not turning up when they said,never ringing back,messing up keys on the day of moving in,the list goes on,useless they were.

BookBook

I don't understand why anyone would think offering 30k below asking price would seem like a messer. House I looked at needs renovating. There is a similar house in walk in condition to the back of the house that i saw which is only 20k above asking price. However I would need to get a mortgage to buy that house where as I would have the cash to buy the other house if they accepted the -30k price.

I also understand if EA thinks offer is too low but if you don't ask you don't get. My biggest issue is why the estate agents didn't try to sell me something else.

I am new to house buying and have no experience at this and dread it but unfortunately I have to buy a house soon as I won't get the chance again for another few years and renting is not an option. I have subscribed to daft and myhome listings in certain areas for a while but can't seem to afford the areas I am interested. So recently I have widened the areas I am looking at and as such I have no idea about houses in the new area.

Regarding turning up late - it was an opening viewing from 11 - 12 and not something I had booked to see. It was a house in the new area I am looking at and I had only noticed the opening viewing a day before it took place. I rang estate agent immediately saying I couldn't get there until around 12 possibly 12.15 at the latest and could he wait, he said no and never offered to make a new viewing or recommend any of his other properties.

Number_5

BookBook wrote: »

unfortunately I have to buy a house soon as I won't get the chance again for another few years and renting is not an option.

Slightly off topic and please feel free not to answer but why do you 'have' to buy now? My opinion is that prices will fall over the next couple of years - I'm obviously not familiar with your personal circumstances.

Corrimbla

Number_5 wrote: »

Slightly off topic and please feel free not to answer but why do you 'have' to buy now? My opinion is that prices will fall over the next couple of years - I'm obviously not familiar with your personal circumstances.

I wouldn't agree with you here. I work in the commercial property sector and the general consensus is that the market has bottomed out. Overseas investors are now fighting to get in to the Irish market as they see prices as too good to pass over generating a very high level of demand. On the resi side the Dublin market is actually seeing a slight rise in prices for lots of reasons but basically its all down to high demand. Outside the greater dublin region and other cities I dont believe prices have hit bottom. You have to remember at the moment most demand is from cash buyers and once the mortage market starts lending again (probably within the next 12 months) we will see a mini resurgance and the largest price spike since 2007. It's all down to simple supply and demand principles and another factor that will contribute to a resurgance is people will start to realise the prevaling surrgance in rents will come to a point where it makes more sense to have a mortage repayment then pay rent as the mortage repayment is likely to be a lot less than the rent.

A point I would make to the OP is that you must remember who the EA works for - its the vendor who is the client/customer and not the purchaser. This is something that alot of people tend to forget. Saying that the EA should have taken your details and on the second occasion at least tell the vendor about your offer irrespective of the offer level.

Milk & Honey

BookBook wrote: »

I don't understand why anyone would think offering 30k below asking price would seem like a messer. House I looked at needs renovating. There is a similar house in walk in condition to the back of the house that i saw which is only 20k above asking price. However I would need to get a mortgage to buy that house where as I would have the cash to buy the other house if they accepted the -30k price.

I also understand if EA thinks offer is too low but if you don't ask you don't get. My biggest issue is why the estate agents didn't try to sell me something else.

I am new to house buying and have no experience at this and dread it but unfortunately I have to buy a house soon as I won't get the chance again for another few years and renting is not an option. I have subscribed to daft and myhome listings in certain areas for a while but can't seem to afford the areas I am interested. So recently I have widened the areas I am looking at and as such I have no idea about houses in the new area.

You offer €50k less than the asking price of a similar house in the area. Would the renovation cost €50k? How are you going to fund it if all your cash is gone on the purchase?

BookBook wrote: »

Regarding turning up late - it was an opening viewing from 11 - 12 and not something I had booked to see. It was a house in the new area I am looking at and I had only noticed the opening viewing a day before it took place. I rang estate agent immediately saying I couldn't get there until around 12 possibly 12.15 at the latest and could he wait, he said no and never offered to make a new viewing or recommend any of his other properties.

There is an open viewing from 11.00 to 12.00. You want to come at 12.15. You will presumably need 20 min to look around. The agent knows nothing about you. Maybe you will get lost, turn up even later. Meanwhile he has clients waiting at another property. What are they going to do? Get on the internet complaining about estate agents turning up late for appointments.

You can see what else the agent has on the market by looking at his website. Why should he waste time telling you what you can easily find out for yourself?
Agents do not want sales unravelling after they take a booking deposit. There is a lengthy period between putting down the deposit and signing the contract. Agents need to know buyers are serious. there is no point in trying to talk someone into buying a house. People who are serious purchasers will find out about every house on the market which meets their requirements. they will ask the agent about it. Those are the people who ultimately conclude a sale, not some randommer who happened to look at a house.

Number_5

Corrimbla wrote: »

I wouldn't agree with you here.

It's all down to simple supply and demand

Agree that prices appear to be flattening currently and even up ticking slightly in Dublin. Also agree that it is a simple question of supply and demand. However, IMO there is a lot of hurt coming down the road for the Irish consumer/homeowner/tax payer, dampening demand significantly, and that this will outweigh the positive factors you mentioned in you post. Nobody can see into the future, but calling it as I see it now I think that pricing will fall further.

Even if I am wrong (nothing is certain here) my question to the OP was more focused around why he/she feels they 'have' to buy now.

the culture of deference

BookBook wrote: »

House #1
A few weeks ago I was going to be 5 - 15 minutes late for an opening viewing that was on and rang the estate agent to see if he would wait for me. He said he had at least 30 people coming and he couldn't wait. He never took my number to arrange another viewing if he didn't get a sale from the opening viewing and never suggested other properties he had for sale.

House #2
Saw a house last week that the vendor wants a quick sale. Offered 30k less than asking price. EA (different company to House #1) was disgusted and said not a chance would this offer be accepted. He never took my details to even discuss it with the vendor and never suggested any of his other properties that he has in the same area selling at the price I offered.

In both cases I was a cash buyer. Am I missing something? Am I doing something wrong? Are EA's not supposed to be sales people and at least take my details in case something changes or try tell me about other houses on their lists?

In future you need to ask if the agent is sole agent immediately. Do not identify yourself at any stage to the agent. Then find the property you like and approach the owner directly. Get the owner to put an add on adverts or gumtree for the sale and contact them that way. Buy privately and cut out the pointless commission that these leeches charge. Most EA's are unqualified sales people.

flintash

Interesting advice, though its not the way this bussiness done here in this country. Firstly its in sellers interest to bypass middleman (well it should be). I was thinking to do the same but just dont want to embarase myself and get laughted at my face. i fully understand OP and I would feel and think the same.for me it just confirm that there are so many wasters in any profession in this country. How the hell you got so rich wonders me.

cassid

I was looking for an office to rent in Dublin for an organisation. Rang one estate agent three times and still waiting for a call back. The last time I was talking to them, I asked about a specific property in a business complex, I was told it was gone, I asked which one, he said the one you were inquiring about. I had to tell him his company had 3 offices for rent in this specific complex, he then told him, they are all gone. Then said, maybe there could be more, we will ring you back asap, that was 4 days ago ! I wonder what their clients would think, the properties are all still on the website for let.

BookBook

Well thanks to the new sales register I was able to see that earlier this year a house on the same road as the one I tried to place an offer (30k less than asking price as they said they wanted a quick sale) sold for about 8k less (than asking price of house I tried to placed an offer on).

That house was slightly bigger, had rear vehicular access and a garage.

karljd

Hi,
I recently sold my late father's house(as executor).The estate agent rang me with an offer which was for the asking price(€99,950) which i accepted.To cut a long story short after all the legal work i got a letter yesterday from my solicitor,the lettter said the house was sold for (€99,000)which leaves me €950 short.I have 9 other brothers and sisters to answer to,and i can't get the estate agent to answer his phone.Can anyone tell me have i any legal recourse here?