Estate agents to help find a rental home?

rawn

Probably a silly question in the middle of a housing crisis, I'm sure that estate agents have their hands full!! But is it possible to register as a tenant with an estate agent, and they help find a house? I only ask as we're struggling to even get viewings and could use a little help. I've looked at a few websites of local EA's but i don't see anything like that listed in their services.

dennyk

It'd really be up to the individual agents, but there's certainly no harm in ringing up a few who serve the areas you're interested in to see if they keep any lists of prospective tenants, or if they have any upcoming properties that haven't been listed quite yet (that's how I ended up with my current place). Might not have much luck if you're in Dublin proper, though, where they'll all likely have a thousand people calling them every day begging for anything they can offer.

rawn

Thanks Dennyk I'll make a list to call tomorrow. Unfortunately I am in Dublin, d15 to be exact. The last LL we spoke to told us she got over 300 emails within 24 hours of putting the ad on daft, so it's really tough to stand out of the crowd!

4ensic15

You can retain an agent, but you will have to pay the letting fee.

Graces7

4ensic15 wrote: »

You can retain an agent, but you will have to pay the letting fee.

Depends what you mean by "retain".

I have when seeking a rental, emailed every agent in the area I was seeking, stating my needs etc and asking them to please let me know when/if a suitable property came up.

When one did, the agent let me know. There was no question of any fee;the landlord paid that as usual . It made good sense for all concerned.
I have found agents very helpful in this.

4ensic15

Graces7 wrote: »

Depends what you mean by "retain".

I have when seeking a rental, emailed every agent in the area I was seeking, stating my needs etc and asking them to please let me know when/if a suitable property came up.

When one did, the agent let me know. There was no question of any fee;the landlord paid that as usual . It made good sense for all concerned.
I have found agents very helpful in this.

That is not retaining an agent. What you were doing was registering with agents. When you retain an agent you have a contract with the agent. They source the property and don't charge the landlord a fee.

Samuel T. Cogley

OP you might be better off focusing on my you're not getting viewings. It's all well and good getting more viewings, but if they don't pan out into offers then it's just wasted time. Have you got alerts set up on DAFT and Myhome and are you getting in there early?

italodisco

I'm surprised this hasn't become the latest money making scam here!

When I was working in Poland that was the big thing in Warsaw, there was very little available to rent, lettings agents charged the equivalent of 50 euro to be put on their viewing lists, you'd get a text at any time to say there was a viewing and you'd turn up to a crowd of 200 people who had paid the same lol

Mrs OBumble

italodisco wrote: »

I'm surprised this hasn't become the latest money making scam here!

When I was working in Poland that was the big thing in Warsaw, there was very little available to rent, lettings agents charged the equivalent of 50 euro to be put on their viewing lists, you'd get a text at any time to say there was a viewing and you'd turn up to a crowd of 200 people who had paid the same lol

Shhhh.... don't give them ideas!

rawn

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

OP you might be better off focusing on my you're not getting viewings. It's all well and good getting more viewings, but if they don't pan out into offers then it's just wasted time. Have you got alerts set up on DAFT and Myhome and are you getting in there early?

Yes, alerts on and sending cover letter as soon as I see one! It's just that we're competing with 300+ people with possibly better financial circumstances so any help from a letting agent would help a lot in this market!

Claw Hammer

italodisco wrote: »

I'm surprised this hasn't become the latest money making scam here!

When I was working in Poland that was the big thing in Warsaw, there was very little available to rent, lettings agents charged the equivalent of 50 euro to be put on their viewing lists, you'd get a text at any time to say there was a viewing and you'd turn up to a crowd of 200 people who had paid the same lol

An estate agent can only charge a fee to one side of a transaction, either the landlord or the tenant.

rawn

Claw Hammer wrote:

An estate agent can only charge a fee to one side of a transaction, either the landlord or the tenant.

I can imagine in that case that they won't have time for individual tenants oh well, back to daft!

Claw Hammer

rawn wrote: »

I can imagine in that case that they won't have time for individual tenants oh well, back to daft!

That is pretty much it. They are not going to bother calling people when the get a letting. all they have to do is advertise, get a load of inquiries and pick a few likely ones for viewing, all online.
To even get a viewing now requires a good pitch.

Graces7

4ensic15 wrote: »

That is not retaining an agent. What you were doing was registering with agents. When you retain an agent you have a contract with the agent. They source the property and don't charge the landlord a fee.

Either way you stand a chance of getting word before ads go out in public, which is the point.

And in every case, the agent started looking for a suitable property for me and sent details..

Claw Hammer

Graces7 wrote: »

Either way you stand a chance of getting word before ads go out in public, which is the point.

And in every case, the agent started looking for a suitable property for me and sent details..

That may be the case in remote areas of low demand. It doesn't happen in areas of high demand.

davo10

Claw Hammer wrote: »

That may be the case in remote areas of low demand. It doesn't happen in areas of high demand.

Niece gave notice to landlady in house in Galway on 1st of this month, landlady told her she had 70 applications first day ad went up, for a room. I'm not sure a text from an EA would make any difference, in fact I'd say most LLs bypass EAs for renting and put up ads on daft/Facebook.

Claw Hammer

Even if there is an EA letting, the EA won't bother going back to enquirers.