estate agents are useless

MissMotivation

Here's a novel idea....when the EA jumps up and asks if they can help why don't you try this phrase.

Yes......I'm looking for a property with OFF ROAD PARKING in *this area* and at *this price*

Do you think that would help at all? :rolleyes:

poppysarah

MissMotivation wrote: »

Here's a novel idea....when the EA jumps up and asks if they can help why don't you try this phrase.

Yes......I'm looking for a property with OFF ROAD PARKING in *this area* and at *this price*

Do you think that would help at all? :rolleyes:

Probably not with most of them.

"we've got this, its 20k over your budget, and has parking for a car off road if you can lift the car over the garden fence and is six miles from where you want"

And it'd end up like a little britain sketch - the shop...

"do you have a house on enderby lane with off road parking, a conservatory and for 125k."
"margaret! margaret! Do we have a house on ..."

Wickedkitten

poppysarah wrote: »

Probably not with most of them.

"we've got this, its 20k over your budget, and has parking for a car off road if you can lift the car over the garden fence and is six miles from where you want"

And it'd end up like a little britain sketch - the shop...

"do you have a house on enderby lane with off road parking, a conservatory and for 125k."
"margaret! margaret! Do we have a house on ..."

:rotfl: and then when you ask why they are sending you out stuff you don't want, you get "It never hurts to look and you never know"

poppysarah

Wickedkitten wrote: »

:rotfl: and then when you ask why they are sending you out stuff you don't want, you get "It never hurts to look and you never know"

Sadly ours still have enough sales going on to not bother me by sending me stuff out...

lil'H

if you can do it so much better. why not set up your own estate agency?

I found that I had to build a relationship with EAs we did a load of viewings they got to know me and my requirements and before long they knew exactly which properties were right. Though I doubt they would have gone out of there way for me had I shown them the attitude you no doubt do.

googler

...and while you're at, why not learn a programming language or two, and develop that future-proofed list-making software ....

LydiaJ

WillowCat wrote: »

I pretty much agree with the OP, especially on-line it's hard to find out essential details from some (not all) agents.

But my whinge goes further - I'd love to see floor plans on every property, and, especially, floor areas and plot areas. I'm only interested in properties greater than 1000 sq feet as I know anything less will feel cramped, no matter how many box rooms (sorry bedrooms) have been crammed in.

It's routine in other countries, why not here?

Yes please - floor plans definitely. Most EAs round here provide them, but one doesn't.

I'm still at the "watching the market" stage rather than the "serious buyer" stage (need to wait for divorce settlement to be sorted), so I don't want to waste time & energy (mine or theirs) going in and asking about stuff just yet. I'm just looking at houses on rightmove to sort out in my own mind what kind of house I would like when I'm ready to buy, and what I might reasonably be able to get for my money. Without a floor plan I don't feel I understand how the property would work as a living space, if you see what I mean.

Other things I would like to be told are room dimensions, garden size, double glazing, GCH & parking. I don't necessarily expect all these things to be on rightmove, but I do expect to get them if I ask for further details to be sent. The local EA that doesn't do floor plans wasn't even able to send one when I asked for it. The house in question has had an extension done, so the layout is unusual, and it's been on the market since June. Wouldn't you think that being able and willing to send a floor plan to someone who's interested in the property would help to get the property sold?

m_13

Dealing with EAs is difficult particularly when you find yourself with a salesman with no common sense! On Thursday I was told that a flat panel electric heater was a new form of storage heater without the bricks as they contained asbestos! He also opened a window to demonstrate they did open and then couldn't shut it again. :rolleyes:

It is possible for software to harvest information and then provide a summary. So the description/details are written as normal and the harvesting software then makes an index that contains all the words and phrases in the document removing common words such as it, and, but etc. The index then exists for that document and can be searched itself. So you could search the index of properties using a free text search - helpful to find a less common term such as AGA - or using a targetted search which uses tickboxes to choose the words or phrases to look for. Used well such a system can tell the difference between 'no off road parking" and 'off road parking". If something isn't in the index at all then it doesn't exist.

Harvesting is fairly future proof so long as the original document contains all the data you could reasonably require. However, EPCs didn't exist before and so old details wouldn't have contained any information about them and so it is fallable.

I work in digital forensics and indexing is frequently used to determine what is common between a group of documents, the common phrases that are used etc. It's also used in intellectual property investigations to determine how similar two documents are. Usually when somebody has left and mysteriously set up a competititor company with very similar paperwork. Another use is detecting plagiarism in essays and theses.

When we're looking at property we use a spreadsheet to record the attributes against columns. If we don't know and the property is already scoring well then I'll bother finding out the missing information but if there are already far better contenders then I might leave it. Saying that, we viewed and dismissed where we now live as it was too expensive but when the price fell it represented far better value per metre squared.

My pet hate? I'm old enough to remember the property misdescriptions act coming in and the flowery EA details being stopped. However, I think the bizarre and untruthful wording has crept back in. Some details are downright misleading and contain too much opinion and not enough facts. It's OK to suggest that a room could be used as an office or a third bedroom. However, a lot of details go way beyond that and when you meet the EAs and they take you on a viewing I sometimes feel like saying, if you love it so much you buy it! Fake gushing enthusiasm just isn't on :mad:

Wig

eanick wrote: »

Out of interest would you buy a property with no parking a present but with easy scope and space -people compromise and this is why it is agents would rather run through the properties that they have than give out lists to any tom !!!!!! or harry! My office in South London has over 250 properties available - I do feel your agent should have had more knowledge on her stock. - However I also wonder if your attitude put her back up.

Did you read the OP? I said I would like them to search for off road parking or the potential for it. Of course I would consider a property with the potential for off road parking and as part of the valuation assessment you as an EA should make a note if this is a benefit the property has. Then upon returning to your office, you should enter a tick under "potential for off road parking" on your software package.

You should never judge your customers, just because they don't have the time or the inclination to sit down with you and slowly go through every one of the 50 properties, does not mean they are not serious about buying a property. If I was selling a property through you and you refused to give a list of properties that would have included mine to either Tom, !!!!!! or Harry, I would take my property away from your agency. But as I said in the OP, before I gave you my business in the first place, I would walk into your branch and test you pretending to be a buyer to see how you handled Tom, !!!!!! and Harry as customers.

I could go slowly through every one of the 150 or so properties this agent has at my home on my computer, but I don't want to go slowly, I want to QUICKLY eliminate MOST that do not apply to me.

If this thread is an example of the attitude of Estate Agents to addressing their buyers needs, I am astounded that any of you are still in business. Dinosaurs in the dark ages is what you are.

Wig

mandi wrote: »

Er did I miss something here. thats why EAs provide sets of details for each property

Yes you obviously did miss it, I wanted them to only give me a list of or the details of those properties that had ORP or the potential for ORP. Or give me the full details of all thoe ones that had such, (but I wanted them to save paper and allow me to come back to them for the full details of the ones I liked).

Don't you think she would have had a face like a cat's backside if I had said.......
"please print me the full details for all of these 50 properties"

You think she would have happily done that do you?