estate agents and how to tell if they are any good

54druids

How often should an estate agent get in touch? I have not heard from mine in nearly 4 weeks. I paid them nearly 500 quid up front for marketing and and then had to rewrite my brochure as it was incorrect and...well...pretty rubbish. I then had to wait 4 weeks and then chase them for a brochure which came and had the wrong photos in it. Pointed that out to them and they said they were having another batch printed (as they only printed them in batch of 10) and would send me a copy - that was 4 weeks ago and lo and behold there has been no brochure, although i do believe it has been in the local paper once. There are other houses on the market beside me and I know they have not had any viewings but I would at least expect an update on web hits, interest etc as well as the brochure, which if they used up 10 must have had some interest eh?. Am I expecting too much for their potential £3,650 fee?

adg1

I would drop this agent ASAP - they printed sales material with the WRONG photos in for one thing (were they even of your house?!), then haven't been in contact with you for over a month either. I would expect feedback after every viewing from potential buyers/renters as it will offer an insight into the local market place and whether your house is competitively priced with others around.

To have to chase an agent for a copy of sales brochure, one that is incorrect even, looks totally unprofessional on their part - if they can't put a simple brochure together that displays the right photos then I would question whether they will sell your house as well as another agent.

Question them and request constant feedback or look for another agent.

Sorry to rant btw!!!

Good luck selling/renting your house out

Gwhiz

I do not know of ANY agents who charge for marketing materials any more UNLESS it's a bloody expensive house and NEEDS a brochure.

chickmug

Name and shame them on here NOW.

The frequency of contact with a seller client can vary for a number of reasons so we establish at the outset the preferences.

Some it is ONLY the man who we can speak to and he is tied up a lot through the day so asks for email updates.

Some do not want updates unless they ask for it - yes this sounds unbelievable but we have had clients who can get quite stroppy, with staff, if we ring without a good enough reason. Good ones may be arranging a viewing or putting an offer forward.

But 4 weeks is long time unless the agenst has given up.

zone

Howcome you paid a fee upfront? Their admin costs are usually all paid when your property is sold or you instruct them to remove it from the market.

Did you interview at least 3 local agents before you decided which one to go with? It will give you a better idea of what they offer, their prices and no charge periods etc.

Sammy85_2

Our agents also charge an upfront marketing fee. This amount is £200, but is deducted from the final selling fees. We also negotiated our fees with them and got about 20% off.

I checked around with other agents and all in our area now charge this fee, or in the case of one agent, they have a 24week tie-in instead.

The agents said that they feel forced to do this because of so many people who are deciding to "test the water" before prices drop further, but then back out and leave the agents with a bill for advertising costs.

I personally had a snoop around to find out how much it would cost me to sell privately. A For Sale board was £50, and weekly costs for a company to list my house on rightmove, and for me to put an bi-weekly picture ad in the local paper was around £18/week. Not cheap by any means.

I dont feel sorry for the agents, because they have been reaping the benefits for years, but i can understand where they are coming from.


Our agent printed our brochure in the agency for our approval and then, only after our approval, listed it on rightmove and sent it to the printers for official copies to be made. They only do printing in 20 copy batches now.

DPX

Unfortunately the Esate Agency industry is not well policed, There is no legislation in place that they should belong to a governing body like the NAEA,

as a safe gauard choose a NAEA agent or RICS (or Both) at least then you have somewhere to complain to, The service you had is unnacceptable. I used an wgane to cormwall who was part of a group called Home sale network and they are all verified as the best in their business and can only join the group by invitation, there are over 700 of them so maybe there is one or two in your area.

Persoanly i would ask for their complaints procedure and follow it for a refund of the monety they charged. And if they are a member of the ombudsmen scheme I would report them.

Why not get your local press involved, they love things like this. Other people in your area need to know they have such a crap agent in their midst.

terrierlady

too late now but count the sold boards, be a pretend customer see how well your treated do they meet you on time to show you around do they follow up within a couple of days to see how you felt about the viewing etc,, in truth no way to tell a good one from a bad agent ,

54druids

Thank you all for your reply. Yep think i should bin them but do not want to lose the money i have already paid. I checked round estate agents and fees where from 1 - 1.4% with the higher end charging even more up front. I haven't yet had any viewings so i cannot comment on them in that respect. They have over 150 properties on their books and have sold quite a few but chose them mainly as they come up top in google for homes for sale in Perth. There is nothing in their contract to say how long you have to stay with them or what happens to the money you have already paid if you sack them. The money is refundable on sale of your home so from a financial point they are good value - they are just crap at everything else.I have taken it into my own hands now and put my hands on the swaptogo site which i have seen mentioned on here and as a result was interviewed and photographed for the Sunday Post newspaper so if that comes off this weekend maybe that would generate some interest - now would you tell the estate agent in advance or just not bother?
I did seek advice before and i posted on here. I was told to avoid this es but as most of the houses roundabout were bought by people from England I thought internet presence was the most important thing to go by. Also, if i am honest, the difference in fees was about 1k but maybe I should have listened to Jennifer who said dont go near them but like her I also thought they came across as very nice but nice isnt selling my house. How do you think I am on for getting my money refunded?

googler

Gwhiz wrote: »

I do not know of ANY agents who charge for marketing materials any more UNLESS it's a bloody expensive house and NEEDS a brochure.

How many agents do you know?

chickmug

googler wrote: »

How many agents do you know?

How many do you know;)