OMG! BBC Whistleblower - Estate Agents

herbiesjp

Doozergirl wrote:

The agent wouldn't have to overvalue if vendor's didn't think that they knew better.

This boils down to the point I made in another post though.
No where did we see an agent valuing a property and the discussion with the vendor - so we cannot see if it is the agent or the vendor over valuing

Coming down to the point I made, the programme will only show what it wants you to see so that you will make the same conclusions.

Not condoning or defending any of the characters, but I like to take a step back and make my judgement on what I have been allowed to see by the programme and not make any assumptions

mostwantd

does anyone know if its going to be repeated!!

i was in the middle of watching it and then the whole street had a power cut!!! yes thats right i was spewing we didnt get the electricity back till 3am...

Im soooo MAD, i was really enjoying it too!!

jenniferpa

I think part of the problem with estate agents is the unusual contractual relationship with them, the vendor and the buyer. The agent spends little (or no time) with the vendor, may in fact only be a voice on the phone, while they spend a lot of time with the buyer even though they have no contractual relationship. Even if the EA is above board, there's going to be a tendency to want to help the people you know (the buyers) over the people you don't (the vendors) even though your responsibility is to the latter. Although a higher price would result in a higher comission, a lower price means a quicker sale, and more opportunity to make more sales and earn more comission.

Jennifer

Doozergirl

herbiesjp wrote:

This boils down to the point I made in another post though.
No where did we see an agent valuing a property and the discussion with the vendor - so we cannot see if it is the agent or the vendor over valuing

Granted. I think my points still stand though - it's also greed that makes the vendor pick the highest valuation. If they'd just researched a bit...

Doozergirl

jenniferpa wrote:

I think part of the problem with estate agents is the unusual contractual relationship with them, the vendor and the buyer. The agent spends little (or no time) with the vendor, may in fact only be a voice on the phone, while they spend a lot of time with the buyer even though they have no contractual relationship. Even if the EA is above board, there's going to be a tendency to want to help the people you know (the buyers) over the people you don't (the vendors) even though your responsibility is to the latter.

I think you've missed the point there. They're not helping buyers - they're bringing the price back down to the right level to make a sale at all. There's no bargain prices for buyers - if a buyer did want to pay full over-inflated asking price, they wouldn't stop them!

jenniferpa wrote:

Although a higher price would result in a higher comission, a lower price means a quicker sale, and more opportunity to make more sales and earn more comission.

I think you've got the point there though!

herbiesjp

@ Doozergirl

My point is... where in the programme did you see a vendor saying "I want my house put on the market at ...."

You didnt - because the programme is out to make EA look bad, not vendors look greedy. The trailers wouldn't have had the same impact if it looked at vendors.

I'm not having a go at you because in reality vendors can be greedy - but that is not what this programme showed - it was trying to show the underhand practices of EAs.

jenniferpa

Doozergirl wrote:

I think you've missed the point there. They're not helping buyers - they're bringing the price back down to the right level to make a sale at all. There's no bargain prices for buyers - if a buyer did want to pay full over-inflated asking price, they wouldn't stop them!

!

Actually, I think you've missed my point! It wasn't specific to this program (I didn't see it) or to whether a property is over priced or not. I'm not even talking about shady practices - I'm talking about human nature. I can't help feeling that the amount of contact and rapport a person has with another is going to tend to colour their actions, and a vendor has little contact with the EA. I don't have a solution, you understand, it was simply a comment.

Jennifer

madfrenchgirl

if we start on the human nature aspect: how do some of them live with themselves then?

Doozergirl

jenniferpa wrote:

Actually, I think you've missed my point! It wasn't specific to this program (I didn't see it) or to whether a property is over priced or not. I'm not even talking about shady practices - I'm talking about human nature. I can't help feeling that the amount of contact and rapport a person has with another is going to tend to colour their actions, and a vendor has little contact with the EA. I don't have a solution, you understand, it was simply a comment.

So I'm having a conversation about a program with someone who didn't watch it? No wonder we're both missing the point!

jenniferpa

:rotfl:

Seriously though - you're happy with the way the current system is set up, and you don't think it leads to abuse?

Jennifer