OMG! BBC Whistleblower - Estate Agents

david29dpo

dont forget, the love of money is the route to all evil. it will never change. most people would do it given a chance!

John_M_Business

tomstickland wrote:

Usual sales bull crap really.
If somone gives me a cup of coffee I think "free cup of coffee, I'll have that, but don't think you're weakening me up".

If I pick up someone's pen I think "I picked up their pen, big deal. Now get on with the useful stuff".

Perhaps, but if you do, you're in the minority.

I always laugh out loud when people say 'marketing doesn't work on me' ... they don't THINK it does... but it does. From the watch on their wrist, to the car they drive and just about everything in between.

John_M_Business

herbiesjp wrote:

@ 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.

The trouble is that, with this argument... if the Estate Agents just reported the TRUTH then vendors would also see that properties have been over valued - based on a lack of interest or offers.

The problem is, of course, that these are the same Agents that have also LIED about what they think the Vendor is going to get for the property. So... they've tied their own noose.

I can understand why Vendors are unrealistic about what their property is worth (there's no better than the person on an estate of similar properties thinking that theirs can go for 10% more... just because of some minor detail) - but to say that LYING and DECEPTION is therefore justified is just plain wrong.

blinko

so about this guy that got the fake passport etc how does that help him ??

ReportInvestor

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I see from Ray Boulger in Moneyfacts that the FSA deregulated one broker the morning after the programme.

Do we know which one?

Boulger also calls for EAs to be regulated.

Jorgan_2

The National Association of Estate Agents has, for a number of years, been pushing for Government to regulate the industry, but without any joy.

courtjester

Why is it that people complain about agents yet the first thing they do when they want to sell a house is to appoint an agent...???

Is it because they think you have to have an agent, just because that's the way it's always been done??

There are alternate choices (try Google "sell my house"), but people still seem to prefer to pay for a service they hate....

Nenen

AndrewSmith wrote:

You also have to bear in mind that on most occaisions a property is over-priced because the seller has an inflated opinion of what their home is worth and refuses to let the agent have the instruction unless they market it for the price they want. This is why most agents have conversations with their sellers regarding 'price reductions' because at the end of the day if the property doesn't sell, the agent gets squat!!

Andy

I can only say in a seller's defence that estate agents have been known to undervalue in order to get a quick sale!!!

If EA sells in a couple of days to a known targeted buyer (as they did for our neighbours a couple of weeks ago) they incur far less expense (no mailing of glossy details, no advertising in local papers, no wasting time on accompanied viewings etc). Our neighbours' estate agent valued their house at £170,000 and agreed reluctantly to up this to £180,000 when our neighbours insisted. The EA rang a lady buyer they already knew was interested in just this sort of property (good work there I admit) and low and behold she came straight out to view and bought straight away at full asking price without EA even having to type up the details! Had my neighbours not insisted on the extra £10,000 against the EA's advice they would be ten grand down on the deal! They are not greedy people, just realised that the EA was purely in it for a quick sale and not for getting them the best possible deal!

We are also pretty sure that in our tiny Suffolk town, where there are only 2 estate agents within a 9 mile radius, that these two supposed competitors are 'price fixing' their commission... again difficult to know which to trust!

Whilst I don't deny that some sellers may be 'greedy' (quote from a previous poster) or have an 'over inflated opinion' of their house's worth, much of this is because of the continual hype and scaremongering in the press, the unpredictable and sometimes volitile markets and the fact that many of us really don't know who to trust in what is potentially a very risky and enormous chain! When we sold our first house we were thoroughly stitched up by our EA's and we lost more than 15% of what we should have got, due to our naivity and trust and EA's total deceit!

20 years on, despite being 'once bitten, twice shy' I still have no idea which way to jump in our current situation. Many sellers like us are desperate to raise the maximum amount for their house as we need the money in order to move! We invited 3 estate agents to value our house today: 1st=£185,00; 2nd £175,000 and 3rd £225,000 (our house is much bigger than our neighbours' but not in such good repair so it's impossible to make a direct comparison). We need to move to a more expensive area for my job and are going to be hard pushed to afford anything remotely suitable for a family of 5 in Cambridge! The 2 lowest valuations are the local agents (one of which undervalued neighbours' house) both quoting 1.85% commission origianlly and then 'doing me a special favour' by dropping to 1.75% with long tie ins. The highest valuation is an agent from the next, bigger town who is offering 1.25% with no tie in and a HUGE extra amount which will make all the difference between us being able to move and me continuing to have a 60 mile round trip each day.... however, is she just doing that to get the instruction???? Will she quickly have to invent ridiculously low offers to get me to drop???? How can i possibly tell? Am i greedy/over-inflated to want to get the best possible price I can for my house, knowing the other two seem to undervalue? I have no idea what to do...any advice appreciated! :beer:

Nenen

I have tried doing the research that Doozie suggests but in our tiny rural town there are very few properties like ours... most are either period cottages (like our neighbours'), huge country homes for half million plus or the few modern ones are detatched on estates. Ours is a 1970s non-estate three bed semi. Location is everything (as we are constantly told) and our town commands significantly higher prices than neighbouring towns and villages so even that is difficult to compare! Looking at local papers, land registry search engines etc, it seems that the few houses that are somewhat comparable have gone for aound £205,000 in the last few months and prices have risen slightly in this part of Suffolk. So, call me greedy if you like but I am really crossing everything I've got that the highest valuation, whilst being a bit optomistic and something we could be prepared to negotiate downwards from, is actually nearer to reality than the others!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it worth us at least trying this high price for a couple of weeks and seeing what happens? ... we can always come down in price but can't go up!

Doozergirl

I'd still be more inclined to go with the local agent's knowledge of the area on price. Maybe you could go dual agency with one local agent and the town agent if there's a chance you can sell at 1.25% - have you checked if that's price is negotiable too?

It is hard to compare in a village because of the mix, but there are often some strong lines between the square footage that the houses provide. Also look at prices in surrounding or similar villages as these will be competition for you as people often look for rural location near to a town, over one particular village. Go and view some if it helps you get a better idea - this weekend is ideal as lots of people will have genuine viewings (I'd try and book around the same time as another viewing to save them having to tidy especially for you if you're not buying)

Of course you can drop the price if it's not working for you. I wouldn't leave it too long and not hike the price too high in the first place as big price reduction will put people off. Your house will have to be a lot bigger (extra bedrooms) than your neighbours to be worth £45k more and I would be wary of a town agent that doesn't know the village too well - in our last village they always went too high and virtually everyone would start with one of the town agents as a result, until they didn't sell and resigned themselves to the sensible local agent who then sold it. Tread carefully and don't make a final decision until you're sure. Good Luck!