Am I starting to get really cynical about the role of Estate Agents?

MissMotivation

crusty_toenail wrote: »

We have bought and sold 3 houses now and have found that the solicitor does 10 times the work of the estate agent for less money - which seems very silly:

person with legal degree etc v sales people

Obviously you have used [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] estate agents then!

MissMotivation

MissMotivation wrote: »

Obviously you have used !!!! estate agents then!

Ohhh I've been censored :rotfl:

crusty_toenail

I was wondering miss m, as i didn't understand your post

MissMotivation

crusty_toenail wrote: »

I was wondering miss m, as i didn't understand your post

I'll try again....

Obviously you have used rubbish estate agents, there is a lot of them about!

Doozergirl

kriss_boy wrote: »

When we come to sell we intend to attempt to list and advertise the property ourselves for the first couple of months.

Cant you simply pay to have it listed in rightmove yourself and simply ask interested viewers to call your lawyer with their offers?

No you can't list on rightmove yourself.

I'd imagine a solicitor's bill increasing dramatically if they suddenly had to start negotiating!

A lot of agents do operate like the OP describes - as it's something that people don't do very often I think that they really know what to expect. Also, I'm not sure that generally, certainly in most areas of England that I've had dealings, EA staff are paid enough to attract a decent calibre of person and they often aren't really targetted on sales.

In London it is very much more sales orientated and that is evident, yet they get slated as well for doing what they do. I was amazed to see a branch of Foxtons yesterday - it's essentially a call centre. If nothing else, they work hard to find those sales. I did sell in London through a small agent where he was ex-Foxtons. As a vendor I was seriously impressed with the results.

House_owner

bad experiences with estate agents - tell me about it!

princeofpounds

I found the fact that rightmove didn't take private listings very odd until I found out who it was owned by.

Thankfully the OFT is looking at breaking up this cartel which will allow google etc. to establish their own listings site (and tesco, which had to back out from their venture do to various regulations).

MissMotivation

princeofpounds wrote: »

I found the fact that rightmove didn't take private listings very odd until I found out who it was owned by.

Thankfully the OFT is looking at breaking up this cartel which will allow google etc. to establish their own listings site (and tesco, which had to back out from their venture do to various regulations).

Did you also know that they pay significantly less to list properties on Rightmove than any other agent, and yet, they charge significantly more than any other agent in most areas

Kittenonthekeys

Our EA couldn't be faulted - until the day we received an offer on our house, when all forms of communication inexplicably and suddenly ceased.

Our selling agent is an independent, a NAEA member established for 80+ years; they are the biggest local agent, supposedly with a good reputation and had achieved the most sales in our town; all of which was why we chose them to sell our house.
They got us a great many viewings and this part of the service was excellent.
After they had been incommunicado for a month, we visited the office to - politely - discuss it with one of the partners who was very patronising, grudgingly admitting they had 'taken their eye off the ball' and promising us faithfully that henceforth this would never happen again and we would receive weekly updates.
That was back in November.
We have had two calls from them since then, and neither was an update.
Whenever we asked them what was happening with the chain they said they did not know and and would 'have to get hold of - whoever.' And that's the last we ever hear; no one ever gets back to us.
To say they are not in the least bit pro-active is a gross understatement and far more charitable than they deserve.
We have had truly appalling service ever since the offer and would never in a million years recommend them to our worst enemy. They couldn't give a toss. It's not even as though we have been difficult or rude.
At least you'd think they'd be keen to get the sale done and dusted so they could get their mitts on our 4 grand that they so richly don't deserve.

We are waiting to exchange and were it not for the fact that we are in contact with our buyer and seller - and our seller's super-efficient EA chasing the chain and calling to keep us updated (ironically the only 'professional' we are not actually having to pay!) which she is under no obligation to do, then we would still be none the wiser as to !!!!!!'s going on.
Our solicitor's communication is not much better but that's another story...

MissMotivation

Kittenonthekeys wrote: »

Our EA couldn't be faulted - until the day we received an offer on our house, when all forms of communication inexplicably and suddenly ceased.

Our selling agent is an independent, a NAEA member established for 80+ years; they are the biggest local agent, supposedly with a good reputation and had achieved the most sales in our town; all of which was why we chose them to sell our house.
They got us a great many viewings and this part of the service was excellent.
After they had been incommunicado for a month, we visited the office to - politely - discuss it with one of the partners who was very patronising, grudgingly admitting they had 'taken their eye off the ball' and promising us faithfully that henceforth this would never happen again and we would receive weekly updates.
That was back in November.
We have had two calls from them since then, and neither was an update.
Whenever we asked them what was happening with the chain they said they did not know and and would 'have to get hold of - whoever.' And that's the last we ever hear; no one ever gets back to us.
To say they are not in the least bit pro-active is a gross understatement and far more charitable than they deserve.
We have had truly appalling service ever since the offer and would never in a million years recommend them to our worst enemy. They couldn't give a toss. It's not even as though we have been difficult or rude.
At least you'd think they'd be keen to get the sale done and dusted so they could get their mitts on our 4 grand that they so richly don't deserve.

We are waiting to exchange and were it not for the fact that we are in contact with our buyer and seller - and our seller's super-efficient EA chasing the chain and calling to keep us updated (ironically the only 'professional' we are not actually having to pay!) which she is under no obligation to do, then we would still be none the wiser as to !!!!!!'s going on.
Our solicitor's communication is not much better but that's another story...

I wonder what happened :eek:

I would seriously consider making a formal complaint with a view to getting those fees reduced.....they've not done half the job so why should pay them 100% of their fee?