The Games Estate Agents Play

Mr_Thrifty

pickledpink, I am not going to respond to you any further unless you start being constructive. I see that you have a history of starting arguments and I'm not prepared to argue with you any further. I'm sorry if you're an estate agent and I have somehow offended you, but everything I have posted here is factually accurate.

pickledpink

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

Thanks clutton. :-) Land registry sold prices will be helpful. I think I'll need to work through actual sold prices in the area, and then choose those properties that I consider to be the most similar to mine in order to get comparable data. Do you know of any websites where I can get this information either free of charge or without having to pay too much for it?

Do you mean to say you paid £38 to advertise your house in the Evening Standard when you didn't even know what sort of price you should be asking for it?!:rotfl:

Billy Liar!

Mr_Thrifty

I had an idea what it was worth and wanted to test whether what the estate agents were telling me was accurate. £38 isn't a lot of money to pay to take a punt and test the market, compared to thousands of pounds in estate agent fees. I had so many people show an interest, and got an offer so quickly, that I'm now wondering if my own valuation (as well as those carried out by the estate agents) could be wrong.

pickledpink

Case proven!:T

googler

pickledpink wrote: »

Why don't you post us the advert you placed in the Evening Standard if it's true?!!! You won't - cos you can't! Cos you've made it all up!!:money:

OK, I'll bite on this one.

Text of the advert, and the publication date(s), so that historians and scholars may look it up?

googler

... but to get back to your OP, I find many of your supposed 'games' to be perfectly innocent lines of enquiry

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

The first question they ask is "how much do you think it's worth"? Well, I want to know what THEY think it's worth. Cowboys.

If it were me, I'd want to know if you've got realistic expectations. If I've looked at what sold around you recently, and if you'd bought recently, and that gave me an estimate for your house (without seeing it) of £400k, say - and you said to me you wanted to get £650k, that tells me something about you, and how much time I want to spend with you. If you quote a figure that's bang on or very close to what I pictured, then I can see that maybe you're switched on to prices in the area, and realistic about the market.

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

The next questions is "How long have you been there"? They all seem to ask this, so it's not just smalltalk. How is this possibly relevant to what it's worth?

Again, this seems perfectly innocent to me. It's a lead-in question. The answer, if truthfully given, leads possibly to discussion about movement in prices since the owner moved in, who else has moved since then, etc. If the owner says he's been in the house for 10 years, and the last sale showed as 3 years ago, again that tells something about the owner.

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

Some of them tell you over the phone what they think your place is worth based on nothing more than how many bedrooms it has.

Is this a 'game', or merely a difference in approach between agents?

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

They don't answer their phones, and if you can get through to them, they don't seem in the remotest part interested in coming to give you a valuation. You'd think they didn't want/need the business.

Again, not a 'game', merely differences in efficiency and enthusiasm.

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

Then they talk about "the market" ...

Seems perfectly normal that they should, wouldn't you think, since the state of the market will affect the selling price of your home.

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

They then compare the property with other less desirable properties in totally different roads that aren't really comparable in any event, then use phoney logic to tell you why yours is worth less.

'Less desirable' or 'more desirable' is in the eyes of the beholder. You might disagree with the EA logic, but without the specifics of your area, your house, and the others compared, it's difficult for you to make this one stick ( "Oh, but they're nothing like MY house....." )

Doctor_Gloom

pickledpink wrote: »

Billy Liar!

Hi Betty

pickledpink

Doctor_Gloom wrote: »

Hi Betty

I see the tablets aren't working then!:eek:

telfordwhite

pickledpink wrote: »

I'm simply telling you the truth - something YOU don't seem capable of!

You've posted a message to try and have a go at Estate Agents - that's been done to death. BORING!:idea: You're behind the times, sweetie.

And you don't have the right to tell me where I can post. You need to get a life!

I don't believe what you're saying - and neither do 99% of the people on this thread. Why don't you post us the advert you placed in the Evening Standard if it's true?!!! You won't - cos you can't! Cos you've made it all up!!:money:

Down girl! Are you by any chance an Estate Agent taking things a bit personally?

theGrinch

I have been a buyer and a seller, a buying agent and a selling agent and in my experience no party is ever immune from criticism. Buyers and sellers are not saints.