FTB - unhelpful estate agent

honey9

Hello, first time poster but long time lurker! My husband and I are looking into buying our first place - went to the local estate agent (SW London) as we had seen several properties on their website and in the window that fit what we were looking for. We had a chat with one of the agents, let him know we are first time buyers, have a mortgage agreement, decent deposit, solicitor lined up and are able to move at pretty short notice - all things I'd have thought would be in our favour. He couldn't have been less bothered - showed us particulars for 3 properties only one of which actually fit our requirements (2 bedrooms, outside space, freehold or share of leasehold) and when we asked him about the four or five places we'd seen in the window and online he said they were all under offer and they only kept them there to attract people in! I know that sort of thing goes on but I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.

What annoyed me though was how uninterested he was - I'm not expecting him to get all excited but you would think we are the kind of buyers agents want at the moment. Was he just fronting or should we write off that agency? Will they all be like this?

Fatenbread

You should write off the agent, and possibly the agency (up to you if you think it is worth complaining about him or speaking to someone else in the office instead).

Every industry has good practitioners and bad ones. EA's are not all bad, and are incentivised to atrract buyers and keep them happy (if they can't attract buyers they will lose all the sellers that pay their commission).

You shouldn't be short of EAs in SW London. Look at the find a property website for property that meets your requirements and then call the advertising agents - The listings on these websites are usually pretty current, as the EAs wouldn't pay to insert an old listing.

poppysarah

Report the agency to their governing body for the misleading advertising.

honey9

Thanks, I thought it was odd as the properties he said were under offer are still on rightmove and findaproperty as being for sale (ie not flagged as under offer!) I think we will have to look at other agencies which is a shame as most of the places in the area we like are with that agency.

lee636

Trip him up when he leaves the office and steal his dinner money! :rotfl:

Fatenbread

poppysarah wrote: »

Report the agency to their governing body for the misleading advertising.

Maybe reporting this particular agent to his office manager / MD would be the first port of call. Then you would know whether the agency were advertising out-of-date properties or if the agent was fobbing you off.

New houses come up for sale all the time, so don't worry about what is available right now.

Finally, if you have a house you really want and think the agent is fobbing you off (or are in the mood for a bit of gazumping), then knock on the door and see if you can speak to the owner. If the agent is the barrier they will soon be removed for a quick sale or more money. All's fair in love and war (and the UK property market).

googler

Would you be posting on a forum like this if you'd walked into Tesco or M&S and the assistant there was 'disinterested' ...?

If you encountered one disinterested assistant in a supermarket, would you be asking "Are all supermarkets going to be like this?"

honey9

No, because I'm not about to spend upwards of £250 grand in Tesco or M&S and I'm not relying on them to advise me on which brand of beans to purchase.

princeofpounds

I've had loads of dealing with EAs in that part of the world (for letting though) and trust me, you aren't being targeted in terms of disinterest. There appear to be certain individuals who care and those that are just jaded. I've had situations where they have sat down, taken all my details, then not even bothered to register me in the system so I never got notifications.

It's unlikely that the EA is playing games if they are trying to dissuade you from a number of a properties. If there is one in particular it's possible, but otherwise unlikely.

EAs often do keep up stale listings, otherwise their windows would look sparse. If there is anything that looks perfect and not advertised as 'sold' then consider getting the deeds from the land registry website (£4) and contacting the owners to confirm it is no longer for sale. Or just knock on the door. Or ask a rival agent to make an approach.

There is no governing body for EAs that you can report them to, except for toothless voluntary organisations. There are however certain advertising rules under the property misdescriptions act and various other bits of legislation they have to comply with. I know what the law is for boards, but not for windows. It's probably not worth chasing up for stale listings.

Finally, if you have no faith in this person at all and he is not the manager, write to the the manager, state that you had come in to enquire but were given little confidence by the responses, and ask if you can be serviced by another staff member. You'll probably get a few glares from the guy when you next go in, but who cares?

Or just avoid this agent altogether.

Doozergirl

honey9 wrote: »

No, because I'm not about to spend upwards of £250 grand in Tesco or M&S and I'm not relying on them to advise me on which brand of beans to purchase.

You can't help which property you want to buy. I wouldn't let one employee in an EA rule out anything that agency has to sell. Presumably they have other staff and a manager as well. I wouldn't complain as such but perhaps a conversation with someone else would help. Identify exactly which properties you are interested in and talk about each of them to discover the status of them.

Don't be vague 'what have you got', be specific. Your freehold or share of leasehold comment is little bit odd. If you are looking for a flat, you wouldn't want to buy a true freehold - you would want a share of freehold. Even they come with leases. Share of leasehold doesn't exist.

There are as many management arrangements as there are blocks so I wouldn't dismiss everything that doesn't fit your tight criteria before you even view - especially as agents often don't know these kind of details off hand, they market houses not convey, most of them don't understand the intricacies of leases so don't expect them to. From helping friends buy in SW London a couple of years back, many of the vendors don't have a clue either so how the EA is supposed to grasp it I don't know!

If you want to keep your service charges lower then as I rule I wouldn't pick great big blocks, especially great big Period blocks. But view everything first and then consider the management costs etc. when you're shortlisting. I imagine the EA you spoke to couldn't be bothered because he thought you were picky and he'd have a lot of work to do to find you something to fit your tight criteria. Not right but I would rather filter my own selections than have an EA do it for me.

honey9

Sorry, I did actually mean share of freehold! We're open to compromise (well I am, my husband isn't keen on leasehold for some reason though I don't see a problem as long as the lease is a long one). We are looking for either a flat or house - there are quite a few of either in the area we're looking in and there isn't much difference in price (not with 2 beds anyway)

But anyway there are plenty of agents and we are not in a desperate hurry to move so we can take our time (though we didn't tell the agent that) and see what else comes on!