What do people hate most about EAs?

Mrs_Optimist

When we sold our house last time (abortive sale because we couldn't find anything to buy) WE did the showing of the house to the prospective buyers, all the estate agent did was give us the offer over the telephone. The first viewer offered £2k less, and then full asking price. House sold in less than 24 hours. Had the sale gone through we would have had to pay around £4k for EA fees - they didn't even do the viewing!!! When we sell next time (hopefuly after Christmas when market picks up again) we will definately try and sell ourselves first - anyone recommend any good websites we could use?

RHemmings

rio wrote:

Thinking they know better that you do. We have registered for information with a couple in our town and have been extremely specific about what we are looking for. One EA rang me on Friday with a house which had most of our criteria but was in totally the wrong part of town. I said I wasn't interested, but he kept saying how nice the house was - duh said I "but it's in the catchment area for the worst secondary school in town - perhaps the current owners have discovered this and decided to move!!"

I hate that bit they do when you tell them what you can afford, and they ask you what you earn, do the tap tap on the calculator thing, and then tell you that you can afford something that would have you on bread and water for the rest of your life.

MortgageMamma

Its all about control with estate agents YOU tell them YOUR budget that YOU have fixed and don't budge from it. It really narks them off when you tell them you already have a mortgage advisor. They still try and insist you see theirs. I know this as when I set up my first company I did some mystery shopping whilst I was still anonymous locally. (that standards of advice was appalling -3 firms out of the 10 even credit checked me without my permission, believe me, I went nuts) Every single one of them tried to pressure me into seeing their mortgage advisor. When I look to buy my next house I will take great pleasure in telling them I'm arranging my own mortgage

To Mrs Optimist the following site is very popular to sell own home

http://www.houseladder.co.uk/welcome.aspx

A_Nice_Englishman

(1) Not listening to my requirements.

I was very specific about what I wanted when i bought my house. 2 beds, garage, not more than 10 years old, walking distance to shops etc etc. I asked them to call me as soon as they had anything that fitted my criteria and I would view right away.

But I was constantly getting calls "I know this isn't quite what you were looking for Mr Englishman but I would like you to look at it".

(2) Their fees.

I'd much rather pay them for the actual time spent, like you can for IFAs, for example. This should be on a scale according to the skill involved - more for a qualified surveyor making a valuation than an office person posting off brochures.

clutton_2

i wanted a house in a small market town, within walking distance of the town centre, they gave me 8 sets of details, i sat on the bench outside and read that not one was even IN the market town - most were 5-8 miles away !!!!

"Are you deaf or just stupid - have these blinking details back "!!!!

A_Nice_Englishman

Another thoight:

Presumably you could sued a solicitor if they mess up the conveyancing, for example Has anyone sued an estate agent for, say, getting a valuation seriously wrong?

MortgageMamma

Perhaps there's a gap in the market for an a la carte estate agents

Wouldnt it be good if you could pay per viewing
Pay per ad in news paper

etc etc

vicker

Most EAs get so much money for doing so little.

You do come across the odd gem, but my experience says they are few and far between.

RHemmings

MortgageMamma wrote:

I'm not a big fan of estate agents, they get on my nerves and unfortunately I have to deal with them on a regular basis. They get hacked off when I act for their clients, mostly because they wanted the mortgage business themselves:rotfl: , and also I am quite straight to the point, assertive and downright bossy when it comes to them removing a property off the market.

Can you please give more details about how you go about getting people to take properties off the market when one of your clients is in the process of buying?

F_T_Buyer

Do you know there are more people employed in estate agenacies than they are soldiers in the British Army?

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/15752/the-invasion-of-the-estate-agents.html