Estate agents really take the pi$$

shortchanged_2

macaque wrote: »

I can help this one, I've seen it before.

Some years ago a bathroom company got into trouble over a cunning discount strategy. They would pick one or two days in the month when they knew sales would be bad and marked up the prices of £150 baths to £400. Immediately afterwards they would announce in a blaze of publicity that they were discounting the baths by 50%. Afterwards, people would rush in for bargain baths at £200 which should have retailed for £150.

What White Noise is saying is that if the reduction had been £40k, the correct asking price should have been £195k. As White Noise has pointed out, transparency is the best antidote to spin.

Isn't this exactly the same that companies like DFS are doing?

Maybe we are seeing some inventive marketing by some EA's in what must be ever so difficult times for them at the moment.:p

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

an idiot who sees "25% OFF" & believes it is a bargain.

Yes, we call them "Property Bee Users"....

1984ReturnsForReal_2

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Yes, we call them "Property Bee Users"....

We call them Aberdonians

googler

i stuck the house into nethouseprice and you can see that the attached property that is pretty much exactly the same place (both double glazing and garden size) sold for £230k in june of 2009!


As someone has already pointed out, there could be material differences internally that could account for the difference, and you don't appear to have access to an internal spec on the one that sold in 2009.

i mean i can't believe that EA's (o.k its there job to get the best price that they can) can over price by this much it really is taking the mick

How do you know it's the EA that's setting the price? It may well have been determined by the seller, who, after all, has hired the EA and is paying the EA's wages. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

drc

We went to see a property in an area 50 miles from where we live in London. Arranged it with the local EA and travelled down there with sleepy toddler in tow. When we got there, the EA turned up late to meet us a the house, didn't have the keys and wasn't sure if his colleagues had a spare set and then disappeared off to look for them for half an hour, leaving us sitting outside the house which was overpriced for what it was. No apology, nothing. The next day and for the next two weeks, I received 3-4 text messages a day, "alerting" me of great properties in the area from said EA. It took them over 2 weeks to remove my number from their messaging service.

So, they couldn't be bothered to check they had the right set of keys for a pair of potential buyers and they couldn't be bothered to take us off their text message mailing list, but they could be bothered to put us on it in the first place, even though I asked them specifically if I would be getting their spam phone calls and mailouts and they protested their innocence. How hard is it to find some keys and turn up on time !!!!!! and in the current market, you'd expect them to be making more of an effort not less. A lot of them have delusions of grandeur and self importance in my opinion. pfft.

SingleSue

Blacklight wrote: »

If it sold in June 2009 then it was probably purchased in April 2009. Prices have increased about 8% since then.

£235k is about £15k off where it should be.

What was your point again?

Dependent on area....not all areas have increased by 8%.

Of course some have increased by more than 8% but some have not improved at all and are still down on last years prices.

The 8% is only an average taking into account all the good performing areas, the middling performing areas and the not performing at all areas.

It could be that the area the OP is talking about, is one of those who have not performed at all or by just a very small amount.

neverdespairgirl

Blacklight wrote: »

If it sold in June 2009 then it was probably purchased in April 2009. Prices have increased about 8% since then.

£235k is about £15k off where it should be.

What was your point again?

Depends where, surely?

DervProf

nearlynew wrote: »

Clueless f*cking chancers.

At least they keep BMW sales up, and hair gel manufacturers would surely struggle without their custom.