What is your most scandalous Estate Agent experience?

theGrinch

an estate agent under valuing an elderly neighbours house by 40% and buying it themselves. Then fending off all enquiries with its under offer. I guess this is pretty common but a sharp market distorting practice. It just shows how low some of them are.

drc

I've twice gone to see properties where the EA has forgotten the keys. In one of the instances we had driven over 100 miles. I was then treated to delightful daily text spam from said EA and had to ask them 3 times to remove me from their mailing list. How can you forget the keys to a property you are showing to potential buyers?

The other day I inquired about a property but the EA said it was under offer. He then took my details, assuring me that I would not get any spam emails/phone calls. Not only did I get 2 spam emails within the hour, but one of them was solely advertising the property that was apparently "under offer" and no longer available.

Pupnik

theGrinch wrote: »

an estate agent under valuing an elderly neighbours house by 40% and buying it themselves. Then fending off all enquiries with its under offer. I guess this is pretty common but a sharp market distorting practice. It just shows how low some of them are.

That is very sad I'm sure it often happens. When my grandmother died my dad spent a long time doing up her house. It was a 3 bedroom house, 2 reception rooms, nice, established garden, large kitchen, garage and big driveway and to top it off in a very prime location where property very rarely comes up as it is a small village (less than 100 people) in an area of 'outstanding natural beauty' with strict planning regulations. Even in the property boom it proved difficult to shift and the estate agents kept on and on at my dad to accept a low offer. Oddly there were no other offers so eventually he had to accept. Surprise surprise some estate agents moved in! I wish he had taken it to some other estate agents as the ones he used seemed so shifty, but at the time he just wanted to be shot of it which I suppose was what they were counting on.

drc wrote: »

The other day I inquired about a property but the EA said it was under offer. He then took my details, assuring me that I would not get any spam emails/phone calls. Not only did I get 2 spam emails within the hour, but one of them was solely advertising the property that was apparently "under offer" and no longer available.

I keep getting text messages/ emails addressed to my boyfriend! I have told them they got out details the wrong way round but they don't even cotton on to the fact that my email address has my name in it and his has his own name in it, but still we get each other's emails!

decogecko

Not EA complaint but an LA one!

3 years ago I was moving in with my boyfriend and decided to rent my house out. I appointed a letting agent (one my aunty used) and gave them the keys to show potential renters round. They'd given me the usual flannel that they had people on their books looking for a property like mine etc etc. TBH I can't remember signing an paperwork:shocked:

Despite no tenants signed up, they got their plumber round to test the boiler etc for the gas certificate. A month later, still no tenants found and my circumstances had changed (OH moving in with me) so I went to the office to get my keys back, they weren't there. Was told 'they must be with .... for a viewing' I said I'd rung to confirm there was no viewings and was told to come and pick the keys up. It turns out they were still with the plumber - 4 weeks after he'd been round, so no viewings had taken place or been able too for 4 of the 5 weeks my house was on the rental market:eek:

I was never charged for the gas certificate, so some compensation

tiny_tear

Once in Edinburgh we show up for the open viewings (which happen Sunday 2 to 4pm).
The flat owners must have woken up late so were still cooking dinner, so instead of viewing a flat with the aroma of freshly baked bread or coffee, we had the boiling spuds on the cooker bubbling away!

- -

in terms of agents, this was London and some agents kept sending us brochures for things way over our budget, but that is normal nowadays...

The worse was one where we were close to exchange and fortunately escaped... there was damp in the flat (basement, pardon, garden flat) and we were advised to get an independent damp survey. By chance, the one we picked at luck from the internet had already been to that flat twice in 5 years and nothing had ever been done. the work required was massive.

we need a builder to quote for the work and the EA says she knows someone, we meet him there and by luck the vendors had someone replacing the ensuite shower that day so we managed to see the ultra rotten floorboards under the shower cubicle... with mould and mushrooms growing...

anyway, then this builder (recommended by the EA) then sends us a dirt cheap quote as 'the EA said we didn't really need to do x and y as we had asked him to quote for...

we then say we are not happy with the issue and that we don't think we could sort it and it was bigger than we though and we might pull out and then *surprise surprise* the EA suddenly finds a damp proof guarantee from 15 years back - that hadn't sorted the problem anyway and she was hiding...

we pulled out and found a better place a month later... and when seeing the HIP for the new place we realised the vendors for the first place had actually removed the questions regarding damp from the questionnaire!

I wouldn't use that EA again, even if I am now staying in this area...

Pupnik

Speaking of LAs, when my folks bought a flat to rent out towards the end of the 90s they used LAs to sort out the tenants. Big mistake! They were lucky with the first tenant but the second one was a disaster. He ended up leaving oweing 6 months rent, absolutely trashed the place (intentionally burnt the carpets, sofa, mattress and curtains with cigarettes, left the oven door wide open at full blast and destroyed all the kitchen counters around it as well as smashing whatever he could). My dad got all of his details from the LA and found that all of his references were completely made up and had never been checked! They didn't even really know who this guy was- my parents hired a private detective to try and find him but with no luck, he probably moved onto to some other LA who couldn't be bothered to vet potential tenants.

sonastin

I think I might have potentially the most scandalous tale of all (apart from one minor blip when I tried to sell via a countrywide agency)...

My dealings with EAs have mostly been positive experiences. The problems that I have experienced in the property market have nearly always stemmed from other parties and the EAs involved have been incredibly helpful in resolving the problems!

Bet you didn't think you'd ever hear a tale like that one :rotfl:

(I have worried that I've been naive but I've tried to look at it from every angle and I really do think that I've been really lucky)

blue_haddock

r7otl wrote: »

When I was a first time buyer EA opened front door to a house I was interested in and sat there with a can of Stella (at about 10am on a Saturday) was a big fat bloke in a grotty pair of Y-fronts and a string vest watching WWF wrestling.

Surprise, surprise, house was horrible!

am i not allowed to enjoy my day off??? :rotfl:

lyndasharp

Earlier this year we went to look at a few properties. The first visit of the day was through an agent who had already been really pushy about mortgages ("no, we don't want to see your advisor, we live over 100 miles away and it's not just a fun day trip for us to pop into your office" took a long time to sink in). The agent was half an hour late, so we'd already had a good look round the outside of the house with another viewer, who had been booked in just before us. We spent our waiting time pointing out faults (having another pair of eyes always helps).

Then having finally got inside, the house had been bodged hugely, the ancient boiler vented into the bathroom, and as for the electrics.... It really wasn't safe to live in, and needed total stripping out and starting again. Rightmove ad didn't even mention the need for redecoration! So that was a complete waste of our time, and funnily enough when the agents rang for feedback, they went very quiet when my husband told them exactly what he thought of their misrepresentation of the condition.

We ended up buying a lovely house on the market for only £10k more :-)

Glyndwr2000

We were looking last year to move into a little village. Found a huge house which had been partially renovated but still needed some work on the market at 315k.
Had a look round it with the family who all agreed that it was what we wanted. Had a second viewing myself with the EA who said that, as it had been on the market for over a year, offer 250k and they will snap your hand off (its a repossession).
Went home and did the sums (family are in the building trade so got them to help with the technicalities) and it all worked out. So duly offered £250k.
2 weeks later, after much chasing, I was told that they had received an offer of £253 and would I like to increase. As I had only offered £250 on their recommendation, I went to £255 to be told two days later that they had been offered £258. I expressed surprise (to put it mildly) and the EA then "confided" that the repossession company were looking into turning it into flats and so would want a minimum of £300k. They also said that an architect had been hired to to the design work and that it would be starting within the month unless I offered £300k.
Strangely, its over a year now and the weeds are almost to the first floor windows. We have family in the village and, as you can imagine, the village grapevine doesnt miss a thing that happens in the village. There hasnt seen a single person go into the house for at least 6 months and it is still up for sale. The EA doesnt even advertise it anymore, just lets his for sale sign slowly moulder....

sad really