I don't trust my estate agent

googler

BertieUK wrote: »

In our area we have around eight EA operating, looking at the number of properties they have on their books they are so varied that I wonder how, some of them can give a top class service with the number of properties that they are handling.

Just to give you an example the numbers run as follows for the eight EA

(Numbers)

So looking at the above figures which one do you choose?

Taking into account the one with 326 properties how can the staff be expected to deliver a good service?

These numbers can't tell you the whole story, without at least knowing the number of staff at each location, to derive a rough average of number of properties per person, and some indication of how efficient and enthusiastic they are.

I suggest you follow Goldiegirl's advice and actually talk to the agents in your area. See what they say about what's happening, ask them about the number of sales taking place, and what the general mood of the local buyers is. A wide-ranging conversation here should give you an idea of how good they are, and also how much time they're likely to give to viewers and prospect buyers.

googler

BertieUK wrote: »

My wife would feel very comfortable doing the viewings but is not convinced, as yet, as to how good the on-line agent would be, if we chose to use one, in handling the appointments and clients.

Well, all the online agent would be doing would be speaking to them on the phone, so it's debateable whether they would be any influence at all on viewers or buyers.

The obvious question to your wife would be - "How used are you to dealing with the general public and all their foibles?"

BertieUK

googler wrote: »

These numbers can't tell you the whole story, without at least knowing the number of staff at each location, to derive a rough average of number of properties per person, and some indication of how efficient and enthusiastic they are.

I suggest you follow Goldiegirl's advice and actually talk to the agents in your area. See what they say about what's happening, ask them about the number of sales taking place, and what the general mood of the local buyers is. A wide-ranging conversation here should give you an idea of how good they are, and also how much time they're likely to give to viewers and prospect buyers.

I will follow through with your / Goldiegirl's advice, I have for the most part of my adult life been working with the general public in many varied occupations, so I am a fair judge of a persons character. Well I would like to think so, all the best to you and thanks for your time.

googler

googler wrote: »

I suggest you follow Goldiegirl's advice and actually talk to the agents in your area. See what they say about what's happening, ask them about the number of sales taking place, and what the general mood of the local buyers is. A wide-ranging conversation here should give you an idea of how good they are, and also how much time they're likely to give to viewers and prospect buyers.

...and you might want to bear in mind, when weighing up costs of online agents vs high-street, that if you walk into all of the agents on your high-street, and spend 30 mins with each, that's essentially free advice for you, and time that the EA won't be directly paid for. If they're spending this amount of time face-to-face with viewer and buyer prospects for your and other houses, doesn't that give you some further inkling as to why there's a difference in fees between online and high-street?

spannerzone

The following test shows whether an estate agent or sales person is lying:






Answer: Their lips are moving

BertieUK

googler wrote: »

...and you might want to bear in mind, when weighing up costs of online agents vs high-street, that if you walk into all of the agents on your high-street, and spend 30 mins with each, that's essentially free advice for you, and time that the EA won't be directly paid for. If they're spending this amount of time face-to-face with viewer and buyer prospects for your and other houses, doesn't that give you some further inkling as to why there's a difference in fees between online and high-street?

I understand the points that you are making, but after my last experience with a local EA it does not bond well with the commission that we paid him for what we thought was a pretty poor service provided, perhaps we were unlucky.

moneyistooshorttomention

JQ. wrote: »

What was the lie?

I'm guessing that he has either:
- said you are prepared to accept a lower price than you actually are

OR

- said that your situation is that you NEED to sell, rather than WANT to sell

Either way - the effect would be that would-be buyers might feel they could chance a lower offer than they otherwise would make - and I would be hitting the roof furious in those circumstances myself and changing estate agent as soon as I could.

I'm already gearing myself up to finding that the first one/two/few offers on my house are a "cheeky offer" rather than a real offer and the disappointment of thinking "OOH....an offer...damn it wasnt...it was a cheeky bid....next please.."...so I'm guessing that that's why you are upset.

Good luck in sorting this out.

EDIT: as a practical suggestion - how about getting a friend to be a "mystery shopper" for houses for sale and say that they are interested in buying your house and try and get the E.A. responses to them in writing - so that you can see whether they correspond with your instructions. I am certainly thinking I might get one of my friends to "Mystery Shop" my house to ensure my instructions are being complied with properly - even though I've found an estate agent I am getting "good vibes" from.

Ivana_Tinkle

spannerzone wrote: »

The following test shows whether an estate agent or sales person is lying:






Answer: Their lips are moving

I think this is terribly inaccurate. Sometimes they use email.

worried1959

The agent has been sending round quite a lot of viewers, which I thought was brilliant. Having chatted in some depth with quite a lot of them though it became apparent that they were completely unable of offering anything within £40K of the asking price. My price is competitive and is £20K less than the prices achieved for nearby properties in the last 12 months as I wanted to get it moved quickly.

Two viewers made incredibly low offers. The agent said he could not get them to improve their bids. One improved his subsequently to outbid the other. When I responded that it was still at a level that would not make it possible for me to buy anything else the agent, and members of his staff, told me that the higher of the two bidders did not have more money at his disposal and was trying to get his father to loan him some. This was repeated several times and I was assured that he would bid higher if he had the resources to do so.

At this time the manager was on leave. Yesterday I asked him to try to check out potential viewers to make sure they were able to afford something in the region of the asking price (reasonable offers welcome). He said that this bidder could have afforded it and did have the funds, but had told him that he did not think the property was worth it. The manager had not been dealing with the bidder when the offer was made and previous conversations had been with his staff. This completely contradicts what I had been told.

He also said that they check out the viewers' financial position before sending them round. His staff said they had not been doing this. Some viewers are first time buyers and could not possibly afford it unless they were all lottery winners.

This follows email correspondence in which he was pressing me to accept the very low offer made, despite having been told that it was £55K below prices achieved in the road in the last year and that it would not be possible for me to buy anything should I accept the price.

Looking back I am not sure that we have had more than a couple of viewers who could realistically have afforded the property and I think I am being put under some pressure to accept low offers since the agent does not have viewers actually able to afford the property.

The issue is that I would like to sell but would not now want this person to be handling the sale process since trust is absolutely essential

googler

worried1959 wrote: »

The agent has been sending round quite a lot of viewers, which I thought was brilliant. Having chatted in some depth with quite a lot of them though it became apparent that they were completely unable of offering anything within £40K of the asking price. My price is competitive and is £20K less than the prices achieved for nearby properties in the last 12 months as I wanted to get it moved quickly.

.....

the agent does not have viewers actually able to afford the property.

Leaving aside all other issues, I'm left with the impression that your property is overpriced for the current market.