EA rant

bouicca21

Just letting off steam - I am now ready to start serious viewings and of 8 enquiries sent via rightmove only 3 have got back to me. 1 rang while I was busy and told me to ring back. 2 have arranged viewings but only one has actually asked what my requirements are. What do these people do to earn their commission?

richardw

As little as possible.

hazyjo

They don't tend to do the matching up any more - everyone checks RM, and if they do take your details they will set up some computer generated whatever that basically sends details of everything even vaguely meeting your criteria. I always end up unsubscribing cos they just send through a pile of... [insert expletive].

The RM 'contact us' links might go via some outside contact (same with the phone numbers which are never the EA numbers, they are linked to some other place that makes the money then forwards the calls). I always google the direct number myself and ring. Much easier.

Jx

Prothet_of_Doom

Nothing. They do nothing. PRE-Internet ? A woman comes into the office, who is looking for a 2 bed house for up to £50K. They say they have nothing new on thier books in her price range.
My wife overhears, and points the lady to our 3 bed details, where the house is £48K. Tells her she can look around anytime, in the next 10 days, morning noon or night, just need 20 mins to get home and put shopping away. Wife looks around, Husband looks around, kids look around, offer made, offer accepted. Estate agent still thinks they should get paid.
Post internet ? Can't imagine what they could do better than you. Perhaps pre-vet the nutters ?

Prothet_of_Doom

oh and when I had a very specific buying requiremnt - "Must have a garage or space for a garage" not one had a database which could cope with space for a garage, and they never actually measured the garages they did list, so we ended up looking at houses which had a "garage" that was 6 foot wide by 10 foot long. Technically not really a garage.

giddypenguin

I'd be quite glad of not telling them my requirements - I used to dread when a house we liked came up under ANOTHER agent - have to go through the 20 minute phone conversation telling them what you are looking for (new build, nice area, detached, 4 bed, garden, garage) then you get loads of e-mails through about the opposite (always got sent Victorian semis with no parking)...

To be fair, I'm a RM addict so if I see something I like I'll phone up to ask about it rather than wait for them (although in saying that, the house we ended up buying was shown to us before it went on RM by a very good EA)

lil_miss_insanity

bouicca21 wrote: »

Just letting off steam - I am now ready to start serious viewings and of 8 enquiries sent via rightmove only 3 have got back to me. 1 rang while I was busy and told me to ring back. 2 have arranged viewings but only one has actually asked what my requirements are. What do these people do to earn their commission?

I had this exact experience. Almost nobody got back to me from RM enquiries, and those I got through to on the phone tended to be "that one's sold, sorry, bye" - not even attempting to find out what I was looking for. It just strikes me as crazy that in a buyers market (as it definitely still was, at the beginning of the year) that the buyers have to really fight to get EAs to care.

DRP

bouicca21 wrote: »

Just letting off steam - I am now ready to start serious viewings and of 8 enquiries sent via rightmove only 3 have got back to me. 1 rang while I was busy and told me to ring back. 2 have arranged viewings but only one has actually asked what my requirements are. What do these people do to earn their commission?

lil_miss_insanity wrote: »

I had this exact experience. Almost nobody got back to me from RM enquiries, and those I got through to on the phone tended to be "that one's sold, sorry, bye" - not even attempting to find out what I was looking for. It just strikes me as crazy that in a buyers market (as it definitely still was, at the beginning of the year) that the buyers have to really fight to get EAs to care.

I see absolutely no point in using email/RM site to contact EAs. Clearly not many EAs see the point in it either.

Pick up the phone and ring them.

googler

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

PRE-Internet ? A woman comes into the office, who is looking for a 2 bed house for up to £50K. They say they have nothing new on thier books in her price range.
My wife overhears, and points the lady to our 3 bed details, where the house is £48K. ............ Estate agent still thinks they should get paid.

Your one instance is hardly a reflection of every property going through their books, though, is it?

googler

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

oh and when I had a very specific buying requiremnt - "Must have a garage or space for a garage" not one had a database which could cope with space for a garage

Is that so surprising?