How difficult is it to get a viewing?!! Are your EAs more accomodating?

JustAnotherSaver

IMO the buyer is the most important player in the whole process. Feel free to disagree & i know without the seller there'd be no buyer, but there's always folk selling & none of it moves until people are prepared to part with their cash. Just my opinion.

As such, i thought (going into this as a first timer) EAs would be quite accommodating to the buyer. Hasn't really turned out that way for us. Not returning contact, delayed responses, incorrect information, & more importantly for us - a lack of flexibility on their part when it comes to viewing.

I know i can't be in a 1-man boat here when i say my employer isn't really the best when it comes to knocking off early. Essentially i am limited to viewings from approx 6:15/6:30pm onwards Monday-Friday. As i work Saturday's i'm limited to 5:00pm onwards & i don't work Sunday's so we're good for all day.


I've found that there's nothing for the weekday slots. 5pm is the cut off for a Saturday & is often booked up & that there's nothing on Sunday at all. I would've thought they'd operate even if just until dinner time. Do they even want to make a sale?

This is part reason why we missed out on our perfect house recently. We couldn't get the time off work in time enough for the 2nd viewing. As a result of this we missed out on the house we wanted by a matter of hours.

We're soon to be on holiday (or rather leave from work) & we're going to putting this to use in terms of sorting out house hunting. We've arranged for viewings on around 5 houses. All of them were good apart from one. We wanted to blitz them all on the first available day. I asked one for a viewing on said day & they asked what time. I emailed back the desired time & got the response of they have nothing that day but the next day is fine between an hour & half slot.
I mean come on - don't ask what time i'd like only to THEN tell me nothing is available that day (which is 2 weeks away!!!).

We're new to this, but do the rest of you find that EAs are generally not very flexible?

bouicca21

I mainly work from home so I'm über flexible about viewings. I still find it difficult, estate agents don't bother to return calls, they can't answer basic questions about the properties they are trying to sell, they lack common courtesy and don't appear to know the difference between gilding the lily and offering a toxic weed. This wastes my time and theirs.

My latest one was when I asked about a repo. In view of a previous experience I specifically asked if the previous occupier had damaged the property with sledge hammer. The answer was no. As it happens, this was true. The holes in the wall had been caused by something other than a sledgehammer. Oh and another property which turned out to be totally derelict, was described to me as 'not the tidiest'.

mail2z

EAs are basically marketing the property, they represent the seller, they are not the most honest of the people around, they are not the most pro-active people around either. I have seen buyers who are less honest and less pro-active than most EAs too with respect to proceedability, less genuine offers, gazundering etc.

But it is not the point to entirely blame the EA. If you are making a important decision as buying a house, I think you also should be more flexible to spare time for viewing and conducting the tasks associated with buying, you would do this for other important things like holidays, so why not house buying. If you serious about buying you will do what is required to get what you want.

geoffky

You are lucky..The four estate agents around here are closed mid-day Saturday closed Sundays..

JustAnotherSaver

mail2z wrote: »

But it is not the point to entirely blame the EA. If you are making a important decision as buying a house, I think you also should be more flexible to spare time for viewing and conducting the tasks associated with buying, you would do this for other important things like holidays, so why not house buying. If you serious about buying you will do what is required to get what you want.

I'm wondering how i could be any 'more flexible'.

Aside from the upcoming week that we'll be using to view houses, i have no annual leave left, so this then falls on me asking my employers for favours to be allowed to leave early, or during the day for me to come back x-hours later...and they say no.

So aside from throwing a sick day which can cause its own problems, i'm wondering how i could be any more flexible?

geoffky wrote: »

You are lucky..The four estate agents around here are closed mid-day Saturday closed Sundays..

This is something i don't understand. Many people work Monday-Friday. I work every Saturday too. You'd think that weekends would be part of their business hours as many people would get at least 1 of the weekend days off.

Torry_Quine

Do you have to have the estate agent for viewings though? The sellers will probably be able to be more flexible to your times.

haras_nosirrah

Ask if the estate agent if the vendor would be willing to do a sunday viewing if they can't do it.

I am not an estate agent but I do work in an office with them (mortgage broker) and the number of people who phone up at 10am on a saturday and want a viewing that day (as they are only in the area for one day) or want a market appraisal at 11:30 the same day and get annoyed when they can't be accommodated.

I understand that it is a service industry but from seeing some posts on here (why aren't they open sundays, bank holidays, till 8pm) surely estate agents should be allowed to have family time too. Most people have two days off a week so should be able to do a sat or a weekday if the estate agents are closed on a sunday. Estate agents are not paid enough to be on call 24/7 (they get around 12k a year basic)

How is it going to work with seeing a solicitor, moving house op if you have no annual leave left? Surely you can leave an hour early and not take your lunch break if you book it early enough?

JustAnotherSaver

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Ask if the estate agent if the vendor would be willing to do a sunday viewing if they can't do it.

One option. This has never actually been put to us before as a suggestion, so i didn't think it was how things were done.

the number of people who phone up at 10am on a saturday and want a viewing that day (as they are only in the area for one day) or want a market appraisal at 11:30 the same day and get annoyed when they can't be accommodated

I have similar where i work & it's just bloody stupid imo. But i'm not wanting a viewing with 2 hours notice. I'm giving weeks.

I understand that it is a service industry but from seeing some posts on here (why aren't they open sundays, bank holidays, till 8pm) surely estate agents should be allowed to have family time too.

I agree, but maybe there should be some sort of rota system in place? We operate our place on a rota system as far as weekends go.

Estate agents are not paid enough to be on call 24/7 (they get around 12k a year basic)

I'm not paid much either, but i have to do 6 day weeks, 55-60 hours.

How is it going to work with seeing a solicitor, moving house op if you have no annual leave left? Surely you can leave an hour early and not take your lunch break if you book it early enough?

I'm afraid no leaving early unfortunately. In the winter - probably, but right now - no. Unfortunately we can't wait until winter. If something is on the market now that we want then we need to go for it.

Mobeer

EA selling my place was happy to do viewings till 7pm M-F or daytime Saturday (and so was I).

But when I was looking around it seemed that no EA would do a viewing after 6pm, and few would consider Saturday mornings (normally "too busy").

I personally find it really odd that EAs are like this - why not finish early one day a week and work late on another? People who can afford to buy are almost certainly working during the day.

EAs are at least no worse than shops - was shopping recently in a town where most shops opened 9-5 M-F and 9-12 Saturday.

JustAnotherSaver

Mobeer wrote: »

why not finish early one day a week and work late on another? People who can afford to buy are almost certainly working during the day.

You think it'd make sense wouldn't you - to try & catch those who can't make it on your 'early' days.

I'd been seeing a private physio rather than NHS & he does this for this reason. Knocks off early a few days of the week & on the other days he works quite late because he understands that PEOPLE WORK, so by working late a couple days a week he's making himself available for them .... and he's always busy!! Get's to enjoy an early knock off during the week to get things done too, so it's win-win for him.

Shame the EA's don't operate a similar mindset.

haras_nosirrah

the one I work in (not for I just have a desk at the back) is open 8am - 6pm mon, tue, wed, fri, sat and 8am - 7pm on a thur.

I work 3 days a week part time and I work 33 hours. a full timer is 61 hours.

They are also open one sunday a month and every bank holiday.

Problem with rota is they have two negotiators, a lister and a manager so they get one saturday off a month each. If they were open every sunday as well then if their partners work mon - fri they wouldn't get a day together at all