Difficulties getting EA to show us round empty properties!

Nenen

I'm fed up and angry :mad: so not quite sure whether to post this here or on the venting board but, as this might also be of some help to some sellers, decided to post here (mods please feel free to move).

We are looking to buy (sold our own house and renting; we have a largish deposit and mortgage agreed so strong position) and are finding it b****y difficult to get some EAs to agree to show us round empty properties on Saturdays.

As I am a teacher I simply cannot take time off during the daytime on weekdays and most EAs won't do viewings after 4pm so, even if I dashed off after school, which is often impossible due to meetings etc, then that's no good.

Even if we ring up 3-4 days in advance and ask for Saturday viewings most EAs are distinctly unhelpful and talk to us as if they are deeply uninterested. If they are prepared to make an appointment at all, then there is usually only one time option which, when we are trying to see several properties in a day, makes things extremely difficult. Their attitude seems to be 'We don't care if you see it or not because we have plenty of other people and, even if we haven't we really don't give a d**m!' I am left fuming at their rudeness and actually aggrieved on behalf of their clients (the vendors) as I know how much they are paying these people to supposedly show people round their property!:mad: I had certainly assumed when we were selling our house that the £4,000 :eek: we were paying our EA would ensure they jumped through hoops, went extra miles etc to enable potential buyers to view. Now I'm not so sure!

I suggested to my dh tonight that maybe next time this happens we should say to the EA 'OK, I'll just pop a letter in the post to your client to explain that we did want to see their property but you were unable to offer us a convenient appointment.' However, as my dh pointed out, that would make us extremely unpopular with EAs and even less likely to get them to show us round potential properties (thus we would be cutting off our noses to spite our faces)!

I would therefore like to reiterate advice given by Andrew on the stickies for house selling to 'test' out EAs beforehand by posing as a potential buyer and ringing them for appointments etc to see if they have this kind of attitude or hopefully, try to be more helpful!

pickles110564

If they wont show you round pop a nice letter through the doors of the houses you are interested in explaining your problems.
If you like it agree price with owner and say to them to take it off the market with EA.
That way you get own back on EA and they dont get no money;)

Mrs_Optimist

We paid £3000 to our EA and they did not jump through hoops once they had found us a buyer. In fact they didn't return our calls, led us up the garden path about our buyers circumstances and was of no help whatsoever when our sale nearly collapsed - twice. They then charged us commission of the Asking Price, not the Sale price - which was some £6500k less than the Asking price - in spite of the fact that they assured us twice that this would not happen. Have written letters of complaint but they have basically told us to get stuffed - this is also a nationwide chain. Am peeved but am going out of my way NOT to recommend them to people now, and they have lost 4 possible houses to sell since then because of me!!! Estate Agents are generally a law unto themselves. There are a few gems (our vendors estate Agents could not do enough for us) but this industry needs a major overhaul. I genuinely sympathise. Perhaps you could look at website where the vendors are trying to sell themselves? I can't think of any off the top of my head but I am sure that others who are more experienced in this than me will come along and point you in the right direction.

epz_2

agreed, EA's have gotten lazy in a riseing market where all they really need to do is book a few appointments and the buyers will jump at them. it is a bit ridiculus that burgerking will try harder to upsell you a 30p filling than an EA trys to sell property worth £100,000s.

thing is up here in scotland with solicitors doing most of the heavy lifting once an offer is made and accepted there is little need for EA's to do more than take some photos, upload the advert on rightmove and book appointments. people are starting to get the message by doing the showings themselves and getting £499 for the sale deals etc.

lynzpower

I have worked in one of these estate agents you talk of and to be honest with you I dont know what the solution is.

I chose to work every saturday ( our office was always open sats 9.30-5.30 I would start viewings at 8 (meaning I left my house at 6.45) and finish up about 7.

I would have been literally jam packed all day long, lunch was a bar of chocolate on the go, and by the time I got home about 8pm I would flop.

This was in london tho and pretty much all of our competitors were doing the same hours, and the same workload.

I have found myself being very apologetic to people, I would have been booked up completely on saturdays from Tuesday onwards. the only hope I offered was a stand by list where if the properties I was meant to show on Saturday had alrfeady gone under offer by then this would have freed up 45 mins to travel to and back to property and show prospective buyers.

No matter what tho, lots of people were disappointed and peeved, but what can you do

If however, the agencies you are approaching are not quite as busy as we were, there is no excuse as far as Im concerned. OP you seem like a very "hot"buyer, wanting ot find something pronto and ready to go. the thing is there were literally hundreds of other people ike you on our books, and they are all fighting over the same slots in the same days.

Whether this is still the case now with the rising IRs I dont know but I know that the EA where I worked, every branch was flat out all the time.

Nenen

lynzpower wrote: »

If however, the agencies you are approaching are not quite as busy as we were, there is no excuse as far as Im concerned. OP you seem like a very "hot"buyer, wanting ot find something pronto and ready to go. the thing is there were literally hundreds of other people ike you on our books, and they are all fighting over the same slots in the same days.

Whether this is still the case now with the rising IRs I dont know but I know that the EA where I worked, every branch was flat out all the time.

Thanks for the insider insights Lynz... I've read several of your posts in the past and always thought you sounded like one of the rare EAs who actually cared about what they were doing and tried to give a professional service. However, although the market is a little strange round here (Cambridge) with some properties going within days, there are others that have been on the market for much longer and I don't get the impression that there are hundreds of buyers in our strong position or that EAs are 'run off their feet' in this area either.
Today was a classic... last Wednesday my dh rang an EA to ask if we could view a property today (Saturday). This property has been on the market for over a month so no possibility there are hundreds of potential buyers lined up. The EA said, 'no, we don't have anyone available to show you round at all this Saturday.' My dh then asked,
'Would it be possible for the vendor to show us round?' EA replied,
'No, it has to be one of us.' My dh then asked if they would ring us if someone dropped out and a space became available later in the week and they said they would. We heard nothing.
This morning I decided, just on the off chance, to try again and rang the same EA office but spoke to another person. This time I was asked what time I wished to see the property and I gave a preferred time (never expecting to actually be offered that time). EA rang me back within 10 minutes to tell me the vendor would meet us at the property at the time I had requested!
When we met the vendor he started by telling us he was about to change agents as these had been so inefficient. We told him what had happened regarding our request earlier in the week and he almost became
apoplectic! Apparently, he had made it clear to the EA that if they couldn't show people round at the weekend he would be willing to do it himself! He had been given to understand by the EA that they always had enough staff so would always be able to show any potential buyers round as this is what he was paying the bulk of his £4,000 for :eek: (and I suspect most sellers are suffering from this delusion too)!

Unfortunately, after all that, this house wasn't what we want so we decided to try going to some EA offices in person to see if we would get a better response that way. Of the two we tried, one was more polite and friendly than the other but neither even bothered to take our names or address; they simply advisied us to keep looking on the websites. I tried asking if they know if anything suitable might be coming on but neither seemed to have any idea. Neither made any attempt to persuade us to view anything and didn't want to know anything other than the price range we were looking in. When one mentioned a property we had already seen that morning they didn't even bother to ask us for feedback. In both offices we were the only people in there (other than the EAs obviously) and neither appeared to be doing anything much when we went in! I know it is really hard to please everyone when you really are rushed off your feet but they seem totally unbothered, even though they have little to do.
Surely, it would be in their interest to take our details and have them to hand should something suitable come onto the market, thus saving them the cost of advertising in papers and on Rightmove? This is exactly what happened when we bought our last house 16 years ago.... EA was instructed in the morning and knew immediately it was the sort of theing we were looking for so rang us saying they hadn't had time to type details yet (pre internet and rightmove days) but described it in some detail and with enthusiasm... good sales pitch. We went to view it that evening and offered for it the next day. EA was very happy as they had made a sale with no advertising costs etc to a couple they know were in a good position! Seller was happy to have made a quick sale and we were estatic to have found a property that was exactly what we'd been looking for! :T I just wish we had the same kind of care, professional pride and service around Cambridge!