MSE News: Guest comment: Buyers and sellers are being ripped off by agents

cwcw

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Have I missed Miss Creasy's declaration that she will turn down her 10% MP salary increase? Sheer hypocracy, happily bagging 10 times more salary increase than the average person whilst lecturing how bad estate agents and lettings agencies are.

It's just electioneering, she doesn't really care.

It depends what flags are on display at the houses being sold. Welsh, Scottish or European flags show the owners are passionate and proud of their identity, they deserve all the help from those nasty estate agents. An English flag shows they're racist scum so they're on their own.

agrinnall

I'm with KTF on this, I've never heard of a buyer being charged a fee by an EA, and I don't really see how it would be possible as the buyer has no contract with the EA. I cannot imagine it happening in Scotland, is this yet another bizarre English housing issue?

googler

Pincher wrote: »

The estate agency business model is to say the time they wasted on other people's sales should be covered by MY commission.

How would you make a living where you spend most of your time, effort and money with people who don't actually pay you?

If the only source of income is the successful sales, where's the income going to come from to pay for all the time spent with viewers and buyers who don't buy?

spiderx

And just to put another 2 ha'pence worth in I sold my house about 10 years ago without an estae agent or solicitor. Just followed the 'Which' book on selling your house...it cost me £10 to buy the book and £10 for the 'offical' pro forma stationery from a legal stationers...£20 and a bit of form filling to sell the property...I'm a part time caretaker ...if I can do it anyone can... you must be a stickler for detail and accuracy though .

cwcw

Maybe if politicians are so concerned with the plight of buyers they should look closer to home and reassess the stamp duty tax, both in terms of thresholds and also the regressive mechanism that causes artificial pricing barriers and buyers of, say, a £260k house paying three times the tax of a £250k buyer.

What was supposed to be a tax on the wealthy has become yet another tax on virtually everyone and buyers of the average home are expected to pay £2,000+ up front. Those just above average are looking at £7,500+.

For those who advocate a mansion tax, be warned, in another decade or two when the thresholds remain unchanged, that 'mansion' will be a 3 bed semi. The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money to spend.

car0line123

Does someone know where this "charging a buyer fees" come from? (England). I've never heard of it until today.

Credit-Crunched

car0line123 wrote: »

Does someone know where this "charging a buyer fees" come from? (England). I've never heard of it until today.

I think it is in reference to Buy To Let purchases, where they charge an introducers fee to find the tenants?

However, the usual sloppy, ill researched article that beleaguers this site, makes it hard to tell.

Naf

eddddy wrote: »

This is ridiculous.

All that's needed is clear transparent pricing. For example, Agents' contracts should just say:

Estate Agent 1
We charge sellers 1.5% and we charge buyers 0%

Estate Agent 2
We charge sellers £200 and we charge buyers 2%

Estate agent 3
We charge sellers 0.5% and we charge buyers 0.5%

The government shouldn't be 'micro-managing' / 'micro-legislating' like this - they should be addressing this type of consumer issue at a much higher level.

They should be legislating to make sure that all businesses (including Estate Agents) display prices clearly and fairly, and much more importantly, helping to educate people to be 'savvy consumers' who can make their own optimal decisions.

Wouldn't help very much. The market isn't like a supermarket where the same product is sold at the next one down the road so you can easily go there; the property you're looking at is at just one agent, so you're forced to deal with whatever hoops they decide to make you jump through.You can't just go to another agent and expect to find what you need there instead - you have to get it where you see it, and quick!

Credit-Crunched

The referral process for estate agents need look at promptly.

It is wrong that using their in house tied advisers, inflated conveyancing and extortionate household insurance makes you a more desirable client. Even mandatory meetings with the mortgage manager before they put forward your offer.

The mortgage manager is governed by the FCA.
The Solicitor by the SRA and FCA
The valuer RICS

The estate agent adheres to a voluntary code of conduct...

Surely this is not right, they can not be trusted to act with integrity and honest, so they need to be regulated.

Credit-Crunched

Pincher wrote: »

There are also time wasters who put the property on the market just to test the water, and people who are just killing time by going for viewings.

A half way house would be a fixed charge for listing/marketing expenses, non-refundable, plus the selling commission as an incentive to sell. If you were selling a car, you wouldn't quibble about paying for an advert.

It would be interesting if buyers have to pay a deposit for viewings. I saw this letting agent standing outside a house, for over half an hour, and it was a no show. But of course, the crooks are already doing it, so it needs to be a regulated scheme. Let us assume the agent will never get the money, so a third party website would take the deposit, and sends a text/e-mail to the agent. At the end of the viewing, the agent whips out his phone and releases the lock, so the money is refunded.

I am sorry to say, but no shows and time wasters are part of business.... Rightly or wrongly, take the rough with the smooth