Your experiences (good & bad) with estate agents

reformedEffortMaker_2

think we need to add London Bus Drivers, Traffic Wardens, TV licence inspectors, car clampers, bailiffs and the sales assistant who holds up the queue by trying to sell the "10% off your first purchase store card" to that list!! :rotfl:

madfrenchgirl

Yes reformed effort maker, but that would be hijacking the subject at hand.

bylromarha

Don't think anyone has yet mentioned floor plans?

I want proper detailed floor plans on my details as a buyer and a seller. Not these things that people knock up on a package which aren't accurate, but proper clear floor plans showing me nooks and crannies.

I'm a visual person and these things tell me straight away if a house is for me or not. the number of houses I visited without a floor plan which I knew the layout was completely wrong for us after visiting, which, had I had a floor plan, would have saved my time, sellers time, agents time.

we had this company when we sold...excellent service from a really nice guy...and from their FAQ, looks like they cover your area.

http://www.particular-plans.co.uk/FAQ.htm#q6

Or just rooting round the website, looks like they offer a fax service too...probably cheaper as no personal visit, so if you're a new start up, this may be the way forward if you're wanting to use this company?

lauralla

Thanks everyone - hadn't thought about floorplans, but will definitely give it some serious consideration - thanks for the link bylomarha.

Just some feedback for you all - just had a vendor on the phone, not completely happy with the service so far. explained to him about us introducing a weekly update via phone or email to discuss progress, and about the accompanied viewings, and also discussed revamping the details and taking more photos, and he's gone away really pleased and i'm really pleased and quite excited about things looking so good for the future!

THANKS! This has proved itself to be the best idea I had for getting feedback and I really do appreciate it! :beer:

Doc_N

Have bought and sold many times - always with the help of estate agents. Had no problems with any of them, but all have been members of the appropriate trade/professional body. I wouldn't consider using a 'cowboy' agent for buying or selling.

From a seller's point of view the main thing for me has always been good contact. If I'm selling, I need to know what's going on, and if there are any delays what the agent is doing to minimise those delays.

In short, I'm happy to pay the fee - but I expect it to be earned if problems arise with the transaction.

alant1000

Bad experiences:-

1) The absolute worst and most blatantly annoying thing is only being given the rubbish places that cant be shifted first, and pretending thats all you have. Its happened to me before and drives me mad.

2) Obviously not passing on low offers is a no no, and most people are savy enough to rumble if this is happening or not. An offer is an offer, so definitely pass it on no matter how low it is.

3) As a young looking person myself, having an estate agent judge me on my appearance, i.e "he's young, he's not serious" is the pits. It happened to me in 5 out of the 8 estate agents i visited in Woking, 4 didnt even ask for my details and said they had nothing for under £200k (total rubbish). I earn £48k, was cleared for a mortgage, and had a £25k deposit buring a hole, so their loss!

4) When you dont have a suitable house for someone, trying to say they "aren't out there" when others have them on their books will just make you look like you aren't able to attract the decent houses.

Good Experiences:

The agent i have just bought from (independant, single branch) was run my husband and wife team, totally honest, personable and only showed me stuff i was interested in. They LISTENED to my requirements. He was a more mature "gentleman" rather than a wide boy just out of school pretending he is some sort of tycoon. I felt i could trust him 100% as he was very frank and didnt just tell me what i wanted to hear. I bought an apartment from him, and he's been in regular contact since, keeping me well posted. People buy from people, thats the bottom line.

lynzpower

- Do not hire people who look waaaay too young for their full suit
It only gives the impression that they are inexperienced lads who quit school after GCSEs and are trying a shot at being an EA. Even to a 24 yo, it is not regarded as pleasant to be nearly told what to do by someone 6 years younger or a young girl who has 3 different ones in her hair (it looks fashion victim not young and serious professional).

I wonder whether I fitted into this category, in my 20s fresh faced and enthusiastic? Should I be discriminated against due to my age?

No, because is it no longer legal.

All you need to do is pick the person who knows the most about the subject, and can handle the complexities of the job.

Also another tip, have all relevant legislation ( estate agency act, SO re: hips etc) posted in a prominent place in your office. Refer to it daily. It is your guiding piece of legislation.

Not passing on low offers is also illegal, as Im sure you realise. Ensure all offer letters are sent by email where possible as well as through the post. You can then get email delivery reciepts, to prove offers were passed on. Amazingly, its always those who put in silly offers ( which, I have never had a problem with, will probably do myself) who believe wrongly you havent passed the offer on. Proof here is useful.

alant1000

lynzpower wrote: »

I wonder whether I fitted into this category, in my 20s fresh faced and enthusiastic? Should I be discriminated against due to my age?

No, because is it no longer legal.

All you need to do is pick the person who knows the most about the subject, and can handle the complexities of the job.

Also another tip, have all relevant legislation ( estate agency act, SO re: hips etc) posted in a prominent place in your office. Refer to it daily. It is your guiding piece of legislation.

Not passing on low offers is also illegal, as Im sure you realise. Ensure all offer letters are sent by email where possible as well as through the post. You can then get email delivery reciepts, to prove offers were passed on. Amazingly, its always those who put in silly offers ( which, I have never had a problem with, will probably do myself) who believe wrongly you havent passed the offer on. Proof here is useful.

i agree with you, no one should be discriminated against due to thier age, and as long as you know your subject, there should be no issue. Sadly though, the perception of how you appear often reflects how you are treated. I am a very fresh faced 28 yr old, i look more 22, and work in sales, in my case client facing selling IT contracts to cheif exec level, department directors etc, all in NHS and central government, most of whom i am sure are in their 40's and 50's - and they are more experienced than me, and they know it. These are big buck deals upto a £million, so i have to be careful how i speak to them, it needs to be with the respect they deserve. Even though i am very clued up in my job, i'd never talk to them in a way which would make it appear that i know more than they do - even if i feel i am right. When they meet me for the first time, its often very sceptical as they are judging me as someone who, in their opinion, has been in the industry for 5 minutes. So i guess this counts for all business transactions, houses included.

Regarding the non-passing on of offers - i hadn't realised this was against the law. In which case i witnessed a shocking example of how wide some estate agents can be. I was sat in one a few months back waiting to chat to someone. The phone rang, and it was clearly some punter who had put in a low offer, as when he went to put it through to a colleague they found the situation hilarious and the other wouldnt take the call. When the caller hung up, they were joking around saying "i aint no way going down to 1-80 on that one, tell her the vendor said no if she calls back, and say i'm on holiday".

I'm glad you dont break the law like this lynz . But the sad fact is, there are wide EA's out there willing to give you all a bad name.

Libra1975

If you are showing people around a house never EVER say "well I haven't been here yet either so we are both looking around" (I'm a FTB and this has happened to me at least a 1/3 times).
For a start the seller is paying you to advertise their house you should be up to speed on it. As a buyer I want someone who can answer my questions about the house. I don't understand why every estate agent when they get a house on their books doesn't have a crib sheet to hand for all the common questions and take it with them for each viewing. If the buyer doesn't ask the question then don't volunteer the information but if they do you have it to hand.

cheltenhamgirl

HI all....i'm a newbie to this, but having just read this, and being an EA myself for the last three years, I felt compelled to write and stick up for us all!
We're not all bad! There are only a few agents left out there who are dodgy, and I think that a lot of it is people prejudices from when maybe all agents weren't so good back in the eighties.... I work for a very large independent company, (80 Branches), and we literally couldn't afford to be dodgy (aside form my own morals). We are subject to compliance checks constantly, mystery shopers and targets. If we aren't doing everything exactly to the book, and if we were found doing anything remotely dodgy we would be out of a job. Not only that, all EA's can't afford to do anything dodgy nowadays...the Property Misdescription Act, and Trading Standards, can fine both the company, and/or the individual, and if the case is deemed serious enough, a prison sentence is possible.
Not only that we're not all bad people! I'm not here to rip any body off, or to try and con people, i'm here because I genuinely have a passion for property (really sad but property ladder is my all time favourite programme), and I really enjoy working with the public. It's really satisfying when you actually get people their dream home, or get the vendor the money to be able to go off and buy their next home. I wouldn't get any satisfaction if my client wasn't happy with the job i'd done. It's not all about the money you know!
Just quickly, I want to dispell af ew EA myths....
1. Agents all over value to get the property
At our agents, and any reputable agents, we have to keep a list of comparable properties on file in order to prove where our valuation came from. Any good agent will bring these details when they come to value your property. Always ask for them. It is also worth remembering it is not an exact science. We can't always get it right.
2. You are paying an agent for accompanied viewings
Yes, this is a service we offer, and we are more than happy to do it as much as we can. HOWEVER, it's not the ONLY thing that we do! You pay us for our list of applicants (you don't get those on a website), our marketing power (papers, rightmove window presence etc etc), our sales skills (quite often the one person who buys your house will be the person who completely ruled it out until we persuaded them to view it), and our negotiation skills. Which leads me on to the next myth.
3. agents won't accept lower offers.
I saw above somebody mention that an agent was not accepting an offer when the purchaser thought that the vendors would have accepted it? One question....what would the agent gain from that?! We don't get paid for having the property in our window for 9 months! We get paid when the property sells, at whatever price! So agents will always be working hard to get the sale agreed. And yes, we will always be trying to get the most for out vendor, because that's what we're paid for. But it's not to line our pockets. If we were being paid 1% in that example, it would have meant if we'd have sold it for 350, getting 3500, and 340k, 3400.....or not selling it at all and getting nothing! The figures say it all!
4. Treating your agent mean will make them work harder for you.
I can't say that this is the smae for everybidy, but of you're nicer to me, I'll work harder for you. Someone who treats me like the dirt on the bottom of their shoe, does not make me inclined to work hard for them. This is the same for applicants. Spend time getting to know me, and being friendly, will make you stick out in my mind when a property becomes available. You'll be the first person that I call!
5. Go with the cheapest agent
Ok, so we're on MSE, but you do pay for quality. Not every time, but generally, the cheapest agents are cheapest because a) they are desperate for property becuase no-one with any sense will use them , and/or b) because they have low paid, poor quality staff, don't advertise to the same level, and are genaerally all round running a cheaper operation. A more expensive agent may quite possibly be able to get you a few more thousand on the price of your house through their wider advertising and more skilled staff, thus easily covering that couple of hundred quid that you've squeezed out of the desperate agent. Remmeber, you do pay for quality. If yuo like an agent, and they've proved to you that they can sell your house, negotiate with them, but if they won't go any lower, it's probably because they don't need to because they already have lots of property to sell, and know they can get higher fees on other properties that are more worth their while.
I'm sure there are lots of others that i could come up with, but this post is getting very long for my first one!
But anyway, Lauralla don'tr lose heart, you can be honest and a good estate agent at the same time. I am scrupulously honest, yet still manage to get top salseperson nearly everymonth....why is that? Because everyone trusts me, and when I say something they know I mean it.
Hope this helps xx