The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

If a house were a possible once I had first got there I would ignore any attempts by the agent to dictate how long I spent on a viewing, as a vendor I would've very annoyed to hear that the agent had been rushing a potential buyer.

I think agents have got used to it being "too easy" to sell houses. They don't show you round/chat/explain like they do on the telly programmes... it's more like a walking burglary as you're in, round every room and out. No pleasantries... no "help" with stuff... And they know !!!! all about the property.

When I viewed this one I asked about the front garden and the agent said "it's communal". When I saw the deeds it clearly wasn't.... it's a shame I wasn't put off this house by that comment really

michaels wrote: »

I would also work on trying to get between 5%-10% off asking price and set my asking price on the same basis.

Round here houses typically sell for £5k under the asking. The agents price appropriately for the market and not usually wildly optimistically.

If I'd tried adding that margin onto my asking price I'd have had no viewers.... and the agents grumbling about me back at the office for being "overpriced, but she insisted".

I'd have been priced higher than many 3 bed semis with garages.

michaels wrote: »

... you could always tell the agent that 300k is your max budget and that you are not yet under offer and see if they feel it is worthwhile 'wasting their time' to show you around?

I could....

But the list of possibles isn't even a list of desirables... just "they'd do".... nothing on the list looks my sort of thing, or what I had in mind, or where I wanted to be. They all possess the attributes of "garden probably faces the right way and doesn't have 60' trees 30' away" + "in my price range" + "roughly the sort of place I'd consider living".

After that ... they all fail on several points for being vaguely "the one".

PasturesNew

I've also noticed that pricing of houses isn't really pricing ... they price houses in "blocks" that match the RM bands.

Put your house on at £260k, £270k, £280k, £290k, £300k, £325k

Then - when most drop the price - the price drops by a huge chunk down into the next "band".

You used to get houses priced at all sorts of prices.... now you have, say, 20 at £270k, nothing then until £280k, nothing then until £290k.

The way RM does its dropdown filters means it's harder for houses to be "priced by an odd amount" unless one particular agent has a particular bugbear about how they do their pricing/why.

Mine is on at £50 under £270k.... if there's any talk of dropping the price it won't be by £1-3k ... it'll be a full £10k.

For me, with £300k ... (and, once sold, maybe a smidgeon more) ... I'm "trapped" with the two bands of £300k and £325k.

You "don't really want to be rude" with a £325k house and offer £304k .... but if agents were pricing houses across the price range ... they might've actually put it on at, say, £310k.. but RM has no £310k banding, so they don't. They just "stick it all out there at the higher price and see what happens".

PasturesNew

Jackmydad wrote: »

I don't really look for clothes. That's a bit different. Most stuff's not big enough for me anyway!

Most of it's too big for me

I'm a petite, so need the short legs and short arm lengths ... and all the other nips/tucks of shape that being a short-4rse brings to the cut.

Every time I get a chance I go into all/every CS I can find .... and every time I always look for "short leg jeans" - I can tell if they're petite just by scanning the bottom of the row because they're usually hung by the waistband on a hanger... so if there are any that look 4-6" shorter than the rest I investigate them. As a general rule, it takes me 4-5 years of searching before I actually find a pair of petite jeans... last time I was super lucky - they were "barely worn/never worn" Next jeans, on the £2 clearance rail because, presumably, most people would have found them too short and I got lucky that day.

Pyxis

michaels wrote: »

If a house were a possible once I had first got there I would ignore any attempts by the agent to dictate how long I spent on a viewing, as a vendor I would've very annoyed to hear that the agent had been rushing a potential buyer.

I think the only time I experienced any blatant sexism was in my first house when I was asking for a survey and quote for some new windows. The rep, after all the preamble, on the phone, made it quite clear that he would only come at a time when my partner was there too.

Now, the house was mine, and the windows would be paid for out of my money, yet this tw*t insisted he would not come unless we were both in, asking me in a very cross voice if I was going to reimburse him his petrol money if his journey was wasted by coming when only I was there.

So I politely told him I didn't think I'd want his windows, really.


There was one other time actually, only twelve years ago, when I was looking to buy my mid-life crisis car (:D:D ) and the salesman in my local dealership wouldn't indicate a price, because his dealership was my first port of call and I wouldn't be signing up there and then.
(Unbeknownst to him, I really wanted one of these cars, and would be paying cash, but didn't want to appear too eager).

Not only would he not indicate a price, but two of his mates came over and the three of them were virtually laughing at me and saying that I would be wasting their time. I kid you not.

So I took my £xx,ooo and went to a dealer about 40 miles away who was more civil.
A girl from the original dealer rang me a couple of weeks later to see if they could be of any more help, and so I told her what had happened and that I had taken my money elsewhere and bought the self-same car from someone else. She sounded totally shocked.

I was so incensed, I didn't even take my car there for its services until it was out of warranty, preferring to travel quite a bit further to another dealer, and I told them that, too.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

I think the only time I experienced any blatant sexism was in my first house when I was asking for a survey and quote for some new windows. The rep, after all the preamble, on the phone, made it quite clear that he would only come at a time when my partner was there too.

This isn't actually sexism. I spent many years making those appointments by cold calling people in the phone book.

The rep is self employed and only earnt money if/when he sold something. For an evening, they could only really do one demo/sales pitch.

If you don't have both people present, then the person listening will take the information/leaflets and say "I'll have to speak with my partner" .... and that's no good as they are using it as an excuse for signing ... but it means the rep has probably wasted his evening pitching for a sale he could never, ever achieve.

No matter who is paying for them, it's reasonable for anybody to show their other half what they've chosen and ask for their feedback before actually ordering them.

And that is why they want both people there. Male, or female, two males, two females .... the rep needs to have both people present as very few people REALLY sit/listen/order without just running a copy of the brochure under the nose of their other half and saying "I liked these, what do you think?"

If there are genuine questions, queries or doubts, the rep is able to answer all of that .... then ask for the order.

Chances are that a lot, showing the brochure to previously disinterested partner, who isn't paying for them, would raise a question/doubt whatever that the first person hadn't thought of or considered.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

This isn't actually sexism. I spent many years making those appointments by cold calling people in the phone book.

The rep is self employed and only earnt money if/when he sold something. For an evening, they could only really do one demo/sales pitch.

If you don't have both people present, then the person listening will take the information/leaflets and say "I'll have to speak with my partner" .... and that's no good as they are using it as an excuse for signing ... but it means the rep has probably wasted his evening pitching for a sale he could never, ever achieve.

No matter who is paying for them, it's reasonable for anybody to show their other half what they've chosen and ask for their feedback before actually ordering them.

And that is why they want both people there. Male, or female, two males, two females .... the rep needs to have both people present as very few people REALLY sit/listen/order without just running a copy of the brochure under the nose of their other half and saying "I liked these, what do you think?"

If there are genuine questions, queries or doubts, the rep is able to answer all of that .... then ask for the order.

Chances are that a lot, showing the brochure to previously disinterested partner, who isn't paying for them, would raise a question/doubt whatever that the first person hadn't thought of or considered.

Then the rep would be well advised to say "I find that couples usually want to discuss these things with each other before finalising a decision, so I prefer to speak to both partners at the same time." That way he can avoid giving the impression that he thinks the woman isn't worth talking to.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

This isn't actually sexism. I spent many years making those appointments by cold calling people in the phone book.

The rep is self employed and only earnt money if/when he sold something. For an evening, they could only really do one demo/sales pitch.

If you don't have both people present, then the person listening will take the information/leaflets and say "I'll have to speak with my partner" .... and that's no good as they are using it as an excuse for signing ... but it means the rep has probably wasted his evening pitching for a sale he could never, ever achieve.

No matter who is paying for them, it's reasonable for anybody to show their other half what they've chosen and ask for their feedback before actually ordering them.

And that is why they want both people there. Male, or female, two males, two females .... the rep needs to have both people present as very few people REALLY sit/listen/order without just running a copy of the brochure under the nose of their other half and saying "I liked these, what do you think?"

If there are genuine questions, queries or doubts, the rep is able to answer all of that .... then ask for the order.

Chances are that a lot, showing the brochure to previously disinterested partner, who isn't paying for them, would raise a question/doubt whatever that the first person hadn't thought of or considered.

I'm sorry, but I totally disagree.
Whether someone else is there or not, it's highly unlikely that I would have signed on the spot anyway, as I like to mull things over, get other quotes etc.

If people aren't going to give me info about their product and their best prices, and tell me I'm wasting their time, then that tells me reams about their company and they can s*d off.

ivyleaf

LydiaJ wrote: »

Seriously, GDB, read the book. It will help you to understand what is going on when you and a woman are talking at cross purposes to each other, without either of you being "wrong".

Well, I've just bought the Kindle edition. i told OH what it was about and he agreed about us having different impressions of what we said

PasturesNew

Male, female... doesn't matter to me ... 99% of people don't get what I said/meant at all ... then twist round their invention of what they think I said/meant and somehow find everything "my fault" ...

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I totally disagree.
Whether someone else is there or not, it's highly unlikely that I would have signed on the spot anyway, as I like to mull things over, get other quotes etc.

If people aren't going to give me info about their product and their best prices, and tell me I'm wasting their time, then that tells me reams about their company and they can s*d off.

Well, that's just the way the industry used to work. Reps on commission only ... one appointment/night in the diary ... had to ensure both people were there.

As I say, it wasn't sexism... it worked for any sex.

I get what you're saying about not being able to give you a price... but that's the way the industry set itself up ... to sell/close and pay commission to the rep based on the sales value he'd sold.... so discounts were variable depending on the rep, the night, how they felt .... there was no "price list" they worked from as such.

They had a price to quote .... but then it was all about the haggle....

Faff.... but it's like that in a lot of industries when you have a little man come to your house to flog you something.