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Just want to moan about Estate Agents
merlinthehappypig
Posts: 1,106 Forumite
O.k. it's hardly a new topic, but the complete un-professionalism of most agents in this country is driving me nuts.
We are, reluctantly in my case, going to spend a couple of days looking at houses Friday/Saturday. We have 8 houses to view, but trying to plan viewings so that we don't spend all day driving about is almost impossible, due to the inability of agents to inject any sense of urgency.
We are currently renting so able to proceed straight away - I foolishly assumed that this might make agents at least take us half-seriously in a climate of reducing prices and few serious buyers.
Of 8 different agents only one got back to us when they said they would. The other 7 all needed chasing up. Excuses vary from 'not being able to contact the vendors' (which as far as I am concerned means that they don't really want to sell - we made sure that we were available when we sold ours), 'so and so is not in the office or at lunch', 'lost our number' (and the mobile, presumably...). One impressively got back to us after 6 hours announcing happily that they 'had booked us in for 10.00am' when we asked for 3.30pm.
When they do get the vendors they mostly aren't prepared to put themselves out to get anywhere need the time we need to view and act like they are doing us a favour by offering a time-slot 3 hours later (by which time we are 50 miles away). One, where we were attempting to view at 11.00am Saturday, 'had friends round until 11.30am and it isn't awfully convenient as they will be tired - could we come back on Sunday?' We try to be flexible, but you have to plan a route as well if you live 4 hours away.
I just felt like telling them all to get stuffed, but we need a specific type of house, and there aren't enough to be picky.
Rant over. I'm sure there are some decent agents out there, but I didn't find many today. As for Savills...........................:mad:
We are, reluctantly in my case, going to spend a couple of days looking at houses Friday/Saturday. We have 8 houses to view, but trying to plan viewings so that we don't spend all day driving about is almost impossible, due to the inability of agents to inject any sense of urgency.
We are currently renting so able to proceed straight away - I foolishly assumed that this might make agents at least take us half-seriously in a climate of reducing prices and few serious buyers.
Of 8 different agents only one got back to us when they said they would. The other 7 all needed chasing up. Excuses vary from 'not being able to contact the vendors' (which as far as I am concerned means that they don't really want to sell - we made sure that we were available when we sold ours), 'so and so is not in the office or at lunch', 'lost our number' (and the mobile, presumably...). One impressively got back to us after 6 hours announcing happily that they 'had booked us in for 10.00am' when we asked for 3.30pm.
When they do get the vendors they mostly aren't prepared to put themselves out to get anywhere need the time we need to view and act like they are doing us a favour by offering a time-slot 3 hours later (by which time we are 50 miles away). One, where we were attempting to view at 11.00am Saturday, 'had friends round until 11.30am and it isn't awfully convenient as they will be tired - could we come back on Sunday?' We try to be flexible, but you have to plan a route as well if you live 4 hours away.
I just felt like telling them all to get stuffed, but we need a specific type of house, and there aren't enough to be picky.
Rant over. I'm sure there are some decent agents out there, but I didn't find many today. As for Savills...........................:mad:
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Comments
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That sounds ridiculus - we are selling and all we ask for is 24hrs notice so we can have a quick clean around, having said that at weekends the agent is open in the morning so for example we had a call from the agent at 10.00am and arranged the viewing for 12.30pm as we were home.0
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6 months from now they will be begging for your business - sit back and relax for a while.poppy100
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As you know Merlin (being magical and all thatmerlinthehappypig wrote: »We are currently renting so able to proceed straight away - I foolishly assumed that this might make agents at least take us half-seriously in a climate of reducing prices and few serious buyers.
) our family are in the same position as you (see above) and made the same assumption you did... met with exactly the same level of professionalism too!
The most ironic thing for me is that I teach in a school where several of our pupils are sons and daughters of EAs.... I am VERY aware that if I did my job as unprofessionally, dishonestly, incompetently and lazily as they do they would be complaining to the Headteacher and asking for me to be sacked quicker than I could blink!“A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles.”
(Tim Cahill)0 -
This does not surprise me. I deal with half a dozen agents every day and apart from one, the incompetence is beyond belief. Anywhere else they would be sacked on the spot. All you can do is tell the vendors.0
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Yes, I agree sometimes EA's just don't seem to care.
However, it is not for you to do their job for them - they will be handsomely paid when a house sells......
Ring them and announce that you "would like them to arrange viewings of certain houses Friday and Saturday please". Unfortunately, you "don't drive" (make up a reason - medical gets the sympathy vote) and "will need someone to accompany you to the viewings please?" and, "If I could just leave you to make the arrangements........?" "That would be super - thankyou SO much!", " I'll just wait to hear from you - I'll be in all day/evening..........."
Corny, I know, but it's worked for us and it's worth a go. Most agents employ people who do accompanied viewings, use 'em!0 -
Yes, I agree sometimes EA's just don't seem to care.
However, it is not for you to do their job for them - they will be handsomely paid when a house sells......
Ring them and announce that you "would like them to arrange viewings of certain houses Friday and Saturday please". Unfortunately, you "don't drive" (make up a reason - medical gets the sympathy vote) and "will need someone to accompany you to the viewings please?" and, "If I could just leave you to make the arrangements........?" "That would be super - thankyou SO much!", " I'll just wait to hear from you - I'll be in all day/evening..........."
Corny, I know, but it's worked for us and it's worth a go. Most agents employ people who do accompanied viewings, use 'em!
Actually I can't drive, for medical reasons.......
You are right, of course. Unfortunately the sort of houses that are suitable are few and far between so we can't afford to miss out on a few because of the incompetence of agents. The problem with leaving the agents to sort out times etc is that we are looking over a wide area and need to plan properly, to save fuel if nothing else!0 -
Just when I thought it wasn't possible for it to get any worse, Savills have just rung back saying they can't do a viewing on Saturday afternoon 'because they shut at 1.00pm'. Shut Sunday as well.
How on earth do they expect anyone to view if they shut most of the weekend? Are they on the same planet as they rest of us?0 -
I used to work at a real estate agent's in Beverly Hills, years ago. I answered the phones on the weekends. People would get stroppy because they'd call and want to talk to an agent right then and I had to explain that the agents weren't at their desks because they were out showing houses. Saturdays and Sundays were their busiest days for showing houses. This was in the days before everybody had a cell phone, so the only thing to do was put them through to the agent's voice mail.
One agent told me that she made a very good living, but she did it by being completely available, seven days a week. Her home was destroyed in a big earthquake, and she STILL went and showed homes that very day. The clients weren't interested in her problems.... they were interested in buying million-dollar homes, so she borrowed some clothes from her mom and got out there.
I would totally expect EA's to work harder on weekends. Especially if their income was dependent upon commission. (In the US, they get 3-6% commission, and no base pay.):beer:0 -
merlinthehappypig wrote: »Just when I thought it wasn't possible for it to get any worse, Savills have just rung back saying they can't do a viewing on Saturday afternoon 'because they shut at 1.00pm'. Shut Sunday as well.
How on earth do they expect anyone to view if they shut most of the weekend? Are they on the same planet as they rest of us?
Ha, you're not looking in Devon are you Merlin? I moved down here from the SE, where I worked weekends in an EA (Sat and Suns) - I have been offering my services around here but most EAs seem to shut Sat lunchtime. Crazy! (And I agree with Beedeedee, I would often spend a Sat am or pm with the same set of clients, ferrying them round everything I could possibly show them!) Although sometimes, you're right, there are vendors who don't *really* want to sell - and the agencies seem quite bad at addressing this issue. I could never see the point of having those timewasters on the books, and it got really embarrasing never being able to make appointments. (I had one vendor, in winter, who wouldn't let anyone view after dark and was always busy at weekends :rolleyes: )They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. -- Plato0
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