Estate Agency Closures

Darth_Marty

"EA's have been the agents of their own downfall imo, as their over-valuing and ramping up of the market has contributed to the vast house-price bubble"

Dont talk boll ocks, its the majority of vendors who have overly high price expectations and tell the ea that if you want my business you will market at £xxx.

Granted if he was that busy and succesful he should have saved for scenarios such as this but thats down to business and common sense.

People tend to forget that estate agents dont have the final word, its the vendors, they advise but cannot tell and please dont tell me that all vendors are puppets and dont have their own mind, that would be even worse than your last post.

annie123

spuds wrote: »

"In spring last year, I'd be selling a £1 million house at the rate of one a week. It's now one a month, and the price has dropped to £800,000."

1% (at least) commission on £1 million a week - he can't complain really if he's been on that sort of income for 10 years. 1% of £800,00 is not bad either, for doing very little.

EA's have been the agents of their own downfall imo, as their over-valuing and ramping up of the market has contributed to the vast house-price bubble.

please remember:
the 1% commission goes to the company, the staff then get a % of the fee, at my firm we got paid 2%-3% of the fee

napoleon

I don't care how many of them close, there'll still be way too many of the blighters

novazombie

Last time I sold it was agreed 1.25% but that of the total before everything is taken off then its plus vat, and they had other charges which I really hated but could be bothered fighting for them. I still view it that they ripped me off, I never heard of these other charges thats what the 1.25% was for.

In the end it worked out over 2.5% everything considered.

pickles110564

The_White_Horse wrote: »

!!!! em. i know most people laugh that they hate estate agents, but i really do despise the lying cretins.

i hope they all lose their jobs. one day someone will think of a way to sell houses without the need for these parasites.

You are probably one of those lying cheating cretin renters.

spuds_2

I can see your point - there are lots of greedy vendors, too - but I still think EA's were over-valuing in the boom times to get the business. I guess the recession will sort out the good ones from the bad.

Darth_Marty

spuds wrote: »

I can see your point - there are lots of greedy vendors, too - but I still think EA's were over-valuing in the boom times to get the business. I guess the recession will sort out the good ones from the bad.

Agreed, to an extent anyway.

A lot of estate agents could get the business by over valuing but to be fair in my experience those who went down that route were usually the poorer agents who wouldnt have sold it anyway. Those agents who go under now are not necessarily the worst though, thats the shame of it, a lot of smaller firms offered far better customer service than the larger companies who will be able to see this out.

Excuse my bluntness earlier, came across as far too aggresive in my last post! ha ha

baby_boomer

MSE thread started by Pastures New - based on Times article

Oh noes :eek:

Foxtons has breached its banking covenants and its private equity backer is not going to bail it out.

Anyone for a second hand mini - needs a respray!

Times article - Foxton's hoping for a "mini revival"

baby_boomer

Thornton Holborough is the first Scarborough EA to close - as late as 2009!

Retiring Scarborough EA talks sense

"...A property bought for £200,000 in, say, 2005 is now worth around £160,000, so assuming the owners would have paid a £40,000 deposit, which is around average, they now just can't afford to move without a 100 per cent mortgage, and no-one's giving 100 per cent loans at the moment...."

That states the problem pretty convincingly IMHO.

Derbyshire EA's 3 branch closure is a "reorganisation"

"....Michael Bruce, managing director of Burchell Edwards, which is based in Burton has told the Evening Telegraph that company is not going bust and is simply closing three branches in the region.

The firm has closed offices in Allestree, Alvaston and Chaddesden..."

It is keeping its two branches in Derby.

And one anonymous Ipswich agent has had to put up his own house as security for his business to keep him going until the Spring

And may other Ipswich EAs could be on the verge of closure.

The problem spreads through East Anglia

MSE thread - Tops of Norwich goes into administration

""TOPS is [was ] Norwich's most successful estate agent, selling twice as many homes as any other.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]We can currently show you details of over 500 properties in the area."[/FONT]

lynzpower

Couple more

George weston seems to have shut up shop on Maida Vale ( london nw8) I believe this is a long standng independent?

Also stirling ackroyd on borough high st opposit london bridge station has shut up shop as well as I spotted yesterday