I am looking to buy a flat for myself, I waited until I had all the money saved up, rather than take out any mortgage. But I have been astonished at the unprofessionalism of two estate agencies. These businesses seem hit and miss. Some are great and I wish I could give them my business (but the flats were not for me), while two were so bad I wonder how they even make any money!
Bear in mind that I am looking in Scotland (although would not discount anywhere in England, it is just that it is generally more expensive there and I know Scotland better).
- One agency has everything from an awful website to clueless agents. I kept asking them about a property I wanted to view and they never got back to me. In this time, I saw that the seller had dropped their price! I thought: great, that is good for me. When I finally got a viewing arranged, they told me on the morning that the seller had just accepted an offer. But that offer might have been at the reduced price - and the seller, on the other hand, might have been surprised at not getting any viewings (not knowing that buyers cannot get through).
I half thought of writing to the seller's address or even asking to speak to the head of the agency about this, although it is not really my business...
- I saw a flat I liked but the home report is now almost two years old (they have to stay up to date in Scotland). The viewing agent said that the agency would send it to me. But everything is done through their one central office in Edinburgh (I was not looking there) and they only have one single email address for "viewings@...." So they did not get back to me after I expressed an interest in moving forward... and the property has been on the market for over a year!
Am I wrong in thinking that sometimes estate agencies are actively hindering people striking deals? But then what is the solution? In other countries, you could contact the owner separately, suggest each side gets lawyered up and do the deal yourself. But I was told this would not be likely to happen in Scotland.
The thing is that there is no one property that I desperately want, otherwise I might be prepared to sit on the phone all day and spend a lot of energy on trying to get through to them all. I honestly find this strange, because other agencies are very good and even pro-active... while some sellers are clearly with absolute duds and do not know it...
How do rubbish estate agencies not go under? Or does the sheer weight of numbers and sales just keep them going?