To think good estate agents don't exist?

[tyler80]

We're currently looking at buying, we've been to viewings arranged through 5 different estate agents and they've all been pretty poor.

I know that technically they exist to serve the seller but I'd be livid if I thought an estate agent was treating potential buyers so poorly - late for viewings, failing to inform a buyer of a viewing, describing things incorrectly on a listing etc.

Is there any other profession with such a high proportion of useless people?

Personal experience leads me to believe that they train at a special school for 'wankers'.

I think they do exist, but it's on the buyer/seller not to take anything they say at face value.

I don't mean they're not trustworthy, but they do have a habit of twisting the truth to make it look better without giving any normal outward signs you can read that that's what they're doing IYSWIM?

I am a seller and have been with two different estate agents, and I don't think they are there to serve the seller either - I think they are there to put a few adverts up, and in the past, ride on the wave of people who want to buy anything, but now that the going is tougher, don't have any actual sales ability.

Am not a fan at all.

I would be inclined to agree with the OP, however, we did have a very good experience with the one we bought our house from. Solicitors, that's another story.

I think I know quite a few people who must have been to that school tiredemma!

I'd like to know what's on their curriculum, forwarned is forarmed

I am a seller- Cant say I am overjoyed at the service either! Its been a week and I have not even got the blooming draft write up to proof yet!!!! let alone any viewings.

I've come across both good and bad estate agents - the best local office to us sold our last house and we bought through them too. Completely staffed by older women - may be the difference.

Another local EA though is full of young men in shiny suits. They are obnoxious, don't listen to what you want and can often be downright rude. They definitely trained at the wanker school.

The trouble with them is that there is such a high turnover in the industry, they move around a lot, sometimes just to a different office with the same company but sometimes they get poached and go elsewhere. So you can't get a good "word of mouth" recommendation from someone you know, because unless it was very recent when they dealt with them, the entire office including the manager could be virtually staffed with different people.

Sometimes they dont get the credit they deserve (or, if not credit, then just acknowledgement that they have done their job) - I hear that many people say "they did nothing, absolutely nothing!" - except sell their house within a couple of weeks and get them to completion. Well, that's pretty much what you employ them to do! If you think you can sell your home without using their shopfront, then you should.

That said, what the OP describes is bad and if an EA is not doing all they can to progress your sale or market their property then indeed they are shit.

I also dont like a lot of the contracts they use, some are very dogily worded and its easy for the non-clued-up-on-such-matters to get screwed on fees and that is wrong. That's as much to do with their head office though...

Yep pretty much... for a seller I would say go with an indepent as they will be cheaper and can set their fees and ALWAYS negotiate your fee down, they will try and get as much as possible from you but will be desperate to get your house on so lie and say another agent offered you a cheaper fee! They all advertise in the same places so it doesn't make a massive amount of difference which agent you go with.

The ones I've dealt with recently have been terrible from the seller's point of view.

One cancelled because of 1cm snow, another wouldn't 'let' us go in the garden and only gave in when we found keys (empty property), one wouldn't even permit the blinds to be opened so we could see the house in daylight... Great selling technique.

I think there are good and bad ones.

One local firm is probably fantastic to sell through, but a bit annoying to deal with as a buyer (quite pushy and subtly run down houses with rival estate agents to try to persuade you not to view/offer).

Several others are staffed entirely by greased up 19-year-olds with fresh acne who call you "darlin'" on the phone and (true story) tried to tell me that the polystyrene ceiling tiles throughout one property were "original Victorian period tiles".

One firm was great when we were buying through them nearly a decade ago, so we chose them to sell through and they were equally nice to sell through - super professional and scrupulously fair to all parties. Think they are a rarity unfortunately.

YANBU... both times I've sold houses, I've paid the whopping great fees but done most of the running, shown round the prospective buyers and the estate agent hasn't so much as stuck the board up outside or taken measurements before the sale was a done deal. As a result, I've decided that next time I sell I'll do it myself! House is in a very popular part of town, has plenty of passing traffic and think a home-made board in the garden and maybe an ad in the local paper or on a website should do the trick.... will save about £10-15k in fees at a rough estimate. Both neighbours are solicitors, so that's that one solved :)

I was more than happy with the Estate Agents that I sold my last house through, they were fab. The one's I bought through however, and their associated solicitors, were a nightmare.

My SIL recently sold her house through the Sarah Beeney website. She was delighted with the method. Very cost-effective, and no need to deal with any smarmy agents (The ones round here are notoriously self-serving, and there have been horror stories about agents subletting empty properties they've been charged to sell, whilst the owners are abroad!)

I think the internet is the way to go.

(sorry to hijack OP, hope you don't mind tiredemma I just started a thread about your school for wankers )

Over the last few months I have dealt with a number of Estate Agents - and havent had a good one yet!

One put up photos of 3 different kitchens and 2 different gardens for one house. When I queried (by email) the first time I got no reply. Second email I didnt get a reply but the kitchen photos were changed. I then phoned up and asked about the garden and was asked "Can't you just go round there?" (no, I live 250 miles away dickhead)

Or there was the one that priced a house at 90K over the Mouseprice and Zoopla extimates. When we queried we were told "It's a sellers market" (no it isn't, dickhead)

Or the one who didnt reply to any of my emails in a week. We were willing to make a firm offer, pay cash, ready to go in 2 weeks etc. We were offering the asking price. Said property then disappeared from Rightmove, so assumed sold. 2 months on I was idly browsing and wondered what it sold for......£50K under asking.....I have a feeling the estate agent bought that one then!

or finally (or I will be here all day - I have more) what about the one who despite being told I wouldnt look at houses in certain named areas kept sending details to me. At least 5 times I have asked him to stop and told him why I dont want to live in those named areas. Each time he tells me 'oh its not that bad, you really need to look outside the box, no the school isnt in special measures etc etc. The school is a shithole, the area is a shithole and I am NOT living there.

I've finally managed to get through to one of the estate agents that if they have a property I'm interested in on their website I will contact them. No need to phone me everyday and say "what about...?"

Um - no!

ha ha, we're buying a house at the moment, 1st time buyers, and this is the second house we've tried to get! last one fell through, and the bastard estate agent was on the phone to me daily 'have you exchanged contracts yet? no? why not? when will you be moving in?' ad fucking naseum, until we ran into problems, then couldn't see her for dust. It turned out she was on the phone to the sellers daily telling them we'd be completing by the end of the week. With this new place, I've asked for her to have NOTHING to do with it, so naturally, get a very hurt phone call 'why don't you want to deal with me?', which ended up with me apologising to her

1 local EA continually sends me properties that are either out of our price range (by up to 100K), out of the area we specified, or have fewer bedrooms than we need, sometimes they combine all 3 qualities into one email.

that said, one of the blokes we're dealing with to buy the house has been wonderful, I'm beginning to question his estate agent qualifications.

I liked Tom Wiggleworth's assessment of EAs - 'their only job is to hold the keys of a house. so, in effect, they could be replaced by a hook'

YANBU I've had two properties on the market in the last 3 years and only now have I found a good estate agent. They are a new company I found through a personal recommendation by a surveyor who also came through a personal recommendation. They are trying to break away from the usual crowd in the industry and do something different, and be better. It's quite refreshing not to deal with sales pitches and other crap every day

As a buyer thought, they are pretty poor and I often they don't have any time for me when I phone to make enquiries about houses, they seem pushy trying to get me to view but avoid answering questions!

Maybe in a decade they'll be obsolete, I'm sure most people could write good enough descriptions and take decent photos to put on a website listing

I have found one good estate agent and sold two properties with him over the past 15 years. Unfortunately he is a lone ray of light in a sea of dark cr@pness.

Tyler80 I would have agreed with you until recently. I had thought about doing it myself but just couldn't face the hassle of it all. I decided I'd much rather pay someone else to take all the calls and do all the negotiating for me. The other thing is if your house has a problem people may not be as honest with you as they would an agent and you might ever find out what was wrong and I think some people wouldn't even come back to you. I know I would much rather let someone experienced handle it

Playing devil's advocate here. A lot are very bad and are exactly the typical shiny suited wide boys that many people think of when you imagine an estate agent. I've dealt with a few. Agencies do differ, the good ones will work for a fair (not cheap) fee and keep you informed all the way along, that is the most important thing.

For those who think they could do it themselves, after the photos, measurements, floorplans, accompanying viewings etc you would have to be chasing other agents, solicitors, surveyors etc and then making sure it all comes together on the right day.

You can tell I've done this of course [;)] and I really do not like the image estate agents have, just bear in mind that some are good and honest, are qualified and care about doing the job properly.

And to answer your question, no I can't think of another profession like this...shameful!

Ha ha, meant
Doh!