To be utterly fed up of estate agents?

[nonapandknackered]

I'm sure that there are some very nice ones out there, who are reasonable people, who tell the truth and listen to their clients, but I've not come across any so far!

DH and I are trying to find a house to rent. We know what we want, and what we don't, and have been very clear to all the various agents we've delt with about our criteria. There's a shortage atm due to the Olympics, we think, but they are persisting in showing us any old property wasting our time and theirs and getting me really frustrated!

We want a three bedroom house. The EA's are struggling with this concept. They are convinced that a two bed house would suit us just fine. Erm no, we already have one of those hence the need to move. Or maybe a first floor flat with steps and no garden? Erm no we need a GARDEN as we keep telling you!

We want a family home, so we want either a through lounge or and lounge and dining room. No we don;t, the EA's think, we can have one tiny reception, and use the second as a bedroom so that a two bed house miraculously become a three bed house. NO IT DOESN'T!!!! Today i had a very detailed conversation with an EA explaining this point. He then said he had a perfect house for us. We went to see it, it had TWO BEDROOMS AND TWO RECEPTIONS, ARRRGGH!!! I was furious with him (and told him so) because he clearly hadn't listened to a word I said and completely wasted our time.

Yesterday DH almost got into a row with one on the phone as the EA just wouldn't accept that a house he really wanted us to view was not in the right area (miles from the a station and centre, not walkable to nursery). On the nursery point he had the cheek to say "well you've got a car, haven't you?"! And he made an apt anyway despite DH saying several times that we did not want to see it as it was not in the right area (via email, DH sent a choice reply)

After seeing a no-no the other day the agent said a house was coming on the next week that may be good for us;

me: where is it
EA: A bit further away from here
me: what road is it on
EA: you know the fire station?
me: yes, so what road is it on?
EA: you know ?
me: it's on ?
EA: No
me: What.Road.Is.It.On????
EA: you know the school
me: JUST TELL ME WHAT ROAD IT'S ON!!!!!!!
EA: it's on !!!!

How do you deal with people like this???!!!! If what we want isn't available for the money we want to spend, then fine, we'll deal with that. BUT DON'T TRY AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK I WANT YOU BUNCH OF *S!

They are paid to try and encourage people to see the houses they have available, whether they are what you specify or not. What do you expect?

You are not their client btw, the LLs or vendors are their clients.

I realise it's frustrating, but they can't show you what they don't have.

I know, I know! But it's their utter insistence that we actually DO want a two bedroom house, (we already have one). Or that we DO want to live in the back of beyond and that adding an extra 30 mins onto my commute time would be fine.

I know they can't show me what they don't have. So don't show me anything! Don't waste my time showing me something that I have very clearly said that I don't want.

op we have just been through the exact same thing.

we wanted a one bed with a garde/balcony/front garden etc.

The first one we spoke to said very sharply that we only needed to be close to a park at best, and that we could make do with a studio becase as we worked we would only be there to sleep anyway. Oh and 1200 a month please.

When we got the place we are living in now they behaved like one bed flats were like hen's teeth ffs.

And do you know what we got? A nice, fairly large one bed flat.

And do you know what we have now? A large one bed with a garden a stone's throw from the station.

They have to create a sense of lack of supply to create panic so you go for somewhere overpriced when it comes up. ITs as old as the hills.

Fwiw our current flat has been put on the market for £100 more than we are paying per month and has been on for 6 weeks and had about 20 viewings and no-one has bitten. And it is a really nice flat.

So don't believe the tales of no supply.

@sparkles @outraged tenents also have to pay estate agents. We coughed up £300 in fees. We were quoted £500 more than once. You can pay less but not much less than we did unless you go private.

Quite possibly the most unregulated,unprofessional,unqualified and unwarranted service sector in this country.

And i don't care if that's a generalisation. It's almost always,always true.

Glad it's not just us then! It's like they think you won't spot the fact that there is a bedroom missing when you go and see the property, or that you'll suddenly decide that being absolutely nowhere near the station is ok.

I'm sick of telling them that we already have a fairly nice quite large two bed flat, and that renting a house is going to cost us a fair bit more, so we are absolutely not ever going to agree to rent somewhere where we end up with less space just because it happens to have a wall in the middle of the reception room and a tiny concrete yard. We want a REAL THIRD BEDROOM and a REAL GARDEN.

They also seem to struggle to understand that we have no deadline to move (we own the flat) so we are not desperate at all, so their bullshit is just not going to work!

is this in london? we were expecting problems re Olympics when we were looking 2w ago, but no-one mentioned anything and it wasn't a problem.

are the ea saying it is a problem? If so that is big hairy balls.

It is in London, yes. Thing is it's a fact that there are not that many three bed houses around here at the moment that are within our budget. I don't think they are hiding houses from us, I just think it's a bit slow right now. But that's fine, as I said. If the houses aren't there, then they aren't there. It doesn't mean, as they seem to think, that we'll instead be willing to spend a fortune on something unsuitable no matter how much they badger us to!

Have lived in both England and Scotland. I did come across unhelpful EAs in England but also some who did promote the properties we were selling. In Scotland lawyers not only deal with the legal side of sale and purchase but the majority effectively act as EAs as well. Hopeless is not the word for a great many of them - they have no knowledge of the properties they are selling. Many people praise the Scottish system but it is only as good as the people who run it. Just speaking from experience and I have bought a sold a number of properties in Scotland.

Waits patiently to be flamed.