Do you think high street estate agents will die?

[sandrabedminster]

I don't see how they can carry on competing with online.

They do ask a lot of their services compared with online. 6 times in my case!

My ea is pretty shit. They messed up the right move listing, I took most of the photos myself as theirs were shit. I've ended up showing people around myself as they seem to be too lazy to work Saturdays. They've scratched the floor and trampled mud everywhere.

The only thing they do and online doesn't is local paper adverts. But I doubt many even reed papers anymore.

The thread did start with a reasonable question but then quickly turned sour when the OP decided to be patronising and didn't actually want to hear positive stories about traditional EA and negative ones about online agents.

To reiterate my position, I am not an EA, but ours secured us £££ extra than we were expecting just by knowing our local area inside out and evidencing why he thought we should put it on the market for what we did.

It sold in 24 hours so he was right. I am buying from someone who is using an online agent - Tepilo - and it has been a shambles from the start. So much so that I still have my RightMove alerts on and if an alternative property comes up we will pull out and go for that as I have that little faith in them to keep this chain together. When you are selling a house for x amount, I think the last thing to scrimp on is the person who can make you the most money for your biggest asset.

cheez

Ref the comment upthread about an EA not being required to know about the lease term and the service charge... Surely those are critical details in selling a leasehold property - if you can't clarify simple, defined items like that in the property description or when it's queried, what are EAs doing, other than uploading photos (taken with a special lens that makes a cupboard look like a bedroom) to Right Move?

Any information like that will always be caveated that the prospective purchaser should carry out their own due diligence - EAs aren't conveyancers with the skills and qualifications to check leases and verify service charges.

There's no guarantee that the information provided by the seller is accurate which is why conveyancers get sellers to complete the Law Society forms once a sale is agreed and why they then check the title to the property before the contract is issued. The process is very much one centred on caveat emptor in England and Wales.

Property law in England and Wales is complex and complicated and has its roots in this country's history and development from feudal times.

And conveyancers usually charge more for leasehold property transactions because of the complexity compared to freehold property transactions.

I'm not saying that EAs are licensed conveyancers, but since they cover all their brochures and details with disclaimers such as 'the accuracy of these measurements cannot be guaranteed', or whatever terms they use, they cover themselves adequately.

My point is that, whilst I might look at a lease with 98 years remaining, I wouldn't look at one with 55 years remaining. The EA can surely ask the vendor how long is left on the lease and how much the service charge is, and then publish an appropriate disclaimer. Otherwise, how much time is being wasted on a potentially fruitless exercise?

I feel sorry for the multitude of buyers who get the runaround from EAs, get 'persuaded' to use their pet conveyancers/surveyors etc. They think the EA is doing them a favour... little do they know.

IME few high st EAs are any good. Some of them may survive for a while, but to a large extent they deserve their appalling reputation.

Btw, the idea of an EA looking at a lease is funny. Some of the words have far too many syllables.

Sellers don't always have the necessary information to hand when they instruct EAs. EAs aren't obliged to download the lease and check it if the seller doesn't provide it or details of it. That was the point I was making. I agree that EAs should have the basic details, but most of the time they only have the word of the seller to go on.

I haven't go me own email just use the info@peanutsformonkeyshousesales

THIS.

When I was buying my flat the estate agent phoned me on a Thursday afternoon to tell me off (irritating in itself for someone who is providing a service). I told him that I'd emailed him the information he'd requested on Tuesday morning, and we were now waiting on him to take the next step.

He checked his email and lo and behold it was there.

The next day I had another reason to email him. I also phoned the office and he was not available, so I told the person who answered "please tell Dave he has an email from Trills" (his name was not Dave, that's just my generic man name).

When we sold our house last year we spoke to an online agent and then a couple of local high street agents.
We went with one on the high street as the online guy had gone onto Rightmove and printed off the last 20 houses that had been sold within a mile of our house and based our valuation and selling strategy on that.
He hadn't a clue about the local market and the high street guy already had people on his books one of which he encouraged to view our house and they were the ones who bought it.
He also did the bargaining between the different people who wanted it, including coming to our house at 530 one evening to discuss who he thought were the better buyers. He knew that one guy who had put what seemingly was a good offer was known in the area for pulling out.
An online agent wouldn't have known any of this and who knows where we would have ended up. The online guy wanted to put the house on at 5K less then the high street guy and we sold it for 5k more then that. The online guy would have lost us 10k so I was happy paying my 2.5k.
So I think they will continue to compete with the online companies.

evrybuddy are you ok? You seem stressed.

including coming to our house at 530 one evening someone working at 5:30pm is note worthy?

I'd expect the agents to know the number of years on a lease and basic knowledge like that.

An online agent valued our house at £230k. The local EA we sold it with valued it at £270-5k. We got £273k for it (and their mortgage valuation agreed). We turned down an offer at £276k. Sure the online one was cheaper, but it would have cost us a lot more than £2k if we'd marketed the house at £230k. Incidentally, the local EA matched the online price.

And, yes, call centres are dire. No one enjoys using them. Buying a house isn't like buying insurance or switching utilities provider or buying clothes online where you just put your details in a website and buy it. You not have to deal with a call centre if something goes wrong (and then the call centre experience is crap). You need to negotiate to buy a house. Negotiating through a call centre is my idea of hell.

Evrybuddy: you do seem irrationally angry at the continued existence of high street EAs.

According to this poll www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3685/Politicians-are-still-trusted-less-than-estate-agents-journalists-and-bankers.aspx

Only 25% of people trust estate agents

But I'm the irrational one

I'll draw my own conclusions on the occupations of the EA-ophiles on here.

75% of the population distrust estate agents.

Knock yourself out arguing against that.

This is what EAs think:
Will online kill off high-street estate agents?
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gk-UsUrqhOAJ:www.propertyweek.com/in-depth/analysis-features/will-online-kill-off-high-street-estate-agents%3F/5077932.article+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

what is it about an estate agent being an online anonymous entity that makes you think people will trust them more?

Yes... You do realise that they're still EAs even if they operate out of a call centre rather than a high street shop. Don't you?

They're just EAs in a less convenient location.

The question wasn't whether posters trust EAs though. I trust people reading a script in a call centre far less than someone I have met and can call in on.

They're just EAs in a less convenient location.

Exactly.

We are in the middle of a house sale and purchase (oh joy) using a local EA.

We (me & DP):
Chose the price (the experienced EA admitted it's really difficult at the moment, so we went in high)
Did the photos
Conducted viewings when the EA wasn't available
I conducted the viewing for the couple who are buying it, so I could say I "sold" it.

BUT the EA:
Has taken calls from the panicking buyer every day for the last 2 weeks, calms them and soothes them, and talks to me once a week so I can concentrate on sorting the mortgage out
Talks to both solicitors, and the agent I'm buying through, to keep everyone on track
Found two builders to quote for the work when the survey on my place showed some issues. My buyers are moving into the area so they didn't know anyone, so the EA's contacts have been invaluable.
They know all the local surveyors and all the builders, they know who to trust and who will put in such a high quote that the chain will fall apart (applies to both builders and surveyors apparently)

They have been worth their weight in gold. There are about 8 people I speak to there but they always know what's happening - they put viewings "in the book", when things are easy the juniors are in touch, but when things get challenging (eg negotiating survey reductions) the partner calls me. They sent the bill of sale for the mortgage offer within minutes of me asking.

As PPs have said, the hard job of the estate agent is to keep the chain together through what are fairly typical ups and downs of surveys, indemnities for missing planning permissions etc. Putting photos on Rightmove and taking people round the house is the easy part.

They're just EAs in a less convenient location.

Actually they are not, they are staff in a call centre reading from a screen, probably on minimum wage. The people I have dealt with at Tepilo know very little about the ins and outs of buying a house. One suggested that there was no reason at all that we couldn't go from having our offer accepted to exchanging within four weeks. Funnily enough it was no where near ready to happen within four weeks.

I have no doubt that an EA could be equally blase, although of course, theoretically contracts could be exchanged in four weeks if it's all straightforward.

I'd rather deal with an account manager and staff in a call centre any day of the week. The trouble is that sometimes people are led to believe that the EA is acting in their interests, when they are often not doing so. Also, I understand the legal procedure, which some buyers and sellers do not, and this leads them into the hands of the unscrupulous.

whattodo, there was absolutely no way that our chain could have exchanged within four weeks and it didn't take much experience to know that. The young person in the call centre obviously didn't have that basic knowledge.

Obviously there will be rubbish traditional EAs out there, I don't think anyone disputes that, but our experience has been that they have been well worth the money.

I suppose the answer is to tailor your expectations according to the service you're signing up for. When I used an online agent last year, I didn't expect any advice at all from them, all I wanted was exposure on Rightmove and I did the rest myself - pricing, negotiating, chasing solicitors, liaison etc as I wanted to stay in control (as much as is possible) of the process.

If I were a 'good', professional EA, I'd find it pretty demoralising tbh.

Clearly, all of the (EAs) posters on here who wax lyrical about the pros of high street estate agency will always continue to use them.

Do you know, you can still get an actual B&W tv licence? Amazing!

Why anyone would believe that an estate agent operating out of a high street branch would necessarily know more about the house-buying process than one operating out of a call centre is puzzling - is there a rule on that somewhere?

And amazing that people consider that just because (as a vendor) you pay the estate agent, you assume he's working for you - rather than for himself.

But then if you live in a nest where only lovely things happen, I guess that's what you'd conclude.

People used to think the government wasn't stealing their data too.

There's a continuum of posters on this thread stretching from 'is an actual estate agent' at one end, through gullible soft-touch, unquestioning and happy, questioning unhappy, rightfully cynical, cynical and bitter through experience.

I know where I stand and I'm happy with that.

The only fair point in favour of high st agents anyone has made (and I also made this point at the beginning) is that of local knowledge for more accurate valuation.

Which of course is why I also said I think a new separate occupation of valuer will emerge prior to online marketing of your property without a high st agent.

And it would only work if the valuer is independent of agents (although not as expensive as surveyors) as at the moment, there's always a whiff of high street agents undervaluing certain properties that they have in mind for a mate to purchase or telling people lies about whether the property is for sale or not.

Obviously none of the EAs on this thread would do such a thing or know of an agent having done such a thing or even have heard of the existence of such a thing.