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.

In my area, they're not even competent.

When they wrote the marketing materials for my last house, I swear that a 12-year old of average intelligence could have done a better job. First of all, they couldn't get a sentence together in the right order. Secondly, what wasn't actually factually incorrect was a cliche or a typo. Thirdly, they showed no sales acumen in terms of the details they selected (e.g. 'the garden has an old shed in it', 'there is an artex ceiling'). When they showed people round, the elderly secretary they sent out would point out features she didn't like and moan about it (I know because I sent my friend disguised as a potential buyer, after it wasn't selling for months on end). It was absolutely infuriating to pay for a service that really set back the sale. I'd have been better doing it myself - with the amount it cost, I could have bought LOADS of advertising and still been way better off.

Who put a wasp up your fanny evrybuddy?

I tell you what. You carry on thinking what you think and everyone else will carry on thinking what they think. Some people will agree with you and some won't. Ultimately time will tell and when that happens you will know who was right.

But until then I think you need a lie down. You seem rather over invested.

Our house is on the market with the EAs who sold it to us only 20 months ago. They are a local firm and (apart from one person) absolutely ace. They deliver a completely personal service and know the local area and current market conditions implicitly. I have total faith in them and have always recommended them. My advice would be to go with the smaller, local firms who rely far more on word of mouth.

Still hate moving though

Pipbin- that's a quote for life lol! Made me snort my coffee!

I keep thinking evrybuddy will get bored but sadly not, still ranting away.

Evrybuddy: I think your tin hat might be a bit tight. If you take it off you'll feel much better.

The only EAs on this thread have said they're EAs. I'm not sure why you're so amazed that other people might not share your irrational loathing for high street EAs (who suddenly become different people if they work in call centres).

And yes, Pippa's right, the best case scenario is that they're EAs based in call centres. At worst they're someone with no idea reading off a screen and following their customer management flow chart.

When I complete next week I'm sending flowers to the estate agent....she was brilliant.

I think what would benefit the English system is to have solicitor estate agents which we have here in Scotland. That way they'd be regulated by the law society which seems to me to be a good thing.

A sensible suggestion and it comes from an estate agent - yay!

For those that are amazed at my disdain for estate agents of the high street variety - talk to me again when you've gone through the process as frequently as I have.

As in the Mori survey linked earlier in the thread, 75% of people mistrust estate agents for a reason.

It would be something of an anomaly, given that statistic, to have much more than 1 in 4 people on this thread beating the drum for estate agents as top fellas - but that seems to be the case.

Rather than believe the survey stats are wrong, I'll speculate that there's a bias in the sample posting on this thread.

I've bought and sold more than the average, so naturally, I would encounter more duds than the average person. Without blowing my trumpet too loudly, I think that puts me in a better informed position to comment than someone whose gone through only once or twice.

Regulation by the Law Society would be a real plus - regulation by anyone would be a good start.

You're not the only one who has been through the process so many times. I think you've killed proper debate on this thread with your obnoxious posting style and by having a pop at anyone who deigned to have an opposing view.

In my area, they're not even competent.

Same here, I'd just like them to sell the house and not keep fucking damaging it. They've done more damage in viewings than I have inyears of living here. Really disrespectful.

Then they keep calling with nothing to say, other than telling me about the person who viewed and saying they are waiting for feedback.

Wasting my time. I only care if they have an offer or more viewings. Otherwise shut up and do their job.

I don't trust any estate agent fully but wouldn't want to sell without one and our estate agent (sale) has been a total hero. He's also played buyers off against each other in a subtle way that i could never do (see: don't trust estate agents) but that as sellers we are really happy about.

Sandra do you live In bedminster? Which agents have you been using that are bad. I'm local and would be interested to know who to avoid!

Now my thinking is that all this 'all estate agents are shit' talk is like saying 'all shoe shops are shit' because you have had a bad experience in a couple of shops.

Some are shit, they really are, but some are good.

I'd rather not say the agents name, until I move. They have the key s and are so shit that if I out them I half expect my house to be ransacked.

I will be publisising their shit behavior after I'm done with them.