Can anybody explain this about estate agents?

[squeezysparklyballs]

If you're registered with them as a potential buyer, with all your requirements, budget etc. They promise to send you details of suitable houses, then don't? As in you see suitable stuff on right move and they didn't send it to you?

I have a sneaky suspicion that they either think we're not serious buyers or they just plain don't like us.

Frustrated!

Most estate agents are reactive rather than proactive - do not take it personally. If they are busy enough and making enough money then they'll just let people come to them. Most people have alerts set up on right move for suitable properties anyway.

Are you proceedable ie. Cash buyer or under offer?

The EA dealing with our last purchase was a joke, despite being cash buyers and offering the asking price, he was very reluctant to put our offer forward to the sellers. We waited 4 days for a reply and were on the verge of going to the house and giving the vendors the money in a suitcase!
E As live in a world only known to them.

They are weird! We were v serious 1st time buyers, keen to get something secured within 2 months as work would be busy. We did start out looking at 3 bed houses but realised that we wanted something more central, estate agent just laughed at us and said with your budget you'll get a 2 bed maisonette/ Victorian conversion flat - which is exactly what we bought - but not from him! I even sent him a long email saying this is what we now want - we were totally realistic etc. 3 months after we moved in he called us to see how we were getting on with our search

We're under offer.

Thing is, this particular estate agent seems to have everything we want!

I've not known estate agents do this since rightmove and purple bricks came online.
People tend to go to them now to arrange viewings.

Just go online the same houses will be on rightmove or the agents own website. Then call and make appointments.

Can you drop a note to the owner of the house? You could say that you appreciate that transaction would have to go through the EA, but they are unable to give you a viewing appointment.
If I was a seller with such a poor EA, I’d want to know.

Yes, I’d assume no need for this when you can just set up a RightMove search so easily. I’d far rather do that anyway than get loads of calls, or a weekly email that’s probably out of date by the time it gets to me

It’s because they work for the seller, not the buyer. If a given property has loads of enquiries from the internet listing, the EA isn’t going to waste their time ringing other prospective buyers, because it won’t be necessary. Most keen buyers will see anything new go up online and make an enquiry on the same day.

I registered with around half a dozen local EA agents when i was house hunting. As a cash buyer with nothing to sell i was a perfect buyer. Not one of them ever contacted me. The days of them actively contacting buyers seems to be gone. They expect you to contact them

Just pick up the phone and call them if you've seen a property you like. How hard is it? No they won't call you. You have to be in there/on it so you get first look when something new comes on.

Have you rung them and asked for an appointment to view?

It is the vendors who pay their fees so it is the vendors that they look after not the purchasers.

Just register for Rightmove alerts like everyone else.

Sorry, half a post earlier! Do they say anything, when you ring to view the properties?

You could ask the vendor when you go round, we've had viewers ask us because they seemed surprised they hadn't heard about the property but it had been off the market for three months while a sale fell through so no, they wouldn't have heard about it then (they were investors and looked at a lot of property in this price bracket, or so they said!)

Well obviously I'm registered for alerts etc! How do you think I find these properties?

The point is, estate agents make such a fuss of registering you and then don't send you anything. What's the point? It's this that makes me think that this particular EA doesn't rate us as a buyer for some reason.

Are you selling with them? One of our local agents (really fast moving market area) shows new properties only to those on their selling books. They mostly go before getting officially to market. It was so frustrating when we were looking that we'd only see some perfect properties once they hit the sold lists.

I'm with @Redglitter. We were cash buyers in rented and I found myself chasing the agents. One time I called to book a viewing on a property, first day on RM, only to be told all slots had been filled for that weekends viewings. I asked if they were all proceedable and was told no, it's first come first serve. It went under offer that weekend.

Another, we were told viewings would be open house on the following Saturday. On the Thursday I recieved a call to say it had gone under offer and there would be no further viewings 🤔.

Both ended up losing their buyers with in a couple of weeks and are still on for sale. Bizarrely neither agent called to tell us they were back on the market. 🤯

Simply put, they are a crap estate agent. I used to be one...and I would spend a great deal of time speaking to people on my mailing list as soon as a new property was listed, in fact sometimes I would be in touch before it went on the market just to check if they were still looking/if circumstances had changed.

@squeezysparklyballs - I agree with pps - If there are houses you want - get on the phone and phone the EA. It is you who will live there not them. So , if important - phone them .

Usually they use an automated system by emailing you alerts to properties that fit your criteria.

They don't scroll through and hand pick them for you, it's just from matched criteria in a system.

If you like one that they haven't sent you maybe they've input your criteria wrong or maybe your criteria is too specific?

Just call them and double check they've got the right details and if you see a house you like call them

I sold my flat before it went on rightmove as the agent had people on the books that wanted to buy in that block. We had a commission that was very low as a result.

As a buyer, I noticed very different approaches from different agents. Some were very proactive about contacting with appropriate properties, some just spammed me with any old shite whether it met my requirements of not and others just ignored me.

I agree with some pps, you can see for yourself on right move. I think they'll only contact buyers who are immediately proceedable, ie already sold and in rented or cash buyers regarding properties that haven't been marketed yet. EA's don't care about WHO buys a property, just that it's sold.

And it won't be because they don't like you, they don't care enough to think about whether they like you or not. They only like a potential buyer's position. This is all that is of interest.