Estate agents - where's the sell?

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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Looking at new properties so dealing with a lot of estate agents at the moment and from what I can see, they're getting money for nothing... List the property online, show some potential buyers around then sit back and wait on that all important call.

The amount of times I've had to chase the agent to chase the seller to negotiate a deal is unbelievable. There's no prior research into the property before conducting the viewing, not the slightest attempt to try any sales techniques, little to no follow up calls and generally not proactive in the slightest.

Have I just had an unfortunate streak of dealing with poor agents?
 
shifty_uk said:
Looking at new properties so dealing with a lot of estate agents at the moment and from what I can see, they're getting money for nothing... List the property online, show some potential buyers around then sit back and wait on that all important call.

The amount of times I've had to chase the agent to chase the seller to negotiate a deal is unbelievable. There's no prior research into the property before conducting the viewing, not the slightest attempt to try any sales techniques, little to no follow up calls and generally not proactive in the slightest.

Have I just had an unfortunate streak of dealing with poor agents?
Click to expand...
 
If you're in Scotland why do you need to negotiate a deal? I thought house purchases were by way of a sealed bid only?
 
scorza said:
If you're in Scotland why do you need to negotiate a deal? I thought house purchases were by way of a sealed bid only?
Click to expand...

I haven't purchased a house in Scotland but I don't think sealed bids are particularly common there, as far as I'm aware you still tend to make an offer (either conditional or unconditional) and if it's accepted then provided the conditions are met (if necessary) it's binding so you can't get gazumped, nor indeed can the buyer normally pull out without incurring fees. It's just one of the ways where it's more certain than English property purchasing. Here is a quick guide to Scottish house purchase from Citizens Advice Scotland.

shifty_uk: Maybe you have just been unlucky enough to deal with poor agents but I don't think it's all that uncommon to have to chase them up. In many places the market will continue to move fast enough that they don't have to be particularly good to sell property and indeed they've got a commodity that you want so the chances are you're going to put in the effort which means they don't necessarily have to. However maybe I'm being unfair and under-estimating the effort they've put in so it's actually being so busy that means they will find it difficult to keep on top of all the interest they receive - in fairness it's probably not all that unusual for them to have several people express an interest in a property only never to call back again even after a viewing so it might be they wait for a second call to weed out the people who aren't really interested from those who are serious about the process.
 
If you think estate agents are bad (they are) just wait until you find somewhere to buy and have to deal with solicitors. They're a whole other level of AAAAARRGGGGHHHHH!
 
We're too conditioned into using them.

I reckon quite a few joe public's think that you cannot sell a house without using an estate agent.
 
I cannot stand them useless blood sucking wastes of space.

Absolutely no need for them whatsoever, the fees they charge the seller are insane!

Letting agents are just as bad.
 
The first house the wife and I bought was from a family member so we didn't use an estate agent. When the time comes to sell up I think that I'll try to sell it myself without using an agent!
 
Letting agents are a scam. Would much rather deal direct with the landlord myself but they won't give me the details. No surprise why. Annoying.
 
High street Estate Agents are out dated now.
We sold our house in four days 2 years ago using an online agent for £200, saving £3k on tradditional Agents costs.
 
Live in Scotland, last house moves went like..

1. (selling my house) Did it direct to someone I knew, solicitors exchanged detailed, we had the place surveyed, another two solicitors letters over contracts, job done in less than 3 weeks start to finish.
2. (selling wifes house) Estate Agent involved - Easy to sell property in an area being redeveloped, screamed "buy to let", stones throw from the new velodrome in Glasgow (literally next door), took 2 years to sell for 75% of the valuation, we broke even.
3. (buying joint house) Estate agent involved - didn't have all the documents organised despite it being on the market for over a year, had allowed the survey of the property to expire, then used an unapproved surveyor which cost the seller more money, then took the best part of 5 months to organise THEMSELVES into a position of selling. This wasn't a one man band, it was a fairly large set of estate agents. We'd made the offer in writing by this point, which we kept having to renew as it expired every 30 days (as per our offer). The only reason we eventually got the house was I called up the seller and told them they had 14 days or we'd not renew the offer and she knew I meant it as there was another house in the same street now on the market and she'd seen me going in to view it!

In Scotland at least from now on I'm doing it privately between solicitors, even a vaguely competent one can do it fairly quickly.

semi-pro waster - agreed about blind/sealed bids, they're increasingly rare these days as they tend to delay the process.
 
Ours turned up with people to view but no appointment was made and he had no idea about the house.
He came back the next day with another viewing and hadn't taken the time the time to learn major details. He was late too. Think I did a better job than he did.
Doubt ours will sell with the current lot, can't wait to be shot of them.
 
Online estate agents are the future. Everything you hate about estate agents is removed from the process. I sold my house for < £400 and cut out all the BS.
 
Adam said:
Online estate agents are the future. Everything you hate about estate agents is removed from the process.
Click to expand...

I can't understand why this hasn't taken off already. My experience of estate agents is the same as OP's and when you consider the amount they get paid it's ridiculous. Maybe it made sense before the internet, but all you need to do these days is a 10 second look on rightmove.
 
mine did pretty much nothing but be a go between once contracts were in place. didn't even come to the house viewing with me.

it was on the market with two firms. i lost all interest in going through the first firm as they didn't even ring me back when i wanted to discuss the property. they didn't come and collect their for sale sign either.
 
I've bought and sold a number of properties over the last few years.
So have tried ALL the agents in our town both as a buyer AND a seller.

In hindsight we should have stuck with the first one we used as they were most definitely the best. I've bought and sold through them and they were very good at keeping on top of any questions. Extremely good at feedback.

However I've also dealt with complete muppets. One showed us a leaflet that stated a certain flat sold within 1 day, And that they vetted ALL potential purchases first so they don't have any timewasters. The issue was that the flat in question was my sister in laws. The purchaser wasn't vetted (beyond "Do you have finance in place?" and the flat took a further 3 purchasers and 12 months to sell.
 
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