Estate Agents.....are they all low life scum?

[PBW23]

HovaGirl,
Thank you also for the commendation, although the one bad thing about this forum, is I don't know who to thank for this, and who to buy a drink for! By the way, Dean & Co have opened a second branch down in Portslade old village. Spread the good word ;-)

 

[Return of the Rev]

Just been doing the estate agents thing again after many years, pleasantly surprised so far but the two who were completely naff were the two women that have showed us round,possibly they were just covering and should of been back at the office answering phones, but blooming eck they were hard work

 

[Brighton1]

My Mums house has been on the market now for 2 weeks, in that 2 weeks its had about 7 viewings...estate agent called me today and said " its to expensive we need to lower the price"....

I informed him it had 7 viewings and she was the one who valued the house...her reply was " but we would prefer a lower price so we can sell it quick"..

What she meant to say was lower the price so we can get our commision quickly...

In the most polite way I could I told her it will stay on the market for the price that YOU suggested for a couple of months as we are in no real hurry...

Scum the lot of them..

I think that statement is a bit harsh, from my experiences the big corporate agents tend to be ruthless but the smaller independents tend to be far more caring and straight.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

I must be one of the few that has actually had a good experience with an estate agent...but in fairness I wasnt actually buying a property from her. She was very accomodating to my requirements though....

 

[Hampster Gull]

We are interested in a house which has just been put up for auction, although they will consider bids prior to that and sell beforehand if the price is right. My wife phoned the auctioneer. He says he will only put forward a bid to the seller, ie phone the seller to ask if they would consider the bid, ifwe go into his offices with a bankers cheque for a deposit and make the bid in person. This is a two hour each way journey. Can this be right? Any experience ofthisfrom the NSC? Seems like slippery behaviour to me....I would be happy to transfer deposit same day if bid accepted so all seems about putting pressure on the buyer.

 

[HovaGirl]

HovaGirl,
Thank you also for the commendation, although the one bad thing about this forum, is I don't know who to thank for this, and who to buy a drink for! By the way, Dean & Co have opened a second branch down in Portslade old village. Spread the good word ;-)

He he. Funny to think I know you, but you don't know me, Ben!

 

[HovaGirl]

We are interested in a house which has just been put up for auction, although they will consider bids prior to that and sell beforehand if the price is right. My wife phoned the auctioneer. He says he will only put forward a bid to the seller, ie phone the seller to ask if they would consider the bid, ifwe go into his offices with a bankers cheque for a deposit and make the bid in person. This is a two hour each way journey. Can this be right? Any experience ofthisfrom the NSC? Seems like slippery behaviour to me....I would be happy to transfer deposit same day if bid accepted so all seems about putting pressure on the buyer.

If you actually went to the auction, you would have to go there with deposit cheque in hand, so bidding in this way beforehand is much the same thing. The seller will have put a reserve price (i.e. a lowest amount s/he will accept, failing that amount, they won't sell.) Have you already secured a mortgage or loan for your auction property? I believe you have to pay the balance within 7 days or so.

 

[sam86]

Anyone used either Fox & Sons Lancing, or King & Chasemore Lancing?
Feedback please. Cheers x

 

[Sam-]

Been working in an estate agents over summer, on the lettings side of it though. But from my experience the sales side work incredibly hard. Lots of estate agents will do things to try and get your property on the market with them, but don't forget that Brighton is a very competitive market. Agents are in direct competition with each other to make money.
Learn to take advantage of it. Some agents have lost some of their market share and, in an effort to regain it, are offering low rates. For example, Cubitt and West will try and get you as close to 2% as they can as they have a large market share. Where as other agents will offer 1% because its good for there image to have lots of properties in an area.
No point complaining about them, and calling them scum. Where do you get a personal service for free? They are just trying to make money.

 

[brightonlass2009]

Surprisingly when we sold our first house the estate agent we dealt with was actually really nice. The problem was with the person who wanted to buy the house, who informed us we were just trying to screw him over because we hadn't found a house yet (we proceeded to tell him to f*** off and go deal with somebody else). And then the people we wanted to buy the house of wanted us to pay an extra £5,000 because they would only move to a certain area in Brighton. Needless to say we didn't go ahead with that either.

Although saying that the estate agents who valued our current house were nasty cretin scum. Undervalued the house by £50,000 because they knew somebody who wanted it for cheap.

 

[Greavsey]

If you actually went to the auction, you would have to go there with deposit cheque in hand, so bidding in this way beforehand is much the same thing. The seller will have put a reserve price (i.e. a lowest amount s/he will accept, failing that amount, they won't sell.) Have you already secured a mortgage or loan for your auction property? I believe you have to pay the balance within 7 days or so.

28 days to pay full balance usually. And you're right, this sounds like a fairly standard practice for an auction property.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Anyone used either Fox & Sons Lancing, or King & Chasemore Lancing?
Feedback please. Cheers x

Whatever you do don't use Fox & Sons. I've used the Lewes Road branch of K&C and they were pretty good.

 

[Bad Ash]

No point complaining about them, and calling them scum. Where do you get a personal service for free? They are just trying to make money.

I think you're missing the point, which working for an estage agent isn't a surprise People don't mind paying (a fair price) for a good service.

 

[Randsta]

Nothing new here Money grabbing scum.....not worth what they're paid (usually)

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Why are they "brought down" by the rest? Surely they just stand out as the best. I've met some amazing people in the industry who are hardworking, tenacious, customer centric with high integrity. Why label swathes of people because of a few bad ones. Surely that's bigotry. Even i can see that and I'm just a lowly recruitment consultant.

I don't think you're reading my posts properly ( but that's pretty standard for a recruitment agent ! ). A large majority of the agents I have dealt with have been like that. I'll throw in yet another example from today - agency advertised a job Tuesday, girlfriend applied within the hour of it going up. Despite numerous phone calls and emails she only got to speak to the agent today. Agent says the interview process has already been started last week so too late - so why advertise the job from Tuesday ?? Only when my girlfriend pointed out she had the exact skills for the role did the agent show any interest and agree to send her CV over to the employer. This clearly shows the agency hadn't read her CV - they need to stop using keyword software searches ( which clearly shows it doesn't work as my girlfriends CV was tailored to match the vacancy ). You might well be a very good and moral recruitment agent but I'm afraid many many aren't.

 

[The Wookiee]

I think you're missing the point, which working for an estage agent isn't a surprise People don't mind paying (a fair price) for a good service.

Remind me where the OP says he has actually paid for anything ??

 

[Stoaty Ferret]

Just sold my flat and bought a house with Cubitts. Have to say I found them pretty good on both sides. They have a fantastic photographer who makes your place look as good as it can be and market well. They aren't perfect but a lot better than some of the other agents mentioned on here that I've dealt with in the past.

 

[PBW23]

I'm guessing you're female. Also you've obviously been impressed by our services. So that must have been that one week in 2010 when I had a really good week. I give up...

 

[CHAPPERS]

Just sold my flat and bought a house with Cubitts. Have to say I found them pretty good on both sides. They have a fantastic photographer who makes your place look as good as it can be and market well. They aren't perfect but a lot better than some of the other agents mentioned on here that I've dealt with in the past.

I looked at a few places through Cubitts and you're right, they do manage to make the properties look really good. Shame most of the places we viewed actually looked nothing like their pictures really.