Estate agents... are they from Mars?

minlady · 11-01-2008, 10:26 AM

I'm probably going to get hate mail after this....

but are estate agents from another planet?

i had three round yesterday... what a speal they voice....are they taught it in estate agent school?

my head was left in a dizzy spin!

that's all i am going to say......

min x

Life on easy street · 11-01-2008, 10:50 AM

I went to several estate agencies before I found one that spoke normal
English and that I trusted to sell my house.

so yes some of them are from a different planet.

alcocainmel · 11-01-2008, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minlady

I'm probably going to get hate mail after this....

but are estate agents from another planet?

i had three round yesterday... what a speal they voice....are they taught it in estate agent school?

my head was left in a dizzy spin!

that's all i am going to say......

min x

I hate to say it Min, but I used to work for a couple of Estate Agents a few years back and yes they all come out with the same speal!!!!

Deb xx

alliekate · 11-01-2008, 11:05 AM

We found them worse here - they do not even advertise the price half the time, and a lot go to auction without a "base price" cos they do not want to even suggest a possible figure. It was a NIGHTMARE.

Ok, yes in the Uk too, but the agent was great - the buyer was not.

We got lucky and found a fantastic agent out here (who is now reselling our house ironically), so when you get out here be prepared for a whole new set of rules. (Alena Dooley, Harcourts, Townsville).

And we had even bought all the "buying a house in Oz" books in preparation - not one jot of help!!!! They just do it very differently - we went to one auction and I was terrified! ( "HUP!!!!!! HUP!!!!!!!!!! HUP!!!!!!!! into the microphone at full volume ) You what ? Very odd!!!

Wishing you the best of luck, and it'll all come right. a xxxx

ali · 11-01-2008, 11:21 AM

A week after putting our house on the market we got an offer £11,000 less than the asking price - the estate agent told us that this was a "first offer" - Nigel told him that as he'd valued the house only 7 days before he'd either totally misread the current market or wasn't very good at doing his job and valuing houses and in that case should we reconsider placing our house with his agency ..... Doesn't say much my hubby, but when he does it's priceless.

Ali

minlady · 11-01-2008, 11:27 AM

Best bit was the guy from Pickfords was measuring up when the first agent came and as the estate agent left he swooped past Pickfords (with tape measure in hand measuring bookself... with whom he knew was the travel guy) and patted him on the back and said 'bye bud'!!!

Martin (from Pickfords), looked at me and when the front door closed we both burst out laughing....Why didn't he 'bye bud' me?

yep...another planet

min x

minlady · 11-01-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ali

A week after putting our house on the market we got an offer £11,000 less than the asking price - the estate agent told us that this was a "first offer" - Nigel told him that as he'd valued the house only 7 days before he'd either totally misread the current market or wasn't very good at doing his job and valuing houses and in that case should we reconsider placing our house with his agency ..... Doesn't say much my hubby, but when he does it's priceless.

Ali

Nice one... i like his style....

what got me was... we live on a relatively new estate and there are only 2 other houses on the estate like ours and only one has sold... in 2006. Each agent appeared to be frightened to commit to a price to our's as we would be pushing the price boundary for the drive....
they were frightened.... maybe because of the economic crisis we appear to be approaching...
then to top it off they want 2% commission... tell me have i got 'con me' printed on my forehead...

min x

claire&fred · 11-01-2008, 12:11 PM

Yes, they do talk a load of tripe. I work for an Estate Agent on a Saturday, just a Saturday. My job is mainly cruising the internet and PIO. Of course my bosses do not know this. Both my bosses make me cringe with the things they say, however they sold my house in 2 days. Unfortunately Estate Agents are up there with double glazing salesmen.

However, we do get alot of stupid people coming in pretending they know everything. Love putting them in their place. "No you cannot have a 4 bedroom detached house on the forest for £150,000!" Now go away so I can get back to PIO.

Hope you get sorted and eventually find someone you like. I think the best ones are the smaller family run Estate Agents, not the big ones, e.g. Halifax etc.

Claire