Estate Agents Report - Total Whitewash

[Uncle Spielberg]

2 years of undercover studying Estate Agents and their practices and what are the conclusions. A bit of record keeping ( not compulsary ) and no estate agents to be licensed !.

I find it unbelievable in this country where in my industry ( mortgages / insurance ) I have to record it on a file if I want to use the toilet, that Estate Agents are totally unlicenced and have to take no exams or qualifications.

You local milkman could if he wanted set up his own estate agency tomorrow and come and value, market and sell your property the most important and expensive item you will ever own under the name of " Ernie - Your Friendly Local Estate Agent - Get your valuations ( and Milk ) here ".

The Mortgage Advisor, Surveyor, Solicitor and everyone involved in the process has to pass numerous exams to give advise but the Estate Agent nothing !.

 

[Marc]

2 years of undercover studying Estate Agents and their practices and what are the conclusions. A bit of record keeping ( not compulsary ) and no estate agents to be licensed !.

I find it unbelievable in this country where in my industry ( mortgages / insurance ) I have to record it on a file if I want to use the toilet, that Estate Agents are totally unlicenced and have to take no exams or qualifications.

You local milkman could if he wanted set up his own estate agency tomorrow and come and value, market and sell your property the most important and expensive item you will ever own under the name of " Ernie - Your Friendly Local Estate Agent - Get your valuations ( and Milk ) here ".

The Mortgage Advisor, Surveyor, Solicitor and everyone involved in the process has to pass numerous exams to give advise but the Estate Agent nothing !.

blimey so that explains why a 1 bedroom flat in shoreham costs £100,000+

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The price of property is market driven, not really the EA fault to be fair. The property is worth , whatever someone will pay for it but I am sure decent Estate Agents ( and there are many out there ) must be as pissed off about this report as everyone else.

 

[jakeella]

I blew a sigh of relief yesterday with the governments descion it means no studying for me, and plenty more brown envelopes.

 

[Soton Seagull]

An unregulated industry of this kind is crazy. Scotland took the lead by outlawing Gazumping. People lose thousands because of underhanded EA practises.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Roll up roll up roll up, get your Apples here 4 for a pound, juicy Oranges, Ripe Banana's , free market appraisals here.

The industry cannot expect anyone else to consider it a complete joke.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

There are son excellent Agents out there Graham Farthing, Mishon Mackay/Austin Gray for example but I have worked with shall we say lots of undesirables over 10 years.

 

[Lammy]

Why don;t we just go with the Scotish system? Get rid of all estate agents. They are mearly middle men. You don't expect to pass on a percentage of the value of your car every time you sell it?

When you put in an offer on a house it becomes legally binding. So no gazumping (sp?). All house sales are done through solicitors. Estate agents in my opinion simply put your house in the shop window. They should charge a flat advertising fee irrespective of the value of your home. If you advertise you car in the local rag you would expect to pay advertising.

It is the publics notion that a house must be sold through an estate agent that gives themthis 'power'. If everyone said, f*** 'em I'm going to sell my house myself tomorrow then they'd all be fecked!

I was watch yet another property development program the other day (sorry) and this woman sold a house simply by making a huge "for Sale" banner and draping it over the entire house. A genius bit of marketing and she had an offer within a week!

 

[Gary Nelson]

There are son excellent Agents out there Graham Farthing, Mishon Mackay/Austin Gray for example but I have worked with shall we say lots of undesirables over 10 years.

Austin Gray are probably the worst I have come across!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Gary - I'm talking about the person , not the agent. Graham is the best Agent I have worked with in 10 years.

 

[Gary Nelson]

Dont know him personally but there are a couple in A.G who's actions over the last couple of years have been Also add Fox & Son to that list. Collectively, the worst company I have ever dealt and the one's that give e.a's a bad name.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Generally I feel it is the " corporates " that give Estate Agents a bad name. I have worked for 5 different independents and they are much better.

 

[Gary Nelson]

Correct. If the industry was regulated then you would see less agents which is a good thing, and more emphasis on custmoer service

 

[Meade's Ball]

in my industry ( mortgages / insurance ) I have to record it on a file if I want to use the toilet

That must be quite a logbook.


Gah!
I know i left my raincoat around here somewhere.

 

[zefarelly]

Halifax . . .Fux and Sins, Alliance and Leicester, are all crooked shysters, the lowest of the low . . . . . brown envelopes are almost expected as part of the deal . . . .there are two very good independants in Shoreham.

The whole industry , I believe rightly, has a very bad reputation because of probably half of them who refuse to recognise any professional or even good amateur standards.

when we moved last summer it was my first EVER good experience with an Estate Agent. Thankyou Mr K Harrison . . . I have yet to deal with any other good ones and until we see some regulation and a change in the law it wont happen.

I agree with the Scottish way, and I also think that EA's are in many case unnecessary, BUT lots of people cant be bothered or dont understand the ins and outs, so they will always be around . . . . . . . .leeching like parasites off the unwitting

 

[Lammy]

Halifax . . .Fux and Sins, Alliance and Leicester, are all crooked shysters, the lowest of the low . . . . . brown envelopes are almost expected as part of the deal . . . .there are two very good independants in Shoreham.

The whole industry , I believe rightly, has a very bad reputation because of probably half of them who refuse to recognise any professional or even good amateur standards.

when we moved last summer it was my first EVER good experience with an Estate Agent. Thankyou Mr K Harrison . . . I have yet to deal with any other good ones and until we see some regulation and a change in the law it wont happen.

I agree with the Scottish way, and I also think that EA's are in many case unnecessary, BUT lots of people cant be bothered or dont understand the ins and outs, so they will always be around . . . . . . . .leeching like parasites off the unwitting

Ignorance is no longer an excuse thanks to the Internet. I would say it's mainly because people can't be arsed. In which case then fair enough, a servive needs to be provided for the lazy.

When I come to sell my house I'll be giving it a damn good go at selling it myself. If I fail then, and only then, will I be inlisting the 'help' of an estate agent.

 

[Yorkie]

From MSN Money

We’ve moaned about them for years but at long last we have official confirmation of just how bad they are

An Office of Fair Trading report published this week has slammed estate agents in England and Wales. It found that one in four people (26%) who sold their homes recently were dissatisfied with the level of service they received.

Typical complaints from sellers were:

Estate agents offer poor value for money (38% of those surveyed said this was a problem)
Poor communication by the agent (19% were dissatisfied in this area)
Delays in the sale (about 14% blamed their agents for sales taking longer than expected)
An even larger proportion of buyers (28%) said they were unhappy with estate agents. Their gripes included:

Poor communication from the agent was poor (24%)
About 6% thought the agent was responsible for a prolonged transaction process
Although fewer than one per cent of buyers thought that they had lost a house because their offer was not passed on, this is a particularly serious issue as it represents a potential breach of the law.
The OFT also identified some serious complaints such as failure by agents to pass on offers or declare a personal interest, and suggestions that buyers would be more successful if they used financial services offered by the agent.

How you should fight back

The report found that agents earned an estimated £2.5 billion from the sale of residential property in England and Wales in 2002. But it also claimed that price competition between agents is limited. “At present, there is widespread use of fixed 'pricing points', with the majority of fees being set at quarter-point increments from 1% to 2%,” said the report

Consumers, the report suggests, should shop around more before deciding which estate agent to use. At present only about half of all sellers bother to obtain a quote from more than one agent. Those who did shop around and negotiate fees paid on average 14% lower fees than others. For a property of average value, this represents a saving of about £300.

The table below shows the number of quotes obtained by the 933 sellers surveyed by the OFT’s report:



Number of quotes Percentage of respondents
1 51
2 22
3 22
4 4
5 2


Source: OFT survey of sellers

The OFT said it will launch a consumer information campaign to raise awareness of the savings that can be made by comparing prices between estate agents and negotiating on fees. John Vickers, OFT chairman, said: "There is widespread public dissatisfaction about the market for estate agency services. Necessary change includes sharper price competition, more effective regulation and higher industry standards."

Estate agents will have to clean up their act or face the possibility of having to adhere to a compulsory code of conduct. About time: let's face it, how would you feel about shelling out more than £1,000 for a service where you have a one-in-four chance of being dissatisfied?

The government has 90 days to respond to the report.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

All that but basically the report says " carry on doing what you are doing ". Its unbelievable.

 

[zefarelly]

probably because it was written and financed by estate agents