Estate Agents - to cut fees, or increase them?

[brian]

Homeseller, what I stated is not up for debate or discussion - your attitude is not welcome, and your behaviour is disruptive - all you have managed to do is launch a series of personal attacks in this thread, and I am making the point that this is not acceptable.

If that makes you feel personally attacked, then that's a perception you're entirely entitled to - but if you wish to continue posting you are really going to have to check that attitude of yours.

[googler]

Originally Posted by Homeseller

Hi Brian. I notice that you deleted my previous posts to give it the slant that you are looking for. Censor away my friend and then everyone can see what a bollocks forum you are running. Maybe this will be another one of your failed internet businesses? It's hard to see how they have failed; I just don't understand it, do you Brian?

You sparked the argument with me not the other way round and you chose to do it in open forum rather than sensibly dropping me an e-mail or personal message. Why was that? Like a bit of the moderator power, do you? You might want to have a word with yourself over this. It's not an attractive trait. You also chose to do it when the discussion had got really interesting too and the Googler nonsense had stopped. I do so hope that he has left the forum, Brian, don't you? It does show how much better things are when he's not here, doesn't it Brian?

So, Brian. I am tired of you and your little forum. Just one last point before I leave : I will debate and / or discuss anything I damned well like. The only way you will stop me is to ban me and of course if you do that then I will have had the last word. Either way you lose.

FAIL.

...and as you leave, you painstakingly edit your posts to leave a trail of profanity in your wake.....

Real mature. Had one too many Ginger Beers this afternoon, have we?

[googler]

"Last edited by Homeseller; 10-31-2009 at 05:06 PM. "

and on that note, Brian presses the Delete button one last time.....

[mortgage_advisor]

Wow! What the hell happened here?!

I'm away from the forum for a couple of days and the homeseller hits the fan!

FWIW, I thought that homeseller did at least keep the debate going, admittedly not always in the most positive way, but at the same time he did make some good points, although perhaps his hatred for googler somewhat distorted his agenda. On the other hand, googler does sometimes get a little stroppy in his posts, from looking at some of the past posts it doesn't surprise me that someone has got frustrated with him, not that this excuses homesellers posts. (Sorry googler, but just looked at your replies to the guy asking about buying an estate agency business, although you were correct, you were a little rude, and if you weren't happy with his questions and responses, you could ignore them rather than getting stroppy with him)

Ah well. What's with this Fail thing anyway?

[drhouse]

[quote=Iced Up in Basingstoke;9107]I'm a long time lurker and have been following this forum for a while now, this thread is interesting too. Things are being said that add nothing to the topic but plenty to the ambience. IMHO, Brian and Googler have disappeared up their own, and possibly each others, backsides sometime in approx Jan 2008, they are the wallpaper of this site and think that their view is the only view on offer, they tolerate little or no dissent. Wallpaper hangs around, it looks nice but ultimately adds nothing to the food on the table, take a look at yourselves boys and consider your approach to this forum, you are stifling it without realising.

Absolutely agree with this.

As for Estate Agent's fees, like most people who have little formal regulation and work to commission for their wages, the long term impact of short term thinking stifles realism and rather than encouraging people to sell their homes with an agent, at a time when prices are demonstrably lower and proporties take longer to sell, it simply encourages them to keep away from agents on the High Street and avoid any sort of fee at the level that agents impose. My own experience of agents, have without fail, led to me thinking; 'What is the point of you' ? Moreover, it's time for the men to step forward and prove they can actually flog a house rather than sit back and take orders for any old crap just because people are panicking and will buy anything to get on the property ladder. Estate agents have had it too easy for too long, the first time in years you have to do some work and the first reaction is to charge higher fees;

Actually agree with most of this too. There have been a lot of agents attracted in with no expertise whose eyes lit up at the prospect of easy money. Now times are tough they are grasping at anything they can get.

1) Stupid people are generally estate agents these days. Therefore; 2) Lower price achieved doesn't equate to charging more for doing your job for the first time in years. I apologise to the eminantly qualified surveyors et al out there who do good work and act as agents but there is a scum line of agents out there that are clearly as thick as pigshit and cannot think strategically, they are doing you no favours at all in these financially trying times.

Well we are not all the same but I have been very disappointed with a lot of new agents coming into the business. They have little or no knowledge of how the business should work and the fact they are there to provide a service not make a quick buck. I really want to see some form of regulation and the requirement for a qualification before you can do the job. It won't cure all the problems but it will be a start. I haven't increased my fees because the job has got harder - I've been here before - and I intend to come through this.

I am sorry you appear to have had bad experiences but there are good agents out there. Unfortunately we are not the ones who get the publicity.

[mortgage_advisor]

Your last line is very true Drhouse. It's only the bad we hear about. And I agree that some form of qualification & stricter regulation would, improve, if not the quality of service, at least the publics opinion.

I think that each time a house is valued & sold, a suitability letter should be required explaining the reasons for the original valuation, showing comparisons of recently sold property and other similar properties on the market, and explaing why a final sale price was achieved.

On a side note, what a bashing Brian & googler have taken these last few days.

[googler]

Originally Posted by mortgage_advisor

I think that each time a house is valued & sold, a suitability letter should be required explaining the reasons for the original valuation, showing comparisons of recently sold property and other similar properties on the market, and explaing why a final sale price was achieved.

Do you have any reason to believe this doesn't happen at the moment, albeit in an informal sense? If it doesn't, then you're suggesting that EAs up and down the land are turning up to people's houses and pulling figures out of the air.

To whom should this letter be addressed? NAEA? OEA? Trading Standards? The Home Secretary? The Chancellor?

Who would read them? Who has the time?

Lastly, how would this letter explain the final sale price without some input from the buyer, with regard to their rationale?

[mortgage_advisor]

Originally Posted by googler

Do you have any reason to believe this doesn't happen at the moment, albeit in an informal sense? If it doesn't, then you're suggesting that EAs up and down the land are turning up to people's houses and pulling figures out of the air.

To whom should this letter be addressed? NAEA? OEA? Trading Standards? The Home Secretary? The Chancellor?

Who would read them? Who has the time?

Lastly, how would this letter explain the final sale price without some input from the buyer, with regard to their rationale?

I really do sympathise with homeseller, your attitude is always confrontational.

As for whom the letter would be addressed to, the client would seem the obvious answer, and random checks by a regulator to ensure compliance with a prespecified framework set out by the regulator. This would ensure that valuations were reasonable and not engineered to entice clients.

I am sure that this is done when calculating the valuation, but I see no reason why this can't be recorded in a formal way, similarly to a suitability letter with regard to mortgages.

As for the sale price, you could record number of viewings, value of offers, if any, and any negotiations that took place. As mentioned by EAs previously, a good EA would be negotiating to ensure they get the best possible price for the seller, so some record of this shouldn't be such a problem.

But I guess if EAs had to do this, they would actually be doing some work for their 1.75%. (Sorry Drhouse)

[googler]

Originally Posted by mortgage_advisor

I really do sympathise with homeseller, your attitude is always confrontational.

What's confrontational about asking you further questions to get the one or two sentences of your original statement expanded into a paragraph or two?

You contribute a short idea, I ask, you expand on what you said and give a fuller description, just as has happened here.

Why is this a problem?

[drhouse]

Originally Posted by mortgage_advisor

Your last line is very true Drhouse. It's only the bad we hear about. And I agree that some form of qualification & stricter regulation would, improve, if not the quality of service, at least the publics opinion.

I think that each time a house is valued & sold, a suitability letter should be required explaining the reasons for the original valuation, showing comparisons of recently sold property and other similar properties on the market, and explaing why a final sale price was achieved.

On a side note, what a bashing Brian & googler have taken these last few days.

There is no reason why a standard pro forma could not be produced. If an agent has a proper system - computer or otherwise - all conversations, decisions, etc should be noted - just like a solicitor. The client has a right to see this on request, with a computer it will all be time dated as well. (when I found this out I had to stop using affectionate terms such as this seller is a deluded w***er who thinks his s***hole is Balmoral Castle)

The problem I have found since I started in the business is that people hear what they want to hear. For example the house down the road got 100K but it had 2 extra rooms - yours is worth 90K. When you have done well to get an offer of 95 they think they have actually lost 5K. It is just human nature.

Re the petition, I would not be against that, I will miss Homeseller when he goes as he surely will. Still there is always reincarnation