Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Estate Agents Have The Reputation They Deserve
THEY say moving house is one of the most stressful things a person ever does.
I’m sure that’s true- it’s bad enough the stress of packing all your furniture and dealing with all the legal paperwork involved.
Yet surely the whole thing could be made so much easier if only estate agents behaved like normal human beings.
It seems pretty obvious to me that many estate agents pay their staff on a commission basis for every property they sell.
Quite a few, which are part of national chains, employ mostly younger people who are encouraged to bend the truth to get the sale, because it’s the only way they’ll be putting any bread on the table.
From the employer’s point of view, it’s not a bad way of getting around the minimum wage.
These factors are largely behind why estate agents have such a bad reputation with us mere mortals.
For those of you who don’t know me personally, let me explain why I’ve been in such a funny mood for the last week or so:
I’ve recently sold my house, and am looking to downsize to a decent flat in a reasonable area of Cardiff.
I found myself a decent flat in the Cardiff Bay area, but had two questions for the estate agent before I put an offer in.
1. How much is the ground rent/service charge?
2. Is it a cable area, or are satellite dishes allowed?
The answer to the first question was very reasonable for the area, and that was fine.
Question two was important for me, because not only do I get a lot of pleasure from watching Sky Sports, but I need it for my work.
The agent told me that he was “pretty sure” that there was cable in the area and that the current owners were watching it when I viewed the property and “didn’t I notice?” Can’t say I did, old chap.
I told the agent that “pretty sure” wasn’t good enough and would he be kind enough to check.
He called me back half an hour later and told me that he’d typed the postcode into the Virgin Media website and that all cable services were available.
On that basis, I made an offer, which was duly accepted.
A few days later I received a letter in the post confirming the offer, and for the first time I saw the postcode for myself.
I typed it into Virgin Media’s website ‘just to make sure’ and guess what? It’s a non-cable area.
The agent had blatantly lied through his teeth to try and get me to agree a sale.
I was livid, and read him the riot act down the phone (when, eventually, someone in the office actually bothered picking up the phone!).
I then told him straight that if there wasn’t a communal satellite dish, or I wasn’t allowed to put one up myself, the deal was off.
That was on Thursday. They didn’t return my phone call on Friday and no one in the office was picking up the phone the several times I called on Saturday.
Then, yesterday (Monday), I phoned the office. The same guy answered as on Thursday. Guess what? He was just about to return my call (yeah, right!).
Once he’d finished waffling, he broke the bad news- there wasn’t satellite TV and dishes weren’t allowed.
This, my friends, is the truncated version of events. The longer version makes David Brent seem efficient and professional.
The whole operation doesn’t seem to employ anyone over 30, or with a brain.
For me, it’s wasted a week of my life, a week where I could’ve been looking for alternative properties elsewhere.
I’m sure that’s true- it’s bad enough the stress of packing all your furniture and dealing with all the legal paperwork involved.
Yet surely the whole thing could be made so much easier if only estate agents behaved like normal human beings.
It seems pretty obvious to me that many estate agents pay their staff on a commission basis for every property they sell.
Quite a few, which are part of national chains, employ mostly younger people who are encouraged to bend the truth to get the sale, because it’s the only way they’ll be putting any bread on the table.
From the employer’s point of view, it’s not a bad way of getting around the minimum wage.
These factors are largely behind why estate agents have such a bad reputation with us mere mortals.
For those of you who don’t know me personally, let me explain why I’ve been in such a funny mood for the last week or so:
I’ve recently sold my house, and am looking to downsize to a decent flat in a reasonable area of Cardiff.
I found myself a decent flat in the Cardiff Bay area, but had two questions for the estate agent before I put an offer in.
1. How much is the ground rent/service charge?
2. Is it a cable area, or are satellite dishes allowed?
The answer to the first question was very reasonable for the area, and that was fine.
Question two was important for me, because not only do I get a lot of pleasure from watching Sky Sports, but I need it for my work.
The agent told me that he was “pretty sure” that there was cable in the area and that the current owners were watching it when I viewed the property and “didn’t I notice?” Can’t say I did, old chap.
I told the agent that “pretty sure” wasn’t good enough and would he be kind enough to check.
He called me back half an hour later and told me that he’d typed the postcode into the Virgin Media website and that all cable services were available.
On that basis, I made an offer, which was duly accepted.
A few days later I received a letter in the post confirming the offer, and for the first time I saw the postcode for myself.
I typed it into Virgin Media’s website ‘just to make sure’ and guess what? It’s a non-cable area.
The agent had blatantly lied through his teeth to try and get me to agree a sale.
I was livid, and read him the riot act down the phone (when, eventually, someone in the office actually bothered picking up the phone!).
I then told him straight that if there wasn’t a communal satellite dish, or I wasn’t allowed to put one up myself, the deal was off.
That was on Thursday. They didn’t return my phone call on Friday and no one in the office was picking up the phone the several times I called on Saturday.
Then, yesterday (Monday), I phoned the office. The same guy answered as on Thursday. Guess what? He was just about to return my call (yeah, right!).
Once he’d finished waffling, he broke the bad news- there wasn’t satellite TV and dishes weren’t allowed.
This, my friends, is the truncated version of events. The longer version makes David Brent seem efficient and professional.
The whole operation doesn’t seem to employ anyone over 30, or with a brain.
For me, it’s wasted a week of my life, a week where I could’ve been looking for alternative properties elsewhere.
# posted by Marcus Stead @ 12:51 am 
