Is our estate agent even trying?

Originally Posted by MrMan http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=918733#post918733
I'm failing to see logic here, you would have gone for 2nd viewings if the EA tried to convince you to? Did you like the houses or were you looking to just engage in a negotiation?

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My sister bought a house recently. Said that there was one particular EA in the area she was looking to buy who was unresponsive to deal with, wouldnt answer questions, full of bull etc., so her and her husband made a conscious decision not to view any houses being sold by this agent.

When there are a lot of similar houses on the market and buyers have choice, they wont bother looking at properties on the books of poor EAs.

MrMan said:

what I don't understand is why don't vendors spend more time in selecting their EA? It really makes sense to sit down with the actual EA that will represent your property and not do as alot of people did and ring up and just ask whats your fee. If your EA is professional and shows a knowledge of your property type, area etc then discuss a fee, it would cut out the dead wood in no time.
Many EA's lack customer service basics and hopefully it will increase on the agenda as a result of the downturn.

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We did spend a long time choosing an EA. After weeding out the unprofessionals (slow in contacting us, bad inter-personal skills etc) we narrowed it down and chose who we felt a) had a knowledge of our area; b) good attitude - not condescending, just friendly and respectful which is important when meeting potential viewers; c) fair fee and willing to negotiate with me. But unfortunately it's still guess work. He is a nice guy and does have good knowledge of the area but seems to have lost interest. Perhaps he's been put on notice by his boss and that's why he's fed up or could be that he has personal problems but either way he dropped the ball.

I did talk to him today and he promised to up his game a bit.

csirl said:

My sister bought a house recently. Said that there was one particular EA in the area she was looking to buy who was unresponsive to deal with, wouldnt answer questions, full of bull etc., so her and her husband made a conscious decision not to view any houses being sold by this agent.

When there are a lot of similar houses on the market and buyers have choice, they wont bother looking at properties on the books of poor EAs.

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Its fair enough to not view properties with an EA that you do not like but if you have viewed the property and do like it, to not return because of the EA is cutting off your nose to spite your face.