New Property Show - Are you ready for prime time?

  • Thread starter Richard Eberle
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Richard Eberle

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A new television show is in development. The Property Game will focus on a buyers perspective on the highs and lows of buying a home in Ireland. We are currently looking for people who might be interested in appearing on camera in these general areas:

Friends buying together

First Time Buyers

Buying with help from the parents

First Investment purchase

Downsizing from large to smaller home

Purchasing under the Shared Ownership Scheme

Purchasing sight unseen – why would you do it?


In addition we will do segments on

Cowboy builders

Guide Prices

How much house can you afford?

If you would like us to tell your story please email [email protected] and we will be in touch with you.

Richard Eberle
 
Oh GOD not another one.

The explosion in property related programs and 'bastard in the sun' variants thereof leaves me cold. PLEASE spare me , especially if that Duncan has anything to do with it.
 
Re: Segments section sounds interesting

Hi Richard,

Welcome to AAM.

Your intended programme sounds interesting even if Tonka does not approve. Glad I don't fall into the hit list and am therefore saved the bother of a new outfit ;)

Just wondering when we can expect to see the programme? The segments section sounds like a fresh approach.
 
Re: Segments section sounds interesting

Thanks sueellen,

We are anticipating being on air in May.

We are keenly aware that many shows are not tackling the real property issues from the buyers point of view. We are hoping to be able to give viewers a little different insight into the industry of buying and selling homes. This is much more effective if we have real people telling real stories.

Richard Eberle
 
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Hi Richard,

The new show sounds like itll be sufficiently different to be interesting so good luck with it.

If you are going to do a segment on cowboy builders (which is merited and has been quite interesting to watch on UK programmes) then I'd have to say it'd be a wasted oppurtunity not to do the same segment on cowboy estate agents. Setting up a sting whereby different people pose as opposing bidders and see how the agent plays them off against each other. And likewise, pose as a really agressive seller and see how the agent responds to your requests to bump up the price by phantom bids. I've had extensive dealings with agenst over the last 4 months and have come across some very very dodgy behaviour. Also, a very current area to focus on is how amenable different agents are to doing underhand cash deals when someone bids over a stamp duty bracket.

Also, a segment on how to improve the whole house buying process would be interesting: its probably a topic for another thread, but I for one think it should all be handled by state controlled agents, with a fully web-based system to complement the new, state-owned, agent offices.

Also a section on dealing with solicitors might be interesting - just how many man hours are involved in conveyancing and why does it take 6-8 weeks are questions many people would like to hear answered. Surely this is one area that could benefit from the introduction of a web-based IT system, much like the online tax system the revenue commissioners now have?
 
Re: ...

And likewise, pose as a really agressive seller and see how the agent responds to your requests to bump up the price by phantom bids. I've had extensive dealings with agenst over the last 4 months and have come across some very very dodgy behaviour.
Does this make the agent a cowboy, or a really great agent who gets a top price for the vendor?
 
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If an agent uses phantom bids (i.e. tells the seller they have been outbid when they have not been in an effort to get them to increase their bid) then yes he is a cowboy agent.

The same principles apply to the stock market - it is illegal for a company to falsely inflate the price of their stock by announcing false profits, spread rumours of phantom mergers, insider trading etc. There are stringent regulations in place to prevent against, and punish, such behaviour.

However, the estate agent industry is not regulated in this manner which clears the way for cowboy agents to increase the value of their stock (i.e. the house they are trying to sell) by using false bids to persuade the buyer that the market holds the stock in higher esteem than it actually does.

I personally think that the whole estate agent should be heavily regulated and/or run by the state. I can see no value added to the process by estate agents - they show up to the house, take a few pictures, produce a brochure, let people into the house probably 3 times, take a fe phone calls and thats it, besides possibly spinning a few yarns to increase the price.

The whole process could benefit from being state run in that instead of the current agents' offices, we would have government owned offices. If you want to sell your house you pop along to one of these offices, the agent, who is on a government salary, not a commission, takes photos and creates brochures and puts the site details up on the website, which is the focus of this approach. The majority of buyers would love to have one single source of listings for houses for sale. Those that don't have access to the web can visit the office. I'm sure a system could be used whereby the agent validates the identity of those people making a bid and then publishes each bid under an anonymous number, known only to the system (kind of like BoI online pin code), which allows the buyers greater transparency - they can see exactly what bids have actually been placed.

There would be no artificial inflating of prices by cowboy agents, and sellers would not have to pay commission that ranges up to several thousand euro - this would benefit everyone across the board.

True, these are essentially private sales, but the sums and potential fraudulent activity, and tax evasion (which the new stamp duty cut-offs have caused to become more widespread) involved means that, in the same way they will finally open their eyes to tax evasion through the credit unions, the government should seriously consider regulating this industry.
 
Re: ...

I disagree. Everyone in the house market knows that agents may or may not be telling the truth, and takes what they say with a pinch of salt. If they choose to bid higher, then that is their lookout.
 
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So by the same logic theres no need for regulation in the stock market and we should just let each company publish whatever results and propaganda they want to boost their stock, cos that way everyone will know to take it with a pinch of salt and separate the real information from the false?

Surely the correct approach should not be along the lines of 'yep, its broke, but we all know its broke so don't bother fixing it', but rather 'if everyone knows agents don't tell the truth maybe we should put regulations in place to prevent and punish them for dishonest practice'?
 
Re: ...

Great idea for the show, best of luck with it.

Any ideas of house buying when one partner is disabled due to been partially blind.

Dont think we will have any hope of owning our own home.
No where to turn...
 
Re: ...

Hi OP - The question of whether there should be more or less regulation is a different question entirely. What we were debating is whether an agent who acts entirely within current regulations to get a top price for the seller is a cowboy - My view is that they are not.
 
Re: ...

rainyday I have been trying to buy a house for the past 3 years now and I was wondering what are the regulations estate agents work under?? My experiences could be described as incredible. It got to the stage where my wife and I timed the agent as to how long we would be viewing before they said " We have had an offer, we had 3 offers above the reserve, the house was sold but.. . Then we would get a phone call to say " Hi we have just had an offer ..! and on it went. You then put an offer in and they make you wait ages before getting back to you and I mean weeks not days. Then you complain to head office and get quoted " Oh they should respond with 24 hours blah blag . You then go and see the local manager of that agency and express disappointment, he ums and aaahs and suggests "Well perhaps if you were to pay the full asking price then all hassle would be removed,". That was a nice one.

At the final analysis it is down to ethics and sadly they have gone out the window, greed has replaced them.

ebmitie
 
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