Are Estate Agents Trustworthy

[Logo]

Last Dec I expressed interest in a property and was given an appointment time but the estate agent failed to show - who later advised that the guide price had been reached and the vendor stopped viewings. Today estate agent placards are still on the property.
This month I called three different agents to view three different properties. Although advertised as for sale, the first said that the property was sale agreed (fair enough), the second was reluctant (but willing) to allow a viewing because the guide price had been reached. I'm now due to view the third house tomorrow - even though it has an offer of €120K above the asking price. Does this confirm my skepticism with estate agents?

 

[Buddyboy]

When we used an estate agent to sell our house, they were all enthusiastic at first, and suggestined setting a low guide price, the idea being to get interest going. However, as soon as they received the (low) guide price (on the first viewing I might add), then they were pushing to go sale agreed. This is presumably as every €1000 extra we got, they only got €10 (1%). We pushed back.
So, even though the estate agent is working for the seller, after an offer of the guide is reached, they aren't working too hard to raise the offers, in my experience. This might explain the reluctance on their part.

I don't know if this answers whether they are trustworthy, that is a whole different ball of wax

 

[Logo]

Thanks for the reply Buddyboy. I'm wondering if you got someone to call the agent when your property was on sale to check their trustworthiness? Also 1% sounds like a good deal (thought it was around 2%). In retrospect would you employ an estate agent to sell a property today?

 

[mtk]

in general service deteriorates in a boom ....low hanging fruit etc.

most agents/intermediaries of any sort are kind of lazy... and the fee structure encourages that as buddyboy says

 

[T McGibney]

I don't understand @Buddyboy's point. If an estate agent feels that a bid is worthwhile in the circumstances, surely they should do all in their power to close the sale?

 

[Buddyboy]

Thanks for the reply Buddyboy. I'm wondering if you got someone to call the agent when your property was on sale to check their trustworthiness? Also 1% sounds like a good deal (thought it was around 2%). In retrospect would you employ an estate agent to sell a property today?

I didn't get anyone to call, as it was all done in the space of a few weeks. It was a standard 3 bed semi in an estate, so it was easy to gauge the going rate. The stamp duty cutoff was 317,000, so that was the max it would realistically fetch, which it did.

This was a while ago, and we negotiated 1% as it was during the (last) boom, and houses were selling themselves.

If I was selling my current house, would I use an estate agent? Good question. With the likes of myhome.ie and the ability to post up videos etc., I would be tempted to sell it myself. The only downside would be having to organise the viewings. But that could be arranged. So, say my house would sell for €500k. The agent would charge €10k (based on 2%). Plus probably advertising fees etc. For that sort of money, I would definitely do it myself. Especially since everything in on-line now.

Also I think there have been a couple of threads on here discussing that some properties appear to be for sale, to satisfy the bank, but realistically aren't. I wish you luck.