Estate agents "mystery shopping"

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arbitron

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How an estate agent’s ‘extremely unethical’ mystery shopper ploy was rumbled

A Dublin estate agent, Mullery O’Gara, has apologised for arranging for someone to pose as the owner of a client’s house without consent s a "mystery shopper" exercise to compare competitor fees. They arranged for an impersonator called "Steve" to meet 3 other estate agents who valued the property €1.3 to €1.4 million, far higher than Mullery O’Gara’s initial €875k to €925k estimate.

When the real owner discovered what had happened, he was understandably concerned and reported it to the gardaí. Various people from the industry have described it as unethical and not normal practice. The Property Services Regulatory Authority said it does not condone such behaviour and would investigate any complaint. Mullery O’Gara admitted the mystery shop should not have happened without permission and said there was "no ulterior motive".

The Indo is treating this like a major scoop with a couple of in-depth articles and a podcast episode. It's a weird thing to do and I can see why the owner is unhappy but is it really such a big deal that it warrants so much attention from the press?
 
weird thing to do and I can see why the owner is unhappy but is it really such a big deal that it warrants so much attention from the press?
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There are many posts on boards where people villify Estate Agents but seldom actually provide proof of wrong doing.
So I suppose the fact that they have actually found one doing something is bing trumpeted as proof they are all at it.
 
One of their offices is in the area I live in and they seem to be handling the sale of every second house currently; they also seem to be getting big money for the properties. Suppose what is alarming is the undervaluation of this House, seems odd.
 
Mullery O Gara has been hugely successful at taking business away from the incumbents, DNG and sherry Fitzgerald in particular. I suspect one of their competitors has been waiting in the long grass for this.

Based on my experience, estate agents are all a bit loose where it comes to full transparency
 
Cameo said:
Based on my experience, estate agents are all a bit loose where it comes to full transparency
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That's the nature of any sales role. A seller or their agent will always try to play their cards close to their chest. And the agent is working on behalf of and in favour of the seller and isn't necessarily obliged to be fully transparent with bidders/buyers. Caveat emptor.
 
They handled the sale of 2 houses in my cul-de-sac recently; both houses sold for close to the asking price - realistic valuations I would have said. Pat Mullery was the MD of DNG in Terenure for many years- they would know the area very well
 
There is something very off about how a minor enough incident made the main story online with images across two weeks in the independent. There isn’t even really anything but innuendo about what was the aim of the whole thing. Setting a low starting price is pretty meaningless in the sale of a house. Was the agent supposed to be going to accept a low offer or convince the seller too?

Not sure how the seller managed to get them to make such a big splash about it in the paper.
 
Yes , it’s a nonsense story. Nothing in the Sindo today about it tho.
The property price register has added a level of transparency to the sector (in a good way)
 
I sold a house in Cabra earlier this year and the valuation/asking prices and eventual selling prices for directly comparable properties involved quite a bit of variation. Valuation and setting an asking price is an inexact science and the determination of the latter can often involve some strategic thinking - e.g. price it low to stimulate more interest or high to eliminate time wasters.
 
Salvadore said:
Who would have guessed that estate agents could act with anything less than full transparency, honesty and fairness. I mean, if you can’t trust an estate agent, can you really trust anyone anymore?

My faith in humanity has been further eroded.
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What's that about if their lips are moving...
 
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What the story really reveals is that MO’G are so unsure of their valuations that they feel the need to surreptitiously seek the validation of their immediate competitors.

In the case cited, the difference in value would suggest that they were right to question their own capability to come up with accurate valuations.

If I were selling my house, I would be fearful, on the basis of this story, that MO’G would undervalue my property and sell it on the cheap relative to what might be achievable through another agent.
 
How would they ‘sell it in the cheap’ they aren’t in control in any way of accepting offers, that’s totally up to the owner. As noted other estate agents might set a low asking price also, but the houses still ends up where it ends up price wise.
 
Salvadore said:
What the story really reveals is that MO’G are so unsure of their valuations that they feel the need to surreptitiously seek the validation of their immediate competitors.
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They have 2 offices, one in Dublin 6 and one in Dublin 6W; they (Mullery & O’Gara pair) have 50+ years experience in this area selling properties; if they are not in the best position to be able to give property valuations then nobody is….
 
Salvadore said:
What the story really reveals is that MO’G are so unsure of their valuations that they feel the need to surreptitiously seek the validation of their immediate competitors.
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But are they really?

Whenever I was last in the market I was able to price houses in the area and size bracket I was interested in +-5% with no real difficulty. I’m not an estate agent.

Estate agents literally buy and sell houses all day long and have access to bid information and know their own sales prices before the public does via the PPR a few months later. So do they really need to know how their competitors would hypothetically value a property? Especially given that competitors are bringing properties to market every day of the week with prices advertised online.
 
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