EA - are they really needed?

badfish

Reading hundreds of complaints about EA on this forum I was just wondering, are EA really needed? I really mean that. Do we really need EA? This might sound like a silly question though though so please just take a couple of minutes reading my reasoning.

I am not Irish and in my country you can find a lot of direct deals, advertised as such. Moreover, you can find same apartment being advertised by its owner and EA ( they are really good at telling you need them ) and the only difference is the price ( higher through EA of course ).

In my country ( Poland ) it is not so obvious to use EA while selling or buying property so EA incite us to use their services reasoning like that:

To the seller
1) You will get the price you want, we will just add our commission, so actually buyer will pay that
2) We will find you a buyer faster than you will on your own

To the buyer
3) The price already includes commission, so actually seller pays that
4) We have bergains you would never find on the Internet

But the truth is:
1)+3) Well, it's impossible for both of them to be true. Actually, if there were no EA in the middle seller would get more ( up to original price + commission ) or buyer would pay less ( original price ). So anyway, part of the money is lost to EA for just being in the middle.
2)+4) EA marketing and we have the Internet. Is it really common thing to sell without advertising on daft or buy without searching daft?

I think EA in Ireland are so well established and common that most of the people will think: what the heck is this guy mumbling about?
EA would not even need to urge to use them, most of sellers would not even think about not going to EA. But actually to have a transaction you need just a couple of things: buyer, seller, agreement between those two and solicitor. I cannot see place for EA. I could see such place 20 years ago when there was no Internet.

Take into consideration this analogy. You want to buy something ( property ) so you go to the shopping center ( daft ) but just before you enter you bump into a guy ( EA ) that says he has much more things ( properties ) to offer then you could find in this shopping center ( daft ) so he shows you his catalog with things ( properties ) from different shopping centers ( daft, myhome, ... ) but prices are 3% higher. You are not aware of that though because you did not actually see the prices cause you did not enter the shopping center. But he guy is professional, he did that hundreds of times and he nows what to tell to seal the deal. You end up paying more and buyer get's less. EA got his 10k.

I am not Irish, I have never sold or bought property in this country but I have done that back home in Poland so I am not newbie but I might be not fully aware of irish property market and the law. So tell my one reason why to use EA services while buying/selling property. Are those services really worth 10k, that is around one third of average annual salary?

EKRIUQ

You know so much, why not become an Estate Agent?

Gurgle

EKRIUQ wrote: »

You know so much, why not become an Estate Agent?

I don't see why theres a 'thumbs up' button but no 'birdie' button beside it.

Anyhow, consider your post 'birdied'.

badfish

EKRIUQ wrote: »

You know so much, why not become an Estate Agent?

Nowadays it would be like boarding sinking ship, don't you think? Besides, it wouldn't be consistent with my initial post.

EKRIUQ

There's no legal obligation to use an estate agent, people don't have to. Its a bit like why do people get painters to paint their house when I'm sure there more than capable to doing it them self' all you need is some paint and a brush.

People don't need estate agents but why do they use them??

EKRIUQ

Gurgle wrote: »

Anyhow, consider your post 'birdied'.

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

badfish

EKRIUQ wrote: »

There's no legal obligation to use an estate agent, people don't have to. Its a bit like why do people get painters to paint their house when I'm sure there more than capable to doing it them self' all you need is some paint and a brush.

In this scenario EA would be the guy that gives you the painter's number. The same number that you could esily find on the Internet or in the local newspaper. Obviously, you would be charged by the painter and the EA for giving you the number.

EKRIUQ wrote: »

People don't need estate agents but why do they use them??

I ask myself the very same question. In the pre dot com era, they were like matchmakers but now?

EKRIUQ

A lot of people don't understand the process of selling a house, marketing the property and dealing with prospective purchasers and some of the legal parts of the Auctioneers and house Agents act. That is why they instruct an estate agent who acts as an agent for the seller and are also instructed to sell at the highest price attainable.

The agent is employed to do a job, people can do the job them self but others opt to get an Estate Agent and agree a fee for the service.

johndaman66

In agreement with OP. How EA's exorbitant fees/ commissions can be justified is beyond me for one...And boy heck do they charge. Just look at the bling bling mercs and BMW's parked outside their premises. For all that they do can they really be justified and when one considers that there is absolutely no reason why the buyer and seller cannot complete this side of the transaction themselves for the very very most part these days. Granted there will be certain instances where a middle man is needed such as the seller lives miles away or works odd hours etc.

Its interesting, I went into an Estate agent/ Mortgage broker some months back looking to buy a house in a particular part of the city but being very open minded about properties in the same bracket in other parts of the city. No EA was there as it was lunch time (It was a considerable sized place and was open through lunch) but the receptionist took my details and got one of them to ring me back after lunch. One did, took my details, said he'd nothing on his books at the moment but will definately have some in the next few weeks and would get back in touch with me....No word yet after approx three months.

I rang another EA over a week ago about a property I seen on daft with POA (How people think they are afforded that luxury in this day and age or the general reason for it is beyond me, but sure thats another question). She seemed very helpful, told me asking price, took my details and said she'd send out a brochure of what they had available...still awaiting.

Do estate agents really act in their principles best interests? in a scenario where two people are after the same property. One puts in an offer of 250k but has finance awaiting for a quick hassle free sale. The other puts in an offer of 265k but will take a few weeks to get financing in order as is finalising the sale of his own house. Something tells me the EA would be inclined to go with the first sale and not transmit the details of the second offer back to the vendor, particularly if the difference in commission is only going to be a few hundred perhaps.

I for one would like to see a lot of these leeches squezzed out.