Estate agents

ciara o

Could anybody recommend a decent estate agent in dublin 24, or surrounding area, Having alot of problems with the one i'm currently selling my apartment with. So i'm thinking of changing, but i don't want change and find i'm with somebody worse!!

ciara o

ok if nobody can recommend, can you advise who to avoid maybe???????

CollegeProbs

Avoid castle like the plague. I've viewed houses with them before and each time they've had no interest in showing me the house, just do i want it or not. Because of their no sale no fee's thing they tend to price themselves lowest in the area but as a potential client i've found them to be dreadful at basic customer service like answering phones/emails, turning up on time (or at all-two no shows!). Also no castle agent has ever shown me around the house, they mostly let us in and stay in the kitchen.

I've had one make himself a cup of tea while i was looking around. Another guy turned the lock and let us in then walked up and down the road outside on his phone, when we were looking around the house there was money and even passports laying around. The estate agent wasn't in the house with us at all, so if we were dodgey we could have pocketed a couple of passports and a few hundred euro without him knowing. Honest to goodness i've never had a good experience as a client with them and if i see a house i'm interested in listed by castle it puts me off now!

jimmmy

ciara o wrote: »

ok if nobody can recommend, can you advise who to avoid maybe???????

avoid a well known, six lettered one beginning with L and ending in y.
My families experience with them left us with a very sour taste.

macman2010

CollegeProbs wrote: »

Avoid castle like the plague. I've viewed houses with them before and each time they've had no interest in showing me the house, just do i want it or not. Because of their no sale no fee's thing they tend to price themselves lowest in the area but as a potential client i've found them to be dreadful at basic customer service like answering phones/emails, turning up on time (or at all-two no shows!). Also no castle agent has ever shown me around the house, they mostly let us in and stay in the kitchen.

I've had one make himself a cup of tea while i was looking around. Another guy turned the lock and let us in then walked up and down the road outside on his phone, when we were looking around the house there was money and even passports laying around. The estate agent wasn't in the house with us at all, so if we were dodgey we could have pocketed a couple of passports and a few hundred euro without him knowing. Honest to goodness i've never had a good experience as a client with them and if i see a house i'm interested in listed by castle it puts me off now!

I second that, they are useless.
i bought my home from maher gleeson and i found them very good to deal with. The agents were much better at showing/describing the property than any other estate agent who was showing us other houses.
That was my experience at least.

liger

CollegeProbs wrote: »

Avoid castle like the plague.

Because of their no sale no fee's thing they tend to price themselves lowest in the area !

I agree with the avoid them bit but when i checked them out they were the most expensive to use. And a year after they came to look at my house they still ring to see if i am still selling!!!!


However before xmas i was looking for a place and viewed houses with a lot of EA's and they all stayed in the kitchen/living room area. I think it gives the client a chance to wander around without hassle and discuss with the person they are with freely.


I used a guy called Pj garvey to sell my old place. And i'm buying from Tom Maher at the moment. No complaints with either.

facksake

Couldn't agree more about Castle - Terrible service!

I've always found DNG very good. I bought my house through one of their branches. WOW! estate agents are also quite good - i've had to deal with them a few times in my line of profession but in fairness I haven't sold or bought through them. Found them very professional and reliable though. Sherry Fitz can be quite good but their fees are a little high.

To avoid - I'd agree with what has been said so far. Castle and Lisney - Would also throw Mason in there too

CollegeProbs

sorry i meant they price their houses lowest i think to try get a quick sale, ironic if they charge there client most for getting them a low price!!!

when i said they stay in the kitchen i mean they wont have checked house before hand for valuables or have any info. tbh the most info ive gotten is how many bedrooms. A sales agent should be able to at least talk you through a house and key features

Victor

jimmmy wrote: »

ciara o wrote: »

ok if nobody can recommend, can you advise who to avoid maybe???????

avoid a well known, six lettered one beginning with L and ending in y.
My families experience with them left us with a very sour taste.

If you are going to try to slate someone, you could at least have the decency to explain why.

ciara o

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I'll definately give Castle a miss, i'm using Tom Maher at the moment but finding him very hard to deal with. He comes across so nice and helpful to get your business, then he does nothing with the property. Ive asked him to change a number of issues with my ad, but he just couldn't be bothered. I still waiting!! EA's had it too easy for many years, they forget how to market properties , to make them more appealling to the buyer. In this current market, they really need to use what skills (if any) they have to SELL!!!! Maybe they should all get lessons from a car salesman . DNG, have a minimum fee of €3000, so they work out v expensive if your selling a apartment. Has anyone ever used mcguirk beggan? They are a new EA, maybe if i use a small EA, they might make more of an effort as they have fewer properties to market, hence its in their interest to sell them.:rolleyes:

Lyn256

ciara o wrote: »

DNG, have a minimum fee of €3000, so they work out v expensive if your selling a apartment.

Thats shocking-€3000-when we sold in west dublin last year-the agents quoted between .9% and 1.25% for fees

liger

ciara o wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I'll definately give Castle a miss, i'm using Tom Maher at the moment but finding him very hard to deal with. He comes across so nice and helpful to get your business, then he does nothing with the property.

Thats a surprise to hear, like i said, buying thru tom maher at the moment and viewed some properties with them beforehand and they were very pleasant to deal with and bargained to high hilt with me over the price.

ciara o wrote: »

maybe if i use a small EA, they might make more of an effort as they have fewer properties to market, hence its in their interest to sell them.:rolleyes:

The important thing to remember about selling your house is if the price is wrong you wont get anyone interested.

Also with the advert make sure you put up decent quality pics. Castle have a habit of using 1 picture of the front of the property and that just makes me think,,,,,,, The place must be a disaster inside, next.

challenges

As an EA working in the south east, I convive totally with liger above, if your price is not right your house will NOT sell, in fact you wont even get people in the door to view it. Why should they go and see your over priced one when there are endless similar ones in the same area, which are priced cheaper?
Also, Im always looking for the public perception of EAs, I mean CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I go out of my way to be helpful and friendly. I always try and accomodate people in relation to suitable viewing times/days, and if they dont know the area I will meet them somewhere handy and drive them to the house myself. I give them the full tour of the house ,and then time so they can look around it alone. Id be very grateful for any hints or tips from the public. What do you find helpfull? What annoys you about EAs? Its very hard to please everyone, but Im sometimes shocked when I hear about how some clients are treated by EAs!!

liger

challenges wrote: »

I go out of my way to be helpful and friendly.

What annoys you about EAs? Its very hard to please everyone, but Im sometimes shocked when I hear about how some clients are treated by EAs!!

I guess its the same in most professions, if you look at the Commuting and transport section you will find many a thread where people will slate bus drivers over and over for being rude, grumpy, unprofessional and just not giving a c**p. There will always be a few bad apples the tarnish the name of all.

More often or not people will only rant off about the bad. When was the last time someone started a thread saying: my god i rang an estate agent to arrange a viewing and he said he'd ring me back in an hour and he did!!!!! He said meet at 5pm and he was on time. He answered all the questions i asked and was very nice. We take good service for granted but instantly moan about the bad. Me too before anyone gives out to me.

Back in the boom i was looking for a house and everytime we viewed with this one particular lady the first thing she would say when we got to the house was.... We have an offer of 5k over the asking price. didnt matter if the house was on the market a day or a year thats how she rolled. ( I'm sure it was easy to do back then anyway). That really annoyed me.

But recent experiences ( oct - present ) of dealings with EA's range from not ringing back to arrange a viewing after saying they need to see when the client is free. Getting me to the house and then telling me the house was sale agreed and contracts are about to be signed. Saying theres no offers when i ring but then saying there has been offers when we get to the house.

Buyers know the EA's work for the vendor and I think to start with some buyers think of the EA as the enemy. If they act in a bad way from the start this just reinforces that feeling. A mate was full of "advice" when i told him i was looking at houses. Dont tell them anything or they'll know how much you have. If they are asking you questions they are trying to figure of how much they can fleece you for. Tell them nothing.

Like i said, i've had good dealings too, the guy was selling with before was ringing with updates, discussing the market and advising about dropping the price rather than sitting and hoping for an offer. Anyone can do what the seller tells them but a good agent will Advise people and be active.

Hope this gives you a little bit of a view from how your clients may see you Challenges

challenges

Its always interesting to get an insight into the minds of potential purchasers. I am aware that they are treated very badly by some EAs.
Thats sure to make them negative in their perceptions. But to be honest as a professional in the current market, their attitude to me has often been astonishing too!! As I said, I try my best to accomodate and I answer their questions as honestly as I can. However, the basic manners of joe public can leave a lot to be desired.....I have been angered by the fact that after going out of my way to give a good service , some would be purchasers wont even provide me with a 2 minute reply in relation to feedback for the vendors. I have waited for hours on occasion when people are late for viewings, then after the viewings they switch off their phones rathar then provide me with a short polite response. I have also spent up to two full days showing many houses to a punter, after which there is a deafening silence. I dont EXPECT them to buy any house in particular, but it would be nice and constructive if they let me know their thoughts afterwards....I am only trying to help them and the vendor, afterall!

ellaguz

I have been meeting with numerous estate agents over the last year. Above all DNG returned the least amount of calls from me, as a potential buyer. This should be a warning to home owners considering using DNG to sell their house. We had an offer on one of their properties, and it literally took almost two weeks to get a response from their client. DNG kept saying they would get back to me in a few days, blah blah blah, but in the end we are still at stalemate, with not even a counter offer in sight. Needless to say, we've moved on and are starting to think that the house may not be for sale at all, and probably just a scare tactic to whoever owns it, as it's under receivership (ie - pay up or else I'll put a sign on your property and sell it).

We also emailed DNG about another house to look at, both myself and my partner sent two separate emails from two separate accounts. Two business days later and nothing. Not even a phone call or email to say anything about the property. The property is listed in the €700,000 region and you'd think they'd want to show it to potential buyers. Anyways, maybe the agent was off sick or on holiday but as it was just listed you'd think they would have the business acumen to off load the calls to a stand-in.

We have viewed properties with Alistair Hickey from Felicity Fox Auctioneers, and he has always been on time, and quite knowledgeable about the properties he's listing. Also Owen Reilly has been quite good in our opinion. We are dealing right now with BROE Auctioneers, and they are a smaller firm but they return phone calls and emails on time and have been pleasant to deal with.

Anyways that's just our opinion from a buyer's point of view. Good luck!

RealEstateRant

We've just had to leave mason estate agents after they lied to our faces despite having the proof in their possession that we were correct - photos they took of the property before a tenant moved in - in order to cover up their lie, they sent all the photos except the photo of the damaged item in question. After confronting them face to face, we were basically told our business is not important and insulted by being called liars.
I have dealt with numerous real estate agents, who typically are pretty useless, but mason estate take it to a new level of laziness, lack luster, pompous and arrogance that do not deserve to been in the market if that is how they treat customers. AVOID at all costs!

challenges

RealEstateRant wrote: »

We've just had to leave mason estate agents after they lied to our faces despite having the proof in their possession that we were correct - photos they took of the property before a tenant moved in - in order to cover up their lie, they sent all the photos except the photo of the damaged item in question. After confronting them face to face, we were basically told our business is not important and insulted by being called liars.
I have dealt with numerous real estate agents, who typically are pretty useless, but mason estate take it to a new level of laziness, lack luster, pompous and arrogance that do not deserve to been in the market if that is how they treat customers. AVOID at all costs!

Yes I had a bad experience with Ms a few years ago concering a valuation. I got a general impression that they were not telling the truth.
I could be wrong, but I just didnt trust them. Ive met many in my 50 years and most are ok, but I did get a bad feeling about Ms!!