Landlords, keep your eye on your Estate Agents

Ive been looking for a property for about 5-6 weeks now. I have rang and emailed regarding several properties I have been interested in. I have not recieved a call back to even say property is gone.

Point is, I dont think they are getting back to people on your behalf.
Ive been searching for Lucan Clebridge Leixlip area, and the number of properties that estate agents havent got back to me on is nuts. I leave Voice mails, person to person messages,emails and l nothing.
They all usually say the same thing, 'Oh someone will get back to you'

Test them yourself. Call them regarding your own property and see how they are handling it for you, or have someone do it on your behalf. You might be surprised.

No wonder the property market is in a shambles, with estate agents not even bothering with potential clients.



Also, please, make sure you have them put pictures up. If I only see one lousy picture, I wont bother calling or going to view. Most people want a heads up nowadays.

rant over.... (;)

whiteandlight

I searched in a similar area about 2 years ago and it was the same story. We went to two viewings arranged with estate agents who didn't even bother to turn up. In the end I watched those adds stay live for over a year after we were in our house

Musicmental85

Musicmental85 wrote: »

I searched in a similar area about 2 years ago and it was the same story. We went to two viewings arranged with estate agents who didn't even bother to turn up. In the end I watched those adds stay live for over a year after we were in our house

yeah, thats the really annoying thing, houses I called about weeks ago, have been renewed for rental!!

frustrating.

whiteandlight

Yup, and actually just mentioned it to the husband it was three different houses that we were stood up at. Thats not counting the number of them that didn't call back. One of the neighbours let us in for a look at one of the three that was in the country as he was a keyholder (landlord abroad) and I asked him to report it to the landlord because tbh we turned that house down because of it.

jd83

Ive had the same experience when looking for places. Not responding to calls or not calling back when they said they would. However most annoying incident was going out to view a place and the estate agent pulling a no show!

Even if you go through the threads on here you see loads of examples of estate agents absolute ignorance when it comes to doing their jobs, from having no understanding of the law to hoping the tenant does not and trying pulling a fast one on them.

Lando Griffin

When I had a property up for rent all the Estate agents rang saying they would have my property off my hands in no time for what would be a months rent.
I couldn't get it through to them that by doing it myself I would have it gone in a month anyway which I had it repainted and cleaned up and rerented in two weeks.
I might add that an exact same property was advertised for 6 months as the Estate agent wanted 100 euro extra pm for it.

ballyharpat

I have been on touch with one estate agent here regarding the purchase of property, he was a no show for one property, showed up for another property, but after I made an offer, he never got back to me, I contacted him re another property and there has been no response.......a waste of space.....

ballyharpat

ballyharpat wrote: »

I have been on touch with one estate agent here regarding the purchase of property, he was a no show for one property, showed up for another property, but after I made an offer, he never got back to me, I contacted him re another property and there has been no response.......a waste of space.....

What the hell is wrong with them? You hear them whining enough that business isnt great, so what the hell are they doing all day, if not answering calls? Waste of space indeed. Arent they on commision anymore?


I wish Landlords would also put their own number on the listing, in case of no response from REA.
That would set a fire under their arses

hollster2

This happened to me to no response until one did i went to see the house the estate agent was so nice until the dreaded words i had to say do you accept rent allowance which changed the mood he was different towards me i know the bad rep it has because of some people but i keep my house immaculate so long story short he said hed get back to me the next day heard nothing so went for a walk the sunday and someone was moving in i was gutted no text no phone call i even emailed the estate agent saying the way i was treated no reply they were probably all having a good laugh some can be so ignorant!!

whiteandlight

I just don't get it tbh. This is their job! I mean how you can arrange meetings and not go, miss calls constantly and never ring back, never acknowledge emails etc etc is beyond me. As a teacher can you imagine what would happen if I arranged a meeting and didn't turn up? I'd be killed by everyone ad let go at the end of the year and rightly so

Carnegie

Had the same thing happen to me. Was interested in viewing a property in north stand, its been on the market for at least 6 months. Rang up the estate agent about 2 months ago, was told the person handling the property wasn't available and they would call me back. Never did. Decided about 2 weeks ago to try again, same thing, they said the person was unavailable and would get back to me. Never happened. I know they have my correct number as I made them call it out to me.

My theory is that the agents have a friend/relative who wants to buy the property and they are keeping it on the market for as long as possible, while pretending to the owner that there is no one interested in the property at current prices. Then after a period of about 6 months, they tell their friend/relative to throw in a lowball offer. The estate agent then advises the owner that since there has been so little interest in the property that they are unlikely to get a better offer. Its such a scam. If I am ever selling a property there is no way I will use estate agents to sell it.

I would love to name and shame the agent but no doubt its against boards.ie rules.

jd83

Hopefully any landlords thinking about using estate agents have a look here before they decide on using their services. Ive always thought people who just use them to get a tenants are crazy. I can understand landlords abroad who need someone to look after the whole process. Like if your based in the same region as your property your mad using them. With sites like daft and myhome you can just do the whole thing yourself. Probably in a lot more efficient and with a far better experience for both the landlord and prospective tenants.

My landlord used one. All they did was collect deposit and first month, do up a lease ( which they robbed from some free website, leaving the name of the site on the bottom of the lease and not filling in half the details on it they were supposed to). Took my written reference which they never rang. They put the ad up on daft. Id love to know how much they charged my landlord for this. In fairness the did answer their phone and show up for the viewing so there already miles ahead of most estate agents.

the_syco

Carnegie wrote: »

My theory is that the agents have a friend/relative who wants to buy the property and they are keeping it on the market for as long as possible, while pretending to the owner that there is no one interested in the property at current prices.

Have you checked the neighbours for a contact number?

Carnegie

the_syco wrote: »

Have you checked the neighbours for a contact number?

its an apartment so may be hard to get access into the building, and even if I did I think its unlikely the neighbours would have a contact number

odds_on

Whether you are buying or renting, the story is the same - EAs just don't seem to be interested.

Some months ago, I sent 8 emails about properties as a potential purchaser - I got two replies. Having used the Daft "contact this agent" facility (and got a copy of the email to my inbox, I checked with Daft and that told be that 8 emails had been forwarded to EAs.

Anyway, after over a year of trying to buy a property, I have now given up and am renting! (and that is not through an EA but directly with a landlord.

PhilMcGee

I posted this in another thread so just going to copy and paste it in here.
Some of it isnt relevant to this thread but im too lazy to alter it.

"Any agent charging more than about 8% max now for full service is only getting it because that landlord didnt shop around.
They used to charge about 10% to find a tenant and then another 10% for management. They have to earn their money these days because landlords wont give anymore than about a months rent for the full service now. Otherwise they could just let it themselves and have a month vacant between letting and be no worse off. The biggest advantage of an agent for me is that there are no vacant periods to speak of and I dont have to get into the messy side of dealing with tenants myself. Everyone has a sob story and im too soft, so i stay out of it.

Ive read those threads about people not being happy with agents.
There are two sides to it though. What I know is from the agent I use and I have used others in the past and they are basically the same apart from how much they charge.
If you think about it from the landlords point of view he doesnt care that the agents tend to leave ads up if they have more than one apartment in a complex even for different clients and its easier for them to keep rolling over the same ad.
The landlord doesnt care whether the agent gets back to people or not as long as they let their apartments.
Whatever keeps their costs down, keeps the landlords costs down.

But I can see why people think agents are not giving them 100% for not calling them back, and then think apartments are not let if they still see the ad they answered up on daft. Agents have enough turnover they just leave the same ad up for different apartments in the same complex. Sometimes they dont put photos up because they are completely different apartments in the same complex. Obviously they get enough people to answer the ads that this works.

The only problems I will have with an agent is if they call me for small things I want nothing to do with. or if they dont have a tenant ready to move into the property the day after one moves out. Or the rent is late.

If the agent can fob off stupid requests then im happy, but if they come to me over little things that they should be able to take care of without my input then i'll be looking for a new agent. If they gave in and got a tenant a new microwave because of a defrost button, then it would be new agent time too.

Otherwise the agent can do what they like from my point of view. They work for the landlord not the tenant. I want to pay the agent and then forget the property even exists until tax return time.

I had one agent arrange to replace a faulty shower and when I got the bill it was €600. The shower could be got for €60 and installed for €50. The agent blamed the tradesman on the whole thing for overcharging them. I told them to get it removed and a cheaper shower in and refund me the money. They did and said they wouldnt use that tradesman again. It left a bad taste in my mouth so I got rid of the agent at the end of that tenancy. They should have known they were being overcharged, so I suspected shenanigans."

wandatowell

Very typical of Irish estate agents, arrogant, foolish, unprofessional.

wandatowell

wandatowell wrote: »

Very typical of Irish estate agents, arrogant, foolish, unprofessional.

Indeed. Very Unprofessional. Maybe during the Celtic Tiger years I could somewhat understand them not getting back as they would indeed be up to their eyeballs, but in this day and age? Id love to hear an Estate agents opinion on this thread

I just noticed, that an apartment I called about 5 weeks ago, and asked to be put on waiting list for, has been put up for rental again, did I get a call from the agent? Did I &*%&^$

Mince Pie

Found the same problem when I moved back here from the UK. The difference in service was staggering. Before I moved back I was thinking of staying in the UK and enquired via email about one or two properties and got a call back within an hour on a Sunday from the EA, we chatted for about half an hour and I had a viewing the next day.
They really could learn a thing or two.
In saying that I got my current rental from a brilliant EA, I was going to take one apartment that she showed me but another came up that is easier to heat and she called me to come and view it and make an informed decision. I took the second one she showed me and very happy at the moment.

odds_on

As I see it, once an agent has a property on his books, whether renting or selling, that is the hard piece of work done. Because most properties are sole agents, the agent then just sits back until the prospective client actually arrives in their offices.

They know that eventually, they will sell or rent the property, so why bother answering emails, return phone calls etc. It just takes a little longer to get the deal done, which they are pretty well guaranteed, unless the seller or landlord withdraws the property from the market.

Thus they will get their money sooner or later - and if it is later, it will be with less expense as they did not "waste" money on return calls or time with emails.

wandatowell

odds_on wrote: »

As I see it, once an agent has a property on his books, whether renting or selling, that is the hard piece of work done. Because most properties are sole agents, the agent then just sits back until the prospective client actually arrives in their offices.

They know that eventually, they will sell or rent the property, so why bother answering emails, return phone calls etc. It just takes a little longer to get the deal done, which they are pretty well guaranteed, unless the seller or landlord withdraws the property from the market.

Thus they will get their money sooner or later - and if it is later, it will be with less expense as they did not "waste" money on return calls or time with emails.

Spot on :mad:

CuriousG

Definitely agree, have experienced it nearly every time I am looking for a property, and seen it happen first hand while working in one. Agents don't try half as hard as they should to lease properties.

valleyoftheunos

I have to say the last time I rented through an EA I didn't experience any of these difficulties, perhaps it was the area I was looking to rent in or I just got lucky but I had no problem arranging viewings or getting call backs.

Now in fairness some of them were a lot more helpful and professional than others and one or two were jokers but they were all keen to get me into the property.

Forest Demon

Same experience in Kildare, Meath. Most don't get back you when you want to view properties and then make out you are an inconvenience to them.

When you do get them to show you one they just walk around. Have no information on the property. Have no information on other properties in the area.

I am sure that some sellers are desperate and have dropped their prices even more due to a perceived lack of interest when the estate agent is just lazy.

I had the same experience selling a few years ago. The house was on the market for 6 months and the estate agent was lazy and spoofing regarding a lack of interest. I changed estate agents and the house was sold in two weeks!

So sellers and landlords as the title says above "keep an eye on your Estate Agents"

Carnegie

I don't see why people just dont sell houses themselves, why do they need to go through an estate agent, what value are they adding? Anyone can easily throw up an advert on daft and myhome, and state on the ads there is an open viewing at weekends.

Why would you pay good money to an estate agent who at best will only be an extra inconvenience in the house selling process, and judging from this thread they are likely to ignore or drive away many potential buyers.

Oink

Hear hear.

My previous estate agent was a professional who behaved like a professional.

When I leave the current property I intend to have a word with the landlord, and tell him how he lost one month's rent because of these clowns.

LowKeyReturn

Carnegie wrote: »

I don't see why people just dont sell houses themselves, why do they need to go through an estate agent, what value are they adding? Anyone can easily throw up an advert on daft and myhome, and state on the ads there is an open viewing at weekends.

Why would you pay good money to an estate agent who at best will only be an extra inconvenience in the house selling process, and judging from this thread they are likely to ignore or drive away many potential buyers.

+1 there's been several houses I've asked to view various EA haven't been arsed getting back to me. Now is some cases there have been reasons, other times it's because I'm looking at the bottom end and they're split between too many places.

If you're doing it yourself you'll have 100% focus on getting yourself the best price. If there is something they do, you can always engage them when you have a buyer - I'm not sure what it would be that a good solicitor couldn't do!

pwurple

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

+1 there's been several houses I've asked to view various EA haven't been arsed getting back to me. Now is some cases there have been reasons, other times it's because I'm looking at the bottom end and they're split between too many places.

If you're doing it yourself you'll have 100% focus on getting yourself the best price. If there is something they do, you can always engage them when you have a buyer - I'm not sure what it would be that a good solicitor couldn't do!

People are nervous of you is why.

I sold our last house myself, I don't think I'd do it again. My husband is fairly good with photography (certainly better than most auctioneers), so our ad was good.

Some people found it very weird though. They would say things like... what are the owners like, and I would say, I am the owner. No further questions were forthcoming, or there would be a question like, who would the deposit go to. ("Our solicitor" was my answer).

You need to be quite good at biting your tongue. Some people will come in, gush, and never call back with an offer. Others will talk it down like they hate it, and then come in with a high offer.

You also have people making offers with nothing to back it up, so the sale falls through as soon as they try to get a mortgage.

It's frustrating and time consuming to do it yourself. If you have a place that generates a lot of interest, you might put 30 to 60 viewings through it before sale agreed. Loads of tyre kickers. Plenty of people who want to stand in the house for an hour looking around. That's a lot of time off work if you are working.

We sold it, but I found the process generally annoying.

kennryyr

Have been looking for the last 3 months to buy a place. Finally on Saturday morning got the go ahead that my offer was accepted. Had an absolute nightmare though beforehand like everyone else on this thread. EA's not replying to emails, not calling you back etc. etc.

The most annoying for me was an EA said he would show me this apartment at 6am on a Saturday morning, I said no problem that I would be there (on my one day off a week), 6am I am sitting there and the fecker doesn't answer his phone!! Turns it off and everything, I get a call from his OFFICE later on from some employee saying that the apartment is actually sold. Well I lost the plot as you can imagine!!