Estate agent expectations

greengirl31

Hi All,

Just looking for a little perspective here ....

I've recently had to sell 2 properties - my apartment and an inherited house. Before putting them on the market i spoke to three different estate agents before settling on one of the more well known, nationwide ones. Both properties are less than a mile apart so i was hoping to deal with the same agent but whatever way the agents had drawn the boundaries it meant that one office dealt with the house and another with the apartment. Not ideal but no big deal.

So, the apartment goes up first. Agent and photographer come to take the photos, talk me through the process and why they're pricing it how they are and how it could take up to a month to get an offer. There was no open viewings but the agent called me to arrange appointments as is standard. She'd also call me afterwards to let me know how the appointment went and a couple of days later after she'd called the viewer again. She also did all the viewings herself. It turned out the apartment went sale agreed for slightly above the asking price within 2 weeks.

About a week later we kicked off with the house and it was the same process at the start. Photos were taken and we discussed the asking price. As it was a house there would be 2 open viewings and further viewings would be by appointment.

Following the first open viewing, i got no phone call to say how it had went and that set the tone ... I've had to call for feedback on Viewings - None of which she has done herself, I've had to prompt her to follow up with those who viewed as well as those who registered to view but didn't. I think in the 4 weeks the house has been on the market, she's called me once.

I suppose i'm comparing the 2 agents that I've been dealing with and they seem to be poles apart. I've never had much dealings with estate agents so i'm not sure which is the norm - was i really lucky selling the apartment or is the behavior of the second agent standard practice?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

A

April 73

The first agent sounds good at her job & was being proactive. I'd be happy with that standard.
The second one is poor. Why not phone & point out that you're not happy with the service & having recently sold a property through another branch, you are having difficulty reconciling the different approaches. Tell her what you expect.

Baby01032012

What ever way the estate agent may have their boundaries I would have thought you as client could have chosen which branch handled the sale...even if it's not their policy.. If they want the business they should oblige.
I wouldn't waste any more time with this agent. Either request that they transfer your sale to the branch you previously dealt with or tell them you're moving agent altogether.

davo10

Open houses are not the same as private viewings. With a private viewing the EA walks around with the buyer, talks to them, promotes the property and gets an idea of where the buyer stands in relation to selling a property/buying for investment/holiday home etc. Open houses are less formal and it is not usually possible to spend a lot of time with each viewer as there may be a few there at the same time and privacy can be an issue. Houses tend to have open viewing, apartments because they are smaller are usually by appointment. Therefore the first EA has a lot more info to give than the second. You could insist on private viewings by appointment for your house but this may put buyers off as it is easier to plan to view a house if you can turn up "between 2-5pm on Saturday and Sunday".

They are 2 different viewing methods, one is more personal, the other less so.