Things you hate IV

BT.

Their service, staff, systems.

Everything about them is ****.

 

I know it's cliche but Estate agents really are Tuesday's aren't they? The amount of money they take for doing absolutely nothing is sickening.

Selling my flat for the first time in my life. They came in gave it the billy big ******** of a number we'd easily get, said they're so confident they'll knock .25% of their fee if they don't achieve it. He convinced us to list it for £15k under what he thought it would sell for to encourage viewings and a bidding war. Went up for sale two weeks ago, had about 6 viewings so far and one offer that was £30k below our asking price and he's giving me the spiel about how it's a great offer that we should seriously consider.

On top of that, they organised a viewing last week without telling me, so had to sit in the garden for 15 mins whilst I was supposed to be on a work call and yesterday they had a couple viewing it and he called me an hour afterwards saying they were unable to do it as 'he couldn't unlock the door'. I got home an hour after and got in just fine...

Has anyone had a good experience with them?

 

To add to this, I've literally just had an email from them with a picture of my keys asking which one is which. I have 3 locks to get into my flat, they have sent a picture of 2 keys. So they've also managed to lose one of my keys...

 

Had basically an identical experience selling a house a while back.

Talked the value up, then after a few months said it was clearly overpriced and we should drop it. Basically they say anything to get the listing, the buyers manage themselves, it’s all about getting the House, once they have you in a contract everything changes and they just want the sale done.

Similarly, once it was under offer and they had their buyer, they had the cheek to call me up one day and say the new buyer wants to come and measure up, but they were ‘too busy’ and could I do it?

Ermm, that is precisely why us Brits pay you lot thousands of pounds to sell our houses, so we don’t have the awkwardness of dealing with other members of the public!

On a related note, I had a legal case through a small business I used to run a couple of years back. I found lawyers no different to estate agents. they’ll tell you you’ve got the strongest case in the world to win your business, and how they’ve had identical ones where they’ve won their client x amount of money… but once they’ve won it and you’re paying them £500 an hour, it’s amazing how quickly their stance changes and you suddenly don’t have quite such a strong case after all.

In both cases, once they are guaranteed their money either way, then all bets are off.

 

Yeah, sounds about right so far - we are also viewing places and last week we were told by the estate agent that the current owner would show us around because they were too busy. Does make you wonder why places like Purple Bricks have never properly taken off because from what i've experienced so far they pretty much just take pictures and stick them on rightmove.

Edit - @a19tgg what did you end up selling for in relation to your asking price?

 

We had a really bad experience as buyers 12 years back. We'd found a house we really wanted to buy at the top end of our budget in Felden. Estate Agent seemed a really decent guy. Said it had been on the market a while and was sure they would sell for a price £40k below asking price. So that's what we offered. They rejected so we offered a bit more. They rejected. Estate agent said they were mad and he was trying to talk them into selling at that price. We held on a bit. We offered more and they rejected again wanting close to asking price. Estate Agent assured us they'd see sense. Next we heard they had sold for just a little more than we had offered. "Out of the blue" apparently. We went back and offered slightly more but they had already agreed to sell to the other buyer. No idea if the EA was clueless or just hated us ! No regrets now as we have a nicer house, so it worked out for us, but was so annoyed at the time I wrote to the seller and told them that we only offered what we had because the agent told us he could get them to sell for the lower price. Hope they got him fired.....

 

Think it was about £50k lower in the end. We weren't being greedy at all or anything though, they came round with examples of a load of similar properties, what they’d all sold for and how we could ask for x by comparison. Then as soon as we had a few viewings and nobody made an offer they said it was overpriced and we should drop it. In the grand scheme of things they don’t really care about the odd £500 here or there, they’d just much rather get it sold as quickly as possible and move on.

 

They are scum and always have been. My parents bought the house I grew up in, only by chance. They viewed the house, made an offer and were told by the agents that the sellers were insulted and wouldn't accept anything close to it, so they moved on.

A few days later, they happened to bump into the seller in Ricky and he recognised them from the viewing and asked if they were considering an offer. My parents told him they'd already offered and been told to **** off. He was bemused. Turned out he would be happy with slightly more than they offered, well within their range. Went into estate agents' together and did the deal in principle.

Likewise when I was in my 20s I made an offer on a flat in Croxley on sale from probate. It was rejected. Then the flat sold and it turned out, for a few grand less than I offered. The agent must have sold to a mate with a bit of a bung for keeping other offers away from the seller.

I didn't end up getting on the ladder for another 10 years or so, but if I had got that flat, who knows where I'd be now.

Anyway. They are scum and provide virtually nothing for their money, in most cases.

 

Slightly similar thing happened to us.

We put in a bid below asking, and were first time buyers so no chain, but were willing to go up to asking price. I had to chase them to even respond to my offer and they said “can you just raise the price a little bit more”. We did that, rather than go all the way to asking, and the next day found out there had been a couple of offers, and one just over ours that had been accepted to a seller in a chain.

I’ve always been suspicious the purchaser was a friend of the estate agents or something, because there was clearly zero attempt to get the best deal for the seller. I almost posted a letter through the letterbox, decided against it, but regret it now.

 

I have a friend who runs his own estate agency and I know he's a good guy. I also know for a fact that if you go via a large chain of estate agents you're just a number, nothing more, and they'll fleece you at every turn.

Next time you're buying or selling go to the independent agents. If you want a local recommendation then just message me.

 

I know of an estate agents that went bust, who were called something posh like Smythe-Forsythe. (Wasn't that but you get the picture). Was run by a bunch of shady Asians who got prosecuted for fraud.

 

As long as they aren't a Liverpool fan or something, then that's fine.

 

Why is it when cycling a loop on a windy day, you always seems to be facing into the wind ?

 

Same often happens when running!

 

People who say “oh but the gardens need it” when it’s peeing down with rain lol.

Who gives a toss about gardens when you can’t get outside!

 

karma

 

Myself
I seem to have turned into an old person. When and how did that happen? I hear myself moaning about things and remind myself of all the old moanies I used to avoid. Piece of advice - don't let yourself get old

 

I agree. In 2001 I got on the property ladder and so happened to buy a flat in Garston from YourMove, in 2005 when I was looking to move on, I stupidly simply went back to YourMove without really thinking it through. Back then properties were being flipped very quickly, but I have difficulty selling my flat which was reasonably priced; ultimately YourMove didn't give a $hit because I was small potatoes in the grand scheme of their profit line. I bought a place through Oaks, and later used them to sell it in 2009 and my current house through Claytons.

I concur that from experience, the local independents actually care a lot more than the nationwide companies. Connells were especially crap in even trying to get viewings; and much later on they valued my parents' house in Bushey for £150k less than it was worth, they actually got their asking price through another estate agent. I suspect they thought they could get a very quick sale and probably to a mate.

 

Grated cheese in cheese sandwiches. People who do that are monsters.

 

Baseball caps that are worn over the ears.
Actually, I don’t hate them - I just think it looks really odd.

 

I can’t say I’ve ever seen that, and never even knew it was possible?

Or do you mean like this?

 

Perhaps he has big ears ?

 

Diego Alonso.

 

Anyone who has managed Olimpia has a mountain to climb to win over our fans.

 

I will be seville to him but I’m not impressed

 

Sounds like you've got a source m8

 

Work training courses.

10 people on a mandatory online course who clearly don't want to be there, run by an over-enthusiastic Dutch bloke with the stereotypical greasy Dutch curtains haircut.

 

That just looks really uncomfortable

 

Christ these are tedious, spent 3.5 hours on teams last week along with several others from across the company. Woman running it was far too eager but nothing compared to one chap who’s “keen to get on” and wouldn’t shut the f*ck up. Really enjoyed it when one of my few contributions was labelled as “great stuff, really insightful”. Quality over quantity, have that Mr Enthusiasm.

 

Work training was always better in person as it generally involved a paid for lunch.

 

Got a day at a Hilton next Wednesday for a work thing, expecting a decent spread

 

People booing the Israeli singer. Ffs it’s a musical competition (of sorts lol) , not the United Nations. Let her be.