Review of Prime Time programme on auctioneers

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mad m

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Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Well its out now what we always thought about them. I hope this sinks them.Good riddence.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

I thought this was a bit of a damp squid, picking on an smallish EA in Dublin instead of some of the bigger ones means that this will be all forgotten about after Xmas, hopefully I am proved wrong.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Hi, i am quite new to this. But was very interested when I heard about this programme. It is about time that the scams were uncovered. As in any business i am sure that there are honest companies and cowboys. i decided to sell my apartment a few months ago and then withdrew it. I was totally messed around by valuation and advise from the great irish estate agent. And I am totally aware of what you are referring to. There is a 'bond' or insurance that can cover you for 12.5k in order for you to become a registered irish auctioneer and it literllay involves your financial situation being examined and getting a court date. There is a bit of investigation that goes on to make sure you are above board and have the proper cover. i know a 2 people in the country that did this and are now auctioneers.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Thought it was strange that that 'picked on' only one EA myself (maybe it was the only office they could get into?), and that they did not name the developer in Drogheda who upped the price on the guy at the last minute, or the EA who stopped taking bids on the woman's apartment while there was still interest.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

To my eyes the really interesting new thing in this documentary was the practice of exchanging of personal financial information between EA and mortgage broker. Based on this Simply Mortgages should be looking at some pretty severe sanction.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

"On the Late Late the other night, some senator registeres as an auctioneer to show how easy it was to become one.

He just paid a €12.5k fee, stood in front of a judge who asked a garda if he had any objections of him becoming an auctioneer, once the garda said no, he became an auctioneer and srtup his own office"

Late late is being repeated now (23:50pm) for anyone who wants to find out just how ridiculously simple it is to become an Auctioneer!
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

but will anoyone here do anything about it or will they just whinge and give out about it and wait for someone else to do something...

seems to be the way in ireland at the moment...society has no fabric or desire to better its lot collectively. One of the main problems in ireland, and throughout the world, is that the vested interests are well organised and can influence politics better than us because they are organised and can push their interests far more effectively that us joe soaps can.

perhaps maybe emailing their head office, baggotst@simplymortgages.ie to complain, and cc in your local ff td and maybe the minister of finance and the financial regulator.....let them know that we know....

anybody ??
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

CCOVICH said:
Thought it was strange that that 'picked on' only one EA myself
Click to expand...

They got someone right inside that organisation - they couldn't reasonably have been infiltrating EAs all over the country. It was good to have a specific example. Unlucky for that EA, but he made his bed, so ...
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

will this programme be repeated does anyone know or will it be continued on the next primetime?
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Fiona said:
"On the Late Late the other night, some senator registeres as an auctioneer to show how easy it was to become one.

He just paid a €12.5k fee, stood in front of a judge who asked a garda if he had any objections of him becoming an auctioneer, once the garda said no, he became an auctioneer and srtup his own office"

Late late is being repeated now (23:50pm) for anyone who wants to find out just how ridiculously simple it is to become an Auctioneer!
Click to expand...


But how does one develop the arrogance displayed by their representative tonight on prime time ??? His basic argument - It's not the EAs fault for being corrupt and dishonest, it is the fault of the Govenrment for ....well ...I'm not quite sure what his point was ....
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Abbeykiller said:
But how does one develop the arrogance displayed by their representative tonight on prime time ??? His basic argument - It's not the EAs fault for being corrupt and dishonest, it is the fault of the Govenrment for ....well ...I'm not quite sure what his point was ....
Click to expand...

...the fault of the Government for letting us (them) get away with it! Basically that was his point!
Reminded me of the president of the law society speaking today on newstalk saying that a lot of barristers are poor and lead underprivilaged lives!! Woe be them... Made me laugh...of all the crackpot arguements to put forth!!??

Both reports will gather dust for a long time to come methinks. A bit of a media frenzy then back to business as usuall...
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

Originally Posted by Fiona
"On the Late Late the other night, some senator registeres as an auctioneer to show how easy it was to become one.
Click to expand...
That was Senator Shane Ross. He had nothing complimentary to say about Auctioneers!

It would appear from Prime Time that there is no obligation to be a member of the Auctioneers Association nor any monitoring of their activities - not to mention sanction for breaking whatever rules there are.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

baby_tooth said:
but will anoyone here do anything about it or will they just whinge and give out about it and wait for someone else to do something...
Click to expand...

Hi babytooth,

I will not do much about it - but my house was on the market with this EA, not for much longer it has to be said.

I do feel pity for this EA as cocovich poited out earlier they were piked on and to all intents and purposes are ruined while all the other EA's will get away scott free while probably carrying in the same manner as this one.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

I was disappointed that they only spent around 10 minutes on the Primetime show on Newstalk this morning-oh well, I guess talking to Graham Geraghty is more interesting.
 
Re: Illegal activities of estate agents etc.-Primetime 10.12.06

I guess the only way to go is literally private treaty - www.privatesellers.com I think for people who want to sell their property without going through estate agents. Anyone know of other siteS?

The practices Prime Time revealed may not have been illegal in Ireland (and they said often enough that the practices they described were often illegal in other EU countries) but they are certainly unethical:

-ghost bidding
-not passing on all bids to owner
-getting details of a person's financial standing to know how much they can afford

Are these practices widespread? I think the fact that these concerns have been raised time and again on this website shows how vulnerable the buyer is in these transactions, and often the seller too. I very much hope that some proper legislation will be brought in soon. ANd fair play to Prime Time! The newspapers couldn't do it because of their reliance on EA advertising. Thank heaven for investigative reporting.

(I have no connection with any buying or selling website - nor with any estate agent!)
 
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Cant see why their role cant be reduced to niche business just like has happened with travel agents and should be happening with mortgage brokers.

For the majority of people who are buying/selling 3/4bed semi-D boxes, theres no need for an estate agent.
 
well i thought the EA was not the only ones to have dodgy practices - they got an excel file from a morgage broker telling them how much money folks had to spend - that i found shocking - they did break the data protection act and in effect the law so will we see a prosecution?

No pity for the poor little EA practice - a shower of chancers who were rightly exposed. Hopefully someone like PD's will adopt this hobby horse of regulating both brokers and EA's for the next government.
 
I think the programme was a good snapshot of what people have been saying about the industry and its practices for a long time. The case of the developer who was leaving estates unfinished, made a settlement with the CAB for 9 million Euro but was still getting planning permission from County Councils to build more estates was mind boggling. He should have been in jail.
 
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