Do people still gravitate towards estate agents for house purchases?

By the way, the fees for a property transaction in the US is typically 6%, 3% for the buyers agent and 3% for the sellers agent.

And we give out about 1.5%!!
 
Saw this just now and was reminded of this thread - Photo is from a well known Limerick Estate Agents.....

If you fancy living in a cave or crypt like a full time Vampire then here's your new gaff.

Obviously this person was seriously keen to avoid any viewings or potential buyers.

- Could anyone ever possibly make less effort at their full time career?!

 
I would rather buy spuds from the producing farmer. I'd prefer to buy meat from a butcher. I'd like to buy my bread from the baker. But, I have to go to the supermarket (saves time and much more choice). If I were selling my house I would use an auctioneer.
 
Plenty of estate agents taking photos like the above. Plenty that charge extra for photography and get it done right. Having bought and sold with agents, they don't do a lot tbh. Right now we're selling privately and buying privately, just the way it worked out but not once in either transaction did any party require anything an agent would have done, a part from the valuation, so neither house had a price that was picked out of the air! But even that with the PPR that's easy enough to gauge. Each to their own though.
 
I've discovered that in Germany, both sides (buyer & seller) have to pay the estate agent. This means double fees, not split fees !
 
I’m currently in a love hate relationship with estate agents. We are buyers, but christ almighty the amount of waffling & posturing I’m coming across is ridiculous. I get they work for the sellers and that’s fair enough, however they seem to take offence because I’m pretty diligent about getting the info I need before I consider to make an offer. The basic lack of having access to answers that any reasonable person would or should ask when viewing is pretty astounding as well, it begs to question what is the seller actually paying for.

However, when we go to rent our current place, we will use an agent as I don’t want to deal directly with the tenants.
 
@em_cat

When I was viewing I used to ask basic question about when the house was built, when the attic was converted, if surrounding properties were rented or owner occupied, etc, and was always told they didn't know.

This is deliberate. EAs are not interested in providing more detail on structural issues as it will just put buyers off. It's their job to get as many bids as possible.

If the sale falls though at sale agreed it's not their problem, in fact more jam if they have to re-advertise!
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
When I was viewing I used to ask basic question about when the house was built, when the attic was converted, if surrounding properties were rented or owner occupied, etc, and was always told they didn't know.
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When viewing (many frogs, some potentials) we had varying experiences with EAs. Some were like this but it was not the typical. They mostly knew the basics and would follow up with information when requested - if they thought we were genuinely interested.

NoRegretsCoyote said:
If the sale falls though at sale agreed it's not their problem, in fact more jam if they have to re-advertise!
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Having sold as well, this was certainly not our experience. First "Sale Agreed" fell through but there were no additional charges to us for re-advertising (nor were we expecting them). Plenty of extra work for EA though, so I doubt they are in any way indifferent to this.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
If the sale falls though at sale agreed it's not their problem, in fact more jam if they have to re-advertise!
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An agent only makes anything worthwhile when a sale is closed. Up to that is recovery of agreed outlays only (which includes brochures and agreed marketing spend, but most, if not all, of this is 3rd party).
Having to put a property back on the market means setting up more viewings, and makes potential buyers suspicious as to why it fell through before.
Most of them are cowboys, but no agent has any interest in intentionally allowing a sale to fall through. The 'jam' is for getting trouble free sales closed quickly.
 
I think it must be pretty normal for buyers to be suspicious of EA’s as after all they are working for the seller, which is fair enough.

At this stage though I’ve worked out who the executer is (state appointed solicitor) who the main bidder against me is and now have to work out the best way forward is. It’s the waffle and posturing I get annoyed with.

I just don’t like dealing with EA’s atm as they don’t take me seriously even though I couldn’t be a better buyer than most, cash, know what I’m looking for, have a solicitor ready to go, not in a chain, proof of funds, ready to close quickly.

Edit to add, also we are looking at property that will need full works, as a new build, recently refurb or renovated is not for us. This isn’t by choice, it’s that I have medical needs that need to addressed.
 
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em_cat said:
At this stage though I’ve worked out who the executer is (state appointed solicitor) who the main bidder against me is and now have to work out the best way forward is. It’s the waffle and posturing I get annoyed with.
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It depends on what type of information you are looking for, but the EA is normally dependent on asking the seller of the property for the relevant information. In this case the seller is, in effect, a solicitor act as executer, ie, probably unable, unwilling or uninterested in assisting in acquiring this information.
 

Well he will have to give me the info or to any serious buyer unless he wants to risk it falling thru.
 
em_cat said:
Well he will have to give me the info or to any serious buyer unless he wants to risk it falling thru.
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Just be aware that the vendor or their agents may have a very different perception of what you might consider a perfectly reasonable request. Particularly in executor sales, those managing the sale or the descendants of the deceased may not know the answers to the questions you are posing. Demanding information they are unable to provide might get you ignored.
 

Yes, this is something I’ve come across. But in all honesty, if an executer is having open viewings, then basic questions should be able to be answered.

Its now to the point that our solicitor gets a list of potential properties that I’m interested in bidding on so he can do deed / title search so I don’t have to ask the questions that get me ignored or that have the potential to offend.
 
em_cat said:
Yes, this is something I’ve come across. But in all honesty, if an executer is having open viewings, then basic questions should be able to be answered.
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All depends on what you consider reasonable. I'm not suggesting this applies to you, but I have overheard some really ridiculous questions at viewings.

em_cat said:
Its now to the point that our solicitor gets a list of potential properties that I’m interested in bidding on so he can do deed / title search so I don’t have to ask the questions that get me ignored or that have the potential to offend.
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An agent is very unlikely to know the type of information these searches are designed to uncover. The only way to be sure of this information is to perform the searches, no agent is going to do this.
 
Leo said:
An agent is very unlikely to know the type of information these searches are designed to uncover. The only way to be sure of this information is to perform the searches, no agent is going to do this.
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Yep, this is something I’m now (embarrassingly) aware of. I’ve no doubt that I’ve probably gotten myself ignored at times because I didn’t know what to ask, who to ask or when to ask and I’ve a habit of showing my frustration at the process.
 
It's a process most people don't go through very often, so it's unlikely that we'll become experts, fully au fait with all the ins and outs. At least you're asking questions, buying a house is a major purchase that too many enter into blindly.
 
Thanks Leo, I think what my issue is with EA’s is that they have a set way of doing things and if a buyer upsets that process they get ignored. However, got a call from my solicitor to day to say he spoke to the executer to clarify some of the boundary queries & he was quite happy to provide the answers, maybe it’s because they are colleagues idk.
 
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