Estate agent asks me to show my house as he's busy?

MrMan said:

But yet they are blamed in part for the property boom/bubble. Maybe the OP would be better off listening to reasonable responses rather than bitter potshots.

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No idea why you bothered replying,do you moderate the comments here?

I replied to the OP query,giving my opinion and experience,you may not agree with it,indeed you are free to add your own,however pleses refrain from replying to my posts if you have nothing constructive to add.

I would show the house myself to the viewer. Show them around and then leave them to have a wander around on their own. And sure you are in the best position to answer any questions or queries they may have. Maybe you should consider taking it away from the EA and advertise it for sale yourself. And as another poster suggested save the money and treat yourself. Hope you get a sale.

Update:

No sale yet (surprise). To answer an earlier query the agent is Savills. We've been asked a second time to open the house for a buyer and took some of the advice mentioned here to do a personal, (and hopefully personable) job. I think the problem is that, despite the swish website and image they have too few reps down our way - just the one guy, in fact. Haven't yet said anything to the agent about this for the reasons other posters adduce - a potential buyer is too scarce. Will write to them about introduction rate instead of full fee, though - that's good advice.

It seems all the viewers to date have come through MyHome.ie (one or two from England) so if we take it away from any agent and try to advertise ourselves do we cut off this option? (We did have it on daft.ie before looking around for an agent - no responses)

A couple of months ago a friend asked me to come along with him to a viewing on a Saturday. He had made the appointment during the week and was to meet the EA at the said house at 3p.m.
At 3.15 EA turned up but he was from another Agency and standing in for the original who could not make it to the appointment. He simply opened the front door to let us and sat down to read his paper. Pity he hadn't read the property pages (about this house) and may have been able to answer some basic questions

It is actually not so unusual to ask an owner to show a house, at east I have experienced that in the UK. In fact sold the house more quickly this way. You want to sell, you know the house best, you are it's best sales person. Don't chatter on too much and give the people space to wander as soon as you have pointed out the great stuff about the home and area.
You could come to an arrangement with the EA to deduct something if the viewer turns into a sale.

AlastairSC said:

Update:I think the problem is that, despite the swish website and image they have too few reps down our way - just the one guy, in fact.

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That is no excuse, not for the insanely high fee that they are charging you. If they were charging you a bargain bin fee, I'd expect bargain bin service, including asking you to show the house when they couldn't. But for 2.5%, I'd be expecting them to bring me breakfast in bed every morning, as well as show the blinkin' house. I sold a house last year with one of the big boys who have offices all over the place. I was charged 1.25% fee plus about 600 euros up front to pay for marketing fees, having professional photos taken and putting the listing up online. Show the house your self if you want, but by all means renegotiate the fee. It is way too high.

When I sold last year, I had to vacate the house during viewings. I asked the estate agent if I could stay as the house had selling points that I did not thinks she was highlighting well. She told me I could if I want to but she'd prefer that I didn't. She said had seen more than one sale be de railed by sellers making a mess of things when asked bluntly by viewers "Why are you selling? "What are the neighbours like?" " Is it warm in winter? " etc etc so in this case, let the seller beware !