Estate Agents Prices - Increase of 33%

monkeyboy said:
cartel (plural cartels)
  1. A group of businesses that collude to fix prices within an industry or market.
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Ford dealers got together in secret to agree to fix prices on cars. They then told the public this was the cheapest they could sell them for. No-one could sell Ford cars unless they sold them at the prices agreed by the cartel.

The main EA body makes a public statement that fees are likely to increase to compensate for an observable change in market conditions. Not all EAs are affiliated with this body and consumer are free to use these EAs if they wish. Or indeed, not use the service at all.

Agree with you on the Ryanair thing. Some EAs may well decide not increase their fees or use a different structure that the client is happy with. If they are successful they will increase their market share, compared to the EAs who increased their fees, otherwise they will go bust. Sounds like a competitive market place to me, rather than a cartel.
 

Do you have evidence of this "cartelling" as you so put it or is it just the result of a couple of chats with mates around a barstool and reading an article in the press? Have you got a wide ranging list of quotes from large and small estate agents, some dated 3 years ago, some 2, some 1 and some this month?

Are they combining to form a cartel or are they passing on their operating costs to their clients as the properties are staying on the market for longer?

Room305 - referring to EA picking up purchasers and driving them around to the houses on offer - this is standard practice in many US states.
 

Bring on the day !!!
 
room305 said:
they don't need your business.

Remember, the EA doesn't need to sell *your* house just any house. If there are lots of sellers and few buyers, whose house is he going to sell? That's right, the one who pays the highest commission.
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Right, so now EA's decide which houses sell and which houses don't?!

These people are not omnipotent...whether a house sells or not does not depend on a spoofer with a clipboard spinning yarns to potential buyers.
EA's facilitate a sale...they don't bring it about.
 

If houses are not selling what is the incentive for an EA to take another one onto their books and spend money marketing it?
 
shanegl said:
If houses are not selling what is the incentive for an EA to take another one onto their books and spend money marketing it?
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Perhaps the reality will be somewhere in between.

There will be fierce competition among EA's for properties that will be easier to sell.
Equally there will be fierce competition among sellers with less desirable property to get an EA!
 
I see KalEl and have been quoted in today's Irish Times "Decommissioning the Property Market" in an Article by Paul Cullen the IT's consumer affairs correspondent.
 

Evidence?? It dont take no Sherlock to work this one out:

The IPAV announced, representing, all the EAs that they were increasing fees by 33%. Yes there is no secret about it but all EAs under the IPAV umbrella have "grouped" together and agreed to increase fees.

The evidence is in that they announced it themselves.
Strange thing though, is they dont have the announcement up on their own web site in news, beside "statement on last nights prime time investigation"
 
Ah, now I get it IPAV?
As a matter of fact, the majority of the larger EA companies wouldn't be regulated by IPAV, rather by the IAVI (you need to have a certain level of study and experience to become a member) or the SCS (another study & experience situation).
"It don't take no Sherlock to work this one out"
I believe that the article and press release from IPAV related to a possible increase of 33%, not an actual.
 
"With a massive inventory of unsold property to shift, why the hell would they be fighting with each other over new clients? The only thing they will be fighting over is buyers. Watch as the service on offer for the buyer increases. Forget about the days of EAs not turning up for viewings, soon they will probably collect potential buyers and drive them round to look at houses."

We were driven around by our estate agent in 1989 when we bought our first house, thought nothing of it at the time. Intrest rates went through the roof over the following few years and we were lucky to hold on to the house at all. Estate agents were even laying people off due to lack of demand. Hope those days never return!
 
Originally Posted by room305 As a profession (what else would you call it if they do it for a living?)
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I did a quick search on Wikipedia to support my argument , maybe there is a loop-hole that they use .... but my argument is that they don't study for years, thats why a Nurse is a professional and EAs are not.
pjq

 
Do people reading this thread really think that Auctioneers /EA's can value property ?
How many properties were not sold last year at Auction ? Loads-why over valued.
How many properties have been sols under the asking price? Loads-why overvalued.
EA's explaination -Greedy sellers!!!

They are price takers-ie they can only take the highest price that the market is willing to pay. They should receive a base price for std listing/admin services and then a substantial premium on the excess over what the house would sell for with little effort. That way the EA is really working for the seller to get the best price. x% on the full selling price is nonsense!
 
I would agree with that:

Residential property is very easily valued most of the time.

ie the price that the one next door or down the road and most similar in area and rooms, sold for most recently taking into account any special features, aspect, parking and many other common sense items.

Follow these few guidelines and you too can value resedential property.

Apply a little bit of local knowledge and bobs your Uncle!

Commercial I would agree is a different story but the same basic pribciples form the bedrock.
 
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