Review of Prime Time programme on auctioneers

Your best strategy is to go silent. Dont answer the EA's calls and get in contact with him next week.
 
orka said:
It's no different than haggling for a bag with a street trader when you're on holidays.
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No different? You've haggled for bags with street traders where you were bidding against someone, who you couldn't see, for a single bag?!

You gotta find yourself a new street vendor. Normally you haggle those guys *down*.
 
Quote So now the bid is gone 50k over the asking price and still rising! I am now kicking myself for showing way to much interest in this particular property to the EA and don't know now if he is just playing me for everything I got?
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Seems like the EA has got you under their spell, and doing everything that they hoped you would do as a buyer-i.e keep on bidding and extending your offer period. There is no mystery to selling property its creating the frenzy of I want I want that EA's do. They do this by marketing the house way below the price the seller will sell, hoping to generate enough interest and create a bidding duel where they get hold all the aces.

Having not seen the house only you can know if its worth it or not. However you have to put a value on yourself the buyer, and decide just when you have had enough of the nonsense.
I would be gone long ago-its only a house till you own it-then it becomes a home. There are plenty of houses!!
 
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I had direct experience of this auctioneer only a couple of months ago. If it wasn't so serious it would have been hilarious. Myself and my girlfriend went to view a property. There were quite a few people there so the Golf-driving spoofer was pretty busy. As we took a brochure he said "just to let you know we've had an offer in at the asking price". We spent a long time looking at the place and spoke to him after everyone had left. He then said the vendors were looking for a quick sale, had already bought and that an offer in and around the asking price would more than likely succeed.
Ridiculous. These people deserve no sympathy...that type of culture comes from the top in an organisation.
 

I would love to see this happen , will he attract quality sales people to work for him? I dont think so !!

Maybe this could have worked in a strong bull market , but this idea, along with the internet companies (private seller.ie etc) have and never will take off to any significance. The market now , and as it tightens will need, more than ever , experienced sales people- many Mickey mouse one man band outfits will go under due to lack of experience in a bear market - and no sales/negotiation skills.

Vendors and buyers will always need a 'middle-man' because of the stress involved during a sale - people loose all sense of rationality - the deals will fall through left right and centre because of their lack of experience. Sounds harsh, but so true.


Some points on this thread are valid , though the EA's that I know do a very stressful job, very well. (disclosure- I am an EA)

Remember,;

it is Vendors that gazump people, not EA's.

Ghost bidding is not nearly as frequent as people like to make out (though also not illeagal)

Only Vendors pay EA's not buyers. EA's Loyalty is with them at the end of the day.Buyers seem to forget this - maybe they could employ a buying agent (like in the USA)

Market Forces - if another bid comes in and you dont want to bid further, DONT BID THEN ! - If you are right and there was a 'ghost bid' , the property won't be 'sale agreed' will it?!(as one poster found out earlier in this thread, where he stopped bidding because he was wrongly convinced of ghost bidding and the house was sold to someone else)

I agree 100% with the point about the wrongful disclosing of full financial details from broker to EA - but the EA should have in writing from bank/broker , confirmation that the buyer can buy at the level agreed befor proceeding.

Incidently- would all posters here be as harsh if it was their own property that was being bid up?? (falsely or otherwise?)

In my opinion, only use IPAV or IAVI EA's - at least there is a governing body with a full complaints procedure.

Murray
 
I agree 100% with the point about the wrongful disclosing of full financial details from broker to EA - but the EA should have in writing from bank/broker , confirmation that the buyer can buy at the level agreed befor proceeding.
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Why?
 
What about the scenario when the EA tells you "there is NO WAY" he/she will go to their vendor with a lower offer made eventhough the house is in a terrible state!. That happened to us so many times before we bought our house.
Also, what about the EA's who get their mortgage advisor to get a "quote" for you when all they want is to see the max you can borrow so they can rip you off. All I can say is the EA's have had it good for long enough and none of them can be trusted or are decent to deal with!.
 



I tend to agree with this view. Selling agents act for the seller not the buyer. They also seem to be convenient scape goats, who are blamed for the greed and stupidity of others.
 
Hi all,

Basic facts of my scenario,
1 Got EA from prime time,
2 they overvalued the property (by a lot),
3 they then put pressure to sell at a lower price,
4 unfortunately no call today so in limbo as the house is sale agreed.

I know its our fault for going sale agreed but we got what we thought was a good price on the property.

I still believe that prime time treated them harshly (as unlike murray) i think most small EA are similar
 
murray said:
I agree 100% with the point about the wrongful disclosing of full financial details from broker to EA - but the EA should have in writing from bank/broker , confirmation that the buyer can buy at the level agreed befor proceeding.
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Since when is it the EA business to know how much money a buyer can afford? It's exactly this attitude that leads to the spreadsheets etc and I for one would be extremely upset if my bank gave out any details to an estate agent. That bank would immediately lose my business (and possibly be off to court). I know that the EA would like to know because it makes his job easier but that doesn't mean that he should.
 
Vanilla said:
Why?
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Because if an EA agreed a sale on your property without checking that the buyers finances were in place , the bidder can (and they often try!) 'to pull the wool' , by telling the EA that they are in a position to buy , ie. "Oh, it's fine, mortgage all approved" .

Not much good to you when you have organised schools/furniture etc for your new house and it turns out that the buyer is just in the process of applying for a mortgage that he may or may not get/ just putting his own on the market and you know he will only get 700k and he thinks he will get 775k etc etc. ......

Again, I am saying that any decent EA should be prudent enough to confirm the buyer is good for the amount agreed (not that the EA should know the max a buyer is agreed for....)
 

I'm sorry, but I can't understand why anyone should have any sympathy for these people. So their business might fail - they were systematically cheating people - it was in their training manual!!

Anywhere else with decent laws they'd be up in court
 
Murray, no one should rely on a sale or purchase until contracts are exchanged. IMO it is not the estate agent/auctioneers remit to check the buyers finances and is a slippery slope.
 

1.Mag2006- All offers should be put to the vendor , it is the 'rules'. If an EA says that, put a note through the door/kick up a fuss, they will buckle v.quickly.

2.The mortgage advisor should not disclose the full financial details (ie max you can afford- and would almost certainly loose their jobs if they did/ and were found out)

3. To be fair , the market took off, right place right time, right industry...

4.. Tad unfair ! "All with the same brush" and all that ! Just goes to prove my point - people get 'Irrational' - imagine trying to deal with the problems that arise in a complicated house chain with no experience and a thought process like that !
No personal offence intended Mag but you see my point?........
 
Maybe it sounds simplistic, but if you make a bid, and the EA says they won't bring it to the vendor, then go somewhere else! As a collegue of mine found out a couple of weeks back, stupidity on the parts of vendor and purchaser is also a common element. The old "I'm sorry but I'm changing my mind as the bare four walls on sale are worth double the market value" is something that embarasses the EA, while a purchaser who agrees a final price, wants everything to go ahead asap, then refuses to return calls and leaves the whole thing hanging until they finally are caught and haven't the 4,000€ to buy the land (honest it was this amount). The Primetime exposure is timely, right after the budget, and no doubt will open some eyes, but like our Taoiseach accepting monies willy nilly, it'll blow over within a few days.
 
Vanilla said:
Murray, no one should rely on a sale or purchase until contracts are exchanged. IMO it is not the estate agent/auctioneers remit to check the buyers finances and is a slippery slope.
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So if I agreed your house, then it turns out 2 months down the line that he cant get the mortgage to buy it, and I tell you that it is not my job to check if he had the money??

The chain situation (which will become much more common , as we enter a 'real' property market - not the fantasy land we have been in) requires that more detail is known regarding EXACTLY which stage every link is at - ie. mortgage offer, survey, contracts etc.
 
murray said:
In my opinion, only use IPAV or IAVI EA's - at least there is a governing body with a full complaints procedure.

Murray
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Out of curiosity, if I do make a complaint about an agent to one of the above bodies, what penalties does the agent face if (and I would imagine that it is a big If) my complaint is upheld. Listening to the guy last night blaming the government for not introducing legislation as for the reason of some of the behaviour did not inspire me in confidence on the industry's ability to self-regulate.

Estate Agents, Property Developers etc remind me of the banks in the bad old days when they thought they were above the law and could screw the average person whenever they liked. I am sure there are good estate agents out there but I have to be honest and say that they face a battle to convince a sceptical public that they have anyones interests (buyers or sellers) in mind when they do business.

And if simply mortgages don't get prosecuted for data protection offences, this country really has gone to the dogs. Now we will see what teeth and balls the financial regulator has.
 
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