Ask An Estate Agent Anything

[Quags]

2 GKC said:

How often do you over value a property to get a listing? Seems standard practice round here, bung it on at a silly price and then reduce it month later

Be very careful with that assumption. I would suggest most often these days it's greedy vendors assuming they know more.

I can back up the value of any property on my books with evidence of comparables, house price calculators/UK house price index which I will happily show any serious buyer.

[Quags]

Countdown said:

AGreed. It seems more like something that would make the EA's job easier.

Perception of agents will take time to change only by doing good work, I'd say 50% now are genuine and care about their work and clients and want to do a good job. Some people will never change their opinion, just because it's funny to hate on them. I was in a different industry before this and it's certainly not what I perceived it to be.

I work for a small firm that relys on our reputation. Over 70% of my business is repeat business or recommendation.

[Gladers01]

Quags said:

Countdown said:

AGreed. It seems more like something that would make the EA's job easier.

Perception of agents will take time to change only by doing good work, I'd say 50% now are genuine and care about their work and clients and want to do a good job. Some people will never change their opinion, just because it's funny to hate on them. I was in a different industry before this and it's certainly not what I perceived it to be.

I work for a small firm that relys on our reputation. Over 70% of my business is repeat business or recommendation.

What's the longest chain you processed through to completion and the longest that collapsed? Sounds like a stressful business to be in these days along with letting property considering the constant tightening up of the regulations, if it was that easy the home owner would sell their property themselves

[iwantagta]

What is the approximate industry standard referral fee paid by solicitors for you pointing buyers/sellers to them?
Or does this not happen?
(NB this isnt a criticism - as long as you aren't pointing people to a useless bunch of dicks then no harm no foul)

[Quags]

I've had a split chain with 13 in one side, 11 on the other going to one property with two chains coming from that with 4-5 above each side.

ie couple selling a house who are divorcing, selling to a couple getting together. The couple divorcing are both buying their own property onwards.

It's a very stressful job quite often, but in the area I work a lot of the customers are lovely decent people. But like every business there's a percentage of know it all entitled aholes who think the world revolves around them and their needs.

[Quags]

iwantagta said:

What is the approximate industry standard referral fee paid by solicitors for you pointing buyers/sellers to them?
Or does this not happen?
(NB this isnt a criticism - as long as you aren't pointing people to a useless bunch of dicks then no harm no foul)

I don't take any referral fees for solicitors, not how I work. There's two solicitors I would recommend as I've used them myself, my family have and other clients we have dealt with. I know if I refer them they will look after the client, and answer the phone when I call them.

I could get referral fees from certain solicitors and get paid £100 per referral, but if I refer you and that solicitor is st, it reflects badly on me.

[iwantagta]

Thanks!

[alscar]

Is there a difference between sole selling and sole agency agreements ?

[Quags]

alscar said:

Is there a difference between sole selling and sole agency agreements ?

Yes, to be clear:

Sole Agency: You will pay commission to one agent if they introduce a buyer that exchanges contracts on your home, via their advertising or even another agents advertising. If you have a private interested party that's mentioned in the agreement, then you don't pay a fee.

Sole Selling Rights: You pay the agent a fee even if your family member buys it. A fee for whoever buys it.

I'd avoid sole selling rights at all costs.

[alscar]

Thanks - the question was asked of me earlier by a friend and I’d not heard of the sole selling version - in this case I think she wants to go with the agent who according to the proposed contract agreement only offers this option.

[croyde]

Whatever they used to take pics of my place had some sort of digital stretch effect as 600mm units looked 1200mm.

I'm a cameraman and I've never used a lens that can do that.

Still everyday is a learning day.

[Turtle Shed]

Quags said:

Turtle Shed said:

I've often see houses on Rightmove listed as detached when they are in fact semi-detached, but never the other way around.

Have you ever deliberately done this?

No, it's a fineable offence, plus I don't understand why anyone would do that. More likely an error on the part of the person uploading it.

Well I assume that an unscrupulous EA might want to put a non-detached but rather decent place in front of those looking specifically for detached. A good example might be a long/thin barn conversion that shares a wall with the adjacent conversion.

I've been house hunting over the past few months, and have seen a number of examples of this. I won't post any, but they are most certainly out there.

[Turtle Shed]

croyde said:

Whatever they used to take pics of my place had some sort of digital stretch effect as 600mm units looked 1200mm.

I'm a cameraman and I've never used a lens that can do that.

Still everyday is a learning day.

It's called perspective. A "long" lens will compress perspective, a "short" one will exagerate it. Get very close to a kitchen unit with a 16mm lens on your Nikon D850 (as used by the OP) and that unit will look comparatively huge. Things in the background will look small.

An opposite example would be an 800mm lens pointing down a straight at Silverstone.

[LosingGrip]

How many houses are you selling at one time? Do you do much work outside of working hours?

I’m currently selling my flat and he’s set up a WhatsApp group for my, him and my ex. Due to my shifts I’ll reply to messages late evening/early morning. He’ll often reply 9/10pm. Is that normal? I’ve said I don’t expect instant replies and only reply when I can due to work.

We are paying 1.25% which is just under £2,000…how much would our agent get roughly of that? Doesn’t seem a lot considering the amount of work that goes in.

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks for the response.

[croyde]

Turtle Shed said:

It's called perspective. A "long" lens will compress perspective, a "short" one will exagerate it. Get very close to a kitchen unit with a 16mm lens on your Nikon D850 (as used by the OP) and that unit will look comparatively huge. Things in the background will look small.

An opposite example would be an 800mm lens pointing down a straight at Silverstone.

I know that, ta been doing it for nearly 40 years

What I meant for example, was the picture of one room was taken from the doorway but all the windows, units, furniture were stretched, despite being the furthest from the lens.

Here's a pic of a kitchen from a local agent. The 600mm units look ridiculous



I can't find anything in my bags to emulate it apart from a fish eye addition for my phone.

Pic of my spare room, despite the distortion everything is in proportion, even the wardrobe door to the right.

Edited by croyde on Saturday 18th March 21:03

[Turtle Shed]

croyde said:

Turtle Shed said:

It's called perspective. A "long" lens will compress perspective, a "short" one will exagerate it. Get very close to a kitchen unit with a 16mm lens on your Nikon D850 (as used by the OP) and that unit will look comparatively huge. Things in the background will look small.

An opposite example would be an 800mm lens pointing down a straight at Silverstone.

I know that, ta been doing it for nearly 40 years

What I meant for example, was the picture of one room was taken from the doorway but all the windows, units, furniture were stretched, despite being the furthest from the lens.

Sorry. I did wonder but you said that every day was a learning day.

Would be interested to see an example if you can find one.

[dhutch]

MitchT said:

Why do so many properties which have a garage not include garage dimensions on the listing?

Or often, even detail is has one. Never photographed. Etc.

Infact, not even a filter on Rightmove.

[croyde]

Always learning

I've added my examples to my post but would love to know what kind of lens was used in that kitchen above.

To me it looks like an effect done in post.

[dhutch]

Turtle Shed said:

Quags said:

Turtle Shed said:

I've often see houses on Rightmove listed as detached when they are in fact semi-detached, but never the other way around.

Have you ever deliberately done this?

No, it's a fineable offence, plus I don't understand why anyone would do that. More likely an error on the part of the person uploading it.

Well I assume that an unscrupulous EA might want to put a non-detached but rather decent place in front of those looking specifically for detached.

Maybe detached is the first in the list, and it defaults this is you fail to select anything else.

Would poor website design, but that is common.