02 Feb 2007 1:23 PM:
Hi everyone,
New to the forum and have been reading with interest the messages below, of course there are always two sides to a story and just had to post about a recent situation I experienced.
I work for a small REA on the CDS, I am office based. I had a client last year, April time let's call him Mr X I spent many times talking with him about his property requirements etc and he seemed like a very nice family man. He had me spending lots of time finding right properties etc and as I am self-employed pay for all the phone calls myself, I attended to every e-mail he sent and after about 3 months of contact he just disappeared off the planet.....did not answer my calls, never replied to my voicemessages or e-mails. Now, in my opinion as a person and working for a company that is very customer focussed, I take this personally. What does it take to simply e-mail back if you are not in the market anymore, out of courtesy to send an e-mail or make a quick call to say, "Thanks for everything but we are not buying anymore" FINE, I can accept that but don't just not respond leaving me wasting effort...I'm not telepathic. That is just rude, whatever happened to good old fashioned manners....they cost nothing.
So I decided to put him out of my active clients and not call him again.
What do you know but just after Christmas, Mr X goes to our website again and I receive his details. It was bugging me that I remembered his name so well. I am a very organised individual (people have called me retentive at times) so I looked at my old clients and there he was, the same Mr X! So, I called him...again and twice with no answer on his phone. Hello - if you leave a phone number that means you want to be called. I sent him an e-mail recognising that we had been in contact last year and because I had difficulties in speaking with him could he e-mail me back a landline and let me know when it is convenient to speak (I always call clients when it's better for them i.e. if they can't speak at work, I don't ask for a work number). Mr X left his mobile which indicates he can speak most times...isn't that the point of them, they are 'mobile?' Anyway to cut this short I eventually spoke to him and refreshed his memory, that we spoke last year and he said, "Ah yes, you're the lady with the good memory" Of course I am, I get to know my clients by phone very well, it's my job and I like building a rapport with them. At this point I would like to say that I did not highlight to him that he was plain rude last year, i just treated him like every other client, with respect and listened to him.
So why was he contacting us again.....ah the story unfolds...last year when he went AWOL he actually bought a few properties in London. Now his partner is pregnant in her first three months and they really wanted to buy a particular apartment in a specific development. I asked him all the questions...I ask a lot about what is important for him as I always make sure we can have the best property to show...more productive, we don't waste clients time, what is the point of an estate agent showing a client a property that doesn't suit them....nobody's happy then! I asked him many questions...what level do you want to be (knowing that his partner has a baby on the way) and he told me he must have a 2 bedroom apartment on the ground floor in this particular urbanisation because where the ground floor apartments lead onto the gardens they would put a little baby gate up for when the baby is bigger, he said he has rented a lot of times in this urbanisation so he knew that he only wanted there. Now for the part where I nearly fell off my chair....Mr X said thay have the cash in the bank, told me what his budget was and that he instructed us to find him something as they want to buy their apartment sooner rather than later. He even said that because his partner is in her first trimester that if we find something, he would fly on his own and make a decision!!!! I must say that HE told me this, I didn't ask him to come over immediately even though he can buy straight away because I knew there was no point in asking him to get on a plane until we find something that is right for him....like I said I hate wasting people's time. Having many years experience in this industry I know at this point most other REA's, particularly the large ones that are robotic and all follow the same pattern would get him on a flight and try to sell him something else if they didn't have anything for him.....yes this is how they work. What is the point of that? If I were a client that would just p*ss me off having someone mess me about when I am a busy person.
Now any REA's reading this will say and I know in this market we hardly ever get clients..."Wow cash in the bank, view without wife/partner/in position to buy...a hands upper" BUT STOP, yes sounds easy doesn't it.....the story unfolds.
Having listened to EVERYTHING the client wanted, I instructed a valuer to go the urbanisation to see if we can get some properties for Mr X. So the valuer, with his own phone bill to pay, own car fuel, own time spent the last 3 weeks doing just that. This is where things get interesting. The particular urbanistion hardly ever has properties for sale because it is very nice, people don't buy in there to speculate, they can afford it, they like using for holidays, people like renting in there and people can afford to sit on their properties despite the crap that is happening in other parts of the coast. Getting into the urbanisation is like fort knocks (which I think is a great point for buyers), because we are professional and know our stuff, the guard let the valuer in and he started to speak to some of the residents. There are no 'for sale' signs allowed in the urbanisation and no letter boxes so you cannot post a letter telling the owner that we have a buyer waiting. The art of telepathy.....hmmmm more a case of being professional and meeting owners face to face. Our valuer got talking to a lovely couple from Enlgand that invited him for a coffee on their terrace but unfortunately they did not want to sell but would let us know if they hear of any for sale. Then the valuer got talking to a man sunbathing on his ground floor terrace. Politely speaking the man was apparently a bit of an Arthur Daley and flippantly said to the valuer, "I'll sell mine if the missus lets me!" He spoke to his wife and obviously she wore the trousers (don't we all girls?!) and no, he is not allowed to sell but he has a friend in a corner ground floor that wants to sell. Great...a corner apartment, even better for our client. After a few hours, our valuer got a call from a completely different man saying that he had been marketing the corner one for his friend in England through his estate agency and that he wanted £10,000 on TOP of the asking price ....wait for it......for just giving us the phone number of the owner. Wow, I wish I could make money by just giving out phone numbers. We told him, politely, to get stuffed and that we would instead share our commission with them. OK pretty common in today's market but for a phone number and doing nothing else....then the plot got even worse. Our valuer asked the 'Estate agent' for his registered business number and his company details becuse if splitting the deal we have to pay IVA and provide an invoice from the company we are splitting with (I don't handle this said of things so don't ask me any tax q's please - I just know that we do it all properly with accountants etc) and here goes the funny part...I say funny because if I don't laugh about this I will cry...the man on the sunbed and the 'estate agent' from england all know each other as 'golfing buddies',' the wives are friends etc. and they know the owner of the corner one, there's about 4 that all know each other all an the ground floor and they all bought at the same time!! The 'estate agent' is not an estate agent merely a 'friend' of the owner, he could not give us his business number or registered company details but he did give the valuer the owner's phone number. Our valuer spoke to the owners (let's call them Mr & Mrs Y) and they apparently were lovely, really nice people and honest in telling us that they are not in any hurry to sell at all but if we have a serious buyer they will consider it. So our valuer arranged to meet another day the cleaners of the corner one, went in, valued it, photographed it etc and the owner wanted to sell it furnished so we did a full inventory etc...all this I might add without having a sale selling form in place at this stage. Later on, the valuer spoke to the owner to advise of his realistic opinion of the apartment and to get the owner's head right about price...the owner wanted €50K more than it is valued...these owners, they really have a lot of experience in the market don't the??!!! The owner would not sign a sales form as they didn't want it on the 'open market' so we're now doing all this work with no protection. So we rode with this, it was my job to send all the photographs to Mr X and all the sizes, valuation etc, basically everything and anything about the property, the only thing more for Mr X to do is to fly to see it. Buyers do not understand that there is only so much you can see from photos, sizes, orientation and if they know and like the urbanisation, what more can we do until they actually see it????
Mr X came back to me to say he is very interested and will look in more detail at the photos with his partner....of course, I would too if I was spending money on anything, it took me 6 months to decide about buying a car so I and my company understand people want time. The next day....the plot at this time is turning into a thick stew. The 'estate agent' telephoned the valuer...right on our case as he thinks he's on an easy ride sitting back doing nothing waiting to cash in his chips (these people make me sick when we're running round like headless chickens doing all the work) and he said...wait for this one...."Dont tell Mr & Mrs Y about me splitting the deal with you as they are good friends of ours!!!!!!" FRIENDS.....GOD with friends like that who needs enemies?? If my friend wanted to sell a property and I knew someone who knew someone that wanted to buy I would not even ask for anything. You do things like that to help friends, don't you or am I now morally retentive too???!!!
After Mr X and his partner looked at the photographs....let's add more ingredients to the thick stew (which is now turning into sludge and sticking to the bottom of the pan) Mrs Y (the owner) e-mailed our valuer to ask if we had publicly published their property on our website because Mr X had been in touch with her as...yes you guessed it he knows her too! Here is the family tree now....Mr X (our buyer) knows the brother of Mrs Y's apartment and he recognised it from the photographs because, yup, they regularly rent it from them but they did not know that they wanted to sell it. In all honesty, Mrs Y was very good and didn't backstab us and said, "Is Mr X a client of yours?" We said yes and reitterated that we did not publicly advertis their property on the open market but that we just sent the photos to Mr X only as that's what Mrs Y wanted. Our valuer also spoke to Mr Y (the owner's hubby) and he said he knows Mr X, that he just messes people about and that he made a ridiculous offer last year and told us not to waste our time with him. So, as all you agents out there will be thinking...oh no they're going to be cut out of the deal now....not so, here is what Mr X said about the apartment. He e-mailed me back and admitted that he had stayed there before, he likes the apartment, likes the furnishings and the price is right (come on down!!) BUT...his OTHER friends also rent from Mr & Mrs Y and if Mr X buys it, they will use it a lot so Mr X's OTHER friends wouldn't be able to rent there. Awww what a GOOD FRIEND. Confused???? So was I by this point!!!
So there, we go, away from the golfing buddies, away from the thick stew, we go back to the drawing board, Mr X telling us to keep looking for him. OK, all well said and done, except it's very quiet on the urb. now, the security guard has turned into some descendant of Hitler and should have some form of x-ray machine on arrival to the urb. and has apparently received complaints from 'certain' residents about agents...Fair enough, but our valuer was and is very nice to the residents not causing any disturbance etc no guesses for who complained..yup sunbed man, wonder why? Now he knows though the little circle of trust that his little slice of the pie has gone he can't get his new golf clubs he'd already mentally paid for!!!!!
So we keep looking...and suprise suprise Mr X now tells me they will also look at 1st floor apartments.....ARRGGHHHHHHH - I listen to you so at least tell me all your considerations first, OK this makes this a little more flexible.
As I said back to square one, the security guard let our valuer in because at this point she (and yes I say a she...no there weren't any illicit encounters to obtain access, in fact I think she bats for the other team) knows he is just low key and doesn't cause any problems.
What are we looking for now, oh yes, preferably a ground floor but will look at first floor. There's a first floor for sale with a for sale sign on....hang on a minute thought for sale signs weren't allowed and yup, it's through another agent that's asking for drug money. No thanks, we're not ripping off clients.
BINGO...the valuer meets a lovely couple with a ground floor property, exactly what Mr X wants - perfect for when their new baby arrives!!! They want us to generally market the property, are happy to sign a sales agreement, they ask for a little more, we say no and tell them the value. We do the valuation, measure, photograph etc. AND including Mr X's purchase costs it's €60K under budget!!! I think the personal bonus on this one is that it's away from the golfing buddies too.
So, back to me again, I dutifully send all the details through to Mr X as soon as valuer gets back in the office and briefs me about the apartment. I send him sizes, photographs, where it is etc..leaving myself completely open because at this stage we know he knows people who know people and can go direct. Anyway, we march on in this battle.
Great, he likes the property, says it's interesting and despite me doing the financial breakdown including costs/taxes/commission etc. Yes commission - we are transparent and it coming €60K under budget, guess what he asks me....top marks for all those that guessed, "Will they take an offer, will they negotiate" Anyone in the industry will know that a buyer should only put in an offer if they have seen the apartment. We're not going to make ourselves look like idiots but putting in an offer only for Mr X to find something he doesn't like about the property. Anyway, we knew the owner wouldn't as we'd already number crunched them down to the lowest price and what we valued it at. I explain this to Mr X and asked if he prefers to wait until his partner can fly (2 weeks) to see the property and until then we will not make the property active on our website etc. Again any other REA's out there will know that some of the 'big boys' would have given no consideration for this and got him to fly on his own.....again why? If I had a baby on the way I would want to see the property, despite what my hubby/partner says!!!
Here we go again....Mr X has disappeared. It comes the time that now all that remains is for him to actually book a cheap flight on his on or with his Mrs, whichever he chooses and let me know the dates so I can book the viewing in....you know we do like to plan things too. No response.....no response.....no response....no response. I'll just wait and hear from him....balls' in his court now, what more can we do as a company or me personally?
Here'e the ending to my tale - Mr X e-mailed me this morning, great I think as I open the e-mail:
"Thanks for your message and all your help but I’ve managed to find one which is fully furnished which will save me a lot of hassle and have managed to do a deal on that.If the deal falls out of bed for any reason I’ll get back in touch""
I can't tell you what thoughts were running through my head I tell you. WHAT..in the space of 36 hours Mr X has bought. I can't believe this.
So I diplomatically asked him, if he didn't mind telling me which one he bought and cheekily said to him that he must have more contacts than anyone in that urb. to have found one so soon after I sent him the ground floor...after all that work he didn't even let me know he was coming to at least see the one we had grafted so hard to find.
He did reply and here's what he said:
"Its 1st floor and paid X Euro for it plus the furniture. That was full asking price as the guy wouldn’t budge but I still think it was a bargain so I’ve stuck a deposit on it, do you think that was a good price? I hope so. I actually got it through another agent, it just came up at short notice through an email enquiry I’d apparently sent to an organisation called that I don’t even remember sending but it looked just the job so I flew over straight away and did the deal and then went out and got hammered ending up in a nightclub till about 6 am then had to go to the notary to sign papers in a complete mess. Don’t think they were too impressed, still feel ill today, must be getting old!
If I hear of anything else coming up for sale in there I’ll let you know if that be of any use to you?"
Anyone any suggestions as to what I say to THAT???? He wants me to tell him if it's a good price....we actually go into the properties before appraising the value...shouldn't he ask the other agent for this?? AND DID YOU READ IT'S A BLOODY FIRST FLOOR. Can anyone explain this mentality, buyers always want us to get in their minds to reallt find the right things for him, which I believe we completely did for him. Why on earth, whilst he was here did he not call me to see if we could show him the ground floor, FROM MY UNDERSTANDING his first choice.......AND DID YOU READ THE LAST PART? He will let ME know if anything else comes up for sale....what? so he can have a slice of any future pies too...don't think so.
So I hope you enjoyed my story, for anyone that's pissed off with larger agents screwing you over, please do not tarnish us smaller honest ones with the same brush,
PS This is one of many many stories I could tell you like but I don't want to bore you!!!
Have a fab day...I know I will, I have more clients to look after 
Thread:
Not all agents are bad
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