The Conference Call

When you attend training courses on 'Winning Instructions' the first thing the super dooper trainer tells you is " make sure you have both decision makers at the valuation". It sounds easy but it is often the most tricky thing as people have hectic busy lives and normally the female of the house is at home for the valuation and the male simply wants to know how much its worth and what the fee will be.

I attended a valuation about 3 miles from our offices. It was a modern 3 bedroom 3 storey end mews/town house/terrace/whatever you want to call it.

The valuation started off well, I instantly engaged with the vendor Miss D (name removed to keep up with my no names policy). Now Miss D was a very bubbly, chatty lady, the house was immaculate and very well dressed (the house, not the owner ;-) ). I went through the usual 'dance' of checking out each room, measuring and writing down details as I went along. Now if you are reading this and you are a valuer/lister then you will understand what I mean when I say the usual 'dance'. The measuring and taking notes is all for show, it makes you look like you are an expert. The fact is you probably know how much you will value the house before you have even set through the door!
We finish up in the lounge. Armed with my marketing material, rightmoveplus comps and 3 comps from the office I go for the kill.

Just as i'm about to get in to full flow, i'm stopped by Miss D. "Ill just call my partner, put him on speakerphone and you can have a conference call with him!!!"
Now I find myself trying desperately to sell our service to someone who I have never seen before, over the loud speaker on Miss D's mobile phone. I wasn't comfortable with this and found myself talking to the floor as I didn't know where to look. At one stage I was looking at Miss D whilst talking to the phone but that felt weird, like she was listening to me but couldn't use her mouth to communicate.
The whole 8 minute conference call was littered with awkward pauses and speaking at the same time followed by another awkward pause and then a "sorry, go on".
I left the valuation thinking and hoping that I will get another chance to impress both the owners and not a loudspeaker on a mobile phone.
To make matters worse as I left the house and got back to my car (no its not a mini or a BMW) I noticed that the tyre was flat. Great!! im completely useless with cars and I have no clue as to what to do next so I called the office and had one of the other negotiators come and replace my tire.

The moral of the storey is ............Refuse point blank to enter into a conference call in an attempt to sell your services to both Parties.

Estate Agent profile by Agent X... Harper James @HarperJamesEA

Greetings. Welcome to the first of many estate agent profiles. Today Agent X sent 10 questions (plus a sneaky one at the end) to Simon Woodley , Assistant Branch Manager  At Harper James. @HarperJamesEA 

Below are the responses. ENJOY!!!

1) how long have you been an estate agent for?

12yrs, my first day in agency was 1st May 2001

2) what, if any qualifications to you hold?

After all this time I haven't got any

3) how old are you?

35

4) what is your best experience in the industry?

 My first ever sale within a week of starting, I still drive past the house most days and think about it.

5) what annoys you about the industry?

 People who watch too many TV shows about property and think they know don't need to take advice.

6) what did you have for breakfast?

Crunchy nut cornflakes and two cups of strong coffee

7) what car do you drive?

Vw golf

8) if you could change anything about the estate agency industry then what would it be?

 There needs to be licensing like in the States.

9) why did you become an estate agent?

I spent a week with a local estate agent when I was 16 for work experience and decided that it was for me.

10) what is the best estate agency software?

I'm old school; I like pen and paper

Final question.

Why should a customer choose your agency to buy, sell or rent?

We have a lot of experience within the office, the manager and myself have previously owned our own estate agencies and our local knowledge and contacts are very extensive.

Agent X will conduct a weekly profile of an estate agent, letting agent or any other industry related company/person. If you would like to answer my question please email estateagentx@gmail.com

 

 

Wall Knocking

Wall knocking

Now if you are reading this especially if you are an estate agent you will understand where I am coming from.

One thing I do not understand when showing potential buyers around a house is the obsession to knock on every single wall in the property. It doesn't matter if its a first time buyer, an 'experienced' buyer or parents of the first time buyers, they will all knock on the walls.

When they knock the wall they do that look as if they have found something out once they have knocked it. 

Parents are the worst.... They knock, they stamp on the floorboards and they pull the carpet up at the corners. I even had a parent that knocked on the side of the bath to confirm with was plastic! 

Wall knocking is the very same thing as going along to buy a new car and kicking the tyre!  It uses the same thought process (I don't really know what I'm doing but if I knock the walls it will look like I'm an expert) 

I completely understand knocking on a wall that divides 2 rooms to feel if its a solid wall or not but knocking the inside wall going up the stairs isn't really needed is it!

Wall knockers are the most annoying type of viewer, I still smile sweetly and do my job properly however, when I get back to the office I immediately (before I've even made a coffee) put a little note onto their file saying WALL KNOCKER!

My first ever valuation

My first ever valuation.

 

My first ever valuation on my own still haunts me to this day. I find myself telling this story to people all the time. So here goes. I hope you enjoy it as at the time I certainly didn't.

I was 19 years old and had been working for a local estate agent for about 4-5 months when they decided time was right for me to go on my first valuation. I had been shadowing the senior valuer for about 3 weeks, watching him perform various valuations and in all honesty as a cock sure young lad I thought I could do it better so armed with some newspaper cut outs (yes newspaper cut outs as the birth of rightmove plus had yet to happen) and my marketing literature I set off to a 3 bedroom semi detached which was situated on a street which was known by the others in the office to be ex-council 3 bed semis all very similar.

I pull up a few doors away from my target house and as the guys in the office had informed me I was in and amongst a street of ex council houses until I look up and realise that the property I'm going to value number 79 was infact 1 of a pair of semis that were not your standard 3 bed semi, it was f*****g huge! Straight away the fear of the unknown struck me and I was bricking it. I thought I knew what I was coming to value, all my comps were completely useless and I'm panicking like the time I was 3 years old and my dad put me in a tree and pretended to walk off.

I knock on the door and I'm greeted by an elderly couple and immediately I'm made to feel at ease. They were such a lovely couple. We sat Down and had a brief chat about the local neighbourhood. I quickly found out that the couple had been living in the house for 40 years and they were thinking of downsizing.

We started the' grand tour' of the house with Mr S, whilst Mrs S shouts out "would you like a coffee?". Not wanting to offend I agree to a coffee and she sets about making it in the kitchen. Mr S shows me the lounge, dining room, 'parlour room' (you know the room where nobody is allowed to sit but it has the best sofa,  the best ornaments and the family portraits hanging everywhere). As we walked into the kitchen I can see Mrs S making the coffee, she's warming the milk up on the hob! I'm in for a treat when I drink this coffee!! 

Mr S finishes showing me the rest of the property which is nothing like my comps but I'm happy because I'm getting on well with the owners and things are going smoothly.

We sit down in the lounge, coffee at the side of me, comps on my lap. We talk about the house and how large it was in comparison with the others on the street. 

I'm feeling good because I have built up the relationship so I gave my price, then ..silence followed by Mrs S squealing "your joking arnt you??" Mrs S has a very angry face and all the hard work of building the relationship is destroyed in an instant. I've clearly offended them. I try and take a few moments so I grab my coffee.(biggest mistake I have ever made) 

I take a sip when I feel a tremendous pain on my top lip. The hob warmed milk was so hot it had formed a skin on the top of the coffee and as my lip touched the coffee, the skin had wrapped around my top lip and wouldn't let go. The only thing I could do was put the coffee down and proceed to try to get the skin off of my lips as quickly as possible before it gave me a 3rd degree burn. I was pulling at my lips, eyes streaming and in incredible pain when Mrs S shouts out "what's wrong with my coffee?" Great I've now offended her with the valuation and now I've offended her coffee making skills. I wanted the ground to eat me up. Mrs S was absolutely seething, me on the other hand was panicking and in pain.  Mrs S asked me to leave and to be honest I was glad, I didn't even leave my business card.

I couldn't get out of the valuation quick enough. The pain on my lips was immense.

For some strange reason this wasn't enough to put me off of this industry.

The dodgy private sale

Diary note 11/11/12

The private sale.

One thing that infuriates me in this industry is the fact you can do all the work, the advertising, the viewings, the chasing viewers and then in one simple swoop the vendor can take the house off the market. No fees payable.

That is annoying however when you find out later on down the line that the vendor has done a private sale with a person you booked in to view the house that really p****s me off.

Here's a prime example and a true story.

We were marketing a property for a good 7-8 weeks, we had 8 viewings but sadly no offers. The property was a character full cottage, feature beams, large solid wood front door, oak flooring, sash windows it was lovely. We booked the ninth viewing with the applicant and the vendor and as you do in this industry 24 hours later we made the follow up call. The response from Mrs F (name changed to comply with my no names policy!) was that it was "too small" for her. We reported this back to the vendor and continued to market the cute cottage.

2 days later we receive a call from the vendor who informs us that due to family circumstances we had to stop marketing, they were moving a family member in to rent it for 6 months but they would come back to us to sell it in 6 months time. We did as we were told and removed it from the market.

9 weeks later one of the girls in the office sent a bulk email to our database with our new instructions. We then receive an email from Mrs F stating that she was buying a property privately and provided the full address. This full address was indeed the house that she had viewed through us. We got hold of the original vendor and advised them that we knew they had done a private deal and we would be collecting our commission when it completes. They initially denied it.

The next day they vendors called the office and told us that they had done a private deal but it was Mrs Fs idea and it would save them our fee. It turns out that during the private sale both parties had  a huge fall out with each other (which is why Mrs F responded to our email). It was her way of getting back at the vendors. The problem was that it backfired on her. The vendors insisted that because it was her idea to do the sale privately if she wanted the house she would have to pay extra to cover our fee.

The end result was that the house did complete and Mrs F did buy it. Because of the massive fall out the vendors dropped the keys at our office.(typical involve the agent when the shit hits the fan) 

We gave out the keys on completion day to a fuming Mrs F who was now accusing us of over charging HER!

We then encountered a barrage of calls once she arrived at the house because the vendors had removed all the light bulbs, extracted every ml of oil from the tank, didn't leave the garage key and to top it off left a rather nasty 'present' in the gas meter box.

The end result was that we got our fee. 

The moral of the story is karma is a bitch and don't do dodgy deals!

 

Valuing a house and a big surprise

Last week my negotiator booked a cracking valuation (or marketing proposal visit some agency trainers will have you call it).

The property was a 5 bedroom detached in a fantastic location, quiet little cup-de-sac, somewhere that I can picture myself when I retire (best sell some more houses first). To say I was up for the valuation would be playing it lightly.

I pull up at the edge of the cul-de-sac,  I don't like parking outside the house I'm about to value don't ask me why, I just don't. (Just to clarify my car is not a mini and it doesn't have company logos splashed across it.) I'm armed with all my comps, marketing literature, iPad, camera, laser measurer so I knock on the door. The lady opens the door and I'm hit with a stench, it nearly knocks me off my feet the smell of staleness mixed with rubbish it smells just like when you make a Sunday morning trip to the local skip.

She leads me inside, I'm shocked, totally shocked as I'm walking through carefully created walkways in between what must be hundreds and hundreds of old magazines, books, boxes, crap you name it, the floor had it. I even noticed a random golf club.

The house was absolutely full. I've seen the programmes on tv, I've seen messy houses but I can honestly say that this was the worst. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO VALUE THIS.

The lady was obviously a hoarder, every floor of every room was covered in rubbish, there was a dining table in the dining room but you couldn't see it. The bath was full of magazines, the stairs were covered and I couldn't get into 2 of the double bedrooms. 

No amount of research was going to help me! I politely pointed out that for the marketing we would need good quality internal photos. The poor lady told me she would have it sorted in 2 weeks. 

I left the property in complete shock. I have never ever seen anything like it!!

I'm booked back in in 2 weeks for photos. I hope and pray that it's cleared as it could be a fantastic property.

 

Selling houses. The good, the bad and the ugly

Selling Houses, The thrill, The Buzz and the unhappy times

People often ask me "whats the best part of your job". Its simple. I love selling houses, actually i love selling anything, but houses gives me a great buzz and a sense of satisfaction knowing that a) Ive helped the seller, b) Knowing ive helped the buyer and c) if it all goes through to complete then ive helped myself to a nice fee...... 

However, picture this.  

You put the property up for sale..... you advertise it.... you book 2 viewings ...you negotiate a deal.... you then proceed to make 8 million phone calls to both solicitors, buyers, sellers, financial advisors. you become the middle man for multiple arguements between the buyer and the seller as they are both un-reasonable with each other. You manage to hold the whole deal together and move it through to completion. You hand out the keys to the new owners..... Job done.

Until

You then receive a letter from the sellers who (you managed to sell there property within a week!!!) decide they are not going to pay you because apparently it was the etate agents fault that the deal wasnt straight forward!!

Now in my eyes..... you sell a property in the middle of a recession in less than 1 week....you put up with all the s**t that both the buyer and the seller are dishing to each other, you chase the sale through to the end, you make so many phone calls that your arm hurts.. YOU HAVE DONE A GOOD JOB.

 

The serial viewer. Diary entry 28/09/12

Serial viewer 

I think most people in the Uk are interested in property. However there comes a time when you need to establish a difference between looking for a house to buy and just looking at houses for a hobby.

Over the past 6 months I must have shown one particular lady around about 30 houses. She has never made an offer, never booked a second viewing and never took any of these viewings any further.

I often ask myself, "why do I do it? Why do i keep showing herround these houses when I know that he wont offer, she wont buy the house??" But I still carry the slight belief that the next property I show her  she will fall in love with it and make an offer and buy the house. UNTIL

Yesterday after having a nice conversation with the lady at the property she was viewing she said and I quote " Ive been looking for 3 years now, and im also looking at houses in Liverpool, Manchester and Scotland"  My reply was...." You must have seen a fair few houses then," to her reply "302 and I have them all on a spread sheet with pros and cons against them all"

Needless to say after this comment I quickly finished off the viewing, Locked up the property and dashed back to the office vowing I will never waste anymore of my time with this person.

She has booked another viewing for tomorrow. And yes you guessed it, I will show her the House in the hope that this will be...............THE ONE!!..........

 

A typical Saturday in my world. Diary entry 14/07/12

A usual Saturday in the office including numerous WOFT's

I hate working on a saturday, I can think of a million and one things I would rather be doing but, for us estate agents, Saturday's can be the busiest day if the week.

Saturday starts with my 9am appointment to sign a tenancy in the office. Shame the tenants didn't arrive until 9:30 with not so much as an apology. Great start to the day!! 

I go on to the first of the 2 valuations of the day. Valuation 1. Despite providing the owner with documentative evidence of how I came to the valuation price including recent sales of similar properties in the same location, they seem to think that I'm way off the true price of the house and because there 'friend' knows about property and he told them it was worth at least £190,000 then my valuation was way off the Mark and were actually quite offended by the price I had said. Oh well never mind, there's another valuation this afternoon so better luck with the next one, or so I thought.

Valuation number 2. 

It's 3pm . I'm bang on time. Full of confidence because I have done lots of research prior to attending, I knock on the door and wait, and wait, and wait. So I knock again, and wait. Next thing the door opens, big scruffy dog flies out and jumps up on my nice clean suit!!!!! Followed by the owner who comes to the door in a pair of really old baggy grey jogging bottoms, and nothing else!! So there's me all professional in my suit, there's him with his beer belly hanging out. The house wasn't great, the owner didn't care, he didn't want to sell but his ex had arranged the valuation so he had to go along with it. He openly tells me that the ex needs a price so she can buy him out.

Now bearing in mind that my estate agency is actually a business that needs to make money just like every other business out there, if I give a valuation and they use it to settle a split up, then how do I earn any money out of this?? what is the point of me wasting my petrol, my time and my resources to provide this person with a valuation??? So I go on to give them a verbal price and tell the if they want it in writing then it would be £99 plus vat.

Needless to say I didn't last long at valuation number 2. A genuine WOFT

The day ended at 4:15 with a negotiated property sale, a realistic vendor with a realistic expectation