The Homeowners' Alliance - which earlier this year attacked agents for so-called sharp practices' - has launched another onslaught by telling the public Don't be fooled by the valuations they give.
In a guide to selecting an agent, posted on the alliance's website, there is a particularly dismissive section on property valuations conducted by estate agents.
It says agents take two general approaches. The first is to give deliberately optimistic valuations, to make you think you can get a higher price with them, and then try and talk you down after you have chosen them.
The second is to tell you not to be fooled by falsely high valuations and instead select them to market the property at a lower asking price.
It is you and not the agent who decides what price to put the property on at, and how effective an agent is at marketing a property has little to do with the valuation they give says the website, which clearly believes anyone can be a professional valuer.
You can always ask the good agent to put the property on at a higher price the guide concludes.
Elsewhere in the guide, the Homeowners' Alliance comments that it is certainly worth contracting an online estate agent if your contract with a conventional estate agent allows you to put you house up for sale with multiple agents....why not maximise your property's exposure either for free or for a fraction of the cost
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Comments
I work for an independent agency who pride themselves in never ever over-valuing property simply to get it on our books.
Unfortunately, no matter how much informed advice we offer, many of the appraisals we conduct end up resulting in another agent getting the instruction . . . . . at a much higher price. At the end of the day, 70-80% of vendors have no idea about values or what is happening in the local housing market, so will inevitably put their property on the market with the agent who quotes the most flattering figure.
Doesn't bother us all that much though as over half of those vendors end up coming to us once their contract with unrealisticaskingprice and co. has finished and they still haven't had any interest.
Accurate pricing along with excellent service and good local contacts are what make an estate agent stand out and succeed in the long term.
Wow I have been in this industry for close on 30 years and this is a revelation. I thought all estate agents were professional valuers and competent to advise their clients. What have I been doing all these years. My life has been wasted.
Advice This is common sense that everyone should take note of. And once again the estate agents are portrayed as the stereotypical comic villains!
And the award for stating the obvious goes to...estate agents are not valuers, and neither do we pretend to be. If you want a professional valuation, go to a professional valuer, that's just common sense. Once again, a company comes along and tries to denigrate all estate agents in one fell swoop.
Ground breaking advice