Estate Agents & Dubious sales tactics

[Saleen836]

Who'd have thought it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg81l57x53o

[Zed Ed]

Probably much worse than that in reality, lol.

Fantasy overpricing and then marking as SSTC, when the property hasn’t actually sold; a quite popular tactic amongst Agents in my part of London.

[z4RRSchris]

all pretty common, even at the top.

savills agents get commission from Savills Private Finance their mortgage broker, knight frank have in house interior design and get a nice kick back etc etc

should be regulated

[greygoose]

Unsurprising, hard to find people more lacking in knowledge.

[scenario8]

Zed Ed said:

Probably much worse than that in reality, lol.

Fantasy overpricing and then marking as SSTC, when the property hasn t actually sold; a quite popular tactic amongst Agents in my part of London.

In what way is this beneficial, and to whom? I must be having a moment.

[z4RRSchris]

you get the instruction, because the seller thinks you can get £500k and all the other agents say £450k

do a few viewings, then say market feedback is overpriced need to drop the price.

easier to sell then, get your commish

[scenario8]

z4RRSchris said:

you get the instruction, because the seller thinks you can get £500k and all the other agents say £450k

do a few viewings, then say market feedback is overpriced need to drop the price.

easier to sell then, get your commish

But the contributor said you overprice to gain the instruction (at least I assume that was their point) and then mark the property as SSTC when it hasn t sold. Well, you can see their writing above. I don t follow the reasoning. For starters wouldn t the vendor have an issue with their property being advertised as sold when it hasn t?

[Zed Ed]

I thought a mix of;
Promote agency as successful on Rightmove
Attract clients thru inflated prices
Use Rightmove to create a false impression of market prices for those who couldn’t be bothered to look at Land Registry sold prices

[Catweazle]

scenario8 said:

z4RRSchris said:

you get the instruction, because the seller thinks you can get £500k and all the other agents say £450k

do a few viewings, then say market feedback is overpriced need to drop the price.

easier to sell then, get your commish

But the contributor said you overprice to gain the instruction (at least I assume that was their point) and then mark the property as SSTC when it hasn t sold. Well, you can see their writing above. I don t follow the reasoning. For starters wouldn t the vendor have an issue with their property being advertised as sold when it hasn t?

Marking the property as SSTC or similar when there has been a number of people viewing the property on the website could encourage a prospective buyer to put in a higher offer than they would otherwise have done.

[Acorn1]

Watched the Panorama programme on it.

It’s been going on for decades with the corporate agents.

Always use a local independent agent.

[Blackpuddin]

Car dealers favour buyers who use their credit.

[KingNothing]

Estate agents being dishonest? No, can't be true, next you'll be telling me that when a car salesmen lips are moving, they're telling utter lies too?

[NuckyThompson]

I think every house bar my first I’ve had some form of contact with the sellers myself via social media.

Any implication to the agent that you actually know the seller or are connected in some way seemed to eliminate them trying to play games.