Arthur Daley eat your heart out. (Irwin Fisher)

Member Name: forrest

Product:	Irwin Fisher
Date:	07/03/01 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Now own a house

Disadvantages: Stress, treated like a child, waste of time

What qualifications do you need to get in school to move into this dark world of being an estate agent? Of the many that I have dealt with in buying my house there were three that I would say I trusted and were, dare I say it, ....helpful. As for the rest they would still try and sell you a ticket for the Titanic.

Half the time they do not listen to your requirements, despite filling out a long tedious form with your details. Then they get stroppy if you don't buy the first house they show you. I walked out of Douglas Allen Spiro after the bloke in there tried to sell me a house with a shared porch. My form filled out two minutes earlier and my comments of "I don't want a shared porch" were met with a response three times of "Yes, but the house is really nice".

Some only decide to contact you when they want to take you off the ailing list or send you ridiculously priced properties that only an Earl could afford if he pawned the family heirlooms.

So you finally find the house you want, do they leave you alone. No they constantly chase to see what you are doing. The one that I ended up dealing with (unfortunately Irwin Fisher - Barking) was useless. I dealt with them three times in total.

Once to put in my offer.
Secondly to discuss a revised offer.
Thirdly to get the keys.

Every stage I was treated to some of the best Bulls##t I have heard. In my job as a Business Analyst I get to hear a lot.

On the day I was meant to get the keys they would not release them, or phone the vendors solicitors until such times as I stood in the shop and demanded he do so. The money had been with the solicitor for over two hours and he had accepted the payment and completed the chain.

The problem is that the buyer doesn't get to choose which estate agent to buy from, if you see a house you like you have to suffer the estate agent chosen. There is a lot to be said for internet buying and
it is something that I would probably consider in the future when I come to move. Until then I can sleep easy knowing that I do not need to deal with those sorts of idiots for a while.

I appreciate that there are a number of estate agents out there that take pride in their work and this was not directed at them. But being spoken to like a complete dunce purely, I believe, because the first time I saw them I was in jeans and a scruffy T shirt shouldn't should not happen. They provide a service, which should be at a standard people, would expect from other service industries.

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