If an EA is an arsehole/obviously lies/ludicrously overprices/is annoyingly slack or obnoxious, then (similar to tax avoider) I won't view any properties that particular EA is selling. If others operate similarly to me, then the EA is doing his/her paying client a disservice by reducing the pool of prospective buyers.

I don't call returning calls to prospective buyers, knowing a property's BER, showing up to viewings on time etc. a service to prospective tenants/buyers. I call it showing basic competence and a reasonable level of professionalism, something lacking in the vast majority of EAs I've encountered.

Will a better service from the EA mean you will pay more for the property?

If the answer is no well than you get what you have paid for.

Neither, I am a buyer at present.

However I am honest enough to admit an EA owes me no duty of care as a buyer.

My focus is to buy as cheaply as possible. The EA job is to get the best price for the vendor (or extract the most money as possible from me).

I am always amazed that buyers/tyre kickers/etc expect EA to jump to their every whim. No matter how useless and incompent an EA is if I believe a property offers good value I will buy it. In fact the more useless he is the more likely I am to get a bargin.

Am I missing something?

Is a useless EA not good from a buyers prospective. He is helping to reduce the house buying competition.

The answer to the question in the subject line is always No. There may or may not be an offer (probably not) and any offer may or may not be to the level quoted. But, in my experience, estate agents will always lie about something. Has the house been rewired recently? "I think so". Is the garden south-facing? "I'm not sure". What's the length of the garden? "In the region of 50 feet". These are all questions that they do know the answer to and are always guaranteed to be vague about.

Does the estate agent owe a duty of care to the viewer? I have been knocking around long enough that I know many of the estate agents in my preferred area and I find myself avoiding certain ones if I am 50-50 about viewing a house. I know they are going to bullshit me and give me vague answers to specific questions so I can't be bothered if I don't fall in love with a My Home ad. I am a cash buyer with a lot of leeway and I will buy sooner or later and it is quite possible that the liars will lose out.

I think all people involved in any business have a duty to be honest in their dealings, or is there some kind of special dispensation for estate agents? Of course they have a duty of care to buyers - in a country where regulation of the industry exists (like the UK), for instance, all this dicking around with the the buyer virtually stopped overnight after the crash of the late 80s/early 90s when legislators finally realised that the industry had to be regulated. It's not perfect by a long way in the UK, but it makes Irish estate agents look like the bunch of cowboys they actually are.

So there is virtually no way to know if an offer is on the table? Effectively the EA can lie to a buyer to increase the sale price.

How is this stuff not regulated by now?

Isn't it extraordinary Quarryman? The wheels of change sure do turn slowly...!

Apart from the confusing bidding war with cash buyers bidding in 0's and 5's all over the place that I am not caught up in - I have been shocked by how lazy and inefficient the EAs are.

Some don't turn up, some don't return calls - some have attitudes that seems to suggest that we are still in 2006 and potential buyers should be grateful to allowed view. Some don't introduce themselves or shake hands when you meet.

One called me 'love' on the phone.

One (of the biggies) I spoke to today cannot do viewings after 5.30pm. They do some Saturday viewings but refuse to give a time until the day before - so you're supposed to clear your schedule, a week in advance, on the off chance they come back to you with a time.

Some can't do a viewing for a while because 'they're run off their feet with viewings.'

Some houses are' choc-a-block with viewings' (yet arriving there early for a peep, you see nobody but the owner hiding the dog)

The majority are acting like it is really easy to sell a house these days because of the long queues of no-chain cash-buyers chucking money around - maybe it's true?????

An 'a'

In fairness, it's a big undertaking for many people and, just as you would expect cordiality from a shop assistant or a car salesman, people expect a certain level of service. Not answering calls does no-one any favours and not being au fait with basic information about the property is just plain lazy. It's clear that it makes no difference to you but buying property is a business for you and you're an old hand but the vast majority of buyers are embarking on a huge financial and somewhat emotional commitment and they require a certain level of guidance

Don't forget viewings are at the whim of the vendors, mostly, not the EA.

It's a pain in the hole to accommodate random viewers, most of whom you can tell are going to be time-wasters. I know! I us(ed) my EA to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

would that house happen to be in Blackrock ?
Had a similar experience recently with a property where the vendor wanted 570K and low and behold the EA suddendly had 565K on the table and came back to us.....I still really doubt that other bid......we had 510k offered......

Landlord, the EA's fee comes indirectly from the buyer. No buyer, no sale, no commission. If I have a potential lead for business I chase it down, I don't drop it. When you e-mail or phone an EA and are serious about buying a property and they never contact you back, they have dropped a lead. They are doing a disservice to their client. They won't be getting the best price or indeed any price for their client if they do so. Sure, they want to take a firm position while negotiating but treating people with contempt and a lack of respect does nobody any favours. I have gained business from clients referring friends and family to me because I treat them with the utmost respect and conversely I will be telling others about poor business habits of EAs I encounter, in my case I work in a business related to theirs. This thread grows longer with people sharing anecdotes of lack of interest from or bad treatment by EA's, they must be doing something wrong.

Why should anybody expect guidance and help from the person whose job it is to extract the highest price from one be buyers?

A bad EA is good from a buyers prospective.

If a buyer is looking for emotional support perhaps they should pay for it elsewhere.

ps. property is not my business. (no money in it these days )

Are these EAs not a buyers dream.

They are putting people off who otherwise might bid against you (assuming you are a buyer and not a tire kicker).