Do Estate Agents tell the truth or

Do they just want the house sale?

 

 

Freephone Independent Surveyors

We are highly qualified Independent Surveyors who can provide help and advice with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, independent valuations, home buyers reports, commercial building surveys, engineers reports, specific defects report, schedules of condition or any other property matters.

Please free phone us on 0800 298 5424 for examples of our surveys and a friendly chat.

 

Estate Agents work on commission

Most estate agents are on a basic wage and then they earn lots of commission and we mean with some estate agents a lot of commission. They earn the commission for selling houses. The commission is paid when the house is sold so they are very focused on selling houses. To do this they often have to be very nice to the buyers which can be mistaken for friendship sometimes in our experience when the focus of the estate agent is on selling the property.

 

 

Surveyors meeting the client at the property

We were recently carrying out a survey and we met our client at the property (this is the person who is buying the property) as we like to do this during the course of our survey to show them any problems and issues but also any good points about the property. We voiced our concerns about the factory building that was literally at the end of the garden. The purchaser said ‘Its ok, the estate agent has said it's an antiques warehouse' and having then spent some time with the purchaser this didn't seem to ring true. It became very obvious in talking to her that this seemed too good to be true as she had a love of antiques.

 

 

An Estate Agent won't tell you there will be neighbours from hell

So as part of the survey we normally knock on the neighbour's door so we went round to knock on the door and found quite a big operation with two units to the front that we could see then a further three or four to the rear that we couldn't get too due to the iron gates on the complex. We decided to knock on the door of the house next to this and spoke to a gentleman who advised that he only rented the property, however it was a very big mistake to rent the property and he wouldn't be there other than that he had paid a year's rent in advance as he said there was 24 hour working going on in some of the units. These units were owned by butchers who prepared meat in them late at night and into the early hours of the morning for markets. As mentioned we always try to speak to the neighbours. We couldn't speak to the next door neighbours so we put a card through the door and they rang later in the evening to confirm how terrible the noise was and said what disturbed them more was the area being fully lit during the night.

 

Sellers hide things sometimes under the advice of estate agents

We have recently come back from a survey where the seller had kindly put some boards and a table in the way of a vertical crack. The crack ran from the ground to the first floor level within the property. Internally coincidentally they had also managed to store items against the crack. We commented on this to the seller who said the estate agent had recommended that they cover the crack up.

Another example that we have seen very recently was structural movement in a property that had been repointed and then had a trellis work put over it as well as having new plastered walls internally. However if you are on the look out for this you can usually find further evidence as in this case we did with cracking actually found in the roof space.

 

Estate Agents v Surveyors

We very much feel that the estate agents are working for the buyers in a cut throat market and will do anything to sell the property. They are in an amazing business where they don't actually have any responsibility for the item they sell. Usually the only person you have on your side is the surveyor. They are independent and working for you. The reason we say this is because often estate agents will recommend surveyors, the banks or the building societies or the money lenders will recommend their own surveyors. This is a practise that we think should be outlawed. You should remember that the estate agent hides behind the law ‘Caveat Emptor' which means ‘Buyer Beware' in Latin. Further to this if you look at the small print at the bottom of most of the house sales details you will see that is says in the course of transaction anything they say to sell the property they can't be sued for.

 

Surveyors get to know the sort of problems that different buildings have

Luckily or should we say because we are aware of the sort of problems that occur in this type of property we were looking out for cracks in this area (the cracks are brought about by drains leaking) but you do need to be aware that people selling properties hide problems or in estate agents speak they present the property in the best way they can. Sometimes the seller can pretend they don't know anything at all where there are problems.

 

Other articles that we feel may be of interest to you on our website are:

Building Surveys or Structural Surveys

Victorian and Edwardian properties and their common problems

Traditional and Non-Traditional Properties - What are they?

Unhealthy alliance between estate agents and surveyors

Property Eras and Common Problems

 

Sellers of properties lie because they want to sell the property

A recent example of this was where we spoke to the owner about various issues that we had identified and they said that their wife normally dealt with all the property things and she wasn't there. Then as we always do we asked them to fill out our property questionnaire and they put that they didn't know most of the answers. The problem related to drainage going underneath the property which we feel they must have known about as the garage extension they had had rather than being attached to the house was moved away from the house by a metre or so. Unfortunately when buying and selling a house it is very much like walking on thin ice.

 

The Surveyors question and answer session, sellers need to take this seriously

If a seller / vendor isn't completely truthful then as a Surveyor you then slow down and look at the property very closely. This then identified other areas and problems which ultimately meant that the purchaser couldn't negotiate the price at the level they wanted to have to resolve the various problems and some of them were quite basic problems like the garage being too small to get a car in and open the doors properly unless you had a very small car. Interestingly our client the purchaser bumped into the seller a week or so later who commented that he thought the surveyor would be trouble. We would comment that if we had not highlighted these things to the purchaser then the client would have had many unhappy years in the property sorting out problems that the seller knew about.

 

Estate Agents are often very,very good sales people

Estate agency often draws the very best sales people as the prize is so great. If they manage to sell a house then their sales bonus can be considerable. Although estate agency gets a bad press the vast majority of it does a good job, however some of it does concentrate more on the sales than getting their clients the right property. Often the problem is that the estate agents simply don't have the right property on their books so they have to amend what they have and sell what they have in a way that the client take's it on. Equally we have spoken to estate agents who would argue that lots of clients don't know exactly what they want and they become very skilled in interpreting this requirement.

 

 

When times are good you get pressurised selling from the Estate Agent

When the housing market is high sales are very pressurised as the estate agents know there is another purchaser around the corner so be careful.

 

 

 

When times are bad you get pressurised selling from the Estate Agent

Equally when the market is very low selling can be equally pressurised as the estate agent needs to hit the target of sales to earn their bonus. Remember they are often paid very basic minimum wages.

 

 

Why we always recommend having an independent building survey?

We believe that buying a house and home is such an important purchase that you need to have the best possible advice that you can receive. No shortcuts should be taken which is why we recommend you have a building survey to find out if there are any problems within the property; the estate agent certainly will not advise you of any but we most definitely will!

Remember the independent building Surveyor that you employ will be the only person working for you with your interests at heart.

 

Our photos and sketches and circles and arrows

We are very proud of our reports and the feedback that we get from our clients is that they like our reports because we make them so clear and simple to understand because we write in plain English and don't over use technical terms, and we define terms when we do use them but most of all we use sketches and photos to help them understand the problems with the property. This in turn means that they can negotiate with the estate agent from a point of strength (remember the estate agents job is to sell the property).

If we need to highlight a certain area on a photo or sketch we will do this by using circles and ovals like the example below right

An example of one of our photos
An example of one of our sketches

 

 

Our articles

We hope this article has been of interest to you but as we are only human, if you feel any of the information we have given is incorrect please do not hesitate to contact us.

The contents of the web site are for general information only and are not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

 

Commercial Property

Regarding freehold or leasehold Commercial property you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com .

 

 

Our rights

All rights are reserved the contents of the web site is not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of www.1stAssociated.co.uk

 

building engineers

Home Buyers Reports Property Surveys - why we're the best. Engineers Reports
© Copyright 1stassociated.co.uk

1stassociated-logo-for-footer IVSA-badge IVSA-putting-client-first call-us-for-footer

New Survey Software for more information click here Survey Software 1st | Modern Methods of Surveying

We have thousands of free property articles to help you - or call us freephone on 0800 298 5424

We have been working in the property industry for many years and have been
providing free property articles for over ten years. All for free and to help you with buying your next property.

House and Home Surveys and Useful Information

All you need to know about Building Surveys

Building Control, what do they do?

Designers and Architects will they save me money or will they cost me money

Enviroment, Your Building and Garden Gnomes

Estate Agents help sell houses and work for the vendors

Have a Structural Survey to protect you against structural problems

Home improvements, builder problems and ideas for you on how to solve them

How a Surveyor values a property, Chartered Surveyors and Regulated Valuers

How Chartered Engineers and Building Engineers can help you

Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas

NHBC National House Building Council

Structural Surveys and How We Can Help You

Traditional and Non-Traditional Houses and Mortgage Problems

Valuations and how much is the building worth?

Whats the difference between a Chartered Building Surveyor, Chartered Surveyor and an Independent Surveyor

Useful property problem articles by Chartered Surveyors explaining building issues to avoid

External - Helpful information on building problems on the outside of the property

Chimney issues and problems

Cracking and Movement Problems and Surveying Solutions

Flat Roof Problems, how we can solve them

Foundations and Structures and Settlement and Subsidence and Underpinning

Pitched Roofs Problems and Solutions

Roof Problems

Wall Problems

Windows and Doors and Fascias and Soffits and Wet Rot and Dry Rot and other problems

Internal - House problems we have investigated inside

All you ever need to know about floors

Asbestos in your home, what you need to know

Ceiling Cracks and Structural Problems

Condensation, Damp and Black Mould Problems

Cracking and Movement Problems and Surveying Solutions

Windows and Doors and Fascias and Soffits and Wet Rot and Dry Rot and other problems

Woodworm is it a problem or not? Is it active or not?

Services - Building help and advice on costly services

Drainage, what's underground can affect what's above ground

Heating; I just can't get my house warm enough or alternatively I just can't get my house cool enough

You can't mess around with the electric, you need an expert

 

Commercial Property Services

Building Terms Explained and Directories

Commercial Property Surveys

Commercial Structural Surveys

Leisure Facilites

Offices Large and Small

Shops and Retail

Warehouse and Industrial Buildings

Dilapidations Help and Advice What is a Dilapidations Notice?

A Beginner's Guide to Dilaps

Damp Mould and Condensation

Dampness Rising Damp Mould Black Mould Condensation

Dilapidations and Negotiations

Dilapidations Claim by a Landlord

Energy Saving what can I do?

Finance what is a Financial Adviser (We are not Financial Advisors)

Fire Risk and Help

Health and Safety Risks

Insurance how do I get the correct property insurance?

Landlords Surveying Advice

Property Investment how can I invest in property?

Property TV Reviews by an Independent Surveyor

Schedules of Condition Leasing a Commercial Property

Scotts Schedule and Section 18 Valuation

Tenants Surveying Advice

Weather how does weather affect my property?

Flooding

Rain

Snow and Ice

Strong Winds

Reviews from clients on Commercial Building Surveys

Churches and Charities, helpful reviews from our clients

Industrial Buildings and Warehouses and what our clients say about us

Offices Large and Small, reviews and feedback from our clients

Pubs, Restaurants, Hotels and other Leisure facilities we have surveyed over the years

Shops and Retail, helpful reviews from our clients

 

First Time Buyers

Buying a Leasehold or Shared Freehold Home

Buying and Selling Houses for the experienced house and home purchaser

First Time Buyers how do I go about buying my first house and home?

Improve your property knowledge with our presentations on house, homes and commercial property

Building Surveys

Building Surveying Useful Information

Dilapidations

Dilapidations Presentations in Detail

Final Year Building Surveying Exams for University Students or those that would like to know more

How old is your Building? Which era was it built in?

Party Walls

Surveyors and Design Tools

Disputes and Party Walls

Boundary Disputes

Building and Property Disputes

Party Wall Book Reviews

Party Walls Your Rights and Responsibilities

1stAssociated Surveyors Review for Structural Surveys and Building Surveys

Building Surveys, reviews and feedback from satisfied customers

Buy to let property clients, what they say about our structural surveys

Buying at auction, review of the survey

Buying bungalows and retirement properties and how our surveyors can help

Both at work / busy couples, how we can help and some 1stAssociated client reviews

Families with a young person flying the nest, reviews and feedback

First Time Buyers, what they say about us

Listed buildings, structural surveys

Older buildings, a review of buying an older house

Families with children looking for a new home, feedback and reviews

Buying a Non-Traditional Property

Residential Surveys

House and Home Surveys

Commercial Building Surveys

Commercial Surveys

1st Associated Surveyors Are Also Available in the Following Areas:

East Anglia and East

South and South East

West Country and South West

Midlands

North and North East

 

London

London Markets

London Parks

 

Wales

Areas of Britain

1stAssociated Independent Expert Property Surveyors

Specialists in Home Buyers Reports, Building Surveys and Structural Surveys and Schedules of Condition

All Surveyors are Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors qualified and RICS regulated

and are Members of the Independent Surveyors and Valuers Association

Putting the Client First

We do not accept service of documents by email or fax