d5hof

lets see how many of us are out there, there's two in my office
02 sti and 06 spec C

WRX300MAN

That way you could all get together and undervalue property in your undervalued cars! . . .Shof! I'm looking at you!

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

im not an estate agent, but my mrs works in one... do i count? her bums big enough to fit in both seats at the same time if that helps??

d5hof

we don't undervalue properties, we just value low enough so it becomes easy to sell

EOEUMC

iTrader: (5)

I'm not an estate agent, by god i'm trying to get into it

WRX300MAN

And then you need a fast car to make a quick getaway!

Luckyscoob

iTrader: (2)

Yep, that'll be me then!.

Get some good comments tho, and helps me get around quicker!.

As I saw it, it was a choice between a 3 series (Typical estate agents car) or a scoob. No contest.
Black 06 STi (subtle!!)

d5hof

as well as instructions I even had a date when i took mine on a valuation

might wrx

I thought all estate agents drove TT's and new minis.
I guessed they came with the suits and digi cameras

CT_dunmow

Im an Estate Agent and i have a 02 sti ppp, people always comment. As long as you dont try and 'outdo' the people you visit i get a good reception. For example i never pull into peoples driveways instead i park down the road when im valuing. Though i find nothing gets me to viewings quicker on the B roads round here. Had a few ' your a flash cu*t' and typical spivy agent comments but they are just jeleous and normaly other agents, but couldn't care less i still get more instructions than anyone else round here!

ESH

Great comment CT. In my line of work its the same. Which is why I've opted for two cars. One for business and one for playing in. A few weeks back my biz car had a dodgy tye so I had to use the type R (Subaru not Civic). Bloody client only got me parking right out in front of the building. As I didn't know the area I had no choice but to park in front .

Legal Eagle

but up to 2% commission on a £200,000 sale (4 grand if my maths is correct) is still a nice little earner for disproportinate effort, in my very humble opinion.

I wish I had studied less hard at school...

CT_dunmow

Nothing wrong with your maths, but figure this into the equation....

Im an employee so that £4k you speak of doesn't go to me i would get about £120 out of that and i would also get up to 6 months hassle seeing the sale through, that asside.
Our rent and rates in a small essex town comes in at about £15k a year, advertising breaks down as follows ( you need advertising as you dont get instructions)

Rightmove- subscription £250 per month

Local papers (not London) £1800 per week - (thats £86,400 per year)

Fuel Costs (ahem Scooby) - 40p per mile 4 staff average 600 miles each - £960 per month, cars £350 each per month - £1400 - £16,800 per year

Printing costs and office supplies- (detail sheets which need to be full colour by vendors request) at least £180 per week! - £720 a month - £8,600 per year

Wages ( not that good!) it was said the average Estate agent wage was 26k in the paper the other day, of course some earn more some earn less. 4 staff
Roughly £104k - Excluding directors cut.

Rough Total a small independant agent costs to run per year £234,000

Now £4k is a lot but that is also on a no sale no fee basis regardless of the amount of advertising and time we spend on each property (sometimes we lose money!). Many people withdraw their properties - no fee for us.

If you look at it like that its not that bad, try selling your own house for top money for less, you might get lucky but i bet you give up and use an agent.

markGT

MY05 STI PPP

On a slightly serious note it all ways make me laugh when people say estate agents earn too much money.

Now I have a 2.1 honours degree in Computer Science and I worked in the IT/Media industry for a number of years before I moved to France. Now I run my own business selling properties to International clients and I'm very successful at it. Now here is a question, if I offered you 30K a year (a bloody good salary in the North East) or I said to you you could potentially make 15K a month selling property what would you say? We'll I know what I said, sh*t with the degree I'll take the potential 15K or more a month and I suspect most people would as well.

Now I work in France where its a lot different to the UK. It’s not just a case of hanging a property in the window and then making an appointment for the client to turn up to the house. I spend the whole day with the client driving them around seeing houses etc. If I make a sale then its not just a case of thanks very much for my commission and never see them again. We see the whole buying process through from start to finish and even accompany them to the signing and then we are on hand to help them with any teething problems they may have over the first few months. Ok you may say its disproportionate to the money I earn but don’t forget I'm not guaranteed a sale. If people want to have a go at people who get paid disproportionate then have ago at footballers etc. At least we work and sometimes my working day doesn’t finish until 10.00pm.


You make chances in life and honest hard working people shouldn’t be chastised for making more money than the next man.

Rant over

ESH

Even if your maths were pants you can always rely on the calulator in accesories on your PC. Or maybe you did.

Agreed with Mark and CT's comments. I will say that there are some national estate agencies out there who drive minis that have given your profession a bad name which inspires comments like eagles and others.

Esh

d5hof

lot of people say we work in a estate agent because we are kniving illiterate *******s who would do anything for to rip them off

I have a 2.1 degree in information systems engineering and just today good old 72 year old Mrs Palmer completed on the sale of her property, when I went to pick up the key she gave me a hug, wished me a happy life and requested me to escort her to her sons car. She has been in that house for over 50years and because the way our company handled the sale she walked out very happy.

My point is we are not all illiterate and mean.

Being an estate agent is not an easy job especially in London where they all complain about gazzumping and such yet they always asking us if they can offer more than the person who's offer has been accepted!!

Luckyscoob

iTrader: (2)

Couldn't have put it better myself!.

CT_dunmow

Thanks very much. I also made good use of the ' calculator feature' of my PC. During work time of course.