What's wrong with estate agents?

We're at our fourth estate agent and I feel like I want to shoot them. We don't think we are that difficult but there seem to be lots of communication errors all the time. First agent showed us nice places that only fulfilled 1 of our 3 requirements. Secondone insisted on an answer immediately then stopped calling once we said we are not interested in what she had shown us. Third one seemed really ok to start with but 2 weeks after we said we want the flat nothing has happened, communication with thelandlord very difficult, lots of misunderstandings on the way. Now the fourth one is getting on my nerves. We discuss one thing then he goes on with something different. Whatever I ask they seem to say the first thing that goes through their minds then come back with another answer. They seem to give a higher price than drop it to appear as if they are negotiating for us( one place was asking 30k, then he said 28, then we insisted for personal reasons for 30k and could not get a price higher than 28k) there is something weird about that isn't it? Now we thought we're meeting the landlord to finalise the agreement and he wants us to sign and give the deposit. We haven't even seen the contract so we can't sign on the spot. If there are any estate agents on this forum please explain to me how to make sure we get our point across and avoid all the communication errors

We had to make ours look bad to get her to "cooperate". We insisted on certain requirements. She brought us to (yet another) a place that definitely did not meet these requirements. We refused to get out of the car. She lost face in front of building management since she had the whole tour set up already.


After that, things were much smoother.

unprofessional people

need quick money without hard work, thats all

axptguy38 is right. When you meet them ready to go view flats, first as then to explain each flat on the list, how much, what requirements does it meet etc. If they don't meet your requirement then refuse to go see them. I walked away without seeing any flats even though many were arranged many times with different agents. After that a couple will catch on and call you if there is a flat that really meets your requirements. When flat hunting I always have many agents on the go looking for flats for me. Whoever hustles the best gets my buisness.

after the same experience (upsell strategy), we just lowered what we stated as our max, so that they were actually showing us stuff well within our price range...this was after I had to tell one agent that the next flat they showed us over our limit would be the last...it worked.

On a good note, after going through about 10 agents, I met one at Lifestyles on DB. She was wonderful, took the time to get to know me and what I would be looking for as well as what my budget was. She showed me only 3 places, all of which I made an offer on and the one that was accepted was actually lower than she and I had discussed offering as she had heard what the other offers were and realized we could get it for less. Now it is all signed, etc and she has taken it on herself to go back to check all the clean up work and fixtures to make sure it was all done correctly. PM me if you want her info!

Completely agree with smoog. but to play devils advocate every sales person has that kind of mentality.


In my industry (Relocations) I come across a lot of real estate agents and i have black listed more than i have retained on my list. I would be more than happy to give out contact info of ones I kept.


-joe

Thanks for all the info and advice. I was at my wits end! We seem to have agreed now on a place so finger crossed it'll work out. But I really don't think they deserve the money we'll pay


joeis8salt do you also relocate within HK? Since we'll be moving we are interested in a company to get all our stuff to the other place