The big scandal of the day is that the BBC has aired a documentary about how corrupt and dishonest estate agents are. Try as I might, I can’t bring myself to get very whelmed about it.
 I didn’t see the documentary, but luckily the BBC has summarised it in a news article.
My boss congratulates me on getting an offer on a flat that has been overvalued by £60,000. The newly-wed young couple viewing the property are stretched to their financial limit. But my manager is happy.
Who says the property has been overvalued by £60,000? How is that even possible? The value of something is just what people are prepared to pay for it, and this couple were clearly prepared to pay that amount of money. Finding out just how much a buyer is willing to pay is surely the estate agent’s job. If they take any less, they’re surely failing in their duty to their client, the seller.
He takes me aside and explains how to convince a surveyor that the flat in London’s fashionable Notting Hill is worth more than it is.
Isn’t the scandal here that the surveyor, i.e. the person whose job it is to report his opinion of the market value of a property, is so easily influenced by a bit of estate agent patter?
Under-performers are heckled and those who have done the most deals are applauded and given champagne and £50. Young agents in Foxtons exchange high-fives as they swap tales of gazumping and over-valuing.
I’ve already explained why over-valuing is not really possible. What’s this gazumping, then? Wikipedia says, “The verb “gazump” means to ditch a sale agreement at the last minute in order to accept an higher offer. [...] When the owner accepts the offer on a property, the buyer has to spend money on a survey and on their solicitor’s conveyancing work, but until contracts are exchanged either party can pull out at any time. Buyers have to wait on average 10-12 weeks to get the deeds to the property, and if the seller is tempted by a higher offer during this period it leaves the buyer disappointed and out of pocket.”
So I can’t bring myself to see how a gazumper is so evil, either. If no contracts have been signed, so no actual commitment to a sale made, you’d have to be stupid not to accept a higher offer when it came through. The fact that the former prospective buyer has wasted money on surveys and whatnot is just tough luck. It was a known risk willingly entered into.
What I want to know is (and this is a genuine request for information if anyone knows): what stops the buyer asking the seller to sign a contract agreeing not to accept further offers for a specified period? That this is not a commonplace solution to the problem of gazumping suggests to me that government regulations (on which more below) are at play.
For BBC One’s Whistleblower programme, I spent eight months investigating the murky world of the estate agent.
This involved spending time in five very different agencies and within days, I got a shocking glimpse inside this largely unregulated industry.
Here we get a first glimpse of Anna Adams’ agenda:Â estate agents aren’t regulated enough and Something Must Be Done About It!
Together with a BBC colleague, Emma Clarke, I spent three months in Foxtons. Londoners will know the brand by its ubiquitous fleet of branded Minis and the trendy high-street offices that look more like wine bars than estate agencies.
But behind the stylish facade it is easy to see why the company has made its owner Jon Hunt one of the wealthiest estate agents in Britain.
I’m told he encourages his agents to adopt the mantra: “Our clients expect us to go to war for them!” – so it’s hardly surprising the lengths his staff will go to keep the deals coming in.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Jon Hunt is worth £345m and also owns independent mortgage brokers Alexander Hall.
So, cutting through the shrillness, Jon Hunt is rich because he encourages his staff to do the best possible job on behalf of their clients. I’m not sure I see the scandal there, either.
I soon discovered his mortgage brokers work closely with Foxtons’ agents. They openly discuss potential buyers’ budgets so they can squeeze as much money out of them as possible.
Some buyers have no idea that the Foxtons agents showing them around properties already know exactly what they can afford.
On the face of it this would appear to be a breach of client confidentiality by the mortgage broker, in which case this is a fair and worthwhile bit of reporting and I expect to see a flurry of lawsuits against the mortgage brokers in question. It’s still not quite a problem with the estate agents, though. My advice would be to select your mortgage broker carefully and not use one that’s associated with an estate agent. It’s quite possible that the buyers signed a contract allowing their brokers to share such information with estate agents, in which case there’s not much of a scandal at all — just a little scandal about sneaking in contract clauses that no-one in their right mind would sign up to. Again, my advice would be to read contracts carefully, especially when hundreds of thousands of pounds are involved, duh!
After an excruciatingly intense two-hour job interview
Well, diddums.
when I tell one of the directors that “failure is not an option”, he looks thrilled.
Hold the front page! Foxtons employ people who don’t like to fail!
Life as an estate agent is arduous. We work six days a week, 12 hours a day. We work together and socialise together, but we are also pitted against one another as we battle for deals. It’s a punishing regime and the pressure is palpable.
Some Foxtons agents earn a basic salary of £10,000 – nowhere near enough to live in this trendy hub of west London populated by City high-fliers and celebrities.
The company demand that you live close to your office and they tell you it should take no longer than 40 minutes to get to work. Clinching a deal is a necessity if you are to survive, and some agents will do whatever it takes.
Yet more whinging from Ms. Adams about what hard work being an estate agent is. I think I’m supposed to get the impression that because they are paid a low basic salary and the rest of their income is based on performance, estate agents will therefore inevitably lie and cheat and scheme, and that it’s therefore all Foxtons’ fault for setting things up this way.
This is the kind of victim mentality that pervades the entire article. The Foxtons employees have choices here. If they find the work too tough they can go and find other work. They aren’t forced into lying, cheating and scheming. “Just following the incentive structure” has got to be an even weaker excuse than “just following orders”.
So what dodgy business have these estate agents been up to, anyway? (Let me remind you that so far the only charge against actual estate agents is working hard on behalf of the client.)
In another Foxtons office, lettings staff jump up and down in delight after they successfully fake a signature on an absent landlord’s paperwork.
Faking documents is something of a habit in the St John’s Wood office, where Emma Clarke worked undercover in the lettings department.
I was shocked when she played me her secret footage which showed staff cutting, pasting and gluing signatures onto contracts. They call it “chop chop”.
I find it interesting that there is no mention of what documents were faked. Surely if it was so terrible, we should know? Could it be that the absent landlord consented to his signature being faked to save him the time and trouble? Still a bit dodgy, but a world away from, say, signing up for a mortgage in his name, in which case surely we (and he) would have heard about it.
Nothing prepared me for working at Foxtons. It’s not just a job – it’s a way of life. Rewards include booze-filled weekends away with management and a weekly breakfast club where you have the dubious pleasure of dining at 7.30am with your bosses.
Oh, the humanity!
The pressure is relentless and even on your one day off, your company mobile buzzes as head office texts you new property details.
Staff turnover is high and new recruits quickly burn out. The staff are young and keen and usually straight out of university – happy to get a job and drive a company car.
So they get what they think is a cushy job, make a bit of money for a while, then realise what hard work it is and quit. They don’t sound like victims to me. This also illustrates that they have choices apart from lying, stealing and cheating.
The maverick owner of T2M, Bruce Burkitt, was fined last year by the Office of Fair Trading after he failed to disclose that a member of his family had purchased a property.
That actually is a bit scandalous, because he might not have acted in his client’s best interests if his family member was a buyer. He was fined for it, though, which is interesting given that the industry is, “largely unregulated”.
I got a job and within an hour of joining T2M, I was shown exactly how they sold their properties. It was simple. Once they value a property and get the owner to use their services, they then lie about offers they haven’t had.
Then after a while, when the owner is utterly desperate to sell, they make up false offers well below the original valuation so the owner reduces the price. The manager called it “price reduction hour” and “vendor care” – everyone else calls it lying.
Finally, a real scandal!  Lying to your clients is definitely not acting in their interests. But, once again, the seller should know how much they want for their house. T2M presumably aren’t turning buyers away, so if the seller wants to sell fast then lowering the price is how to do it.
What’s interesting here is the contrast between Foxtons’ and T2M’s approach to business. T2M want to lower prices for fast turnover. Foxtons want to get the highest price possible.  If they didn’t, they’d be guilty of what T2M are doing. But Anna Adams criticizes both.
She would no doubt argue that it is dishonesty she is criticizing. In T2M’s case it looks like a fair cop. Making up fake offers to clients who have paid you for their services is surely a breach of contract.
I then joined ranks with a property developer who taught me some other tricks of the trade. It wasn’t long before I found agents asking for cash backhanders in return for cheating owners out of tens of thousands of pounds.
He told me lots of agents would take a cash bung in return for getting properties at knock-down prices.
After just a few days trawling the high street agencies, we found one unscrupulous agent who asked for a £10,000 backhander to cheat a pensioner out of more than £50,000.
This seems like another genuine sccop. It’s not actually said, but presumably the estate agent, who is supposed to be working for the pensioner, told the pensioner, “you’ll never sell at that price, you should take this offer of £50,000 less.” Note that the pensioner still must be prepared to sell at that price, but the agent’s duty is to act in the pensioner’s best interests (whether those interests be a fast sale or a high price). The backhander suggests that the agent has sold out on his client.
The manager of a Chard estate agency branch in Fulham, west London, showed us round a flat worth more than £190,000. Yet if our developer was happy to grease his palm to the tune of £10,000, he’d tell the owner to take the offer of £140,000.
Once again, that £10,000 should rightly be in the hands of the seller, so it’s a fair cop. But the seller doesn’t have to be a victim, he can turn down that £140,000 offer if it’s not acceptible to him.
Months later, we found an agent willing to go to even further. I was totally shocked when we were offered a fake identity in order to get a fraudulent mortgage.
We visited Primetime Mortgage and Property in north London and within minutes of our meeting we were offered a fake British passport, P60 forms and forged utility bills.
I still wasn’t convinced that he’d be able to come through with the passport. But after one more meeting and £550, we had a fake British passport in my name.
It’s interesting that an estate agent would perform this service, but not very scary. The person using the fake credentials to get a mortgage is even more at fault than the estate agent. I can’t imagine the cost of such practices to mortgage lenders being high enough to affect the cost of my mortgage at all. Nope, I can’t bring myself to care about this at all.
The industry desperately needs better regulation and perhaps, like in the United States, estate agents should be required to have a qualification other than a sharp suit.
Whoah, back-up there! What started out as a not-terribly-alarming article about some iffy estate agents has become a call for Government Action, and Desperately! While I fully support the idea of shaming dodgy dealers on TV, why does the government have to get involved? Is it because, hired through the pages of the Guardian as they are, no-one at the BBC can imagine a problem that can be solved without government involvement? Are they so subordinate to their masters The Government that they don’t realise that documentaries like this are more powerful than government regulations could ever be? Here is the BBC educating people on what dodgy estate agent tricks to look out for, and regulations will achieve what?
All regulations will do is create a big paper trail and require armies of inspectors to check up on things and follow the paper trail around. The estate agents, meanwhile, will continue to lie, cheat and scheme. They’ll fake the paper trail just like they apparently fake other documents, and they’ll lie to the inspectors just like they apparently lie to their clients. All this charade will achieve is catch the odd particularly foolhardy estate agent, convince the odd particularly foolhardy client that he can trust his estate agent (because they’re regulated, duh!), waste a whole lot of people’s time and a whole lot of taxpayers’ money.
I told the BBC as much. In their, “your comment” box I typed: “What exactly would more government regulations achieve? People need to take control of their own lives. An estate agent can’t force you into handing over more money than a house is worth to you, and it can’t force you to apply for a mortgate with false documents. If people expect the government to do all their critical thinking for them, they are doomed from the outset!”
So far, the BBC have only published comments of people who agree with them that estate agents are evil and Something Must Be Done.
To summarise, all that’s needed is for people to understand a few simple points:
- Buy a house for what it’s worth to you.
- Sell your house for the amount of money you want in exchange for it.
- Humans have been known to lie. If they tell you an offer has been made, it might not really have been.
- Don’t automatically believe anyone who tells you what a house is worth. The value is somewhere between the lowest the seller will accept and the highest the buyer will pay, and only they really know what these figures are.
Â
Rob, I’m afraid you lost me at I didn’t see the documentary. After that, I just dipped in and out of paragraphs to confirm this. No-one who saw it would possibly be able to defend any of these scumballs. Which might explain why, as you noted, everyone seemed to be in agreement with the programme. I’ve seen programmes about dodgy plumbers, cowboy builders and rogue traders that have nothing on the people shown here. They had clips of people saying “we totally refute that we ever said that”, followed immediately by clips of them saying the exact words!
But the good news is that I recorded it – will divx it and put it on my site for you at the weekend
Now here’s something else to annoy you
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4829628.stm
I was going to have a go at this one too but you said everything I was going to say and more and said it better.
I suppose it is worth pointing out that all the really dodgy practices are already crimes or in some way actionable.
fuck foxtons
So by your skewed reasoning all the below are acceptable, and we should just stop being so naive? Deary, deary me
__________________________________________
Foxtons:
- Deliberately mislead surveyors by lying about the value of other properties that have sold. This could result in buyers paying over the odds for a property.
[Rob:Â As I said, this is pretty much their job, and the surveyor's job to see through it.]
- Fail to draw would-be tenants’ attention to high fees and to lie to them about whether landlords would agree to break clauses in their contracts, resulting in would-be tenants being tied into tenancy agreements for longer than they might otherwise have been.
[Rob: I didn't say anything about this. But contracts should be read before being signed.]
- Fake signatures on documents.
[Rob:Â As I said, this depends on context.]
- Sign up clients by tempting them with a high asking price for their property then, once “on their books”, putting in false low offers to the vendors in order to encourage them to lower their price to a more realistic level.
[Rob: Definitely wrong, as I said. Did you actually read my article?]
- Put up “For Sale” signs at properties not on their books – this is known as flyboarding and is illegal.
[Rob: I didn't say anything about this. I think it's trespass and definitely wrong. The correct response to this is to brandish a shotgun and politely ask that they leave your property.]
- Undervalue a property in order to sell it at a cheap price to a property developer in return for a cash backhander of £10,000.
[Rob: Definitely wrong, as I said. You really didn't read my article, did you?]
- supply a reporter posing as a would-be buyer with a false British passport and false Customs and Revenue documentation, which was supplied in order for them to get a mortgage.
[Rob: I didn't say this was ok. I said it didn't scare me.]
The firms involved are investigating the claims and have suspended staff.
The OFT is on Tuesday launching the Ombudsman for Estate Agents Company Limited’s code of practice to try to ensure homebuyers and sellers get a fairer deal when using the services of estate agents who are OEA members.
The OEA represents more than 40% of estate agency offices in the UK and deals with disputes between agents and buyers or sellers.
[Rob: All very interesting. What's your point?]
If you are happy to defend the actions of Foxtons and the other agents on that program then, fair enough, but you must appreciate that it shows agents in a very bad light. The question you need to answer, honestly, once you have seen the program, is would you be happy to recommend these people to a member of your family or a friend, or give a character reference for them? Or does lying and cheating fit with professional life these days. Business has to have a foundation of trust and honesty otherwise society becomes like the worst corrupt regimes in Africa, where bribes and cheating are so rife that it is no longer news.
[Rob: I still haven't seen the documentary. I'd probably consider selling my house through Foxtons as they would likely get a good price. I would avoid T2M. I'd be wary of any estate agent when buying.]
I admire your bravery in defending the indefensible.
Rob. Your blog entry is full of mistakes and mislead assumptions. I havent actually read it – Im just assuming it’s a load of incorrect assumptions and biased arrogant nonsense.
See what I did there?
[Rob:Â I did however, read the article, and confine my comments to it.]
“BBC has aired a documentary about how corrupt and dishonest estate agents are”
Its not much of a shock… everyone knows theyre crooks. Hardly breaking news.
I used to work with this girl in the very same office where these incidents took place. Articles like this really annoy me – journalists getting up on their soap boxes moaning about the unscrupulious ways agents do their job to get clients money – remember these buyers are the same people who will demand a high price for their property when they sell.
Anyway – yes foxtons is a hughely pressured environment but in my eyes clients and buyers are eqully if not more dishonest and its because of this as to why the agent gets a bad reputation more than the agent intentionally ripping people off.
People hate foxtons, so what I would never have guessed judging by the amount of fingers I got syuck up at me whilst in my mini but these are the same people who moan at other agencies when they cant view a property after 18:30. Get a grip hard work never hurt anyone.
To be honest with you Rob, it wasn’t just the reporter who suggested that there should be tighter regulation of estate agents. The developer who tipped her off and did the secret recording of the agents willing to rip off the pensioner said that until estate agents are regulated properly it’s going to be difficult to stamp out most of the dodgy practices. I also recall something on BBC breakfast several months back where there were several representatives from estate agent bodies who also said they’d like to see licensing to try and drive out disreputable agents.
As Frazpas says, business has to have a foundation of trust and honesty, and I think that’s especially true when you consider buying a house is probably the biggest expense people are going to incur in their lives.
Regarding your comment about surveyors being persuaded by estae agent patter – it wasn’t persuasion through talk but through massaging the figures of recent property sales for similar propertis in the area. However, myself I’d be asking why the surveyor is getting these figures from the estate agents and not from an independent third party? Given that you can find out how much properties sold for on the web I’m assuming this is something a surveyor should be able to do without difficulty.
Joe Bloggs, I don’t think you can defend these practices as hard work / pressure from the punters to achieve high prices. The point of being a professional person is to earn respect and have standards.
Cerebros, the agents cannot easily get up to date information of selling proces from the web or reliable third parties as the land registry process will typically take say 6 to 8 weeks in total to register a new sale so it lags behind the deals. However i suggest that a diligent valuer might demand a written statement especially if they are getting values from the same agent who is seeking to justify a high price.
[Rob: 6 to 8 weeks is too long. It must be because of government bureaucracy. Perhaps those lobbying for more government regulations might better spend their energies setting up an open property sale price register.]
I have to wonder how many properties you have bought to be so knowledgeable about the process. Seems to me like you have no idea of what actually goes on and neither did you see the programme so your viewpoint is unresearched, and full of idealistic and naive ideas (you obviously haven’t got a clue) and therefore lacks substance.
For instance you can incur a fair amount of legal and survey fees (duh)!!!! well before exchange of contract and agents such as Foxtons then bully you with suggestions such as the chance you will lose the property if they don’t increase offers because of ‘ supposed interest from other buyers’ etc, etc.
[Rob: I have never bought real estate. I explained the risk of gazumping and that it was willingly entered into. I also suggested a solution.]
I suggest you do your homework Rob before you criticise a programme highlighting a very major problem. Oh, and have a look at the blaggers site and see what people who have first hand experience have to say about Foxtons and their practices.
Your idealistic suggestions eg, that something is only worth what someone would pay for it are short-sighted. Of course it is possible to overvalue something-especially had you seen the programme and realised that the agents had to ‘make up’ comparitive valuations to reflect their proposed market price as proper valuations would have indicated the unrealistic comparison. Mortgage companies wont lend past the market value so it’s not simply a case of how much you will pay for something unless you are a cash buyer!!
[Rob: How to mortgage lenderes determine the market value? Is it by looking at what people pay?]
If buyers are as stupid and lacking in common sense as you imply, then why would Foxtons have to lie and cheat their way fraudulently to a sale or letting. Fact is, then there is a major problem with the industry and calls for some regulation are thus well overdue. At least the innocent law-abiding buyer should know what is possible and programmes such as Whistleblower go someway to exposing the cheats and fraudsters.
[Rob: I implied it would be stupid to believe everything an estate agent told you. I think programmes like Whistleblower are a useful tool for innocent, law-abiding buyers. That's why I wrote, "documentaries like this are more powerful than government regulations could ever be".]
So: “you’d have to be stupid not to accept a higher offer when it came through”. Call me stupid, but I think that it’s right and proper to stick to what you orginally agreed. That’s how decent people behave.
Paul: I’m not advocating breaking agreements, merely suggesting that no such agreement has been made. If an agreement has been made that the buyer not accept further offers, why not have a contract saying so?
I’m not even an estate agent but am well aware of the fact that sellers demand that their properties be put on the market for far more than they’re worth. At the same time, buyers think they can get a house for practically the same price as a tin of beans. The ONLY possible way for an agent to bring the two parties in line with the reality of the market is to tell a little lie. Now don’t get me wrong, some of the practices shown on the BBC website were disturbing but to put Foxtons at the top of the list when another agent is ripping off a pensioner and another is forging passports is insane! The faked signature incident, while inexcusible, did not result in any changes to any agreed terms of contracts. Another issue to bear in minds, was that this was filmed over an 8 month period and considering that timescale, the journalist didn’t uncover even an average of ONE malpractice per month. I know a person who owns an independent estate agent, and I know that he carries out such acts at least on a weekly basis which makes Foxtons look like angels compared to him.
As far as gazumping, estate agents cannot be blamed or even considered to be instrumental to such a practice. The NAEA code of practice states that NO offer should be withheld from the vendor regardless of how far along a sale he/she is. So if an offer comes in and is accepted by the vendor, the agent can not take the property off the market or advertise it as under offer unless the client agrees. It is the seller, and the seller alone that leaves the market open to gazumping. But buyers shouldn’t be considered victims in all this, they have hit back with another immoral craze: Gazundering.
For those of you calling for greater regulation, bear two things in mind. They have such regulation in the US, and those agents charge commissions of 6%. Far higher than the commissions charged by their UK counterparts. Secondly, if the cost of greater regulation doesn’t come with higher commissions, it most certainly will be charged for by the government. It WILL be accompanied by higher stamp duty AND lower threshholds.
On the signatures point – i wonder how many people whi watched the show realise that when a owner signs the agreement to do business with foxtons they also sign power of attorney over to foxtons at the same time if they are not avaiable for signature….i questioned this and quite rightly so i would have been aware of it if i had read my terms and conditions…
Foxtons have done a fantastic job for me, and all of my initial complaints wouldnt have occured if i had read this.
Give them a break
p.s this was for lettings not sales
I am a parent of one such University graduate identified in the BBC report, flattered by his success in Foxton’s recruitment process and ultimately humiliated by being summarily dismissed in his first job (within 6 months) for, perceptibly, not being ‘worth what he was paid’. He had refused to move to a lower salary with commission, despite continued harassment by his managers — with Foxton’s alleging poor performance and attitude. Whilst he gave his life and soul to a company he thought he had a career with, he was naive to their business practices and the duplicity amongst colleagues and managers – engendered by Foxton’s own business practices; however, he was flawed by having a sense of ethical behaviour. Foxtons told him he was ‘too nice’. Their callous breach of contract by not following their own disciplinary processes and stated contractual obligations speaks volumes for their lack of principles knowing that these young aspirants have limited recourse within the law having less than 12 months employment with them. Furthermore, my son’s experience highlights Foxton’s lack of respect and professional duty of care toward their staff (when the HR manager laughs away the lack of due process citing ‘lack of communication’ and an Area manger becomes amnesic about specific events in order to justify the sacking). My son was dismissed after 6 months, and the day before his planned 2 weeks holiday, thus saving Foxtons money. Foxtons allege they train their personnel to a high standard and to respect the legislation and rule of law – it’s a shame they do not practise this as a company with their own HR policy. So Mr Hunt, here is a challenge for you via Robb’s Blogg (Foxton’s PR ??). If you are concerned about the reputation of your company don’t sue a reporter whom you believe might have misrepresented your company, let’s see you do something positive to address the endemic culture in your business. Achieve IiP and ISO 9000// series accreditation for a service industry within 12 months and you might just regain some professional respect not only from within the industry but also the public at large.
well i applied online for a job at foxtons and just had a telephone interview. The lady was quite rash with me on the phone so i decided to do some online research into working life there, and came across all of this!! what a put off. I think i’ve had a lucky escape.
I totally agree with you. I had quite few bad experiences in the past with Estate Agents.
On the other hand they are just humans trying to do their job (an make as much money as they can in the process).
A good estate agent in London is aylesford.com which sells expensive property. A friend of mine just bought a studio flat in Chelsea. They had a very good service. The worst estate agent is foxstone.co.uk. Great Website but horrible people!
Reluctantly I’ve been using Foxtons as they have a lot of property on their books, but I’ll always assume the worst from then and then I’ll not be surprised. In my experience they have a culture of dishonesty. I put an offer on a place, then went round to the vendor’s place for a chat. He was so relieved that I had taken the initiative as he hated dealing with Foxtons. It turns out that they had been telling lies to him about me and to me about his situation. Stupid stuff like I had just had an offer fall through, or that he had bad debts. We had a good laugh about it. I wouldn’t trust them to tel me the correct time of day.
Know a lot of people who worked for this company, they are always looking for people because staff turnover is off the scale. After two months 90% leave or are thrown out, a warning to all students get a job somewhere else and you will not have to drive around looking like a tool in a mini.
i recently had an interview with foxtons (gunnerbury: head office, feb 2007). it was the worst experience ever. You know at first they started with an presentation and it was so flashy in regards to the earnings and dreamland lifestyle. The presentation really made us get excited and happy, but it was a total crap. When i was called for my interview is lasted literally 2 minutes and you did not get the chance to sell youself, secondly its like they wasnt even interested and they wanted to go home. After my 1:1 interview i went back to the group interview. There were approx five recruiters and between each recruiter there was approx 5 people waiting to have a chat with the recruiter, so about 30 people. I believed that the aim of the game was to speak to as much recruiters as possible so you get recognised rather being quiet boy on the corner.I spoke to all 5 recruiters and only 2 recruiters only made notes. Anyways the group interview ended and they told us that they will let us know the next day. i got a call and was unsuccessfull. (by the way i have 7years customer service experience and hold supervisory position, 6months admin, 2nd class degree, clean full UK license: the whole lot) Was dissapointed but i realised who the hell wants to work 12hours a day almost 7 days a week and kill youself. No social life. You know this company makes you lie and makes you greedy so badly that it makes you feel disgusted. Honestly speaking now after reading peoples comments, i am glad that i did not get this job as i cant imagine ripping people of thier life saving and stealing their hard earned money. What a waste. I hope this helps everyone those who plan to apply for foxtons.
Great text. I totally agree!
Foxtons has the best website of all estate agents in London. Of course they should be able to charge a premium for that too.
/daniel, Sweden
Wow! what fascinating reading.
Argument and counter argument from both sides but no concensus?
The history of regulation in any form (Government, Self regulation etc) has not yet proved to me that it works to the satisfaction of the clients of the industry concerned.
In Spain, until the the year 2000, the real estate sector was heavily regulated. Only people with university degrees could use the title “Estate Agent” and they had to be a member of the “College of Professional Estate Agents”
This college had stringent powers to heavily fine or dismiss from the college any member found guilty of breaking the college code of practice and stiil does.
Under pressure from the EU deregulation authorities Spain was force to deregulate the property business and overnight you could get out of bed in the morning as a farmer and by the afternoon be a legal Estate Agent.
Despite this some of the biggest scams, cheats and downright daylight robbery took place in spain from the 70´s onwards. And they still continue to this day.
The Spanish government are now considering introducing some form of regulation.
The bad publicity, caused mainly by the sensationalist so called property programs, do have an effect on the property market in Spain. Many of our clients are anxious and afraid when they arrive here and much of our time is spent in re-assuring them of our integrity before we can begin to ascertain exactly what there dream is.
So, does regulation in any form work?
In my experience the answer is only partially. Your best agent is one who wants to go home to his family and children after a days work without feelings of guilt and looking forward to a good nights sleep. That phrase I unashamedly borrow from IBM of the fifties and early sixties. Their salesmen did not sell large mainframe systems. The sold a good nights sleep to the Company´s IT Manager
The golden rules for buyers and sellers are:
Do your Homework
Choose your agent with a great deal of care and research.
Question everthing you are told and demand proof and THEN CHECK THAT PROOF.
Never part with money unless there is a signed contract which you FULLY UNDERSTAND.
If you are buying overseas do not leave your brain at the airport.
Do not agree to or carry out any action that you would not be happy to do in your own country.
Finally, always, always, always use a reputable, completely independant local solicitor. Never one recommended by your agent, mortgage company, broker, or local expat who “Knows the ropes” because they will all be on a cash backhander.
Rob, you must be a scum bag estate agent, you will burn.
Just kidding!
[Comment removed -- sorry! I don't have time to understand the legal implications of having comments on my site that make specific accusations of individuals.]
I don’t normally reply to these things, tends to be a waste of time and i really don’t care that much but i would like to point out as an agent that when a surveyor values a property it is his duty and part of his due care and diligence to get his figures from more than one agent or check the land registry for past sales. In this way the selling agent is not able to massage his figures and a surveyor should never be duped.
Anonymous: that sounds about right. Thanks.
Well I agree with everything Foxtons have done. Business is business and the art of obtaining the best price for the client just seems to annoy some people.
Regulation? When you buy a new or secondhand car (2nd largest expense after property) do you check if the Dealer is a member of an association or do you rely upon the warranty (NHBC), MOT certificate (Survey) and service record (HIP, Electrical and Gas certs, Fensa, and guarantees etc)? Same thing, different package.
I’m starting my own Estate Agency right at the start of a downturn just for a bit more of a challenge, and looking at the complete crap offered by old fashioned agents in my area, I can’t wait to annoy even more of you.
When you come to sell your house are you going to complain if we get the asking price for you? Don’t think so
online survey job no sign up fees…
…