On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:45:50 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> On 12/06/2013 10:22 AM, scott wrote:
>>> hurt their business either. It seems to me that there's nothing I can
>>> do at this point which will actually harm them, hence they don't give
>>> a damn whether I'm happy or not. There's no profit in it, and there's
>>> no penalty for failure.
>>
>> I hope you're on a no-sale-no-fee contract with them? If so then they
>> do have a lot to lose (ie their entire fee plus the costs of any
>> surveys/documents they've already purchased on your behalf). At any
>> point you could just walk away - it's in their interest to make sure
>> you don't do that.
> 
> Basically, the estate agents get paid commission for recommending a
> mortgage to me, they get paid commission for recommending an insurance
> package to me, that get paid commission for recommending a conveyancer
> to me. They have already received all of this money - regardless of
> whether I ever get me house or not. As far as I can tell, there is
> literally no profit in it for them if the sale completes. Indeed, if the
> sale falls through, they can then sell the house to somebody else, and
> get another bunch of commission. So arguably it's *better* for them if
> the sale fails...
> 
> As far as my end goes, I've paid a small up-front fee. The rest isn't
> payable until I get the keys - if that ever occurs. So it doesn't matter
> so much; I'm just tired of waiting, that's all. More than that, I
> wouldn't mind waiting if the processing takes too long, but I object to
> waiting when nothing is actually happening because nobody gives a fig...

I don't know how it is in the UK, but here in the US, your agent is a 
legal representative for you, so they have an obligation to do what is in 
your best interests - and if they don't, then there are legal options 
available.

I had to look into that a few years ago when my mum's seller's agent (not 
her agent) started causing some problems with her move.  When I mentioned 
the words "complaint" and "state real estate license commission" (or 
whatever the governing body was), they stopped playing stupid games and 
got things moving again.  It was a kinda weird situation, because the 
outfit that built the place she moved into was buying her house so they 
could do some work on it and resell it, and someone's wires got crossed 
and different people promised different things *in writing*, and then 
someone put it all together and decided they couldn't give everything 
they'd promised.  It was a real mess, but they ended up holding to their 
word after I started making noises about talking to the licensing 
authority.

Jim

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