Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Do they deserve our sympathy
Pity the poor Estate Agent?
"We talk in this business about 20-year cycles - 15 making hay and five grim," Nice to know they actually plan for a boom and bust business - maybe someone should tell moron Brown that it is all the fault of the estate agents
Posted by inbreda @ 09:15 AM (1269 views)
17 thoughts on “Do they deserve our sympathy”
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hpwatcher says:
Pity the poor Estate Agent?
No, No NO, F*** em’.
inbreda says:
Even more interesting that they talk about 20 year cycles is that it belies the fact that this time is NOT different to before, despite all the hype (hype that is fast disappearing now that it is becoming increasingly apparent that it is BS)
jack c says:
No – any good businessman will have an exit strategy – alternatively you build up reserves in the good times (and EA’s have recently had some very good times) to compensate for and cushion any downturn – add to that a bit of diversification and the business should be able to survive the cycles.
paul says:
Hang on – the Telegraph says EAs are closing at 50 a week, the Grauniad says 150 a week – is the trend accelerating??!
As an aside, I bet very few of them are now claiming that the downturn is a collective figment of the media’s imagination!!
shipbuilder says:
As I said in a post yesterday – these people are professionals running a business and no different from any other. Any good business has a plan for the lean times, whether that be cash reserves or whatever – if they haven’t done that, they’ve failed in their business management and deserve no more sympathy than anyone else. Pretty simple, really.
Of course we all know that they could also drum up business by significantly revising down their price estimates – if they refuse to do this and expect others to help, then again they are choosing to fail.
paul says:
confused76 says:
As said in a previous post, this is not a cycle, it is the end of the EA business model
Exploiting the downturn, online businesses are going replace the EAs forever
Maddison says:
EA’s pander to our worse instincts that always come out when lots of money is at stake. Gazundering and Gazumping are both highly unethical and that is just the buyers and sellers, nothing to do with EA’s
Rentinginthesouth says:
confused76 – agreed… I know for a fact that a nationwide chain are seeing their business go this way.
letthemfall says:
I don’t like to be rude about EAs (oh, all right, I do) but they relentlessly pump the market, although they alone don’t force prices up, they take too much money for the service they offer, and they represent themselves, not the seller.
What is interesting about the commodification of flats and houses, where owners keep them empty, gaining solely from price rises, is that this represents loss of value to the economy. All the cost that went into building them accrues no economic benefit because no one lives in them. Now that they have to be rented to offset the capital loss, we see an increase in supply. What was that argument about supply and demand the VIs were trotting out?
jack c says:
confused76 – I take your point but asisgnificant number of EA’s have an established web presence – many will surely survive.
mark wadsworth says:
Re these twenty year cycles, Fred Harrison wrote about the 18 year cycles back in 1983 and has been right so far. He is a big Land Value Tax fan BTW, his approach stacks up to me.
denzil says:
Did anybody hear the delightful Kirsty Allsop on Radio 4 yesterday afternoon? She stated that EA, contrary to popular belief did not make lots of money during the housing boom. Funny that, my local EA charged the same rate for the sale of my property before the boom as after. I seem to recall many VI’s proclaiming, “properties are flying off the shelves”.
I genuinely feel for people losing their livelihoods and find the gloating on this site offensive and completely lacking in any level of compassion that a civilised society and anybody with decency should possess.
Anyway, I’d better be careful as my comments get removed when mentioning Kirsty.
Cstanhope707 says:
Just wait for Gordons Bail Out Rescue Package for them!!!!!
bidin'matime says:
I did hear Krusty – she even used the term ‘perfect storm’! Clearly she has no concept of such a thing. The interviewer didnt ask her when she intends to eat her hat…
Btl Rules says:
EA’s are the backbone of society, they do a very difficult job, and should get more money like the teachers and police (and Firemen).
shipbuilder says:
Nice one, Btl Rules. Keep winding!