A saying my father often and gladly used. He still loves to say it, with a big grin on his face. Secretly, he is actually very proud of how we do things. When his friends or his friends' children need help, I'm happy to help them. The fact that I love helping people, and have sometimes made that my purpose in life, is also why I started out on my own. So he is quite proud when he hears they got good advice from me. He himself was a building contractor for a long time, so in the past he had a lot to do with estate agents.
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A negative article
Estate agents are making negative headlines more and more often. Demand for homes is enormous and supply is tiny. As in every profession, there are always a few bad apples. Trouw published an article saying that without a buying agent you won't get anywhere. That homes are promised to friends in advance and that bids are often not passed on to sellers. That bids come in after the deadline and, above all, that it is a shady, non-transparent world. NVM agents in particular came in for criticism. I found that remarkable. NVM agents are precisely the agents who are not allowed to trade in property. I see agents from other trade associations buying properties in their own name before they reach the market, or putting them in the name of friends or colleagues, and then selling them on. Often without even renovating them. I understand why people have their doubts about that. Then another article appeared, in which Vereniging Eigen Huis (the Dutch homeowners' association) piled on even more. But really, that was a thinly veiled sales pitch for its own services. In that piece, a young woman said she didn't want her name in the paper because she might still need an estate agent. She said she was often outbid by exactly €1,000. We sometimes receive as many as 21 bids on a single home. Sometimes bids are even exactly the same, right down to the conditions. I myself once missed out on a home by just €25. Pure bad luck.
An estate agent out for their own gain
Funnily enough, after the article in Trouw, I kept hearing during sales meetings that people were really looking for an estate agent who was there for them. One who put more time into the sale. I would then ask whether it was because of the article they had read. Sellers had indeed been alarmed by it. Someone who wanted to request a sales meeting even forwarded the article to me. I sensed a kind of fear.
Negative reviews
On Google we have 3 negative reviews. I understand better than anyone that this housing market is really frustrating. You're not buying a pack of butter. You pay an enormous amount of money for a home that, in most cases, doesn't even meet all your wishes. Three years ago I had to get onto the housing market myself. A low salary, good savings, but it still seemed impossible. These reviews actually show that I really do pass everything on to the client. We don't immediately turn every sale into a tender with a deadline. We often wait until after the first or second viewing day to see which bids have come in. We discuss the bids with our clients, and based on our advice they choose the sales strategy.
Lindy was the selling makelaar for our house. We were pushed to raise our offer 2 times. 1. After we sent our offer, in few hours we were called by Lindy, she said our offer was one of 3 highest offers and we can review our offer until 8pm. We made a new offer at 6pm. At 8 pm, Lindy called us and said “the house is yours!” We celebrated with our family at Sinterklaas dinner, gave the news to our loved ones, emotionally prepared for the new house. 2. Next morning we were called again by Lindy. They got a higher offer after deadline and it was 5.000 EUR more than ours. Too bad we missed the house and owners did not care about the deadline but only money mattered. If we still wanted the house we should now match the new price. We still matched the price but with a very bad feeling in our hearts. We were not sure whether we were cheated, emotionally played. We were not even sure it the third party was real. Was such bad experience, not mentioning she was always late to all meetings. At notary meeting seller party was also joking about her never being on time.
There were 3 bids that were very close to one another. As were the conditions. My clients chose to continue with only the 3 bids that were very close together. They were given until that same evening to submit their final offer. We made the buyers happy and disappointed two other parties. Then something happened that nobody is happy about. The party I had disappointed had found out that, right up until the purchase agreement is signed, a seller can still choose to sell to another party. The next morning, this party submitted a higher offer to me. I am then obliged to present this offer to my sellers as well. They said this was serious money and that they would like to accept it. Personally, I think it's a ridiculous rule that you can simply sell after entering into a verbal agreement. However, I have to pass it on and point out their rights to my sellers. Sorry as I felt for the first buyers, I phoned them. The lady who wrote the review kept shouting that it couldn't be done, wasn't allowed, and that we were obliged to sell. I felt really bad for her, but I can't change the rules. I explained what the rules are and that they were also allowed to revise their offer. I didn't start my own business for the money. In fact, I advised my seller to leave the deal as it was, because it always leads to disappointment and a lot of hassle afterwards. Unfortunately, I am not the one who decides. I was just late at the notary. Precisely because I had found the whole process so unpleasant, we had the final inspection at 7.45 in the morning. No problem; we were temporarily staying with my parents, about 1.5 hours' drive from Utrecht. I left there at 05.45, but there had been an accident. So I arrived at our appointment at 7.55. I think the language barrier caused some confusion about the joke. Because the joke was actually about something completely different 😉
This gave me a knot in my stomach for days. I always want so badly to do right by everyone and for everyone to look back on the process with a smile. Ethically, this remains a difficult issue. Of course, I would also rather not have ended up in this situation myself. But as an estate agent you are an adviser, and as a selling agent you are there for your client. I have experienced it the other way round too. But then I was the buying agent. Then you fight for your buying client. So I think a buying agent isn't there just to do deals with their friends, but precisely for all the advice.
On top of that, I received a 1-star review twice. These were from a couple. As it happened, it was for our own home. We had had two full viewing days, 10 bids in total, and a number of very good bids had come out of that which suited us very well. So we ourselves chose not to go ahead with the last viewing morning. Late in the evening we sent everyone an email and a text message. Unfortunately, these people hadn't seen it. I was at home and spoke to them politely. However, they didn't realise that I was both the owner and the selling agent. They told me the process had not been fair. The estate agent had made us make the wrong choice and they were truly the best buyers. Of course I found that very unpleasant. But they completely badmouthed ‘the estate agent’. They had said they were able to bid and had already made their offer unseen. That was true, I had seen it. But it was much lower, with different conditions. So we had made a choice based on that information. But they told me that the estate agent had definitely not passed on their bid, that I had made the wrong decision and that I shouldn't trust the estate agent. Funny, since I was the estate agent myself and had made a very carefully considered decision. So they both posted a bad review on Google, and I received another email saying they had let the seller know that we hadn't passed on their bid. This also gave me a bit of a knot in my stomach. Of course I was sorry that they couldn't view the home and that their bid was too low. But it is, and always will be, the seller's choice to sell a home. I also understand that something can sometimes feel unfair. I want everyone to have a nice and affordable home. But you can't blame the estate agent for everything. If I hadn't been the estate agent myself, I might even have started to doubt the estate agent a little. But hey, I could hardly blame that estate agent. After all, that was me.
Good publicity
As an estate agent, I definitely believe in a good relationship with your fellow agents. I like going for drinks with them, and I see a number of fellow agents privately too. During holidays we sometimes stand in for each other as well. We always research everything very thoroughly with our buying clients. Colleagues therefore know that we are a reliable party, that we have pointed out everything to our buying clients and that they know what the home can be valued at. I also know which colleagues I can rely on and which I can't. That is good for the seller too. Not passing on a bid so that my friend can have the home: I believe you lose out in the long run. It is precisely the good stories and the records that make people come to us. If anything, I try to be friends with my client. After all, we are a team! They have to trust me, and they trust us with their home. Those sellers have friends, family, colleagues and neighbours. All potential clients. A long-term vision. I take private buyers (without an agent) seriously too. As an estate agent, you just want to be sure they have their affairs in order and won't get cold feet. Extra questions, lots of information and a good conversation mean you can also bring a private buyer into the negotiations as a very good and serious party. I do understand that some colleagues prefer to sell to a fellow agent. You then know that things are in order and arranged. That there won't be any surprises. We quite often see that private viewers are not that well prepared for the purchase. Let that crisis come; then we will show that we are good at our job. We'll tempt our friends in the estate agency world all the more to come for viewings with their buying clients and do a good deal! And, as a buying agent, to outdo our friends in the negotiations.
