Estate Agents 19

[Louisa]

There is nothing wrong with too many estate agents, I for one would have been stuck with one crappy Foxtons valuation of my home otherwise and considering a house is the most important investment in most peoples lives it seems perfectly ok to me that we have a choice so that we can have a bit of competition. Lets face it, what would replace all these estate agents anyhow? Yet another boutique no one goes to? I'd rather look at bland pictures of an interior of a 2 bed flat than some poncy kitchen utensil I wouldnt dream of buying unless I had a screw loose.

Louisa.

[seanmlow]

Louisa -

Thanks - nice to know we are not hated by everyone!

[OutOfFocus]

Quite simply, the more agents there are, the fewer

properties they each get to sell and so they have

to offset this will higher fees

I am not an economist but I thought things worked the other way round. The more agents there are means more competition so they have to reduce prices to get the job.

[gh]

AndrewDBlack - I have to admit, I am the son of an economist - not that in any way I claim to be an expert! Clearly If there is one sole provider in an area for any given service, then they have a monopoly. It doesn't matter if it is a cable TV supplier or the train company on a certain route - we often have no choice who we can use. If there were two companies, then there would be a choice. Three or four would be healthy. I really do remain to be convinced why this little high street of ours requires to have twenty estate agents. Only indian restaurants comes close. Lordship Lane offers a useful selection of local services but wouldn't it be better, if we could choose, to have fewer estate agents and a variety of everything else? like a choice of:

book shops

butchers

clothes shops

delis

fishmongers

glaziers

joiners

music shops

opticians

picture framers

printers / stationers

restaurants - another french or italian

shoe shops

video rentals

i could go on...

These are the things that I certainly use more regularly than an estate agent.

[red devil]

AndrewDBlack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Quite simply, the more agents there are, the

> fewer

> properties they each get to sell and so they

> have

> to offset this will higher fees

>

> I am not an economist but I thought things worked

> the other way round. The more agents there are

> means more competition so they have to reduce

> prices to get the job.

Andrew, basic 'O level' (yes, I'm really that old) economics also taught me the mantra about supply and demand determining prices, but what I've found with estate agents, regardless of how the general market is performing, is that they are open to negotiation, it's the way they and the whole buying/selling process operates.

gh is right about the oversupply of EAs on LL affecting the choice of other retailers, but what is interesting is that in the 3 years I have lived in ED I can only remember one EA (Uniplan) leaving the main LL drag (roundabout to Cop Shop) and only 1 arriving (Foxtons - boo hiss!) despite the up/downturn that has occurred in that time, so perhaps it has found it's natural level, only time and the current downturn will tell. I think most EAs will survive this downturn as their income from lettings has risen sharply to help compensate. Maybe an agent like Halifax will suffer as they rely on sales only, but the upside for them is that they have a steady supply of bargain mortgage defaults!

[AcedOut]

You'll find negotiation tough if there is only one agent left though!

[macroban]

Halifax - 12 Lordship Lane - premises to be let?

[karter]

George Proctor estate agents on Sydenham Road/high street has closed down after 25 years in business due to the current doom and gloom. I am told that another estate agent that is located on the main strip of LL is to close soon too. Shame really.

[seanmlow]

karter -

I assume you are referring to Bushells..

[AcedOut]

PLEASE let it be Halifax. Good riddance to them. They completely screwed me over when I bought here 5 years ago.

[Josh]

i have to admit, there's something not quite right about halifax. Won't be sorry to see them go.

[EDOldie]

You should all be supporting the Halifax as you are, if you are paying tax, supporting them anyway as they are part of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) or sponging b*sstards as some taxpayers call them.

[AcedOut]

Part civil servants, yes.

[macroban]

Good evening karter,

I havn't been keeping track of numbers. One day when I walked from the Harvester to East Dulwich Station I counted them just for fun.

I guess there must now be 18 including Foxtons.

Someone else might like to do a re-count.

Regards.

MacRoban

[red devil]

I thought the only one to close down was 'Don't lose the plot', past the cop shop on the left hand side (no Musical Youth jokes please), which was more to do with their innate crapiness since it happened well before the economic downturn...

DLTP