The general consensus from mortgage brokers is that estate agents are forcing clients to sit in front of their in-house advisers in order to ‘financially qualify’ them. This in turn means that clients are being credit scored unnecessarily and wastes their time by having to go over a time-consuming factfind and decision-in-principle application again.
In a perfect world, estate agents would simply accept the client has their own mortgage adviser who can provide proof of finance. This perfect world, I believe, will never materialise until the Financial Services Authority (FSA) admits that regulation is required for estate agents. Those agents who tow the line will have nothing to be scared of, those who persist in unscrupulous practices will be held accountable.
I agree with the need for agents to financially qualify would-be purchasers because they are representing the seller at the end of the day. I don't think there’s a mortgage adviser out there who would disagree. The last thing the agent wants is for the purchase to fall through because of not being able to put finance in place.
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There does though, need to be more respect between agent advisers and their non-estate agency-based colleagues. We all do the same job, only some of us aren’t fortunate enough to have a steady stream of business walking through the door – we have to rely on referrals and loyalty to attract business. That is why it is twice as frustrating when an estate agent bends your client’s arm behind their back to see the in-house adviser, because you know you’ve worked hard to obtain that client in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, clients are entitled to use who they want. There is nothing set in stone saying that a client must use me over any other adviser. If a client chose to exercise this right then fine, I haven’t sold my service to them properly. If I lost a client to an agent due to the practices detailed in Mr Roberts’ letter (MI, 9 June 2007), then I would be extremely peeved.
I do find most estate agents accommodating and friendly when it comes to my dealings with them. However, I had a client this week who was forced into sitting down with an in-house adviser. He made me chuckle when he told me how he had taken nothing with him to the meeting and even chastised them for wasting his time when he had already given them my details.
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Also, a colleague of mine was asked the other week if the agency adviser could do her mortgage to ‘take the workload off her’. Yeah right. Why don’t we just give you all of our business while we’re at it? I often ask the question of clients, especially first-time buyers, ‘do you really want the estate agent to know what your maximum bid is?’ – I find that normally keeps the client in your favour.
Sell your service to your clients and you shouldn’t have a problem with estate agents. For those that do cause you a problem, don't let them get away with it.
Jamie Bogle
Practice financial planner
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