Taking Pushy Salesmen To The Next Level

We have been looking to move to a specific area in a specific city. Houses rarely go up for sale, so we signed up with every estate agent that works in the area to get notifications as soon as a house came up for sale.

One house was emailed to me that I swear we saw a long while ago; it was hard to forget. It was way overpriced and an absolute tip. It was grubby and outdated and had several DIY “improvements” that made no sense.

Of course, every estate agent then emailed me to let me know it was for sale. I replied to each of them that this house wasn’t for us. But the emails kept coming, every other day, for weeks.

I was deleting them at first. When I read them, I realised they were all from one estate agent, one of the first I had told I wasn’t interested. 

Eventually, he rang me.

Estate Agent #1: “Hi! [Long spiel]. Just checking you got my emails about the property for sale.”

Me: “Oh, yes, I did, actually. I thought I responded that I wasn’t interested.”

Estate Agent #1: “Are you sure? Properties don’t go up for sale very often and this is a big property.”

Me: “I know, but it’s way over our budget and I think we will wait.”

He followed up with a push to go see the house even though we couldn’t afford it. He kept harping on and on about the house with really specific details of what was spent on it and improvements. I just said yes to get him off the phone. I called back the next day to cancel, and luckily, I spoke to a different associate.

Me: “I’m ringing to cancel a viewing on [Property]. It’s [My Name].”

Estate Agent #2: “That’s odd; we don’t have you booked in. Who did you speak to?”

Me: “It was [Estate Agent #1].”

Estate Agent #2: “That makes sense. [Estate Agent #1] no longer works here.”

Me: “Oh, okay. Well, I’m happy to receive property updates, just not on that property.”

Estate Agent #2: “Yes, not a problem. That property is no longer represented by us.”

Me: “O… kay? Good, then, I think.”

When the agent responds, it almost sounds like they’re reading from a script.

Estate Agent #2: “It was a conflict of interests, and we cannot represent a property where one of our employees may have an active stake or controlling interest.”

Me: “Ah, that explains the insistence, and probably the price.”

That was the last time I saw that property advertised, and we did find another one eventually, in better condition and price.