This afternoon I went for a walk in town. All seven estate agents only had staff, no public in them. OK, it was Tuesday afternoon but would this have been normal a few weeks ago?

probably not............but reading perrins post above I can see why buyers would be going easy at the mo.

In Sidcup on Saturday, Bairstow Eves was very empty no staff and no houses for sale, by Monday no desks and telephones either , just an old biro on the floor. The renting division (Apex) was still there, one desk and a temporary gas fire as it seemed the electricity was turned off!! I think the Chislehurst office has gone as well.

But if you ask any estate they will undoubtedly tell you that their market is fine, hardly any prices drops in their area, plenty of buyers and properties...

Been like that since probably October of last year. 10 hour days spent trying to think up over more creative ways of getting blood out of a stone for my staff, and making sure they fully capitalise on the 1 or 2 serious enquiries we get per day and that we put all our energies into trying to convert them into a house sale.

Bedford hasn't been much different lately to what you have posted. Sometimes there is just one agent in. Today though one or two of them did look like they were going through the diaries rather than just reading a paper or on the phone which is what i usually see.

This afternoon I had a look at the same agents as in my original post. Again, they were all devoid of clients, except for one man in a suit who could equally have been staff or customer - difficult to tell.

Is this 100% defo? Beavis & Butthead definately gone? GREAT! They are complete morons.

I had the Bexleyheath branch manager round once to give me "an honest market apprasial" and I caught him going through my private paperwork when my back was turned!!

Thieving scum!

I wouldn't hold much store by the number of customers in estate agents' offices. I don't really get why estate agents have high street shops. All they really need is phones and a web site. Customers hardly ever visit at all.

I mean it's not like you're waliking down the street, look in the shop window and think "Ooh, a house! I'll just pop in here and buy that one in the window."

Or am I being thick?

I seem to remember trailing round estate agents when we were house hunting!

But you can go in and give them your requirements and point to ones you like and walk out clutching colour laser prints of the houses you are interested in. Just think how much each sheet costs them!)

There's a huge difference in EA round here. One doesn't do email contact - or lists by email but it's got a mortgage centre in it with payment counter.
The best of the others emails across houses of interest.

Yes, this morning they were taking down the great big illuminated BAIRSTOW EVES sign and leaving a rather attractive hardboard panel. I think these estate agents are run as franchises, the Sidcup and Chislehurst offices were part of the same set up. I also think that sometimes an estate agent will own say a Bairstow Eves in one suburb and say a Your Move in another suburb. A bit funny when you slag off the other estate agent and get a blank look in return.

This is getting bigger. I went back again today (Saturday, Easter weekend) to look at the same estate agents in town as on original post.
Again, they were ALL empty. It was lunchtime, admittedly, but the town was busy. All three occasions, all the estate agents had no customers except a possible one on Thursday but he could equally well have been staff.

Also a new letting agency and land auctioneers that had opened very recently - like I only noticed it last week! - with nice signwriting, transfer letters on windows etc. was closed, with all the property details gone and just empty perspex display panels.

Still at least 10 EA's on my small high street, though I hear their have been quite a few closures in Stevenage which is not too far away.

Upper St. Islington is a street full of EAs. Today they were all empty. Savills didn't even bother opening!

[edi; the spring bounce is going to be measurable only with a micrometer, I suspect]

If i pretended to be a punter would foxtons give me free beers, and can i watch sports, i am getting fed up of starbucks.

over the past two months I have passed countless EA`s in specific areas of Surrey and Middlesex and I swear I have not seen one potential customer in any of them, not one. My wife thinks I am obsessed with them. Maybe I am
Have you noticed that people have stopped browsing the EA`s windows.
It`s as if they know everything is going to drop.

We should create a new sport for our kids or even for us. Spot the punter in your local EA.

Despite my three reports of all agents in town being empty, there are window browsers - or are they just rubbernecking the price drops?

Did a very quick test of seven estate agents today (for the easter bounce). Of the seven, two had customers which is the best I have seen for some time.

Actually perhaps EA's would be glad to have a few people wandering in and chatting to them just to make it look like things aren't completely flat. Next time I wander round I'll check out which ones have the prettiest female staff! Real house hunters would tend to wander round all the agencies, so the social callers would minic the real thing.

This is exactly what a partner in the EA near where I work told me when I bumped into him in the butty shop the other day.

I later found out from my wife that they have just laid off all their branch managers - one of them is a friend of hers.

In those halcyon days before the internet and mobile phones

But we did have phones and boy did we need to use them, but we called in at agents too. Was the process more difficult then, with incompetent solicitors claiming keys had been lost or suggesting you walk away from a perfectly good deal**, or does that still happen ?

***This was back in the 80's but when we were buying our first house our solicitor suggested we walk away and look for another house - but everything was going through fine and we got the house.

Ah yes, the Countrywide dump continues!

January's in Bury St Edmunds disappeared very suddenly about a week before Christmas. It was all rather surreal, the office was completely emptied within 24 hours - apart from the Christmas tree, which survived until the new year.