To those selling in these difficult times Part Deux. AKA sellers support network!

elona

goldbyron

It is a four bedroom Edwardian townhouse with a loft that would give two large extra bedrooms.

Ridiculous to view it for only one person and a parent to live in.

captain_jep

coffeetwosugars wrote: »

Regarding so many people viewing and no offers, the estate agent is miffed too. Most people whine about no parking, or they don't like upstairs layout, but no real feedback.

After weeks of no viewings I've got three today, must be the stamp duty thing, so fingers crossed!

Looks rather beautiful - with the Aga and all.

My guesses :

- Living room doesnt look "lived in" and "cosy" in the photo
- Doesnt look like there's space in the kitchen for a dining table : "where do we eat?"
- Photo showing the courtyard makes it look cramped. Would take a photo from back door to show courtyard myself.
- Not much privacy at front or at back.

Still, it all depends doesnt it? On the area and what's available? So maybe I'm just being too choosy..

rosered100

Just had our first EA around to value us & they gave us a value the same as in 2001 & we've had 2 big extensions done since then (been here 20 years). Very disappointed though I knew the market was not great but will see what the 4!! I have lined up for tomorrow say.
My DH is busy drawing floor plans as they left us with details of a house which they considered our equivalent but it is half the size house & half the sized plot - he's fuming. They looked at sold prices on nethouseprices but nothing has sold down our road for 5 years (we all stay here forever, it's so lovely in the woods).
Hopefully will have a better result tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Has anyone here sold their house themselves without an agent?

xtra_time

How long do people generally stay with the estate agent they are with? I cannot tell if its just slow moving round here or another estate agent may be worth a shot.

twisty

kymie wrote: »

Twisty - in the description it says private garden then doesnt mention it again - do you have one they could photograph? Would be nice to add it esp with the sun appearing occaisionally lol!! Also do you have a good view from the bedroom window? Would be nice to get that on as well if so!

It's the front garden that that refers to. We have the front garden and the loft, downstairs has the back garden.

We were a bit unsure when the EA added that reference in the summary, that it might raise expectations - what do you think?

SouthCoast

twisty wrote: »

I had almost daily contact with EA up until the end of last week, and have made a conscious decision to leave it a week or so before calling again, just to see what happens.



We dropped our price from £138,950 (which was always a long-shot) to £133,950 last week. The current price is still higher than average for a one-bed in the area but still within touching distance (quite a few on between 125 and 130). We think ours is worth it though, as it has brand new bathroom and new kitchen, plus large loft space and newly decorated throughout. Plus rooms are really big (e.g. 20ft bedroom). Price is now £1k lower than all three valuations we received (all at 135).

If you're interested, here is the rightmove link http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25082653.html?premiumA=true

The BTL investor apparently told the EA that they would not pay more than 128/130k (this was when it was on at the higher price). This info was left in a voicemail by our EA so we didn't think it counted as an offer. Think I will chase it up now though as we would consider accepting 130.

Really appreciate all your thoughts, it feels good to talk it through with somebody unconnected to my situation.

The link that your EA has to Street View is rather misleading as your flat is further east and very close to the school.
You may like to consider getting the broken fence to the east of the front garden repaired.

kymie

Twisty - the only thing I would be worried about is it says private garden - do downstairs owners not go through it?

B19jon_2

Hi folks,

Hope you don't mind me joining in as a newbie.

We have a 2 bed ground floor flat with private entrance and allocated parking for sale in Leamington Spa. Currently on for offers over £140,000.
We've been on for nearly 4 weeks but not had a sniff of interest.

Have convinced EA to change the main picture this week to a better one as wasn't happy with the last one as didn't show full length of flat.

My first main query is this 'offers over' lark. My EA recommended putting it on like this, and having had 2 other valuations at £145k it seemed sensible.

Having done a bit more research, I think that £145 at present too high, particularly since there is a first floor larger appartment with ensuite in the same blog on for £149.

My thoughts now is that the 'offers over' aspect is off putting? Any thoughts?

Also, how hard should I be pushing the EA? I don't have much flexibility on price to get what we want when we move up so while don't mind sticking it out for a while, a month of no initial interest appears to suggest something amis.

Finally, do you think that putting it on for £139950 might provide a psychological advantage?

Many thanks,

Jon

Davesnave

rosered100 wrote: »

Has anyone here sold their house themselves without an agent?

Yes, but not in this economic climate, and it all went paridae-up when we tried in 2008.

Agent valuation is not a science, nor is it odd to find considerable variation among them. High valuing to flatter owners and secure a contract is widespread. OTOH, undervaluing, as one agent did with us, presumably to shift the property quickly and improve his cash-flow, would have cost us 12%, if we'd gone with him!:(

The bottom line is always to do your own research, not leave it to the 'professionals,' who also have a vested interest. Remember that to get noticed in this market, you will need to beat others, not just match them. Take control from Day 1, or you may end up like others on here, dissatisfied with the pictures and presentation when your place hits Rightmove. You can switch agents, but you can only be new to the market once.

PS. B19jon 'Offers over' isn't favoured by many these days. Makes it sound like you won't deal. Of course, maybe you won't!

twisty

SouthCoast wrote: »

The link that your EA has to Street View is rather misleading as your flat is further east and very close to the school.
You may like to consider getting the broken fence to the east of the front garden repaired.

Hopefully somebody can confirm for me, but I think the StreetView links are:
a) inserted by Rightmove automatically, and
b) generated from your postcode

I'm not sure that there is a way for EA's to manually edit the link, but I will check - thanks.

The fence to the east of the garden actually belongs to next door, but I agree it doesn't look good. Would I be allowed to fix it?

Twisty - the only thing I would be worried about is it says private garden - do downstairs owners not go through it?

Yes they do. Yikes I hadn't even spotted this - I better get it removed! Thanks for spotting.