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

Karmacat

Pasted in from lorriellah's thread:
Hello lorriellah - there's a thread on here called "selling in difficult times", something like that .... I'm selling at the moment, and have just this weekend accepted an offer.

If your house is priced amongst similar houses in your area, then something else is going on - its not just about the election, if this has been happening (not happening), since February.

Is there something in particular about your house's situation? Are you the one by the main road? What's the decor like? Have you tidied up and got rid of stuff as much as you can? What's the fabric of your house like? Are you leaving cooking smells to linger, do you have a dog? Does your neighbour have a dog?

Hope this helps.

heygringo

We had a viewer of, shall we say, "mature years" (who should know better) but not too elderly to be unable to do some re-decorating. Her feedback to the EA was that the house & gardens, which are extensive, was in excellent condition, loved the large modern kitchen which has integral units etc, but didn't like some of the decor.:eek:
Didn't like the bl**dy decor!!! What do some people want these days? Decor is the last consideration when considering property, well it was in our day, & we're certainly not "old fogies". If you "love" the property, but hate the colour scheme, you bl**dy well change it at your leisure.
The EA made the same common sense response when telling us what had been said.

If we sell, we sell. If we don't, it ain't the end of the world. We are only selling, because the house is left empty for months at a time whilst we are away in our MH. So decided a family could make better use of such a fabulous house, (crap decor or not.) :rotfl:

BeeJay

Karmacat

Hiya - what a pain the viewer was! heygringo, can I ask what MH is? Sorry, I've not been on this thread long, not up to speed on the acronyms on here

heygringo

Karmacat wrote: »

Hiya - what a pain the viewer was! heygringo, can I ask what MH is? Sorry, I've not been on this thread long, not up to speed on the acronyms on here

Hi Karmacat, Glad you agree that some viewers leave a lot to be desired.

MH= Motor Home. Now that we are both retired, as explained, we tend to be away a lot of the year. We should be in Olvera Southern Spain visiting our Son now, instead we have to put up with silly moo's comments about our decorations. :rotfl: Good Luck

Just remembered this bit of info. Our EA's agreement expires 19th of this month & when I pointed out to them, that unless they pulled their finger out, it would not be renewed, they said that I could only cancel on the 19th then giving them a further 2 weeks notice. Hmmm! thinks I. So I check said agreement. The 2 weeks notice can be presented 2 weeks before the agreements expiry. It's already written out ready to hand in to them on the 6th May. Naughty, naughty EA eh!

BeeJay

Karmacat

Thanks! And good for you for sticking to your guns, and doing your research about the agreement beforehand.

I should really, really have know "MH". Thats exactly one of my fantasies, what you're doing - though in my fantasy I own my English property outright, and rent it out for further savings/income/capital appreciation (insert hollow laugh).

I understand your username too, now

heygringo

Karmacat wrote: »

Thanks! And good for you for sticking to your guns, and doing your research about the agreement beforehand.

I should really, really have know "MH". Thats exactly one of my fantasies, what you're doing - though in my fantasy I own my English property outright, and rent it out for further savings/income/capital appreciation (insert hollow laugh).

I understand your username too, now

Karmacat, fantasies have a habit of becoming reality sometimes, just give it time.

We considered renting out our house, the EA reckons we would be able to ask around £450 pm. Maybe even more. But that throws up all sorts of potential nightmares. Our Sons partner rents out a couple of UK properties & has to keep a tight hold on the reins, whilst running their business in Spain. You read of horror stories about property being trashed when tenants are given notice to vacate. :eek: So we would rather simply sell up and vamoose.

BeeJay

azkaban420

heygringo wrote: »

We had a viewer of, shall we say, "mature years" (who should know better) but not too elderly to be unable to do some re-decorating. Her feedback to the EA was that the house & gardens, which are extensive, was in excellent condition, loved the large modern kitchen which has integral units etc, but didn't like some of the decor.:eek:
Didn't like the bl**dy decor!!! What do some people want these days? Decor is the last consideration when considering property, well it was in our day, & we're certainly not "old fogies". If you "love" the property, but hate the colour scheme, you bl**dy well change it at your leisure.
The EA made the same common sense response when telling us what had been said.

If we sell, we sell. If we don't, it ain't the end of the world. We are only selling, because the house is left empty for months at a time whilst we are away in our MH. So decided a family could make better use of such a fabulous house, (crap decor or not.) :rotfl:

BeeJay

What a bloody nightmare Beejay, they should realise decor is something that can be easily changed! Buy hey, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be...onwards and upwards as they say...

Az

azkaban420

lorriellah wrote: »

Hey I'm hoping to join you guys on here... really need some advice.

Our house has been on the market since Feb. It is priced amongst the others in the area but we have had NO viewings. Our estate agent has said that this is the case for all of their houses at the moment, everything seems very quiet and blames the election. But I'm concerned that we've not even had 1 person through our door in 3 months!

I'm concerned about lowering the price without waiting for the election to be over and I'm starting to lose any form of drive to be enthusiastic about selling now. I've repainted the kitchen, we've just had the bathroom done, we have a brand new heating system so have put a lot into this house.

Today I'm going to paint the bedroom to try to freshen it up a bit and think I may get the estate agent to take some new pictures.

Any other advice at all? Do you think we should drop the price to get more people interested?

Hi Lorriellah,

Three months and no viewings is quite bad, have you considered changing EAs? Before you do though, it may be worth ringing other local EAs to ask about similar houses to yours and simply asking 'has it had many viewings?'. Although other EAs may well lie (!) you may be able to gauge the kind of activity on similar houses. I am forever checking out Rightmove to see which houses have come on new/which have been on for a while/sold etc.

It does seem that your current EA hasn't done much to bring buyers to your door. You seem to be taken steps already to freshen up your house which is great, but ultimately there must be something preventing people from even booking viewings for yours. If you decide not to change your EA, a price drop may well be in order.

Good luck whatever you decide

Az

heygringo

azkaban420 wrote: »

What a bloody nightmare Beejay, they should realise decor is something that can be easily changed! Buy hey, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be...onwards and upwards as they say...

Az

That's why I pointed out in my post that they were of mature years, & should really have known better than to use it as an excuse.

Ne'er mind, eh!

BeeJay

azkaban420

Just wanted to add that I'm awaiting Saturday's viewing feedback eagerly, as it may be the house the viewers want, but then again, may amount to nothing. I am getting worried that we had hoped to move before September, when DD starts a new school as she moves up to Secondary school. Hate it when I feel so positive one minute and so crap another...sigh...

Az