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

Emy1501

vet8 wrote: »

Exactly!

I get very angry with some of the smug posters on this board, saying that they will not pay over the odds far a house when all they are doing is paying off the vendor's debt as they were stupid to buy at a high price and they are now trying to sell at a similar price. What these people do not seem to realise is that it is the EA who sets the price in most cases. The normal seller does not know the exact value of their house, they might have a rough idea by looking at sold prices in the area, but unless you live in an identical house to another which has sold it is very hard to be absolutely accurate. So when the EA says it is worth XX you tend to follow his advice as he is the "professional" Ha Ha HA.

I know when we sold my fathers house, many years ago the EA priced it at a price much higher than my brother and I thought it was worth, but it was in London and neither of us lived there, so we did not know the guide price. We said, several times, "Are you sure? We want to sell this quickly, we would rather start at a lower price and get a quick sale," but he assured us that was the right price. Of course, it was massively overpriced and took ages to sell after we had dropped the price about 3 times.

It just annoys me, this whole house selling thing. It needs tightening up so the EA says this house is really worth X and that is what the buyer pays.

You should always get 3-5 valuations of a property if you do not have a good idea of its worth. You only have to watch some of the property shows to see how different valuations can be.

An EA needs no qualifications and is just guessing at what the price is worth. Before 2007 this was easy as pretty much anything sold within weeks of going on the market. Now that EA's have really do job to sell many are being found wanting. I think what some people find strange is those who say my house is worth X because the EA said so so I'm not dropping it. There are 3 reasons why a house does not sell, poor marketing, poor presentation or price.

When we put our house on the market in June. We studied the local market and knew what our house worth and how quick it could sell and therefore we did not need to worry about listening to the EA valuation and went with an agent who had a good track record of selling. This meant we were under offer in a week after 7 viewings.

If people are happy to wait months or years to sell then nothing wrong with living their house priced at what they want but no point come on here asking why a property won't sell and then getting defensive about price especially those who say their agent is doing a great job.

Orpheo

Emy1501 wrote: »

You should always get 3-5 valuations of a property if you do not have a good idea of its worth. You only have to watch some of the property shows to see how different valuations can be.

An EA needs no qualifications and is just guessing at what the price is worth. Before 2007 this was easy as pretty much anything sold within weeks of going on the market. Now that EA's have really do job to sell many are being found wanting. I think what some people find strange is those who say my house is worth X because the EA said so so I'm not dropping it. There are 3 reasons why a house does not sell, poor marketing, poor presentation or price.

When we put our house on the market in June. We studied the local market and knew what our house worth and how quick it could sell and therefore we did not need to worry about listening to the EA valuation and went with an agent who had a good track record of selling. This meant we were under offer in a week after 7 viewings.

If people are happy to wait months or years to sell then nothing wrong with living their house priced at what they want but no point come on here asking why a property won't sell and then getting defensive about price especially those who say their agent is doing a great job.

Exactly. The "professional" EA as come unstuck with the end of the property boom, many of them, young, have no experience of anything other than properties selling at asking price as soon as they appear on the market. EAs haven't had to do any work for 10 years. Right now they don't know what to do, they are failing to adapt their businesses to the changed environment and are instead clamouring for the return of 100% mortgages for all.

When I sold my last house in 2008, I had a lot of EAs come out to do a market appraisal and some of them were truly pie in the sky with their valuations. I sold my house within 6 weeks, during that time I dropped the price twice and then accepted a lower offer. I offered on a house in the location we were moving to, 20% under asking price (with the intention to negotiate up by up to an additional 7.5%), the offer was rejected with a clear message from the vendor that they were insulted. Following the emotional outburst from the vendor, I walked away. Their house didn't sell, they decided to rent it out, and now better houses in the street are selling for a lower price. Lucky escape for me. Pulled out of a second prospective purchase because the survey raised real issues and there were parties involved in the transaction that the "vendor's" EA was trying to conceal, but I found out the facts.

I've been renting since then and watching the house prices fall. I'd like to buy someone's house, but I'm finding that sellers really aren't motivated so, if necessary, I'll wait.

As for paying of a vendor's debt. That's exactly what is being expected of a lot of buyers, a bail-out.

Blodwen

sonastin wrote: »

Or maybe they just got lucky and the viewer is doing all the work for them

Either way, I hope it goes well for you. Perhaps if the viewer is doing the chasing, it might mean they turn into your buyer :T

More than likely, yes! As I've said before though, I'm not going to make it too easy for the EA by accepting too low an offer (if indeed any offers materialise!)

Blodwen

Emy1501 wrote: »

You should always get 3-5 valuations of a property if you do not have a good idea of its worth. You only have to watch some of the property shows to see how different valuations can be.

An EA needs no qualifications and is just guessing at what the price is worth. Before 2007 this was easy as pretty much anything sold within weeks of going on the market. Now that EA's have really do job to sell many are being found wanting. I think what some people find strange is those who say my house is worth X because the EA said so so I'm not dropping it. There are 3 reasons why a house does not sell, poor marketing, poor presentation or price.

When we put our house on the market in June. We studied the local market and knew what our house worth and how quick it could sell and therefore we did not need to worry about listening to the EA valuation and went with an agent who had a good track record of selling. This meant we were under offer in a week after 7 viewings.

If people are happy to wait months or years to sell then nothing wrong with living their house priced at what they want but no point come on here asking why a property won't sell and then getting defensive about price especially those who say their agent is doing a great job.

I don't hold EA's opinions or valuations in much esteem but it's certainly not professional to value a property then tell you it's overpriced. I suppose, as someone else said, it depends how quickly you want to sell. One agent who valued ours quite low said he could shift it in a week - well I wouldn't be surprised if it did since he wanted to practically give it away, but I'm not in that much of a hurry. The one we went with was higher, granted, but more importantly was closer to what we'd come up with, through research of other selling prices in the local area. All the EAs we had round were all doing fixed fees due to property being under 100k so it didn't matter to them what we sold for as long as it sold quickly. As it happened we were under offer after a week with the first viewer (although it has since fallen through) so going with the highest value doesn't necessarily mean the vendor is being unrealistic.

Blodwen

Orpheo wrote: »

I sold my house within 6 weeks, during that time I dropped the price twice and then accepted a lower offer.

Dropped the price twice within 6 weeks? You must have REALLY wanted to sell quickly, and tbh if I saw price drops like that it would smack of desperation and I'd wonder what was wrong with the place.

shupufski_2

Many on this thread discuss the offers they have had and the price at which that "can" and "cant'" sell at. I would like to know what people mean when they say I "can't" sell at a particular price -do you mean

1. The price offered is lower than what I believe the house is worth
2. The price offered would mean that I won’t receive the equity I need to buy my next house.
3. The price offered is lower than I paid for the house but still leaves me with some equity
4. The price offered would leave me in negative equity.

I suspect that many sellers would honestly answer 1 & 2 and very few would be in category 4 - especially those who have owned for a long time.

NEH

Emy1501 wrote: »

You should always get 3-5 valuations of a property if you do not have a good idea of its worth. You only have to watch some of the property shows to see how different valuations can be.

An EA needs no qualifications and is just guessing at what the price is worth. Before 2007 this was easy as pretty much anything sold within weeks of going on the market. Now that EA's have really do job to sell many are being found wanting. I think what some people find strange is those who say my house is worth X because the EA said so so I'm not dropping it. There are 3 reasons why a house does not sell, poor marketing, poor presentation or price.

When we put our house on the market in June. We studied the local market and knew what our house worth and how quick it could sell and therefore we did not need to worry about listening to the EA valuation and went with an agent who had a good track record of selling. This meant we were under offer in a week after 7 viewings.

If people are happy to wait months or years to sell then nothing wrong with living their house priced at what they want but no point come on here asking why a property won't sell and then getting defensive about price especially those who say their agent is doing a great job.

Well other peeps on this board said our lfat must be overpriced which is why it isn't selling and when i repsonded and said we had a lot of competition as there is 4 of us selling flats within 200 yards or so and I was told by this board that we were all over priced which to be honest i don't believe....All of us have a resonable range of prices depending on condition.

We have discussed dropping our price but even those flats that have dropped have got no more interest than us so what's the point...

I think you've simplified the process but you haven't taken into account the fact that sometimes the market is very slow, it does happen and it's not all down to a simple formula of overpricing, bad EA/Solicitors or bad presentation. Out of the 4 of us we have 3 Solicitors covered so we can't all say they are bad so your formula doesen't apply in our case...

I'm pleased that your house sold in 7 weeks but you were lucky plain and simple...

and i'm sorry if one more person comes on this thread and accuses us of the reason it's not selling is it's overpriced i really will scream. I'm sorry but i'm fed up what do you want me to do give it away??? :mad:

tyllwyd

dvds2000 wrote: »

... I'm seriously thinking about going down the auction route, one I've been looking at is pattinsonauctions.co.uk. What do people think of the auction route. ...

Hi - didn't want you to think nobody was answering you! I'm afraid I have no experience of auctions at all - why not try starting a new thread, because your post might get a bit overlooked here.

silly_sausage_4

just a quick question - as just pop by on this thread from time to time (a grabbit girl!) - house been on market for 3 months for £145k, at what point have people dropped price? have had 6 viewings, another 1 this evening but out problem is very small kitchen (less cleaning in my opinion!) - am thinking of knocking price down by £5k to try and get a few more through the door. We are relocating (hubby is already working the 250 miles away and living in a caravan) whilst I in home with 2 kids, so need to sell asap but need as much as can for as having to downsize anyhow as prices in Cornwall are silly, and dont get me on the rental discussion!!! Many thanks in advance....

tyllwyd

shupufski wrote: »

Many on this thread discuss the offers they have had and the price at which that "can" and "cant'" sell at. I would like to know what people mean when they say I "can't" sell at a particular price -do you mean

I'd disagree - most people here are talking about the offers that they 'will' or 'won't' sell at, not 'can't'. For us, we're lucky enough to have something like 50% equity in a house that we love, but we want to move to a more convenient location. So if the only offers we get (if we eventually get any at all, of course) are too low for us to be able to buy a suitable new house, then we won't accept them. The house has a certain value to us - not a fixed value in terms of money, but in terms of its position relative to other properties on the market - and we won't give it away.