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

tyllwyd

fizzystutter wrote: »

Well we didn't get any viewers today. I popped into the EA to find out if our house had been given a push in the window..... nothing, the advert hadn't even been changed to reflect the open day.

That is so disappointing, to have an open day with no viewers. And after all the cleaning & getting things ready - I really feel for you!

SuperMumWannabe

Hi All.
Well had our first viewing yesterday after being on the market 6 weeks (feels a lot longer than that though), i took kids out and OH showed them round, they are investors and have properties all over the UK , they seemed really interested (but dont they all ) so fingers crossed.

S

bumgum

Hi all.
Our house has been on the market for nearly 3 months with no viewings at all. We had our sights set on another house we both loved but last week it got sold to a cash buyer after being up for sale for over 3 years. It's really frustrating.
Our EA basically said that if we don't get any viewings during Sept we're not likely to get any at all this year! They also said that part/ex (on new builds) might be a better option, but they are so bloody expensive, I don't know if we can really afford it.

We won't go any lower than what our house is up for, as we've already reduced by £16,000.
The doubt is starting to creep in - will we ever sell/move? - will we still be here by xmas/nxt year etc....

There are some experienced posters on here, what would you recommend?
All help is really really appreciated.

NEH

bumgum wrote: »

Hi all.
Our house has been on the market for nearly 3 months with no viewings at all. We had our sights set on another house we both loved but last week it got sold to a cash buyer after being up for sale for over 3 years. It's really frustrating.
Our EA basically said that if we don't get any viewings during Sept we're not likely to get any at all this year! They also said that part/ex (on new builds) might be a better option, but they are so bloody expensive, I don't know if we can really afford it.

We won't go any lower than what our house is up for, as we've already reduced by £16,000.
The doubt is starting to creep in - will we ever sell/move? - will we still be here by xmas/nxt year etc....

There are some experienced posters on here, what would you recommend?
All help is really really appreciated.

It is sadly a very slow market and a fair number of us here have been on the market for months or it took months to sell...

The question you have to ask yourself is how much you want to move and how much can you afford to sell at?

If your desperate to move and you've got room to lower your price then it's something to consider.....Have you researhcd land registry data to see what other houses are selling at in your area?

If you can hang on, then maybe set a time limit for it as this price....

Your EA sounds like he/she is the doom and gloom mercahnt so maybe getting someone more proactive and positive might be worth looking into.

Fizzystutter can't believe that, your EA sounds like another waste of space, maybe look into changing?

harz99

bumgum wrote: »

Hi all.
Our house has been on the market for nearly 3 months with no viewings at all. We had our sights set on another house we both loved but last week it got sold to a cash buyer after being up for sale for over 3 years. It's really frustrating.
Our EA basically said that if we don't get any viewings during Sept we're not likely to get any at all this year! They also said that part/ex (on new builds) might be a better option, but they are so bloody expensive, I don't know if we can really afford it.

We won't go any lower than what our house is up for, as we've already reduced by £16,000.
The doubt is starting to creep in - will we ever sell/move? - will we still be here by xmas/nxt year etc....

There are some experienced posters on here, what would you recommend?
All help is really really appreciated.

Regarding new builds - yes they often are expensive to buy, normally cheaper to run though.

Not knowing which area you want to buy in I can only offer general advice - with regard to part exchange in some cases all is not what it seems - some builders (Persimmon for instance) have a scheme THEY call p/ex which is actually an assisted sale where they bear the costs of your sale but never buy your house themselves, thus avoiding the risk of having a secondhand property on their books for months.

Others that are offering genuine p/ex normally require you to be trading up so that your existing house is worth no more than 70% of the price of their new property. There are a few that will go to 75% (Bovis), in Scotland Bett will go to 80%, and in the Midlands Jelson take a different approach and insist on at least £40k difference rather than a %.

With p/ex you will normally never get any other deal or extras thrown in unless you happen to find a property on a near complete development that is advertised with extras to stimulate the last few sales.

Unlike some others I will not say, never consider p/ex, simply because there are some circumstances that will make it the only possible route for a person/family to go down. Just be fully aware that the builder is not there to do you any favours whatever!

That said, it must be time to try other EAs - get them round and get them all to give you 3 prices:
1. what they recommend you market at.
2. what they think it will sell at.
3. what the price would need to be to achieve a quick sale.

That will give you a good idea of the likely offer for p/ex (3).

HTH.

harz99

fizzystutter wrote: »

Well we didn't get any viewers today. I popped into the EA to find out if our house had been given a push in the window..... nothing, the advert hadn't even been changed to reflect the open day.

The lady inside was quite sheepish when I told her who I was and went on to say that a mailer had been sent out to those people in our price bracket, but for some reason even though I'm on that same list (to track their advertising), I didn't receive anything.

Looks like I might be forced into releasing the equity and renting it out in order to move on.

They can't say I haven't tired.

James

That was really poor - who were the EAs?

I think the lesson for others from your experience has to be; don't leave the EAs alone, harry them and chase them before the day, and let them know in advance that you will be checking back to see what is being done on your behalf, and that no supporting action from them is totally unacceptable.

fizzystutter

Hi,

My estate agents are William H Brown based in Pudsey (Leeds). I thought they would have called on the morning of the viewing or even a few days before to ask how things were going, but nothing. My fiance is really frustrated with them as all she sees in our area are other sign boards up with "Sold" on them, in particular a rival EA called "Waite & Co" who operate in our area.

The strange thing is, our EA knows we need a another house and I've told them our budget but we haven't anything from them regarding potential houses. I haven't even been added to the mailing list. Maybe they have bigger fish to fry and are concentrating on the larger commissions from more desirable houses. Either way, by the looks of it they won't be earning from us.

I'll be calling the bank tomorrow to speak to them about releasing some equity out in order to purchase the house we've found. I've already spoken to someone who is keen to rent from us.

So much for the sales speel I was fed when we signed up, I knew inside it felt wrong.

angela_k_2

hi all,

this is my first time posting on the internet so I'm excited to see my name in lights!

Our house (4 bed detached) has been on the market for nearly 4 months and it's driving me mad. i'm so pleased to see that there are so many others out there offering encouragement. Not that I'm pleased to see you can't sell.

I don't know what to do. The house we love won't accept our offer until we exchange contracts and we don't have any buyers lined up. We've reduced from 425k to 395k which is a huge drop for us, and STILL NOTHING. We've had a few viewings, which drive us crazy getting the house immaculate but NO OFFERS.

My estate agent is now telling me that I have to drop my price and I am getting p#ssed off - it was HIM that gave me the price of £425k! in fact I think he said "it'll sell EASILY at that price".

He wants me to drop to 375k - but here's exactly what he said... "TO TEST THE MARKET AT THAT PRICE". in other words, he doesn't know - and will keep telling us to drop the price until someone buys it for peanuts. Surely he's only worried about getting some commission?

We need to move to be in the right area for school, although this area has a great junior school, so a young family would be perfect.

anyway, what do you think we should do? change agents? drop the price? (my husband thinks we should drop the price - but also I didn't say that the house we like has said they WON'T accept any offers below 475 (it's up for 495) - so every penny we drop takes us further away from our new one.

any advice appreciated - perhaps there's a financial advisor out there that might know when the housing market is likely to pick up again? Is autumn / winter a good time or bad - I thought bad?

Thanks for reading all, good luck with your sales,

Angela.

NEH

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,

this is my first time posting on the internet so I'm excited to see my name in lights!

Our house (4 bed detached) has been on the market for nearly 4 months and it's driving me mad. i'm so pleased to see that there are so many others out there offering encouragement. Not that I'm pleased to see you can't sell.

I don't know what to do. The house we love won't accept our offer until we exchange contracts and we don't have any buyers lined up. We've reduced from 425k to 395k which is a huge drop for us, and STILL NOTHING. We've had a few viewings, which drive us crazy getting the house immaculate but NO OFFERS.

My estate agent is now telling me that I have to drop my price and I am getting p#ssed off - it was HIM that gave me the price of £425k! in fact I think he said "it'll sell EASILY at that price".

He wants me to drop to 375k - but here's exactly what he said... "TO TEST THE MARKET AT THAT PRICE". in other words, he doesn't know - and will keep telling us to drop the price until someone buys it for peanuts. Surely he's only worried about getting some commission?

We need to move to be in the right area for school, although this area has a great junior school, so a young family would be perfect.

anyway, what do you think we should do? change agents? drop the price? (my husband thinks we should drop the price - but also I didn't say that the house we like has said they WON'T accept any offers below 475 (it's up for 495) - so every penny we drop takes us further away from our new one.

any advice appreciated - perhaps there's a financial advisor out there that might know when the housing market is likely to pick up again? Is autumn / winter a good time or bad - I thought bad?

Thanks for reading all, good luck with your sales,

Angela.

Hi Angela welcome to the thread :hello:

Firstly don't necessarily believe what your EA says. You have to do your homework rather than taking his word as gospel....

When establishing a price for your house you need to look at pages such as https://www.ourproperty.co.uk or https://www.nethouseprices.com which take data from the land registry and will tell you what the other houses in your area are selling for and base it around that.

harz99

fizzystutter wrote: »

Hi,

other sign boards up with "Sold" on them, in particular a rival EA called "Waite & Co" who operate in our area.

Yes, always good to look at the house sold boards in your area for an indicator of which EA is best likely to get a sale for you!

WHB is a large chain; I assume Waite & Co are more of a local outfit?