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

Chyna-s

Blodwen: On market for 13 weeks, 3 viewers (and buyer who then pulled out) in first month. No viewers or contact from agent in last 2 months. Planning to change agent at 16 weeks.

NEH: On market 29 weeks, 3 viewers,1 ridiculous offer soundout, useless Solicitor who can't find the bed or the flat itself. Planning to rent it out from November.

Emilia15: On market for five weeks (feels like a lot longer), three booked viewers (although only one turned up!), price reduced by £8500 last week, EA who was dealing with us has mysteriously 'left the company', trying to deal with the chronic lack of buyers by adopting a zen-like stance and also by reading this thread

rosered100 - been on the market since March. Had an offer from the first viewer at 91% of asking which we accepted. They dropped out 2 days before exchange. Dropped the asking price to the level of our first offer. Total of 16 viewers, 5 of them viewed twice. Then 2 offers came on the same day a fortnight ago at 10% below our new asking price. We have reluctantly agreed to one of them as long as they get on with it. Havent heard a word from them since.

NyimaR - been on the market since June. 9 viewings (including 1 second viewing) all made very good noises, then nothing. Last viewing was a week ago. Dropped price once when viewings dropped off. Will do it again if I stop getting viewers. Got an open house in a couple of weeks. Living in London (where new job is) with mum during the week and Coventry (with the OH) at weekends

Chyna-S: On market for 2 days, no viewers yet

NEH

Blodwen wrote: »

Yay, fingers crossed for those viewers!

Good to hear you've moved but sorry to hear about the damage and mould, sounds like you've got a decent case for a complaint.

Well damage is appearing as we unpack so once that's done we'll be trying to get the letter together.

Some of the things are daft packing wise, they wrap two pieces of paper around the Wii and it scratches very badly and yet they wrap a pack of cards with the same care...???:huh:

MB that does need altering with the EA, they do get muddled with which flat they are selling i'm sure of it at times...

Fingers crossed Chyna-s

monkeys_bunny

monkeys_bunny wrote: »

did ask the EA if they had got confused with another property but they have not replied to me, prob dont think they need to.

Grrrr

NEH wrote: »

MB that does need altering with the EA, they do get muddled with which flat they are selling i'm sure of it at times...

Fingers crossed Chyna-s

Sorry, i ment the viewer may have got confused. i know the EA doesnt think its Ex Council or anything. sorry i do not always make myself clear.

paul97_2

The house has been on the market for 3 weeks with no interest, now I know it's early days in today's market but after browsing this thread it would appear that if you have no interest early days then there is something wrong? anyway I sent an email to our EA as below

We have not actually met you yet, but you are the named contact on the information we received when we placed our property with you. We were wondering if there had been any interest shown at all? and if so what were the comments regarding price etc.

Also, we have noticed that a lot of Estate Agents now use floor plans, so I hope you don't mind but we have attached a floor plan and a picture of the garden which we hope you can add to the marketing information. We would like to be as proactive as possible with the sale and if there is anything we could do to make our property more saleable we would take on any suggestions you have to offer.

I was expecting a call or email, but have not had any acknowledgement from AE, now I am wondering if they think I am being too pushy or even rude.

sonastin

paul97 wrote: »

The house has been on the market for 3 weeks with no interest, now I know it's early days in today's market but after browsing this thread it would appear that if you have no interest early days then there is something wrong? anyway I sent an email to our EA as below

We have not actually met you yet, but you are the named contact on the information we received when we placed our property with you. We were wondering if there had been any interest shown at all? and if so what were the comments regarding price etc.

Also, we have noticed that a lot of Estate Agents now use floor plans, so I hope you don't mind but we have attached a floor plan and a picture of the garden which we hope you can add to the marketing information. We would like to be as proactive as possible with the sale and if there is anything we could do to make our property more saleable we would take on any suggestions you have to offer.

I was expecting a call or email, but have not had any acknowledgement from AE, now I am wondering if they think I am being too pushy or even rude.

Your e-mail looks fine to me. When did you send it? Remember all the usual excuses for not replying to e-mails quickly - not in the office because doing viewings, on holiday, off sick, etc; dealing with clients in the office, on the phone, not in front of the computer, etc. I'd leave it till it was long enough for them not to apply (or for someone else to be responsible for dealing with it in their absence) and then chase it up with a polite phone call.

Everyone is impatient in the house selling process so it shouldn't be news to the EA that you want some feedback. Communication is the key to giving people patience but so many involved in the housing market don't seem to understand this. If I know that they are doing XYZ and that will take until such-and-such date, I'm less likely to go crazy conjuring up my own excuses for why its taking so long and jump off the deep end!

ocalllo

paul97 wrote: »

The house has been on the market for 3 weeks with no interest, now I know it's early days in today's market but after browsing this thread it would appear that if you have no interest early days then there is something wrong? anyway I sent an email to our EA as below

We have not actually met you yet, but you are the named contact on the information we received when we placed our property with you. We were wondering if there had been any interest shown at all? and if so what were the comments regarding price etc.

Also, we have noticed that a lot of Estate Agents now use floor plans, so I hope you don't mind but we have attached a floor plan and a picture of the garden which we hope you can add to the marketing information. We would like to be as proactive as possible with the sale and if there is anything we could do to make our property more saleable we would take on any suggestions you have to offer.

I was expecting a call or email, but have not had any acknowledgement from AE, now I am wondering if they think I am being too pushy or even rude.

definitely don't think that is being pushy or rude at all. remember agents have potentially hundreds of houses on their books so you need to keep yours in the fore front and on their minds - but don't p*ss them off.
good luck

paul97_2

Thanks for the quick replies, I was just a bit worried that I had P**d them off, but all is forgiven I have just checked the details and not only have they included the picture of the back garden and floor plans they have also re taken the one of front of the house which I find strange, but good as I have put a planter on either side of the door since the original pic was taken for the elusive kerb appeal.

Will just have to learn to be a bit more patient.

LilacPixie

I am losing the will to live with this one. Don't know if we should drop price or not. 2 bed flat, interest to start with but now its tailing off. 1 silly offer at 34% under valuation after 1st week which we politly declined. We are priced offers offer 5% under the valuation, Only two comparable property on market a few streets away priced exactly the same but 'in need of modernisation' that flats value is 4% under their offers over price. The other is prices at 2k under ours also in need of modernisation. Looks like kitchen/bathroom.
Spoke to solicitor a few weeks ago and he said the local market is just flat flat flat with very little FTB's and lowering price wouldn't do much as we are pretty much bottom of the ladder price wise so each 1k drop is only £100 less deposit the buyer has to find.

We are at the stage that dream home is on market but obviously we cannot proceed until this sold. Our AiP is on the condition this is sold so stuck.

We are in Scotland so the mortgage valuation is included in the home pack. Anyone have any opinions?

tyllwyd

paul97 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies, I was just a bit worried that I had P**d them off, ....

As far as I am concerned, one of the EA's roles is keeping the people on their books happy - not that they have to be constantly on the phone to you, but they should keep in touch now and again, and be prepared to have a chat about how it is all going (or not going). It's all part of the job! so don't be afraid to contact them if you need to.

shupufski_2

The problem with EA's is that many of them have worked through an unprecedented boom in property. The key characteristic of the boom was that practically everything sold - good, bad or indifferent.

The current level of activity in the property market reflects a return to a more "normal" relationship between buyers and sellers. Excellent properties or those in the best locations will sell without much effort and EA's don’t have to do much to assist. However, when it comes to the bulk of other properties, they require more of a push from the EA and many of them do not have a clue how to do it.

At the moment, I suspect EA's will be happy sell anything but like any other sales person they will concentrate on the properties that they believe will sell easily - and hence we are back to those that sell themselves.

If you want to get your EA to sell to your property then you should consider incentivising them directly. I sold a flat some years ago and agreed an additional fee - payable directly to the EA (and agreed with his boss) - that depended on getting a minimum price but with the incentive increasing with every 1000 over that amount.

Consider a 300k property at 1.5% commission - the EA will get 4500 commission for the sale, probably split 50:50 between them and the office, leaving them with 2250. Now, if you say that you will pay an additional 1000 directly to the EA for a sale at 300k then you increase their personal incentive to sell by 44% at a small cost to yourself.