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

Grimbal

ooh, good luck with the new EA - hope being with the same guys helps. I had that said to me by my current EAs - they've just signed up our potential buyers. I can see how it would improve communication in the event of a sale, and you wouldnt get all the chinese whispers whilst you're sorting out all the paperwork, but they seemed to be implying that it would sell easier too! Really confused at that...

BornAtTheRightTime

I'm happy to report I accepted an offer yesterday just 2.5% under asking price, from a couple who have exchanged already on their house sale and are looking to complete in October :j It will more than make up for what we lost due to the miserable time-wasters who cost us the entire summer. Oh how tempted I am to drop them an email saying 'ner ner ner ner ner'

September pick-up has begun, so good luck everybody!

azkaban420

NEH congrats on moving in, even though you had the hassles with the food;

BornAtTheRightTime - congrats, that's awesome news, sounds like you've got the perfect buyer too!

Grimbal - hugs to you for feeling down, we're entitled to a bit of a rant and rave, that's what this thread is for, so feel free to post how you feel...we've all been there at some point! Hope things look up for you soon...

Hugs to everyone else and positive selling vibes to everyone!!

Nothing particular to report on my end, except apparently the FTB's mortgage is now sorted, and my EA says we should be able to exchange this week. Am taking it all with a pinch of salt though, as been hearing the same thing for weeks now, and until it comes from the solicitors' mouths (which it hasn't) it's all a bit meaningless.

Will see as always...

Az

tyllwyd

Angelindskies wrote: »

..... My daughter has started college already, (she's just 16) - she is staying with friends and I'm a 45 minute drive away. We are very close and I miss her terribly Guys, can you give me thoughts,ideas on how to move forward?

Thanks!
Jess

Hi Jess - there have been a lot of posts on the thread and I didn't want you to think you'd been ignored. If I were you I'd start your own thread if you would like advice on your particular situation because questions can get a bit lost on here It sounds very tough - why is the feedback negative on your house? But the summer has really been tough for sellers in our area, at least, so don't give up hope yet, we are all crossing our fingers for a bit more going on in September.

NEH

Angelindskies wrote: »

Is it okay if I jump in on this thread? I posted yesterday so I will copy and paste the post - thanks guys!

---

Not sure if I should be starting a new thread or jumpin in on this one, but I need some advice please ..

Bought this house three years ago - I guess you could say we found the village location very attractive - fell in love with the garden and the fantastic views at the back -- just fields/countryside.... However, the house needed some work and we overlooked all that in favour of the location...

We bought a lot of expensive wooden flooring and prepared ourselves to do the work ( property needed new bathroom and kitchen too) - Within 6 months, my partner was made redundant (he's now back in work) and everything was placed on hold for a year -- during this time we accumulated a lot of debt and we are now playing catch-up which means we cant replace the bathroom and kitchen like we intended because we cannot afford it. To cut a story short, we decided to move back to the city because our daughter preferred to go to college there, so we decided to put the house on the market --- its been on the market since end of May this year and although we've had a lot of viewings, the feedback is pretty negative other than two couples who said they liked the property, but not in a position to make us an offer as their houses aren't sold yet. We have decorated most rooms - (bedrooms, dining room and living room) but the kitchen and bathroom remain untouched. We've got £1,500 worth of real wood flooring stacked high in the dining room - we've been told not to lay it but I'm wondering if it would help to sell the house. We can't reduce the house price further, otherwise we'll be selling it for far less than what we paid for it three years ago. There is a house further up the road which has been on the market for several months - starting price was £245,000 - it's come down to £209,950 .. the house is immaculate and the garden is 5x the size of ours.... it's just not selling....not sure why..... My daughter has started college already, (she's just 16) - she is staying with friends and I'm a 45 minute drive away. We are very close and I miss her terribly Guys, can you give me thoughts,ideas on how to move forward?

Thanks!
Jess

Has the feedback always been about the kitchen and the bathroom? The flat we're selling needs a new bathroom and possibly a kitchen but what we're going to do now to update things a bit is to replace all the kitchen doors which isn't half as expensive as replacing the whole thing, is that something you could look into?

azkaban420 wrote: »

NEH congrats on moving in, even though you had the hassles with the food;

Az

Wish it was just the food, more worried about the furniture as posted earlier...:(

Fingers crossed that this will be the week for you.

Bornattherighttime congratulations! :j

Blowden bet that was a good feeling, i felt that when i handed over the keys for our mouldy pit to the Solicitors, the temptation to say good luck was immense...:D

shupufski_2

Blodwen wrote: »

I can see your point but why should anyone have to 'incentivise' someone to do their job? I do mine and do it well because it's my responsibility and I get paid for it - as far as I can see bonuses are to get people to do things above the call of duty; doing your job properly doesn't come into this category.

I agree that the idea is unpalatable but I am suggesting that sellers focus on the outcome they want – which is selling their home.

My suggestion is simply a response to the fact you need to get your EA working harder for you and this is one method of doing so.

tyllwyd

shupufski wrote: »

I agree that the idea is unpalatable but I am suggesting that sellers focus on the outcome they want – which is selling their home.

My suggestion is simply a response to the fact you need to get your EA working harder for you and this is one method of doing so.

It just all sounds a bit usedcar-salesman-y - I expect I am just hopelessly naive (I've certainly been called that elsewhere) but I don't think I'd be comfortable doing it. Mind you, what you are saying is partly why we went with a small independent EA with only two partners. They need to sell houses or it's their business that is on the line.

Blodwen

shupufski wrote: »

I agree that the idea is unpalatable but I am suggesting that sellers focus on the outcome they want – which is selling their home.

My suggestion is simply a response to the fact you need to get your EA working harder for you and this is one method of doing so.

I see what your saying and for some the temptation might be there but I just couldn't do it out of principle, nor would I want to deal with an EA who would accept it.

tyllwyd wrote: »

It just all sounds a bit usedcar-salesman-y - I expect I am just hopelessly naive (I've certainly been called that elsewhere) but I don't think I'd be comfortable doing it. Mind you, what you are saying is partly why we went with a small independent EA with only two partners. They need to sell houses or it's their business that is on the line.

Agreed - I wouldn't feel comfortable either, on principle or in practice. Obviously commission is always an issue but it depends how it's done - we are planning to go with our potential vendors' EA as they might try harder as they will get 2 lots of commission if they sell ours, so like you it's using it to our advantage in an above board way - the whole backhander thing seems so seedy (I suspect I am pretty naive too though!)

sonastin

Angelindskies wrote: »

We can't reduce the house price further, otherwise we'll be selling it for far less than what we paid for it three years ago.

Just asking this before the naysayers jump on it for the wrong reasons and once more hijack this thread...

Why can't you sell it for less than you paid 3 years ago? If it puts you in negative equity or you have a big mortgage to clear or you can't afford to live in the city so it isn't worth even selling if you have to sell it for less then that is fair enough. But as will no doubt be pointed out elsewhere on this forum, prices in general have dropped over the last 3 years so even if you do sell for less, you can probably buy for less, providing you are left with some equity for a deposit on the new place.

I think what I'm getting at is it helps on here to be more specific about why you can't afford to reduce the price - apparently we aren't allowed to make a profit for profits sake when selling houses because it upsets the buyers who haven't saved enough of a deposit! - so its best not to sound like that is what you are trying to do

Orpheo

shupufski wrote: »

The problem with EA's is that many of them have worked through an unprecedented boom in property.

The problem with EA's is that most of them are young enough to have worked through nothing but an unprecedented boom in property. Now that conditions have gone the other way they haven't got the first clue what's hit them, let alone what to do about it. The facts are now revealing themselves; most EAs couldn't sell watermelons in the Sahara, many I've met couldn't find their own backside if they had a map, compass and a mirror. Sometimes circumstances make people successful in spite of themselves, a little change in the status quo reveals the truth.