Estate agent won't sell unless we drop price.

s@sha

Jorgan wrote:

Is yours the property in Porth in need of renovation by the way?

Yes, it is. It's not as bad as it sounds actually as it's got full central heating & is quite liveable in. It's just that it hasn't got a proper bathroom, just a shower room & seperate WC, and just a tiny kitchenette.

As for feedback, we haven't had much, only a couple of comments from the firts few viewings, to the effect that it was too much work for the viewer to get a mortgage, or just not what they were after. We didn't even know there had been 18 viwings, they only informed us about the first 3 or 4.

s@sha

meanmachine wrote:

By the way, you seem to have lost a zero off your mum's house. At least, in my neck of the woods you'd be lucky to get a whole property for less than £380,000!

I wish it was just a typing error, but unfortunately not! that's another reason why dropping £12,000 seems a bit drastic, as it's such a huge chunk of the asking price.


Thanks to everyone for your thoughts so far by the way.

toucanspeed

meanmachine wrote:

By the way, you seem to have lost a zero off your mum's house. At least, in my neck of the woods you'd be lucky to get a whole property for less than £380,000!

I wish I could live in a place where house prices were that expensive! Perhaps the OP lives in a more modest area or at least one that isn't neighboured by one with such arrogance

kit

Hiya

My advice would be

1. get in at least 3 other agents to give you a valuation - ask them to be honest and value at a price to sell.
2. ask for written confirmation of all viewings (at work our computer generates a letter to our vendors tell them of all viewings) and ask for feedback from each of them (again, our computers do this after we have input all the info).
3. Ask them about the contract - if they refuse to market it, can you go elsewhere? Make sure you argue with them if they wont let you. Go in on a really busy day and make sure any customers in the office hear what you have to say!
4. If you are willing to spend a little money - ask a surveryor in to tell you if there would be any problems with getting a mortage on it as this may cause an issue.
5. If you are willing to spend a lot of money - do the work and sell for the ful value!

HTH
KiT

alanobrien

Tell them to go to hell and find another agent.
Remember they are working for you.
Sound to me like they were trying it on.

Debt_Free_Chick

18 viewings and no offers?

Sounds like a price drop is in order

£Ronnie

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

18 viewings and no offers?

Sounds like a price drop is in order

If there has been 18 viewings then I would agree, or else do some work to aid the sale at the asking price.....however I would double check that there had in fact been this amount of viewings. In my experience when ea's do something they should(eg viewings) they don't hesitate to tell you about it;) :rolleyes:

dander

If a house has had 18 viewings in around 6 weeks, surely it is not overpriced. Change agents!

Dora_the_Explorer_5

I've just been in this situation with my dad's house in Wakefield. Similar houses in the terrace going for 72 - 80k but in much better condition. EA put it to auction with a reserve of £65 which is what it went for, much to my amazement. I think vendor (your mum and my dad) are required to get best possible price for the property to offset their care home fees, so less liability for local council. I think your EA is playing a very fishy game. Why not suggest putting it up for auction and if they're not bothered, get out of the contract and find another EA who is.

Pal

I agree that 18 viewings and no offers suggests that it is either overpriced, or badly needs some work doing to improve it's presentation.

Not wanting to take the estate agents side here, but if the 18 viewings had taken half an hour each (possibly longer) then that is at least 9 hours work so far. If they eventually sell, they will get something like 1.5% of £50k = £750, and they haven't even started the running around of the sales process yet.

If there really has been 18 viewings, then you can begin to see why they don't want to waste more time trying to sell it.

However, I would put it on with another agent, just to see what happens.