Viewings, is it better to let the EA conduct them?

mrsw1983

Hi, my property has only been on the market now for about 3/4 weeks. We've had about 8/9 viewings with only one offer 10% less than what we are asking for (and they wern't willing to increase the offer).
My question is, is it better to let our EA conduct the viewings or carry on doing them myself? I'm worried that we've had no interest as I'm not selling the place well enough/doing the right thing?

Your opinions would be gratefully received!

Thanks

Fire_Fox

Have you had any brutally honest feedback from the estate agent? Have you looked at sold prices (not for sale) for your street and area to ensure you are priced correctly? Have you spring cleaned and majorly decluttered the house? 10% less than asking is not necessarily a bad offer in these market conditions!!

mrsw1983

Hi Firefox, the only feedback we've really had is that the general opinion is that the 2/3 bedrooms are smaller than expected.

Spring cleaned - YES! I'm rather obsessive over cleanliness. However I have a 2 year old, so it is really difficult to 'de-clutter'!

missile

8/9 viewings would suggest the agent is doing their job and the price is right. Depending on where you live 10% below asking would appear to be a very good offer and you might regret rejecting it in a month or two.

Some agents are very good @ viewings, some are not. I would let the agent do one and see if you can learn from them.

princessamy86

The feedback that we usually get is that viewers prefer to be shown around by the agent, they feel like they can be much nosier and ask more questions. You also get good, honest feedback! It does depend on how good the agent is at viewings though as stated above, if they're just going to wander around in silence then you're better off doing them yourself. We normally have a 50/50 split, the vendor does the first viewing and then we do the second, as it allows the viewer to have a good poke around and ask any relevant questions. We also use the second viewing to edge people towards making an offer.

Doozergirl

Unless you are terrible at conducting viewings then I would do them yourself. You can do it with enthusiasm and genuine knowledge. If you talk too much then make sure you give them the opportunity to look around by themselves without you gabbering on about the neighbours or whatever! Ask you EA to ask your viewers to give a bit of feedback on how you conducted the viewing If you're going to be wallflower or can't build a list of all the plus points of your house and feel compelled to point out every imperfection then let the EA do it. I have to do it, I just know that the EA can't answer the questions or push the quality in the things that you can't see. For me, which won't apply to most people, I don't want people to think of a faceless developer, I'd like them to see that I'm easy to do business with and that we genuinely care about what we do.

I feel guilty viewing houses when the vendor isn't in and I've been shown around by EAs.

The only time I had a vendor show me around and I wished they hadn't was a gentleman who insisted on showing me the location of every plug socket on a first viewing! (I'm not even that bothered on a second viewing!) It would have been enough to tell me that he was enthusiastic about having plenty of sockets and just left it there

The people who bought that house painted it a weird shade of slightly dayglo pink/lilac. Completeley off topic but I always drive past and wonder 'why' :rotfl:

mrsw1983

The trouble with the offer, was that if we accepted we would be in neg equitity with our lender. We can only drop 5k from the asking price in order to break even!

Doozergirl

What's your asking price?

mrsw1983

On at £139,950

Fire_Fox

mrsw1983 wrote: »

Hi Firefox, the only feedback we've really had is that the general opinion is that the 2/3 bedrooms are smaller than expected.

Spring cleaned - YES! I'm rather obsessive over cleanliness. However I have a 2 year old, so it is really difficult to 'de-clutter'!

The trouble with the offer, was that if we accepted we would be in neg equitity with our lender. We can only drop 5k from the asking price in order to break even!

Have you asked for brutal feedback from the agent themselves? If the bedrooms look small that is a major flag you have too much in them - nothing should be on surfaces, no boxes on the floor, everything in drawers and cupboards and as much floor space on view as possible. Mirrors can make a room feel larger but don't go overboard!!

Try not to think of this as your home now it's on the market, it's someone else's potential home and they do not want to be confronted with the fact that you have grown out of it - they will think they will grow out of it too. Do any friends or family have a loft space or garage you can use?

Of course you can declutter with a two year old - they can only wear so many clothes and only play with so many toys at any one time! Buy cheap and cheerful storage from IKEA that you can take with you. Look to remove all summer clothing and sell on eBay, box up maybe half the toys. In a month your child will get new stuff anyway: a month after that you can swap the boring 'old' toys for the 'new' ones in storage.

Pack away any family photographs and ornaments that are in very personal taste or 'collections' that take a lot of dusting. All toiletries, make up and cleaning products should be in cupboards or drawers. Try to remove any excess furniture, just one coffee table not a side table as well etc. If you are willing to post up your RightMove link we can give you honest feedback.

LandyAndy

I have to say it does look fairly cluttered in the Kitchen (fridge magnet heaven) and in the small bedrooms.

You really should have tidied everything away for the photos. Pictures 2,3,5,6,7,12 and 13 all give an impression of clutter.

There's a football under the table in picture 12:rotfl:.