Selling house - Agent has sent no viewers

fredmila

Doozergirl wrote: »

I think you should tell us how to do it when you've actually sold.

Oh sorry I didn't realise that I was doing it all wrong by not being able to sell a house in the middle of the biggest housing boom we have had for 30 years. Silly me, I should just spend thousands more and the house will go in a few days

Blackpool_Saver

fredmila wrote: »

Oh sorry I didn't realise that I was doing it all wrong by not being able to sell a house in the middle of the biggest housing boom we have had for 30 years. Silly me, I should just spend thousands more and the house will go in a few days

Yes, but only if you spend it in the right places, I can help you with that if you like.

dander

Going back to the question way back, yes, I think you do need to keep talking to the estate agent. It's not telling them how to do their job - it's keeping the communication two-way and ensuring you have the information that they have. They might have showed your details to several buyers who have all said, they don't like the kitchen, or it's over-priced, or whatever, but until you talk to the estate agent and find out what people have said then you only have conjecture to go on.

As far as the house goes, the inside looks kind of fine to me in an empty kind of way, but the outside made me immediately go, "no thanks".
I think there must be an advantage to 'staging' new-build houses or the developers wouldn't bother with putting showhouses on all their estates, they'd just show you round an empty house. But personally until you actually get a viewer, I'd say the problems are more fundamental than that.

fredmila

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Yes, but only if you spend it in the right places, I can help you with that if you like.

You can help me spend money...:j

Blackpool_Saver

fredmila wrote: »

You can help me spend money...:j

I have helped others speculate to accumulate yes, shame you are being facetious though, you will end up renting it out unless you listen to ALL of us, not just me.

googler

fredmila wrote: »

Oh sorry I didn't realise that I was doing it all wrong by not being able to sell a house in the middle of the biggest housing boom we have had for 30 years. Silly me, I should just spend thousands more and the house will go in a few days

OK, now you seem to be getting shirty.

You can afford the luxury of being stubborn about things when you've gone and sold the thing, but for now - you came here asking for advice.

Some of it is digressing a bit, some of it is patently not what you wanted to hear (including some of my comments, I'm sure), but it's free, and you're getting what I would say is HONEST feedback from people who are coming to your house as total strangers, with no prior knowledge of the area and no preconceptions.

There might be some value in sitting back and soaking all this up, might there not?

Which 'housing boom' are we in the middle of......

fredmila

Yes, to go back to my original question, I knew that I was going to get all kinds of suggestions because we are all designers after all. But I will agree that the first thing is to get a decent set of photos and maybe fire the EA.

I will say that even the EAs who came to see the house told me that it was a bit overdone on the finishes, materials etc. Many people just put plastic doors, laminate flooring, panel radiators but I wanted mine to be a bit better. I can assure you that I will not recover the money if I spend more.

And just to be defensive, Blackpool_saver I do have the eye for it, you have your taste, I have mine. If I had had people, who have seen the house, telling me what a shame about finishes, colours etc I would be asking for advice on re-decorating the house, but my problems is with the EA.

Doozergirl

fredmila wrote: »

Oh sorry I didn't realise that I was doing it all wrong by not being able to sell a house in the middle of the biggest housing boom we have had for 30 years. Silly me, I should just spend thousands more and the house will go in a few days

I presume you mean crash. I don't blame you for not being able to sell it in a crash, but I think you need a reality check if you're telling some of us that genuinely can do it in a crash, what it does and does not take to sell a house. I don't mean to be arrogant at all, but you do need a bit of a reality check if you don't think this is all about the buyers. Selling a house is selling a lifestyle - especially when you are selling a new one. You have to put it right in people's faces!

I don't hire furniture, I agree the price is too high. You can buy furniture new from Ikea for the same price as you can hire from stagers - and you can sell it on afterwards. If I dress a small house then I buy all the furniture from ebay and sell it all on again afterwards - you can buy it all nearly new and I've made a profit each time on this so it costs me nothing except my time. All the walls are magnolia so all the colourful stuff is gone when the buyer moves in to put their own stamp on a place. I use the soft furnishings from my own house; cushions, bedding, cookery books, ornaments, rugs etc. It's only temporary. Big house, then I'll move in if I have to because I'm doing it to make money, not spend it.

Of course the money you spend has to be in proportion to your potential gain. It isn't the expense that you've gone to that sells a house. The other house has been beautifully designed; they've carefully considered the positioning even of each window, the design of the outside suits it's location perfectly and the colour palette is clean. You can do that without huge expense. Yes they have an expensive kitchen but with good design and decent accessories you can get an expensive look without spending a fortune - you've watched property ladder and how she rolls her eyes at designer kitchens!

fredmila

googler wrote: »

OK, now you seem to be getting shirty.

You can afford the luxury of being stubborn about things when you've gone and sold the thing, but for now - you came here asking for advice.

Some of it is digressing a bit, some of it is patently not what you wanted to hear (including some of my comments, I'm sure), but it's free, and you're getting what I would say is HONEST feedback from people who are coming to your house as total strangers, with no prior knowledge of the area and no preconceptions.

There might be some value in sitting back and soaking all this up, might there not?

Which 'housing boom' are we in the middle of......

Yes, I agree, I will think about it, but of course if I put together and did everything that people suggested, I would end up designing a house like Homer Simpson designed a car for his brother.

But one thing is for sure I am not spending more money because I know I will not get it back. Remember I came here asking for advice on the Estate Agent. It's free advice but I have to decide what to do myself, in the end.

googler

Last one for tonight

If you can find a REALLY GOOD interiors photographer in your area, why not just hire him yourself, and get him to supply the pictures to either your current EA or the new one?