Should an Estate Agent market a house they know is not worth the asking price?

mbga9pgf

new_home_owner wrote: »

where have you been house prices have gone up in the last 12 months, you need to get out there and take advantage of the stamp duty break for first time buyers.....

What are you talking about? ( other than !!!!) I have been posting on hoc since 06 before the first dip. Many of the buyers I told not to buy are now balls deep in negative equity with prices falling 20 percent. Prices are still below 06 prices on my area. Or didn't you realise that?

Estate_Agent

The question is not whether we tell the sellers or not - believe me we do. I have a property where the neighbour is on at £30k less. I feel even the neighbouring property is overvalued. I can't justify the difference in price, but I can justify the lack of interest.

But I'm not worried about the lack of interest because its understandable and backs up what we told the vendor in the first instance. I'm not interested in paying to advertise a property no one is going to buy.

What intrigues me is whether it is a good thing to have these properties on in the first place? Does it do me harm by giving me a reputation of overvaluing properties in order to stroke an ego and get the sign up, or does it serve the greater good by giving me a pool of applicants who may be more interested in the remaining sensibly priced stock that I have?

harrup

new_home_owner wrote: »

Ive noticed a lot of people have rushed out and sold their houses at low prices, then when they come to buy other people have just not dropped theirs at all and these people are in limbo, i for one would not be hasty to sell at a lower price especially if i had nowhere to move too, theres a lot of sellers who are just not accepting low offers, if it means them being on the market for months or even years, i think they will wait.

By me a lot of hosue have began to sell, and good properties dont last very long at all.

I hear what you are saying....but those sellers who are not accepting low(er) offers after being on the market for months and years...aren't strictly "sellers", are they? They are more la-la land time wasters for all concerned. If they really WANT to sell. Some don't, they are just toying with the idea. Incidentally, those are the kind of vendors who won';t budge a wink from their sale price but quite happily offer a pittance for the homes of others. Go figure.

True, some are not motivated by greed and/or lofty ingnorance as much as by sheer desperation. They bought high at the wrong time, are mortgaged to the nines and they simply can't afford to absorb the losses . They are proverbially stuck between a rock and a hard place. Can't afford to keep the house and can't afford to sell at a realistic price either.

I feel for them...but not to the extent that I'd finance their previous delusions of grandeur or ill judgment. If they couldn't afford the house, they shouldn't have bought it. Some of life's lessons are costly.

new_home_owner_3

I thought you was looking for a house in the midlands?

good luck with your house hunting:)

mbga9pgf

Estate_Agent wrote: »

The question is not whether we tell the sellers or not - believe me we do. I have a property where the neighbour is on at £30k less. I feel even the neighbouring property is overvalued. I can't justify the difference in price, but I can justify the lack of interest.

But I'm not worried about the lack of interest because its understandable and backs up what we told the vendor in the first instance. I'm not interested in paying to advertise a property no one is going to buy.

What intrigues me is whether it is a good thing to have these properties on in the first place? Does it do me harm by giving me a reputation of overvaluing properties in order to stroke an ego and get the sign up, or does it serve the greater good by giving me a pool of applicants who may be more interested in the remaining sensibly priced stock that I have?

I don't think it will harm your rep. It does cause much amusement for my wife and I however.

harrup

Estate_Agent wrote: »

The question is not whether we tell the sellers or not - believe me we do. I have a property where the neighbour is on at £30k less. I feel even the neighbouring property is overvalued. I can't justify the difference in price, but I can justify the lack of interest.


What intrigues me is whether it is a good thing to have these properties on in the first place? Does it do me harm by giving me a reputation of overvaluing properties in order to stroke an ego and get the sign up, or does it serve the greater good by giving me a pool of applicants who may be more interested in the remaining sensibly priced stock that I have?

I'm unclear as to how a vendor's insistance on a given sales price would /could reflect negatively on you?

We have viewed sevaral properties where we were gobsmacked on how that steep price tag related to that peculiar property...in fact, on two occasions I have phoned up EA's genuinly asking whether the advertised sales price included a typo!....... but sometimes the seller simply didn't want to budge....sometimes the sellers heirs didn't want to budge.

Surely, all you have to say when asked is that the sales price advertised was set by the vendor and that he won't take any offers.

new_home_owner_3

harrup wrote: »

They bought high at the wrong time, are mortgaged to the nines and they simply can't afford to absorb the losses . They are proverbially stuck between a rock and a hard place. Can't afford to keep the house and can't afford to sell at a realistic price either.

I feel for them...but not to the extent that I'd finance their previous delusions of grandeur or ill judgment. If they couldn't afford the house, they shouldn't have bought it. Some of life's lessons are costly.

I know in theory this was supposed to happen, and that why a lot of people thought house prices would really crash, and people who bought at the top would be forced to to sell, i dont know one person by me who has been forced to sell, i know loads that are out of work and struggled with their mortgages, ive even got mates who are now having their mortgage interest paid upto 2 years by the mortgage rescue scheme.

so i dont think its happened and it cirtainly hasnt happened by me.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5fdb229a-30f1-11df-b057-00144feabdc0.html


http://www.walletpop.co.uk/2010/02/11/home-repossessions-and-mortgage-arrears-fall-as-lodger-number/

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Home-repossessions-down-by-36.6077496.jp

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5004897.Sussex_house_repossessions_down/

new_home_owner_3

harrup wrote: »

I'm unclear as to how a vendor's insistance on a given sales price would /could reflect negatively on you?

We have viewed sevaral properties where we were gobsmacked on how that steep price tag related to that peculiar property...in fact, on two occasions I have phoned up EA's genuinly asking whether the advertised sales price included a typo!....... but sometimes the seller simply didn't want to budge....sometimes the sellers heirs didn't want to budge.

Surely, all you have to say when asked is that the sales price advertised was set by the vendor and that he won't take any offers.

if a house price is on a house you know the price before you view, if you dont think its worth it why view? Just in case the seller will take a low offer?

I personally would not view a house i couldnt afford, it avoids disapointment when the seller says not to your low offer.

I think if your looking for a bargain the best bet for yourselves is buy a reposession, look at the sold prices by me and there are only small drops im talking 5000 pounds of a property 155000, i supsect your offers are a lot less than this.

harrup

new_home_owner wrote: »

if a house price is on a house you know the price before you view, if you dont think its worth it why view? Just in case the seller will take a low offer?

No, not at all. Perhaps you misunderstood....or perhaps I explained it badly.

More often than not, the sales leaflet of a house is a poor representation of the property itself. Sometimes the property is actually MUCH nicer than the pictures or description could adequately convey.. More frequently, hoiwever, its the other way round and the property doesn't measure up to the the photos taken from clever, flattering angles.

Point is: one HAS to view a property in vivo to get an accurate picture.

Because just as they were times were we thought " they want THIS much for THAT - are they kidding?!" there were times when we understood WHY a seemingly daftly overpriced property would be put on for a given price. Either it had huge development potential due to it's location, or an unusually idyllic garden or some unusual features which HAD to be seen to be appreciated and understood.

Also, don't forget - personal tastes vary tremedously. Perception is everything. The seller may perceive his property as a a cosy, charming house with character worth XXX. But the buyer may perceive this supposedly cosy character house as a dark, oddly layed out and in dire need of repair, money draining entity worth only XX.

The crucial point is: (private) vendors are rarely objective about their property. They can't be - it's their home. They usually have an emotional attachment to it. It's way more than just bricks and mortar with a bit of grass and plants around it to them. It's a place where their kids grew up and they got married or whatever. Where their memories lay.

Which, in turn, is why they usually think it's worth a LOT more than it objectively is....

Estate_Agent

Interesting thread so far guys.

I'm not particularly bothered about whether we can get viewings on these overpriced properties. And Mbga I'm glad I amuse you. My own wife said the same this morning.

Some of what has been written has given me food for thought, but my origional concern still remains and I shall try and be a little clearer about it.

We have a local agent - a chain - who have the reputation of undervaluing property because they are more interested in selling a volume of properties and getting multiple income streams than selling a property at the right price. I know this reputation because I'm only in week ten as an EA so have been tarnished yet by all the negativity. On the other hand - as has been mentioned here - there is an agent who overvalues just to get the instruction. I don't particularly want to follow either of these examples, but is there any harm in taking on the overpriced(which the vendor is pricing) just to swell our buyer numbers? Will we get a negative reputation because of this?

Or do we already have a negative image because we're EA's?