been told to lower price?

Babymerlin

Hey there

Been told by our EA that we should be lowering our price of our house as our house has been on for sale since june and people looking will be wondering why its taken so long to be sold….?

We have already lowered the price, and so if lower again will be 10k lower. The thing is we need a little bit of profit to be able to buy a new house (we are downsizing!) so lowering again means there will be no point moving as we wont have the 10% deposit that we need.

He was compairing our 3 bed house with the 2 beds that have sold and saying that people are looking for 139k price range …… but we are 3 bed….? Are they trying to pull a fast one? the thing is if this is the case then I think we will have to take house off market as no point moving, as we were moving to smaller house to save money……looks like we are having to pay out more now to get a smaller house!?!!?

RenovationMan

We had three estate agents value our house, all of them were below what we thought it was worth. In the end we went with the cheapest agency (1% commission) and set our own price. We put the house on the market and it got full asking price three days later.

We felt that the estate agents were just after a fast buck. If we knock £50k off the price of the sale, we lose £50k and they lose nothing because unless the house sells they get nothing. In these hard times estate agents are happy just to tick over and so there is little incentive for them to push for a higher price for their vendor - the extra commision simply isnt worth the wait for them.

Have you looked at other reasons your house has not sold? Before we put ours on the market we looked at our house through the eyes of a prospective buyer and we 'dressed' the house properly (got rid of clutter, etc. as advised by the House Doctor) and spruced it all up, tidied the garden, etc. We must have spent about £500 on paint, filler and plants for the garden. Money well spent as it turned out.

Orrin

If you don't want to sell below a particular price point then there's nothing the EA can do to make you accept a lower offer. If you don't think their valuation is accurate ask to see more evidence of selling prices for similar properties in your area. You should also check the terms of your agreement with them to see if you can use another EA either instead or alongside them.

Have you had many viewings? Usually if you aren't getting viewings it's an indication that the asking price may be too high. If you are getting viewings then perhaps there's a problem with the property or you could do something to improve it?

Loughton_Monkey

Estate Agents are only interested in their commission. If you drop by £10,000 and sell, you have 'lost' £10,000. The EA has 'lost' very little. Just a small percent of commission, but cash now instead of possibility of cash later.

So never drop just because EA says so.

The point is, though, there is a 'market price' for your house. It's just that you don't know what it is. It may, or may not be £10K lower than you are currently asking. Just as likely, your price is 'right' but sadly the market is extremely 'slow' currently.

Very difficult call to make. But personally, I would put down my own EA'a comments as just 'noise' and make my own decision after my own thorough review and discussion with others in the area. Perhaps I would appoint a new EA and listen to what 'rantings' they might give me.

Babymerlin

wow, thanks for the quick replies.

we already have 2 EA, the other hasnt mentioned about lowering price....actually, both EA have been pretty poor if im honest, in terms of keeping in contact etc.

we have de cluttered, tidied, cleaned, repainted, moved things round, unpersonalised (granted garden hasnt been done as been a bit snowy/cold/ground rock solid!) - but everything else has. we have been having viewings and people through the door (bit quiet over xmas but expected that).

main feedback has been that hasnt got a dining room...... there is space for table in kitchen (which we have in there), and other people in street have the lounge/diner but we chose not to.

other than that the only thing we can think of doing is taking it off the market, knocking through into the utility bit and taking out the downstairs toilet to make space for a 'proper' dining table.

PasturesNew

Do you have a Rightmove link we can look at and compare it with others, give you a "stranger's eye view" of yours -v- others.

DervProf

I think you need Sibley's help here. Sibley seems to think there is no need to accept any less than you want for your property.

Graham_Devon

2 different points of view here.

You are employing your estate agent to sell your house. He's trying to do so. On the buying and selling board, often critism from EA's to help get the house moving is welcomed, as it's in short supply. If your EA is reccomending you reduce the price, they probably know what they are talking about. Afterall, if he told you to increase the price as houses were being snapped up, you'd probably take his reccomendation in a heartbeat.

Second point of view is....you've had 2 agents, and can't sell. Therefore, there is something stopping it selling. Usually, it's price.

Most properties sell, for the right price. They can have no bathroom and kitchen, so loing as it's priced correctly for the condition, it will still sell. So, all you can do is look at why it isn't selling. Price is usually a huge factor, especially if you've had no offers. Though of course, without seeing it, it could be loads of things.

doire_2

Babymerlin wrote: »

wow, thanks for the quick replies.

we already have 2 EA, the other hasnt mentioned about lowering price....actually, both EA have been pretty poor if im honest, in terms of keeping in contact etc.

we have de cluttered, tidied, cleaned, repainted, moved things round, unpersonalised (granted garden hasnt been done as been a bit snowy/cold/ground rock solid!) - but everything else has. we have been having viewings and people through the door (bit quiet over xmas but expected that).

main feedback has been that hasnt got a dining room...... there is space for table in kitchen (which we have in there), and other people in street have the lounge/diner but we chose not to.

other than that the only thing we can think of doing is taking it off the market, knocking through into the utility bit and taking out the downstairs toilet to make space for a 'proper' dining table.

How many views have you had?

WHITEVANMAN

If youve been on since June, had a 10k drop and are still finding it difficult to shift even after viewings then a rethink is needed.

Have you had any offers?
If you purely getting viewings with no bites something is definately wrong, and you may have to evaluate your own expectations and thus your choices.
Im going to suggest the knock through done properly is going to cost you as much as you may lose in lower pricing but without any offers it will be difficult to guage.
Maybe you could try price ranging as a strategy maybe with a new agent and get them to drum up as much interest as possible at the outset in the hope you can get bid up, i went this strategy in June and a 2 bed made almost 3 bed money, and went over my top price spread.
Do make sure the place is as ship shape as possible, and consider pulling it off the market till spring while you spruce it up, the sunshine can have a big influence.
Failing that, maybe you would be prudent to wait a year or 2, consider the knock through to spread the cost out and hopefully pick up the market in a slight upturn.

LydiaJ

Don't take out the downstairs loo - you will decrease the value of the house. IIRC, there was an episode of Property Ladder ages ago where the people were sure it didn't matter that they weren't bothering to put in a downstairs loo despite Sarah Beeny telling them they should, so she took them out on the street and polled people about whether they thought it was important, and they all said it was.

My sellers had their house on at a ridiculous price and weren't getting any offers, so they moved to a third agent, having tried two already and dropped it about 5%. He told them it wouldn't sell at that price and that he'd only take their business if they'd drop it by at least 5% more. They did, and within days I'd put in an offer. I knew I liked the house but there was no way I was going to pay that much for it.

We're due to complete next week. Sometimes the EAs do know what the market will stand.