selling house diary

StaffieTerrier

There's a post that mentions Express Estate Agents here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3445127

They also refer to this website http://www.allagents.co.uk/express-estate-agency/ with less than impressive reviews

cwcw

Bear in mind that if a buyer you find had previously viewed the property via the original estate agent, the agent will probably still be due a fee, depending on the contract terms.

Scully38

new_home_owner wrote: »

Ive slated traditional estate agents in the past, and i have said if i sold my house again i would do it myself using a online estate agent.

Now a friend of mine as asked me to try and sell their house for them, im going to use a online agent which will market the property on all the property portals and it only cost 200 pound, i wont mention any names until the house is sold, or i give up.

ive told them my strategy the traditional estate agent marketed the house at 200,000 pounds and they have had a load of viewings but no offers.

We have decided between us to market the house at offers in excess of 150,000, i know people will say they wouldnt view houses advertised with the words offers in excess of, but like i explained to them, you can always turn a offer down, likewise you can always accept it.

What makes it interesting is the house next door which is identical is being marketed at 210,000, but they do have a conservatory.

anyway ill report back and let people know if e have any sucsess...

This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. You're wanting to put someoneelse's house on the market for 50k less it's value? Why would you do that to someone who's entrusted this to you? It seems as if you're just playing games with them. You say you're doing it as you are wanting to sell your own, but are 'testing your theories'. That's fair enough, but test those theories on your own property and not on the people who've entrusted you with theirs.

You mentioned again if a car was worth somewhere between 1k ad 2k, so you'd market it offers over 1k? That's stupid. This is not your property its someone elses. So bear that in mind. These people will obviously want somewhere nearer to the 200k mark rather than the 150k mark. And yes it is there option to reject the offer or accept, but you're marketing the house incorrectly. If they want to sell their home via you, then don't play games with their home, and sell it at fair market value, somewhere in the region of 180k if they want a quick sale. Not Offers over 150k, because only a muppet would do that.

new_home_owner_3

It might make no sense to some people, if it works out and they sell the house for the price they are happy with then no problems, i wont be telling them to accept offers 50,000 pound less than what its worth.

bottom line my friends will realise how much their house is really worth, people keep on throwing around

"a person will only pay what they think the house is worth to them".

Likewise a seller will only accept what they are happy with, it works both ways.

now if they advertise like this and have 100 viewings and the highest offer is 170,000 then they may have to accept it, unless they dont want to sell, but thats their perogative.

ill come back and report when its all up and runnng.

Scully38

new_home_owner wrote: »

It might make no sense to some people, if it works out and they sell the house for the price they are happy with then no problems, i wont be telling them to accept offers 50,000 pound less than what its worth.

No it doesn't make sense, irrespective of how you spin it. You may not be telling them to accept an offer of 50k less, but that is what you are implying they should accept, subconsciously if not consciously. What difference would it make to you if you suggested marketing at a more realistic figure of say 185k if the house is valued at 200k? People will always knock it down anyway. You're playing with someone else's money and you do not have that right. Try it out on your own house if you are so confident. If as you say you are not dissuading them to take a lesser offer, then why market it as such? The couple, i'm assuming, are not young, I would say mid to late 60's and this has been there only home, their children (if any) have long sine gone, so that's why i'm assuming they're trusting you? Am I right?

bottom line my friends will realise how much their house is really worth, people keep on throwing around

"a person will only pay what they think the house is worth to them".

Likewise a seller will only accept what they are happy with, it works both ways.

How will they realise what their house is worth? They've had a valuation, so they will be expecting somewhere around 180k if it was valued at 200k. So saying they'll know what their house is really worth is a cop out. As for " a seller will only accept what they are happy with. " A seller needs a guide is that what you're suggesting? A good buyer will do their research, but usually its set by the vendor, and the viewers will judge whether its too high a price or not. So why don't you do research and put the property at a price that equates to the area around the house, don't just pluck a figure from mid air and expect people to mind read. What you're implying is the following;

• House valued at 200k
• you're putting it on for 150k
• the vendors will never sell at 150k, but you're subconsciously them that's all their house is worth...
• buyers will be putting figures in at 130k, and it'll never sell....

That is the reality of what you're suggesting.

now if they advertise like this and have 100 viewings and the highest offer is 170,000 then they may have to accept it, unless they dont want to sell, but thats their perogative.

ill come back and report when its all up and runnng.

Why would the offer be something like 170k? Are you suggesting that because it's on so low, you expect several people to be fighting over the house because it went on at such a low price and therefore achieve it's asking price? Do you even know how stressful it is to move houses? It's hard enough and stressful enough at the best of times, but to play games with it is just immature. This is people's homes. Don't mess with theirs, mess with your own first and see what it's like. Immature people make my blood boil! :mad: How old are you? 23? 24? Young male?

Mess with your own home not other peoples!!

Egg_custard_2

The reason agents market properties at 'offers over' is because it will be included in searches on property websites such as RM when people type that figure in as their maximum budget. By setting the price as 'offers over £150k' what you will be doing is marketing the property to a whole heap of people whose maximum budget is £150k - these people are not in a position to make offers around £180k so why market to those people as a starting point?

If I see a property on at 'offers in excess of £150k' I take this to mean they want £150k, a little bit more would be nice but not necessary (so why should I pay it?) and that they are unwilling to negotiate much lower than £150k. I would never dream of offering £30k over an OIEO price. I doubt I would be alone in this thinking.

With this marketing strategy, you may well save your friends a couple of grand in EA fees but you will cost them tens of thousands of pounds in house value. Yes, they can turn down offers but why start out with a marketing ploy that is bound to attract under-value offers from people who can't afford a higher price? Bizarre.

Honest_EA

I couldnt agree more with what Egg_custard has said above and all the other posters. Your selling strategy is barmy to start with. First of all you are being entrusted to sell the largest asset that they own so you need to be aware that getting this wrong could cost them tens of thousands of £s. Let's get one thing clear - buyers don't pay a blind bit of notice to the wording beside the asking price, they simply see the figure of £150k and think that looks good value so let's arrange a viewing. If they really like it they may offer full asking price but in this market even if a property looks to be good value for money you often get offers below asking price as everyone wants a bargain, so expect offers in the region of £140k.

I'll use a recent sale of mine to prove my point above: An old bungalow in the countryside had to be sold as part of the estate of a recently deceased lady. The solicitor handling the sale was told to get it sold asap as there were financial issues in the family so money was needed quickly. It's true market value was around £175k but was listed at offers over £120k to generate loads of interest and to get it sold quickly. After a dozen viewings in a few days we had received a highest offer of £129k with no one prepared to go any higher so it was agreed and the property sold a few weeks later to a cash buyer. There was no frenzy of buyers willing to pay any price as the sentiment from buyers is that another one will come along in future as there are on average 7 properties on the market for every buyer, not the other way around as in the past.

You need to rethink the strategy and put it on the market at offers around the figure they are prepared to accept, ie £175-£180k.

googler

new_home_owner wrote: »

(Links removed)

these are just a few, i thought you may have googled it before posting, i also googled express estate agency problems and there wasnt many results

As with the allagents review site, how do we know these are from REAL EEA customers?

Everything on referenceonline is positive, everything on allagents is negative, pretty much. How likely is that? Pretty improbable, I'd say

unhappy_shopper

new_home_owner wrote: »

Im not going to post now until its all up and running, but if you people want to look at a estate agent that has been marketing and selling properties using this method, take a look here...

http://www.expressestateagency.co.uk/viewproperties.php

these have been getting very good reviews, maybe theyre nutters aswell????:rotfl:

By any chance, are you promoting your own firm?

kk20

In reality this sort of practice simply !!!!es most buyers off. I am house hunting as a cash buyer with a maximum budget I am prepared to spend. Express estate agency will get nothing but bad reviews from me. What is the point marketting a house at OIEO 75k when in actual fact the vendors wont accept less than 90k? I am aware WHY you do it, simply to gain more interest on search engines such as rightmove etc. If people wanted a house in the region of 90k then they would put that as the upper limit. I pity the clients as they will get viewings with the majority being put off by the "false" asking price.

Point in case 3 properties in our area (carlisle - they are on rightmove as of now and have been for over a month). 60k (wanted offers over 80k+), 55k (wouldnt accept lower than 70k) and 75K wanted 90k+. Those three were on the same phone call after 3 viewings (which took 4 days to arrange). Complete waste of my time. Ironically enough I feel sorry for the people in the properties as they are probably on the brink of repo anyway.

Oh well, rant over.