Advice please re my house not selling.

Triker

Ok I'll try to be succint.

Got three valuations, £190,000, £185,0000 and £175,000. One EA said property would rise to £200,000 plus if done up to a high standard.

It's a 2 bedroomed bungalow with outstanding views, rural, not overlooked, v. large south facing garden, need updating and a new kitchen and bathroom.
No chain, ample parking, garage area.

My house went on the market November 2006. We chose a guide price of £175,000 as EA said offers would come in over the guide price.

Before even marketed we got an offer in at £170,000 which we declined as were under the impression offers should be over as advised.

Anyway since then nothing, had apparently over 5000 hits on rightmove and EA website but not getting viewings.

Had a property developer who said price too high, had a couple who thought too rural.

EA says drop price by £25,000, I feel this is too steep.

Options are go to best and final offers EA advises start guide price at £150,000.

Remove from market, do up and put back on at a later date.

Reduce asking price and remove guide price to £150,000 as advised by EA.

As I do not live in the property I am not present at viewings so do not know what is being said/relayed by viewers.

Your thoughts please.

fivemice

If you post the link to rightmove on here, I'm sure there are others who would be able to help you market it better.

jmd355

Your Estate Agent should be being totally honest with you with regard to comments from the viewers. Even if at the time of viewing nothing much is said, the negotiators in the office should be following up the viewing with a telephone call within a day or so to ask for the clients exact thoughts on your property, this then must be relayed back to you or how else will you know what to do to get it sold! Do you need to it at the moment? If not, do it up and have 3 more valuations and remarket. Ask your Estate Agent what types of people are viewing the property - ie: older persons (as its a bungalow) in which case they probably won't want a huge garden or to be too rurual. How far are you from the nearest town or large village? To be able to determine what to do for the best, you need to find the types of people viewing and what their comments.

If you do this and would like to discuss further with me you can send me a private message. I've been in House sales for over 20 years so am quite happy to help!

lynzpower

I think a 25k drop is rather steep TBH.

Could you post up a link, or PM me to take a look at it?

Have you looked at other local properties and what they are selling/ sold for ( nethouseprices etc) would 150 be more like it or not? I dont know where the property is, in my neck of the woods your lucky if you can get a studio flat for 150 let alone a property like yours, but I dont know where you are so couldnt really comment.

the one thing Id do is GO IN to the EA and ask for feedback ON THE SPOT. they SHOULD have a list of the people they have taken round. If they have only taken a couple of people since November, Id be thinking about changing agencies and pronto, if they dont have the buyers on thier lists. the point is that EVERYONE whos looking for any 2 bed in your area should be told about this. Get a mate to call up and see if the EAS suggest looking round your place.

when you say in need of work, what are we talking about. Is the property livreable? or does it NEED everything before anyone could move in? or it would be nice if it was painted magnolia/ leather sofas/ house dred

What are the pics like on rightmove.do they really show your house in a good light. Im staggered by the shocking quality of many photos on RM, worse sometimes they only show an exterior shot and nothing inside?

Triker

Well my friend did a mystery shop for me and rang the EA to ask for details of my property and to try to elicit some info re their selling technique.

Result, complete disinterest from the EA.

My friend said that she had to keep pushing for info about my property, none was forthcoming.


He wasn't even specific about the location, this is the guy who is actually dealing with my property.


The best bit was that even though she said she was very interested in the property the EA didn't ask her if she wanted the details sending, didn't ask her for her addresss or any contact details or if she would like to view.

He even mentioned another property that may be coming on their books soon in the same area but priced about £100,000 more than mine but again when pushed for info became very vague.


So what now?

Do I confront the EA or just quietly stop marketing with them and chose another.

It kind of explains why no viewings when the EA clearly isn't actually 'pushing' my house.

Am I right to be suspicious?

Doozergirl

New agent. I can't believe your friend phoned about the actual house and they still didn't bite

Find out what your notice period is and hand it in!

If you had an offer at £170k then I think that dropping it to £150k sounds too much also. Hard without seeing the details but an offer is an offer! What happened to those people?

Triker

Should I mention that I know that they aren't really marketing my property because I'm really angry about this.

All the way through my Ea has gone on that he cannot guarantee a good return for developers re my property and therefore I should reduce the price, initailly he said by £15,000 now £25,000, erm it was my understanding that he acted on behalf of myself and not developers!!!

I dunno, I just feel like I have been treated like a mug.

I guess he knows because I am not in the area and do not actually reside in the house he can do whatever he wishes.

Doozergirl

Concentrate on finding a decent estate agent. I wouldn't waste your time on this man, it won't serve to make you feel better.

What area are you in? See if anyone here can recommend an EA for you!

Just because your house needs work, doesn't mean that a developer who wants to make a profit has to buy it. People also want places to live!

kissingthepink

It sounds like he may well be acting for the developers as he is doing nothing to sell it; is trying to drive the price down so that a developer can buy it at a bargain price, do it up, and make a killing on the resale. It all sounds a bit too cosy.

Melissa177

I suspect the EA is in league with a set of developers who want to buy it cheap, and thus do it up, making a quick buck. He'll have an arrangement with them whereby he takes 10% of the profit or something.

Do you mind me asking which company your EA is from?

This sounds very very suspicious. I smell a scam!

lynzpower

Im not tooo sure I smell a scam. It may be something more like theres a lot of interest from developers in the area, and it seeped into thier consciousness a bit too much.

I think the overriding issue is that the EAs cant be arsed to sell your place. the pics you shown me although clear were simply not good enough. no internal shots. Say it all really. Slack, lazy and lame. Play like alan sugar- YOUR FIRED!!!

I personally would check my contract, if you are able to get out of it, Id go into the office & give both barrells. But then I like causing a fuss and kicking off!