The Great 'what you wish you'd known before selling your house' Hunt

Patr100

2.7% is VERY high, even extortionate . in London a couple of years ago, the norm was around 1.5%. I would have gone elsewhere.

airgead

Slinky wrote: »

Why? Did you give the agent Sole Selling Rights?

I was perhaps naive, as I didn't know I had a choice - hence including it in the Things I Wish I'd Known!

rosie383

Thank you so much for this thread. We are needing to move to a 3bed from a 2bed house so any info is very very useful.
When we bought our current house 11 years ago, I wasn't in MSE mode and really want to do this as cost-efficiently as possible.

John_Pierpoint

If any of you are beginning to realise the liability you might be buying, by not understanding the "thermal envelope" regulations; today the "Quest" TV channel started to explain.
"Quest" is the poor man's Discovery Channel.
The programme series is 4 years old and American but it explains the regulations and the reality in pictures.

14:00

RENOVATION NATION
Boston: Insulated Envelope
Green build expert Steve Thomas heads to Boston to help install energy-efficient heating.................,

Wobblydeb

If you are not selling and buying back to back, you may have equity coming out in cash to you. Open whatever investment / cash accounts you plan to stash your equity in BEFORE you sell the house. This is because it may take you a while to sort out your new proof of address, during which time you are probably missing out on some chunky interest.

Fire_Fox

Not me personally but what I wish to tell vendors re: leasehold apartments in England or Wales. Less than 80 years on your long lease is going to cause you a headache unless you are prepared, it is difficult for your buyer to mortgage and can scare off FTBs. There is a formal process for extending which can take several months so start early! You don't have to fund it all yourself, you get all the paperwork in order then the lease is extended as part of the conveyancing and the buyer's lender pays. If you do this choose a conveyancing solicitor who is experienced in leasehold extensions and disputes, not any random conveyancer.

moneyistooshorttomention

Rm-ca wrote: »

I wish i'd understood the estate agent fees better!

A well known estate agents valued my house at £138,000 and i was tied into a 20 week contract and they told me i could have a discounted and fixed fee of £2500 +vat, instead of their 2.7% fee plus vat.

In the meantime we found a house we loved. We had a few low offers on our house and ended up accepting £120,000 just to sell. Another estate agent said the price was marketed too high for the current climate and £120,000 is a good price!

I can't blame the EA for that but they wont reduce their fee either, so I've taken £15,000 less for the house and are paying the same fees. i feel they inflate the value to get you on their books. I could have held out but we'd have lost the house that we are buying.

So .. shop around with EA's, check your contact and negotiate it, get a few different valuations to get a realistic asking price.. we live and learn!

I wonder if you've just provided the explanation for behaviour by an estate agent that is puzzling me (name starts with F******* to give a clue). I've asked a couple of different people in there at different times the very basic question of "How much do you charge?" and they just WOULDNT give an answer without actually coming out to see my house. I knew there had to be some sort of "reason" for that - but couldnt figure it out for the life of me and distrust this attitude so won't be going with them (as all the others instantly quoted me a percentage fee when asked). Maybe you've just provided the answer to their odd behaviour - ie they'd try and pull a fixed fee thing set on a higher value than my house is worth (I was wondering how come a similar house to mine in a cheaper road nearby being sold by them could be priced at what I think my house is worth..). I guess they were planning on checking my house and me out to see whether they thought they would get away with putting an extra £5k-£10k on what my house is really worth and setting a fixed fee figure on that.

Nan_Dingle

Unless the would be buyer requests it, you don't have to stop marketing the property until you exchange. Hopefully you'll get a better offer!

Indemnity insurance is very cheap to get cover against work done without planning, but you must not say a word to the Council before taking out the insurance.

If you qualify, get the free insulation deal before the house goes on the market.

In the current market, no major home improvement will return more than it cost.

googler

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

If any of you are beginning to realise the liability you might be buying, by not understanding the "thermal envelope" regulations;

Regulations in America, or UK?

googler

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've asked a couple of different people in there at different times the very basic question of "How much do you charge?" and they just WOULDNT give an answer without actually coming out to see my house.

So that they're not drawn into bidding on fees against other agents, only to find once you and they have agreed on a fee, they come to your house and find it to be unsellable?

If you were a used-car dealer, would you quote a definitive trade-in value on a car without seeing it?

If you were a builder, would you quote for a job without seeing it on-site?

Maybe you've just provided the answer to their odd behaviour - ie they'd try and pull a fixed fee thing set on a higher value than my house is worth ...

But surely you can do the arithmetic on the fixed fee v percentage? And as I said above, there's plenty of information available in the public domain for owners to be informed about the market value of their home....