Estate agents ruining housing market

Greenstuff_2

I am so cheesed off with flaming EA's, they shouldn't have be allowed to have such an influence on the market.
I have been trying to buy in a little village for over 2 years now, houses were few and far between and were sold within days so we kept missing out.
We decided to sell and got a great price the end of last year and rented in the village, but one EA in particular has come along and grossly overvalued houses.
I mean by as much as 100k. (For a 4 bed house)
This is going on sold prices as late as last September, and the advise of 2 other EA's, as well as a friend who's a surveyor.
The trouble is none of the houses are selling, some are going multiple agent, some are dropping by 10 or 20k, but they are still not selling, this has also set a trend.
One house did sell for a sky high price, but it had been completly done up, extended and was in a prime spot on huge plot.
There is one up for sale a few doors down from me that although is very nice is a smaller style, needs completly updating - kitchen bathrooms windows heating are all 15 years old, garden overgrown etc. so would need a good 30k spent on it.
It is at least 80k overvalued and has been on for ages, the old couple who own it are downsizing and it says on the details that they are suited, but seeing as it's so overpriced we coudn't even put an offer in.
(I also dont want to offend them as they are our neighbours!)
I used to look on rightmove every day and the odd 4 bed came on and was gone in days, now there are 7 4 beds just sitting there and have been for weeks and weeks (some since last year), and numerous 3 beds as the EA has done the same there, also I assume they need to get top dollar for theirs to afford 4 beds.
I am happy to buy now, we have a nice deposit, would do a long term fixed, are quite aware that prices are likely to fall a bit and are happy to take a hit as we made our deposit from equity anyway.
There is also a new development going up round the corner BTW that is 85 houses and flats (30% obligitory social housing) but we wouldn't want one of those, but that's bound to affect prices.
We are fed up renting, the house is great but not ours and the letting agent is a pain to get anything done.
I have a mortgage arranged, a deposit waiting and wanna buy a house, but I'm sure as hell not going to be mugged off by the 'white sock brigade' as the local EA called them!
I also saw a house come on rightmove yesterday, and it came straight on marked as sold - for 2.2m! What the dickens is that all about??
A ploy to make average prices higher I suppose?
HIPs would be a great idea if it included a proper RICS valuation, it's just so infuriating that this is going on.
The only thing I thought of doing is going to them and asking if I could get an independent RICS urvey done before I put in an offer, but it seems hardly the way to do things and would the surveyor be influenced by the advertised prices anyway?
Grrrr!

ds1980

Theyre all as bad as each other.

Go round and speak to them. The surveoyors talk a load of tosh anyway. Ive erecently had two surveys done on a new house the insurance reinstatement costs were £60k difference! This is a standard calculation.

The only true cost of a house is what you'll pay for it. however if you say would only pay say £300k for a house but someone else would pay £350k whats it worth??????? £350 regardless of who tells you what its worth or what you think.

If its not selling then surely theyll be open to offers?

Addiscomber

Well if the houses aren't selling the people selling them clearly aren't in a hurry to move, otherwise they would be reducing the asking prices. I would put in an offer just to see what the reaction is.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

It is not estate agents that set the market price but what you, me and Joe Public are willing to pay for a house or willing to sell our house for.

Destined_to_be_skint

I'd put an offer in and see what happens. Remind the seller how long it has been on the market for and how many similar properties there are available. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that.

There is supposed to be a glut of properties atm due to the hips regulation coming in. If you wait a few months you might be spoilt for choice!!

EA create false expectations by overpricing. Nobody ever expects to sell for less than £20K of the asking price for your average home (not talking about the half a million quid places here).

darktrader

Talk to them direct. That's how I got my last property. (10% below silly valuation in a private sale so the EA got nothing.)

Greenstuff_2

Destined_to_be_skint wrote: »

There is supposed to be a glut of properties atm due to the hips regulation coming in. If you wait a few months you might be spoilt for choice!!
QUOTE]

You are so right, I have a feeling that a lot of these have come on now 'just to see', I know I should wait - there is a real murmer of a HPC, and at the very least the new development will have an impact, I'm just too impatient!

I did speak to the nice EA in the village, he said they had approached the vendor as they knew it had been on for a while but the white sock brigade had them on a 3 month contract!
He said this way of marketing is called 'flying a kite', they put it on for 20% over value, see what reaction they get and take it from there, after all they have them by the short and curlies for 12 weeks.

Darktrader - I will talk to them, I will explain that I wont deal with WSB, but if when their contract ends they want to negotiate privately then to come and talk to us - we are only 3 doors away after all!
I can't blame them for wanting to get the best price, but I do feel sorry for them, by all accounts they are getting on, not moved in 15 years and are quite naive to it all.
Thanks all.

Greenstuff_2

PS, destined to be skint- it's not far off half a million quid, they were built 15 years ago and sold for up to 100k, they are now on for well over 400k...

King_Of_Fools

Greenstuff wrote: »

I did speak to the nice EA in the village, he said they had approached the vendor as they knew it had been on for a while but the white sock brigade had them on a 3 month contract!
He said this way of marketing is called 'flying a kite', they put it on for 20% over value, see what reaction they get and take it from there, after all they have them by the short and curlies for 12 weeks.

Well hopefully these kite-flying adverts should soon dry-up once HIPs are mandatory in June.

eamon

Ultimately a house is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. It is also symptomatic of a market place that is overvalued. Unfortunately you will have to wait it out and/or just place offers that you can afford. You never know what can happen in the future and you just might find a seller that needs to sell and doesn't need to achieve a top of the market price. By your post you should be a good position i.e. you have nothing to sell and can get all your side of any deal in place quickly.

yours

Eamon

benood

Destined_to_be_skint wrote: »

There is supposed to be a glut of properties atm due to the hips regulation coming in. If you wait a few months you might be spoilt for choice!! QUOTE]

Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick but HIPS are becoming compulsory on 1 June I think, in which case by my reasoning quite a few of the properties on the market now will be withdrawn as the owners (timewasters?) decide they don't want to pay for a pack, this might reduce housing supply and cause prices to rise, all other things being equal.

Conclusion: if you wait a few months you might be scratching around for property to buy rather than being spoilt for choice.

If I were the OP I think I would go around to see my neighbours, plead poverty and apologise before making them my v. low offer (with a bit of friendly justification and blather about the property market), which they might then sit on for a while but all being well accept when they've dumped their agent in 6 months.