DIARY OF A HOUSE SALE - in a "static" house price part of the country

moneyistooshorttomention

I'll take a loan on that phrase of yours lessonlearned if I may - ie "mansion for sixpence":rotfl:. I was able to check out a "sold" price for a house I lost (his fault...grrr) back at the time I bought this one and it sold in 2011 for £195,000. Its in Area 1 at top of the tree road. So - for all these buyers want then they'd better expect to pay around £200,000 even if its a terrace house.

I don't know whether these people havent done their homework properly and studied closely whats available to them at different prices - or they HAVE studied it closely and are doing a try-on hoping for more than they can afford. Guess its a try-on then....



There's been me so carefully studying exactly what there is at the place I am going to and dividing it scrupulously into Can Afford/Would Like to Be Able to Afford (but cant - dammit!).

In Desired Location I know exactly which properties I can afford and there are two other properties I have on a "possibles" list, but am expecting that I won't be able to get a sufficient reduction on asking price to be able to afford them. If I go looking at those two - then I fully intend to have a viewing and then, if I like them, my second viewing soon after and then put in an offer immediately. If they take it, they take it. If they don't I'll raise it as much as I can and if they still dont take it - oh well...lost that property then...next please....

I won't come out with a parcel of comments designed to show that I like it/I want it...but "errrmmm...a bit dear for me...I'll keep looking" with the intention that the vendors climb straight down and give in and let me have the place for less than its worth.

Oh well...make that me being too "gentlewomanly" for the current day and age then....:(

I'm hoping the next viewer/s will also like it and just get on "do the standard thing" and have a think for a day or two and then ring up for their Second Viewing (without any games-playing words in between:cool:). After all - he who hesitates loses and someone else might nip in and "steal their thunder"....if they faff around with games on me...

Apologies lessonlearned that I hadnt thought Games Players would try it on with me. Errmm..perhaps a bit naive of me....I don't like cut-throat stuff and thats a very large part of why I'm moving where I'm moving to. If I have to play Cut Throat Games then I do have referees that would vouch for the fact that I just sigh resignedly and then usually win them (there's a couple of times where I know they are still "rubbing the bruises on their head" after I reached for a heavy club)...but I'd much rather not go in for all that in the first place.

I am certainly dying to get on with my retirement as you put it and am feeling a bit in limbo whilst I wait...

cbrown372

Did it occur to you that the same estate agent talking about their FTB's to you could be talking about their vendors in the same tone especially when it comes to such comments from you as to them being from "elsewhere" and how people should learn "British" customs and not speak to their neighbour from out a window?

sinbad182

cbrown372 wrote: »

Did it occur to you that the same estate agent talking about their FTB's to you could be talking about their vendors in the same tone especially when it comes to such comments from you as to them being from "elsewhere" and how people should learn "British" customs and not speak to their neighbour from out a window?

Quite right.

This woman comes across as a horrendous person. I feel sorry for her EA, and any possible buyers that have to cross paths with the insufferable, ignorant, deluded lady.

kelpie35

sinbad182 wrote: »

Quite right.

This woman comes across as a horrendous person. I feel sorry for her EA, and any possible buyers that have to cross paths with the insufferable, ignorant, deluded lady.

It is people with attitudes like her that don't deserve to sell for the price they THINK their house is worth.

I feel sorry for the EA dealing with her and would probably not want to take her phone call and would willingly be classed as a LAZY EA

Blue22

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Have had further feedback since then from bosswoman EA and I think the read between the lines interpretation of that is "He wants it - but wonders if he can get somewhere cheaper - and he will be keeping an eye on yours".

Or to put it another way......'Its the right kind of house but overpriced' Would that not fit in with why you have only had one viewing in 2 weeks? Imho that doesn't make this gentleman a 'game player' just somebody that does not wish to over pay.

lessonlearned

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I
I don't know whether these people havent done their homework properly and studied closely whats available to them at different prices - or they HAVE studied it closely and are doing a try-on hoping for more than they can afford. Guess its a try-on then....


I won't come out with a parcel of comments designed to show that I like it/I want it...but "errrmmm...a bit dear for me...I'll keep looking" with the intention that the vendors climb straight down and give in and let me have the place for less than its worth.


Apologies lessonlearned that I hadnt thought Games Players would try it on with me. Errmm..perhaps a bit naive of me.

Oh dear money you are coming in for a bit of stick now.

I can see why.

You are overwhelmed by the whole house selling process and are plainly floundering badly. Some of your comments about your viewer are coming over as terribly harsh and judgemental.

You don't even know the poor man and yet already you seem to hold him in contempt.

I would like to think that your main problem is that you are simply over-thinking things.

You seem to over-analyse everything. More to the point, you are trying to second guess what is in people's minds.

With all due respect, yes I can do this, but then again I have a great deal more experience in selling houses than you have. However, I can only do this with people I have met and spent some time with.

My understanding is that the EA did the viewing, so even if you were present at the time, you would simply not have been able to read your viewer or gauge his reactions.

Simply listening in to a conversation is not enough. You have to see their eyes, watch their gestures, listen to the tone and inflection of their voices, look for the ticks and the give-aways.

Words only make up 7% of communication, the rest is down to a whole load of other stuff.

When you are communicating with people from other cultures or of a different nationality and for whom English is their second language then great care has to be taken. It is so easy to make the wrong assumptions and to misread the signals.

Let's unpick those three paragraphs from your last post.

1. You are criticising your viewer for "trying it on". Why on earth wouldn't he. He wants and needs the best deal he can get. Simple as.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Everyone wants this. No-one can afford to throw money away by overpaying.

This does not make him a games player.

He has viewed your property and likes it. It was a first viewing. He has other properties on his short list. Of course he has. Only an absolute idiot buys the first property they see.

It is the biggest and most important purchase in someone's life - a purchaser has to exercise due diligence and this includes shopping around.

2. He said that he liked your house, but he wants to try and get something cheaper. This does not automatically mean that he is expecting the vendor, in this case, you, to instantly drop your price. He said nothing of the sort. You are reading far too much into his throwaway comment and furnishing him with motives that owe more to your imagination than anything he actually said.

3. Why all this "angst" about people trying it on.

As I've explained to you before you need to stop taking it all to heart. It is not personal, it is business. Pure and simple.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with haggling and trying to get a good deal. I do it all the time.

This squeamishness and unwillingness to negotiate is such an English thing.

If you visit the countries around the Med or the Middle East you will see that haggling and dealing is the lifeblood of their commercial transactions. No-one would dream of paying the asking price for anything.

Yes the sellers will scream and curse at you, will accuse you of robbing them blind, of taking the food from the mouths of their children, how can they keep a roof over their head on the pittance you are offering, you are insulting them with your derisory offer etc. It's just a game, just theatre, just business.

When you have haggled and got your deal they will ply you with apple tea or Turkish coffee and you will sit and eat cake with them.

It's only "stiff-assed Brits" - as my charming Kiwi BIL so delicately puts it - who take umbrage at haggling and dealing.

No wonder the UK is so expensive and overpriced. We won't haggle, we won't bargain, so we end up paying over the odds for everything, get ripped off and put up with shoddy service.

Money - You need to loosen up a little, stop judging human kind so harshly and learn the gentle art of having an open mind.

Take your emotions out of the equation and start thinking with your head.

I know you are desperate to move, but you are allowing your haste to cloud your judgement. You are still only a couple of weeks in and already your impatience is getting the better of you.

There has been a budget. The housing market always goes into pause mode just before the budget - just in case it might contain anything nasty which might affect the housing market.

The weather has been dire. Who in their right mind is going to go a-viewing in this weather. You can't see anything when everywhere is covered under a blanket of snow.

Patience.

And, might I suggest, for your own sanity's sake, you stop over-thinking everything. Stop trying to second guess your viewers' intentions - that's your EA's job.

If you want really want to try and understand your viewers' thought processes and intentions then you will have to do the viewings yourself. If you are not prepared to do that then just leave your EAs to do their job. That is what you are paying them for.

"Why have a dog and bark yourself".

geoffky

I have bookmarked this to return to in December...

kelpie35

geoffky wrote: »

I have bookmarked this to return to in December...

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

Okays lessonlearned

Think I'm best to just regard this thread as "shut" - as I don't need the type of nasty comments that have been made by a couple of posters - who just want to find someone to be nasty to and have chosen me for that role, rather than trying to be helpful or anything. I'll leave them to find someone else to have a go at instead:rotfl:

So - I won't be posting again on this thread.

toerag33

Hi moneyistooshorttomention

I understand why but personally I've found it helpful and interesting to read someone's thoughts on this process.

Kind regards
toerag33