No wonder people can't sell !

Dukesy

Some EAs really are dreadful. My OH and I were left wondering just what we'd paid for when we sold our house. We were lucky - within 6 weeks of the house going on the market, it was sold. However, it really was pure luck that we sold it; we had asked our EA to do the viewings as I feel people can't really feel free to look around and form their own opinion of a place when the owner is standing beside them. When the woman who ended up buying our house turned up, I had been planning on going out for a bit and leaving her in the hands of the EA. She turned up early, before I'd left, and the EA never arrived. Had I left before she had arrived, we might not have sold the house for months.

Again, the house we now own had terrible EAs. It's a stone cottage in a very rural area and was in need of a total renovation. I don't just mean a bit of decoration - I mean major building work in every room. OH and I were both in our twenties when we viewed it and frankly, I think the EA thought we were timewasters. He clearly had better things to be doing than showing us the place and I think was very shocked when we rang him and made an offer. He didn't try to sell it to us at all, and this is a house that had been on the market for over a year! Would have thought they'd really be making an effort to shift it by then.

sussexchick

lessonlearned wrote: »

sussexchick - don't underestimate yourself. If you are smart enough to get yourself a job in these troubled times then you can manage the relocation to another area.

It just takes a bit of getting organised.

As for floundering - well we all have to learn and start somewhere. I worked in housing for over 30 years - I had to start at the bottom, learn the business and work my way up.

I also married a man who had to relocate a number of times, that is until we reached a stage when we refused to move the children from their schools. Then we took the option of OH working away Monday to Friday and coming home at weekends.

Anyway - a quick crash course for you.

Estate Agents act for the Vendor, Relocation Agents act for Purchaser. Think of both of them as "go-betweens". LA's work for the Landlord.

Basically if you think of it as - They work for whoever is paying the commission. The person who is paying is the client, therefore the agent should be working in their client's best interests.

Of course an ethical agent would try to balance everything and keep things fair and behave in a moral fashion. Some do. some don't. Some are only interested in lining their own pockets and are happy to screw people over.

Guess what - they don't last long in the business. Their clients and colleagues soon suss them out. These types go into the business thinking it's easy money. They soon learn otherwise. And of course once they've gained a bad name and reputation they are scuppered, because no one wants to do business with them.

This is also the reason why you would never allow the same solicitor to do the conveyancing for both the vendor and the purchaser - a potential conflict of interests.

Re - your new company and their relocation policy.

Are they helping your financially. Without being rude here this may depend on what "level" you are in the "food chain". Fortunately for my OH his moves were at least part funded by his employers.

However, even if you do not qualify for any financial help, if the company is large enough to have an HR department they should be able to advise you.

Even in a small company you can always have an informal chat and ask them which areas to avoid.

I definitely think it's a good idea to rent for at least 6 months. You might not like your new job so you don't want to commit yourself to a house purchase too soon.

However, rather than plunge headlong into a 6 month lease, it might be an idea to stay in a hotel or BB for a couple of weeks, to check out areas and to make sure that you are happy in your new job.

Will you be subject to a probationary period. If so this is something else you need to factor in.

At any rate it would be better not to make any firm and fast committments until you've had time to find your feet.

If it were me my plan of attack it would be

1. Hotel for a couple of weeks
2. Search the area and find a decent rental
3. Rent for a few months whilst you settle in to your new job.

Only then - after say 4 months or so in rental start your house search proper.

Good luck with it all.

Don't panic, just take it one step at a time.

Hi LL

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an informative and lovely post. It really is quite reassuring and comforting knowing that I'm being hand held by you fantastic bunch of people.

I may not be the sharpish knife in the box when it comes to these things, but know I'll get honest and truthful advice coming to these boards.

I can assure you, I will not do anything silly, I'll even come back for advice when the time comes to buy ! ...... but for the time-being, its B&B for maybe 2 months, then look at 6 month let, then look at buying.

Thank you to you kind and lovely people for all your help :beer:

SC
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Pennywise

I experienced exactly the same thing from EA when we were first buying 20 years ago. We were first time cash buyers and were looking at above-average houses. We'd toured all the local estate agents (before the internet) and left our details on their so-called "hot lists", with full details of what we were looking for - they all promised to send us details of any new properties. Not a single one ever sent us anything. Time and time again, we had to drive around the area looking out for new boards.

Things havn't got better as we've bought/sold recently. Same old lazy EAs - none of whom display any pro-activity at all, either when buying or selling. Complete waste of space. The number of times I've phoned up asking for some relatively simple/obvious information that wasn't on the website - they can never answer and say they've never been inside the property - I'd need to view it myself or talk to the manager (who's always out) - so they'd rather waste their viewer's time to show me around a property to get some basic information that they should have had to hand themselves in the office! Not to mention always having to wait days for a viewing - and then the viewers not knowing anything about the property other than what the details say.

As for selling, the brochure/website proofs from two different agents selling two different properties were barely literate - poor photos, littered with mistakes. We had to re-write them ourselves and email them to copy and paste. Remind me what we pay them for??

lessonlearned

Well - reading your posts has made me wonder if I should come out of retirement......

I could make myself a fortune. :rotfl::rotfl:

lessonlearned

sussexchick wrote: »

Hi LL

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an informative and lovely post. It really is quite reassuring and comforting knowing that I'm being hand held by you fantastic bunch of people.

I may not be the sharpish knife in the box when it comes to these things, but know I'll get honest and truthful advice coming to these boards.

I can assure you, I will not do anything silly, I'll even come back for advice when the time comes to buy ! ...... but for the time-being, its B&B for maybe 2 months, then look at 6 month let, then look at buying.

Thank you to you kind and lovely people for all your help :beer:

SC
x

A good plan.

Don't beat yourself up because you don't know your way round the system, it doesn't mean you are the dullest knife in the box.:rotfl: It just means that it's outside your area of expertise.

You've clearly demonstrated that you've got a good head on those shoulders by using your wits and coming on here and asking questions.

There's no such thing as a foolish question......

Brock_and_Roll

Sometimes you have to wonder about estate agents - I am looking to buy a house for my mother. Cash buyers and have smallish list of absolute requirements, one of which is a garden.

The next day I got an email from the agent with details of a property she thinks is suitable - with no garden !!

Good grief!

SternMusik

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

Sometimes you have to wonder about estate agents - I am looking to buy a house for my mother. Cash buyers and have smallish list of absolute requirements, one of which is a garden.

The next day I got an email from the agent with details of a property she thinks is suitable - with no garden !!

Good grief!

I had the same experience when I was buying last year. I had very specific criteria regarding size of the property, location (that should be easy to check you would think) and orientation (south or south-west facing garden). 99% of the property details they sent me were way off my requirements. I exclusively relied on rightmove in the end.

The other thing that bugs me about agents is that when you come into their ofiice and ask "Have you got any properties in this part of town with at least 80 sqm/ 860 sqft of internal floor space?" they look at you like you are an alien. They are meant to be property professionals. In my experience agents only know the blatantly obvious facts about a house, such as the address and how many bathrooms there are. Anything more sophisticated (floor space, orientation, has it got planning permission, length of lease, you name it) - they haven't got a clue.

sussexchick

lessonlearned wrote: »

Well - reading your posts has made me wonder if I should come out of retirement......

I could make myself a fortune. :rotfl::rotfl:

YES, YES, YES ! Please do

Pick me, pick me ! - I will be your first trialed guinea pig ! :j

lessonlearned

Actually my "retirement" is a bit of a joke.

Yes I'm nearly 62 and I'm drawing my state pension but that's about as far as "retiring" goes.

I'm just about to launch my own property company - a joint venture with my sons.

They will be the muscle and I will be the brains:rotfl:

sussexchick

lessonlearned wrote: »

Actually my "retirement" is a bit of a joke.

Yes I'm nearly 62 and I'm drawing my state pension but that's about as far as "retiring" goes.

I'm just about to launch my own property company - a joint venture with my sons.

They will be the muscle and I will be the brains:rotfl:

Fabulous news - congratulations and good luck with everything.

Can I be nosy and ask what area you are launching in ?