Diary of a Scottish house move....I hope

MissE001

So, a viewer yesterday and one scheduled for Thursday....fingers crossed!

indiegirl_2

MissE, did you change your price?

We have been on 9 weeks, two viewers on that time (both unsuitable as neither had sold their property) and we are on at a fixed price. Agents are useless, and when I complained (I'm used to the English system of a flood of viewers in the first few weeks), they told me that it hadn't been on long and I should wait it out. Not very helpful!

We are on under our HR, said HR has all 1s too. I wonder if the fixed price is putting people off, but I don't want insulting offers if I go to OO...!

Isn't it a gamble!

Good luck with your viewing.

MissE001

Hi indiegirl. When the EA phoned the other day, I thought he was phoning to test the water about changing the price but he was phoning to say there was a viewer - so no, I'm still at FP.

My EA does the viewing so he phoned to give me feedback (which sounds positive) - he did say their parting comment was that they were going to consider how much to offer though. I had kind of hoped that the FP would encourage people not to get into "offers" but I've been warned both on this forum any by EA that I'd probably get less than the asking price.

I completely agree that it's a gamble deciding whether to go for O/O or FP. It looks as if your property and mine have been on the market for similar times and I'd only had 1 viewer before Friday. Maybe wait it out for another few weeks?

Good luck!

indiegirl_2

googler wrote: »

Excuse me? The English system automatically gets you a flood of viewers in the first few weeks, and the Scottish system doesn't?

How is this caused by the 'system'? I would have thought it was dictated by market forces, whether or not in Scotland or E&W...

Oh dear, I mistype a word (style should be there instead of system) and I'm flamed. Googler are you always so terse in your replies?

I meant that in England, your EA is traditionally paid at the end of proceedings. There seems to be a trend in Scotland to pay up front in order to get the HR done, meaning that the EA has little incentive to work for their money. That's my limited experience thus far.

Whether that's tradition or not, when I sold in England I had a steady stream of viewers throughout the first few weeks, then fairly regular viewers until I sold.

Here, it seems to be a case of "do your HR, get it on the market. Sit and wait".

Whether that's system, style or market dictation, I don't know, but I didn't appreciate the arrogance in your response. Isn't the mantra on here to be nice to money savers?

indiegirl_2

MissE001 wrote: »

Hi indiegirl. When the EA phoned the other day, I thought he was phoning to test the water about changing the price but he was phoning to say there was a viewer - so no, I'm still at FP.

My EA does the viewing so he phoned to give me feedback (which sounds positive) - he did say their parting comment was that they were going to consider how much to offer though. I had kind of hoped that the FP would encourage people not to get into "offers" but I've been warned both on this forum any by EA that I'd probably get less than the asking price.

I completely agree that it's a gamble deciding whether to go for O/O or FP. It looks as if your property and mine have been on the market for similar times and I'd only had 1 viewer before Friday. Maybe wait it out for another few weeks?

Good luck!

Thanks MissE, I'll follow your story and hope for the best for you! I think we will wait until the end of school holidays, then if no more bites it'll be time to change to O/O and reduce slightly. I hope that, like MoneyIsToo... our buyer is waiting for us to reduce. It seems to be a trend here that everyone reduces before they sell. A daft trend, but the market is definitely skewed towards buyers, that's for sure!

googler

indiegirl wrote: »

Oh dear, I mistype a word (style should be there instead of system) and I'm flamed. Googler are you always so terse in your replies?

I'm asking questions. Questions and enquiry don't constitute flaming in my book.


I meant that in England, your EA is traditionally paid at the end of proceedings. There seems to be a trend in Scotland to pay up front in order to get the HR done, meaning that the EA has little incentive to work for their money.

The money you pay for the Home Report goes to the surveyor, not the EA nor your solicitor (although the latter may well be one and the same). You'll be paying a separate EA fee and a solicitor's bill, both at conclusion, I would imagine ..... I don't think you've paid upfront by paying for the Home Report.


Whether that's tradition or not, when I sold in England I had a steady stream of viewers throughout the first few weeks, then fairly regular viewers until I sold.

But when was this....?


Here, it seems to be a case of "do your HR, get it on the market. Sit and wait".

If your selling agent isn't proactive enough, you need to be having words with them.

Whether that's system, style or market dictation, I don't know, but I didn't appreciate the arrogance in your response. Isn't the mantra on here to be nice to money savers?

Again, what's 'arrogant' about asking you a series of questions, followed by an "I would have thought that ...."?

MissE001

This week's update....the viewers from last Friday seem interested. Their son is working abroad and looking to buy somewhere to rent out that he can move into when he gets back. They've been to see a mortgage advisor this week - I'm thinking that the not-quite-so-straightforward situation may mean a slight delay in getting a mortgage decision so I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one until the end of next week. Any idea on whether that seems reasonable?

Thursday's viewers thought one of the bedrooms was too small so definitely not interested. I'd rather know that right away than be wondering for a few days afterwards....

It would be just fab to get an offer before the middle of August. If not, I'll need to pay to get the HR refreshed if and when an offer does come in.

I received an interesting letter through the post this week too from another EA looking to take over the selling of my property. It was quite amateurish although I'm sure that's the look they were going for. The letter was attempting to give the appearance of being hand-written on lined paper. My favourite was the hand-written small print which explained that I might end up paying 2 commissions if I did move EA. Made me smile

I'll report back if any news -otherwise, see you next week

MissE001

Oh well, potentially interested viewers decided to buy an end-terraced house in the area instead of my mid-terrace :cool:

Back to the waiting game - and probability that I'll need to pay for a refreshed HR if I ever get an offer

hobbes1_2

Hi MissEEo1

Please don't lose hope. We put my late father's flat on the market in Fife last August in a fanfare of enthusiasm (from both us and the estate agent who'd originally sold same flat to my Dad after a bidding war 18 months earlier). After hardly any interest, severe stress and several "tussles" with potential buyers we finally sold it in June this year for considerably less than we originally expected (£76k rather than o/o £90k). We too had to pay for a new home report which revalued the flat.

My point is that if you've got a good estate agent who's truely doing everything they can (and you've done everything you can in your house) then you just need to sit back and wait for that one buyer to emerge - and they will! People will offer you all kind of ludicrous amounts in this market and, so long as you're being realistic with your asking price, it's up to you whether you want to go with them or sit tight and wait for a sensible offer.

Good luck!:beer:

MissE001

Aw, thank you hobbes1 - trying not to be downhearted (not really my style!) but getting itchy feet now. You're right though, I'm not in a huge hurry to sell and will be chipping away at the mortgage for every month it stays on the market :money: