My Estate Agent Is Useless?

friendgeorge

Hi all

We have decided to sell our first home, due to many many debt problems, me losing my job last year and other things that would take ages to explain, anyway we have a mortgage with the lovley people at GMAC (scum) sorry anyway the mortgage is outstanding at £82,765 plus we have a nice ERC of around £4300 on top if we sell by dec 07 which i hope we do so the mortgage outstanding is around £88000 with fees etc, anway our home is on the market for £108,000 the estate agent wanted to put it up for £105000 but we had a surveyor here around 4 weeks ago for a laon and he told me if we wanted to sell to put it up for £105000-£110000 so we decided on £108000, this was agreed by us around 2 weeks ago, we got the contract from the estate agent agreed to the fee 1.25% and we thought that after speaking to our agent that we would be really lucky and sell quick, as he told us we would, well, first of all the house was supposed to be on-line 2 weeks ago, then the local paper last Wed. but nothing he has not even advitised in his window, after reading the contract yet agin it states that if we get rid of the estate agents now he can charge upto £700 for the advitising he has done for us, the only ads we have is a board on the house and that was only put up last thursday, we wnt with this company due to the fact that they are very wll known in our area and trusted, god i even thought that, i keep ringing and emailing them and they keep telling me that they are really busy, and apoligise, but i am at breaking point now, we have seen loads of houses with other estate agents and only 2 with mine, another thing is they are really secrative with any properties we view that thye have on their books, we put in an offer last week for a house it was up for £95000 far too much in my opinion for the area, and it was point blank refused by him, he said the owener was holding out for the asking price, now the week before us viewing he told me she was prepared to lower the price, and that not many people had been to see the property then on the phone Thursday last week, he told me she had loads of offers and refused them, what shall i do i cannot afford to be liable for fees from this muppet, shall i wait until tomorrow to see if he has put our house in the local paper and online or shall i just get rid now, and what will i be liable for? any help please, also what price should i reduce my home to for an offer, what's the norm?

friendgeorge

anyone out there? PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

pinkshoes

I think you'll find most people will tell you their estate agent is slow, annoying etc... So although it may SEEM your estate agent is more cr*p than the rest, I'm sure they're all equally as cr*p.

Just hang in their, and keep in touch with the EA on a regular basis.

Creditor_2

Can't be much help to you other than suggest you check on the contract is whether the agent insists on 'sole agency'. This means that they will still be able to charge you a commission fee, even if you sell your home privately or through another agent. Also find out what the lock in period is. I'd change agent if poss if your house isn't being advertised properly. If you are locked in, offer him a higher commision for a quick sale.

Good Luck

chartreuse_2

Creditor wrote: »

Can't be much help to you other than suggest you check on the contract is whether the agent insists on 'sole agency'. This means that they will still be able to charge you a commission fee, even if you sell your home privately or through another agent.

Errr, that's not correct. The type of contract you're describing is the (somewhat discredited) "Sole Selling Agent" agreement. If the OP has a (more common) "Sole Agency" agreement he can still sell it privately without paying the estate agent commission.

drowningnotwaving_2

Try contacting House Network - they only charge £250 to put your house on the market and their marketing is much better than any high street EA.

Most EAs are pretty cr*p unfortunately - I would wait out your agreement and cut your losses.

nelly_2

My Estate Agent Is Useless? - Screamed the entire country

Grunts

I am with Housenetwork, they have done everything they said they would. We have been on the market for 3 weeks and have our first viewing this week. I tried local estate agents but they were so useless I decided to go it alone, also next door is up for sale so I figured I would get the best of both worlds. I am fairly calm about it all and think it will be a while before we sell even though we are up for a fair price. There is a house round the corner exactly the same as ours and up for 10,000 more!

MissMotivation

friendgeorge wrote: »

Hi all

We have decided to sell our first home, due to many many debt problems, me losing my job last year and other things that would take ages to explain, anyway we have a mortgage with the lovley people at GMAC (scum) sorry anyway the mortgage is outstanding at £82,765 plus we have a nice ERC of around £4300 on top if we sell by dec 07 which i hope we do so the mortgage outstanding is around £88000 with fees etc, anway our home is on the market for £108,000 the estate agent wanted to put it up for £105000 but we had a surveyor here around 4 weeks ago for a laon and he told me if we wanted to sell to put it up for £105000-£110000 so we decided on £108000, this was agreed by us around 2 weeks ago, we got the contract from the estate agent agreed to the fee 1.25% and we thought that after speaking to our agent that we would be really lucky and sell quick, as he told us we would, well, first of all the house was supposed to be on-line 2 weeks ago, then the local paper last Wed. but nothing he has not even advitised in his window, after reading the contract yet agin it states that if we get rid of the estate agents now he can charge upto £700 for the advitising he has done for us, the only ads we have is a board on the house and that was only put up last thursday, we wnt with this company due to the fact that they are very wll known in our area and trusted, god i even thought that, i keep ringing and emailing them and they keep telling me that they are really busy, and apoligise, but i am at breaking point now, we have seen loads of houses with other estate agents and only 2 with mine, another thing is they are really secrative with any properties we view that thye have on their books, we put in an offer last week for a house it was up for £95000 far too much in my opinion for the area, and it was point blank refused by him, he said the owener was holding out for the asking price, now the week before us viewing he told me she was prepared to lower the price, and that not many people had been to see the property then on the phone Thursday last week, he told me she had loads of offers and refused them, what shall i do i cannot afford to be liable for fees from this muppet, shall i wait until tomorrow to see if he has put our house in the local paper and online or shall i just get rid now, and what will i be liable for? any help please, also what price should i reduce my home to for an offer, what's the norm?

OK.....Here goes lol

1) Has the agent provided you with any sales particulars for your house yet? If no then this may be the reason it is not on the internet yet, however, I would argue that 48 hours is a reasonable time period to get details out to you.

2) Has the property been in the local newspaper yet?

3) Have you actually signed the contract?

If after 2 weeks neither of these have been done then I would contact the Manager of the EA and say you are giving Him/Her 24 hours to get the property marketed fully or you are taking the property off the market. I know you said that in the contract it states that advertising fees are payable should you withdraw from the market but no marketing has been done!

With regards to the property you have offered on, unfortunately, some less then scrupulopus EA's will use this tactic to get an offer from you and then get that offer increased.

I would say that if your property is on at £108000 then you will probably get offers £103000/£104000.....obviously I don't know what area your property is in or what they market is like in your area so it's difficult to say.

HTH

IHateDida

I am in the same boat! My EA (Hawkins Countrywide) *shuddering at the thought* is equally as bad as yours! They sent this woman round last week (the first and only viewing I've received from them in 4 weeks!) who went round our house and just kept saying that she expected an ensuite and a garage!!!!!

However....although I stupidly signed up to a sole agency contract, I also advertised on houseladder (£69 for a month) - and I have found an interested buyer on my own. I now also have the option of a p/ex on a new build. I will do everything I can to prevent the EA from getting any commission as they have been completely and utterly crap!!! (you should read the adverts they finally placed - "they have a really nice lounge and an extremely large kitchen/diner" - their standard of English is appalling - I cringed when I read the ads!!!!)

Good luck though - there are others ways - try houseladder (as you can be on a sole agency contract and still advertise on this site!).

friendgeorge

Hi all and thanks so much for the info

with regards to Miss Motovation

1) got particulars from ea 2 days after valuation, but only because i went down there?

2) NO no ads anywhere, internet, local paper, or shop window of ea

3) yep- fools we are we signed, but we were told that of we did not sign they would not advitise, but they haven'd done that either.

With regards to the rest the hose we put an offer on the owners have emigrated and also its been on the market a while, as friends of ours went to see it about 3 months ago, and the owners were great they even told them about a flood they had due to fitting a new bathroom, and the kept telling them they wanted a quick sale as they needed the money for australia, but the EA is telling us different.

I really want to go from them, but i know we are stuck with them 13 weeks were are tied in, they are lying to us all the time, one day they tell us there's loads on the market then the next day they say oh no the market is really really quiet, and he cannot look me in the eye, the EA who is the owner by the way, so i can always tell when he's lying

oh god what can i do we need to sell ASAP........