Viewings - What Is Deemed A Good Response

virgin_moneysaver

the agent we signed up with has reviewed his initial figure from when he valued the house 3 weeks ago - he says the market is dire & we should go in with an immediate drop of £4k - I agreed with just under £2k(we are talking approx value £175k) but he came over all affronted that I didn't take his advice, & just said to give it a few months to see how things go - now, 'cos he's got the hump, so to speak, is he going to push it as a new property for sale - in the initial fortnight, how many viewings should I expect? - bearing in mind that we are in a sought after area for our town & houses in our road very rarely come up for sale, the last one being 5 years ago

cheapsally

Is your agent is Your move?

bridiej

Best thing to do is give it a few days then get one of your friends to "mystery shop" them - all they need to do is ask for X bedroom houses in your area in your price bracket - they you will see if your house is offered and spoken about favourably.

TheDink

bridiej wrote:

Best thing to do is give it a few days then get one of your friends to "mystery shop" them - all they need to do is ask for X bedroom houses in your area in your price bracket - they you will see if your house is offered and spoken about favourably.

I'm going to get my boyfriend to do that for me - and to get the agent to show him round the house to see how well the agent actually sells it!

frugal_dougal_3

I agree with bridiej and I would already be looking around for a new agent.

I don't take beligerence of any of them, and whilst they are expected to give advice they also have to take your instructions. It's your house after all.

dougk_2

As F_D says start looking at other agents. Get one or two others round to give their estimates of the price it is worth (take down the for sale board just before they come so they don't know you are already selling it). Remember don't mention what you think it is worth - get them to tell you that.

In the first few weeks I would expect a flurry of enquirers/viewers. Any good estate agent should have a list of potential buyers already. i.e. buyers on their mailing lists and they should really be calling them and sending them details of the "new" property they have.

If your estate agent uses rightmove (don't pick one that doesn't!) then ask them to send the stats on the number of accesses to your "webpage" and number of enquiries weekly.

meanmachine_2

virgin_moneysaver wrote:

the agent we signed up with has reviewed his initial figure from when he valued the house 3 weeks ago - he says the market is dire & we should go in with an immediate drop of £4k - I agreed with just under £2k(we are talking approx value £175k) but he came over all affronted that I didn't take his advice,

Hi there

I should explain that I'm very bearish regarding the housing market right now. In other words, I think it's a falling market, and is due to keeping falling for the next 2-3 years.

My advice therefore, for what it's worth is to listen to the agent. He sells houses for a living, you don't. And he's right. The market right now is dire. Totally stagnant. Sellers are holding out for too much money and with interest rates due to rise over the next few months, buyers are going to start offering less and less. A 2K reduction won't even register on the radar and so isn't even worth your or his time. A 4K reduction might well drop it into a lower sales bracket used on sites such as rightmove etc - that's probably why he suggested it.

Which would you prefer - to sell your house now at 95% of its valuation, or to hold off and see its value decline over the next few years and, in a panic, sell it at 70% of its original valuation?

That's my take on things, but as I say, I'm very pessimistic about the market right now. Others might disagree with me.

But good luck!

deemy2004

virgin_moneysaver wrote:

the agent we signed up with has reviewed his initial figure from when he valued the house 3 weeks ago - he says the market is dire & we should go in with an immediate drop of £4k - I agreed with just under £2k(we are talking approx value £175k) but he came over all affronted that I didn't take his advice, & just said to give it a few months to see how things go - now, 'cos he's got the hump, so to speak, is he going to push it as a new property for sale - in the initial fortnight, how many viewings should I expect? - bearing in mind that we are in a sought after area for our town & houses in our road very rarely come up for sale, the last one being 5 years ago

The estate agent does not want to keep properties on his books for ever... So probably he sees the house as not beign saleable at the given price or a long-term committment.

Its upto you stick with the agent or find a new one.

slater14

Fundamentally, I agree with meanmachine and Deemy.......

(I presume the agent came up with the sale price intially and not you?)

House prices have not collasped in the last three weeks and I would be having a serious discussion with the agent about terminting the contract forthwith on the grounds of mis-selling/ineptitude on his part. How on earth can he justify reducing the price after you have signed a contact less that a month ago? He has either no idea what the house is worth or has "pulled a fast one" - offer you big money to make you sign up with his agency and then turn round and say its worth less AFTER you've signed up....very underhand.

pugwash_76

My patner works at an estate agents, and is mail shooting all the people on the books nearly every day. Hardly anyone is even replying for viewings. It is all very slow at the moment. An estate agent does not get any money unless they sell the property, so they normaly do things to aid this. The place she works are even sending out properties that do not match the ones people are after with the hope tehy may generate some intrest. If people don't want to buy there is not alot you can do.

dougk_2

pugwash_76 wrote:

The place she works are even sending out properties that do not match the ones people are after with the hope tehy may generate some intrest.

This is nothing new - when I was looking about 98% of the details sent were like this!

Again its all very regional. Some estate agents (and solicitors) say they are very busy! Others are saying it is dead. Depends wher you live.