Been on sale for 3 weeks and frustrated already!

willo_the_wisp

No, I'm aware of that. For that, I'd have hired some sort of mob enforcer :-)


What I meant was that I might have expected some contact to say what they were up to. However, I am not experienced so was just making conversation really.

googler

You'll be paying them 1% when you get a successful sale, surely? Or have you paid them this already?

Chronologically, what has happened since your property first went on the market, in terms of viewings and other actions?

kixxb

You could get a friend to mystery shop them to see if they push your property?

Our house has been on sale for about 5 weeks now - maybe 6.


We had nothing for 3 weeks. We got a right move report sent through and a summary saying that while web traffic was really good, they hadn't had any enquiries.


Just as we entered the 4th week we had a viewing and subsequent offer - we've verbally accepted but buyer hasn't sold their home yet.


I've not spoken to EA since by my friend did phone up and book a viewing and they did definitely push my property so I'm comfortable that they are still actively selling my house when they can.

bluep

As someone who was recently looking to buy, floorplans were really important to me. Make them do these ASAP.

Also check photographs to see if they are showing your property in the best light (the property we ended up buying looked like it had tiny rooms and the smallest garden ever - hence only 1 viewing in 6 months and I'd struck it firmly off of my list before my husband said oh well we might as well see it....got there and it was massive. The photos completely missold it).

Post a link up here if you want comments from forum members on how you can make it more attractive or what might be putting people off of viewing - it feels a funny thing to do but you can get some excellent feedback. You can often take better photos yourself if you have (or can borrow a decent digital camera). My EA came back after the outside of our house had been painted to do the outside pic but didn't even bother removing the Next directory bags that had been left on my doorstep whilst I was at work - so in the photo it looks like I keep bright blue refuse sacks in my front garden. Nice job. Really annoyed me but we got viewings quickly enough that i didn't bother to retake it.

The other thing is - check how good the EA is about online stats - do they monitor what the rightmove traffic is i.e. are you coming up in searches but not getting clickthroughs? Are people looking at your details but not clicking through to EA for full details (if offered)? Are people saving your property in their saved list for later (often if people aren't quite in a position to buy yet i.e. no offer on their house).

googler

bluep wrote: »

You can often take better photos yourself if you have (or can borrow a decent digital camera). My EA came back after the outside of our house had been painted to do the outside pic but didn't even bother removing the Next directory bags that had been left on my doorstep whilst I was at work - so in the photo it looks like I keep bright blue refuse sacks in my front garden. Nice job.

Which reinforces my view that it's not the quality of the camera that matters, it's the prep that goes in before you click the shutter.

bluep

googler wrote: »

Which reinforces my view that it's not the quality of the camera that matters, it's the prep that goes in before you click the shutter.

Absolutely - I do a fair bit of photography and although I have a serious canon DSLR, I get some fantastic images from my iPhone (as long as I'm not intending to blow them up to huge sizes).

Some estate agenst are very good at knowing which angles show your room off best (but won't go around shifting furniture or knick knacks out of the way), but some EAs are rubbish. I would experiment yourself with being honest about whether you can declutter, move some furniture out of the way for the photo to make the rooms seem bigger etc... Obviously don't use a rubbish quality camera, but nowdays smart phones and "consumer" digital cameras are pretty good.

That's why it can be useful to ask people - what would put you off viewing this house - you might get some surprising responses that really help you understand how you can "sell" it more.

jjlandlord

googler wrote: »

Which reinforces my view that it's not the quality of the camera that matters, it's the prep that goes in before you click the shutter.

Whatever the quality of the tools, it is the skill of the operator that matters most.

I think that when "EA" advertise "professional pictures" they often just mean that they bought a DSLR and will take the pictures themselves...
Calling in a real photographer would cost hundreds.

somethingcorporate

kixxb wrote: »

Just as we entered the 4th week we had a viewing and subsequent offer - we've verbally accepted but buyer hasn't sold their home yet.

You've accepted an offer from someone that is not proceedable? don't get your hopes up.

googler

jc808 wrote: »

one percent is quite low for an agent

A couple of years ago, the OFT determined the average EA rate in E&W was 1.6%, and the average in Scotland 1.1%, so the OP is at around 2/3rds the national average, assuming little change in the averages since the survey.

johnswife

we have only been on the market for about 3 weeks, we will have to pay 1.6% ( was originally 2%) so 1% seems like a bargain.

Just relax, its 14 years since we last sold and from reading this forum I expect a lot of ups and downs. We never had any problems selling and buying back then but expect the worse and be prepared.