House Selling - Money Saving Tips

System

Just sold my house recently and I always fancied myself as a bit of a barterer. So Itried my luck with a few Estate Agents, it amazing what you can squeeze out of them in these market conditions. Originally they all cam in with similar quotes of 1-1.5% commission, so I let them all value the property. The range was unbelievable. Eventually I decided on a fair valuation but wanted to squeeze thenm on commission. Played 2 off against each eachother on price. The best part of the deal was I got them onto a sliding scale of commission based on the price I would receive. My argument was if they got below the asking price then I didn't think they deserved 0.75% (reduced commision fee on asking price aswell). The scale went as low as 0.5% if the price received was £10k below asking price. As it turned out we got above the asking price but I was smart enough not to let the sliding scale go higher if the asking was exceeded.

Give it a try, it could be worth it.

lswwong

TOTAL RESPECT TO MARCUS!

Insight, in my humble view, is one of the most valuable commodities in life.

;D ;D ;D ;D

Best regards,

Louise

System

My experience is beware of the advice about spending money on marketing your house in the best possible light. I have found that the ideas propagated by the so-called "media experts" like House Doctor and so on do not work at all. All that happens is that you have wasted your money.

I decided to sell my house. I had it re-decorated completely inside and out, made various improvements including changing all the interior doors and so on as recommended by these so-called experts. I installed the supposedly obligatory auto security lights front and rear; put up the hanging basket full of delicious flowers, the pot plants at the front door and on the garden patio, decluttered completely and put a significant amount of my furniture and possessions into storage (at great inconvenience and significant cost) and so on and on.... following the supposed experts advice.

I got my house valued by 8 estate agents and then put it on the market for less than they had valued it at to try to get a quick sale. (It was below the magic threshold of 250, 000, where the extra stamp duty kicks in.) It was a 4 bedroom detached house with 2 reception rooms, garage and additional parking space, in excellent condition, in a sought-after location close to London Stansted airport and the M11, 3 minutes away from through trains to London, and in the catchment area for the best secondary school in the area, where everyone wants to get their children a place, so none of these issues is any cause of it not selling. All of the agents commented on how nice it was, and what a good area it is.

It has now been marketed by a total of 10 estate agents, 7 of whom are still supposed to be marketing it. I have reduced the price twice with a total reduction of almost £10, 000. None of them can sell it even at the reduced price, despite the news claims that prices have been increasing all the time. I have even advertised it on about 10 internet estate sites at an even lower price, and have an internet site of my own with full details and many photographs linked to these.

Despite all of this, after more than six months none of the agents have been able to sell it even at the reduced price (which is now significantly lower than they valued it at originally) and I have had a total of only 2 actual people to view it over that period. There have also been 4 no-shows for previously-made appointments. I have checked on hometrack.co.uk and my current price is a very very keen price.

So my experience says - don't pay any attention to all of this bilge these so-called experts give you. I am about to move back all the furniture and possessions from storage to save wasting any more money. I have wasted many thousands of pounds doing all of this all for nothing! Save your money moneysavers. Don't get fooled by these charlatans as I was.

terrierlady

;)HI BigAid, the estate agent comes across as perhaps doing nothing, whilst in my sales office on a new homes development I often have women coming in saying what a brillant job just sitting here waiting for the client to view,,, I WISH...I do sit down sometimes but also have to progress the sale from resevation to exchange of contracts which all new homes developers insist can be done in 28 days! and also sometimes due to lazy agents manage the chain as well, I deal with many solicitors and other agents to try to hold the sale together when problems occur. I keep in weekly contact with our purchasers to update etc, we inspect and sign off the new home at each stage and once the completion takes place deal with any complaints etc. Clients seem to forget these homes are not bespoke but mass produced,we are the Ham in the sandwich between Purchers and Developers and take all what ever is thrown at us from both sides but I wouldnt change for all the tea in china.Might be worth watching the programme on New Homes and the problems that can occur tonight on ITV at 9pm.

System

Great, Marcus and others -
By chance I've got half a dozen agents lined up to view my place at intervals tomorrow. It's a garden flat which I kept when I sold the main house above, a year ago, because there were tenants in the flat and the rent looked good against the flat's probable value. That's not so true today. My question is, should I try to sell now, as a viable investment or wait till the lease runs out and I can show the place empty, next February? The new owner of the main house has painted up the outside and made other improvements and she's now putting it back on the market to move out of London. So a potential purchaser could buy the freehold of all 5 floors if they wished. The garden flat looks fairly cluttered and chaotic as the tenants have it (plus it stinks from 2 chain smokers); but it'll look bleak and, I suspect, the decorations and carpets won't look great when it's empty. Also I'll lose £1,000+ a month rent for as long as it's empty and unsold. I don't really want to ask my v. nice tenants to leave in Feb unnecessarily - and certainly not if the flat is not then going to sell. Anyone have any advice? Thanks! Gill

BigAde

;)HI BigAid, the estate agent comes across as perhaps doing nothing, whilst in my sales office on a new homes development I often have women coming in saying what a brillant job just sitting here waiting for the client to view,,, I WISH...I do sit down sometimes but also have to progress the sale from resevation to exchange of contracts which all new homes developers insist can be done in 28 days! and also sometimes due to lazy agents manage the chain as well, I deal with many solicitors and other agents to try to hold the sale together when problems occur. I   keep in weekly contact with our purchasers to update etc, we inspect and sign off the new home at each stage and once the completion takes place deal with any complaints etc. Clients seem to forget these homes are not bespoke but mass produced,we are the Ham in the sandwich between Purchers and Developers and take all what ever is thrown at us from both sides but I wouldnt change for all the tea in china.Might be worth watching the programme on New Homes and the problems that can occur tonight on ITV at 9pm.

Agreed. There is a fair bit of work involved, but most of this is just keeping the lines of communication going and answering simple queries between buyers and sellers. None of this needs an estate agent. The actual process of buying and selling is dependent on solicitors, surveyors, searches etc. In my (albeit limited) experience I find that estate agents will tell anyone in the chain whatever they want to hear, just so long as the chain stays together and the agent gets their commission - even when that is not necessarily in everyone's best interest. Okay, there are good and bad estate agents and a good one will do the job very well, but all I am stressing here are two points:
1. None of this needs an estate agent. Agents perform no legal function in the house buying process.
2. I have nothing against agents in principle - they perform a function in the process which can (at times) be difficult to manage, what I object to is paying £4000 (in my case) for this function. If it were a more reasonable £1000 for example I wouldn't object. It is blatant overcharging.

Here's one which makes me so angry: A neighbour of mine recently was selling her house, she knew a nice couple through a friend who had agreed to buy the house at the asking price. The couple had no property to sell and the neighbour was moving into sheltered housing (already arranged). Despite my protests, she then went to an estate agent to 'handle' the sale. She was charged £4500 for the priviledge. She later admitted that they did nothing for the money.

System

Marcus,

In 1998 my house was valued at £180,000 and agents were quoting a fee of 1% - £1800.

The same house is now worth £425,000 yet agents still charge 1% - £4250.

How do they justify a 150% increase in their fees, in a market where the house will sell it self in a couple of weeks, and why are you not still an estate agent?

Terry

BigAde

Marcus,

In 1998 my house was valued at £180,000 and agents were quoting a fee of 1%  - £1800.

The same house is now worth £425,000 yet agents still charge 1% - £4250.  

How do they justify a 150% increase in their fees, in a market where the house will sell it self in a couple of weeks, and why are you not still an estate agent?

Terry

Exactly.

terrierlady

BigAid I WILL AGREE TO DISAGREE . I work in new homesales which is different and most estate agents hate us sales negotiators anyway as we are known to push to get the sales through we chain chase and even chain break to get the sale,which sometimes robs them of fees. Estate agents dont tend to last long in new home sales for the reason its too intense and requires too much work and effort for the sale.Anyone watching the horrors lastnight of the itv programme on new home sales will agree that a good sales negotiator should have seen some of these problems before signing off each build stage with the site agent so there are good and bad, side tracking a bit but if you are buying new make sure you vist weekly and inspect and note down any snags you see and make sure they are written down on the file for your plot.

kopicbloodaxe

My experience is beware of the advice about spending money on marketing your house in the best possible light. I have found that the ideas propagated by the so-called "media experts" like House Doctor and so on do not work at all. All that happens is that you have wasted your money.

I decided to sell my house. I had it re-decorated completely inside and out, made various improvements including changing all the interior doors and so on as recommended by these so-called experts. I installed the supposedly obligatory auto security lights front and rear; put up the hanging basket full of delicious flowers, the pot plants at the front door and on the garden patio, decluttered completely and put a significant amount of my furniture and possessions into storage (at great inconvenience and significant cost) and so on and on.... following the supposed experts advice.

I got my house valued by 8 estate agents and then put it on the market for less than they had valued it at to try to get a quick sale. (It was below the magic threshold of 250, 000, where the extra stamp duty kicks in.) It was a 4 bedroom detached house with 2 reception rooms, garage and additional parking space, in excellent condition, in a sought-after location close to London Stansted airport and the M11, 3 minutes away from through trains to London, and in the catchment area for the best secondary school in the area, where everyone wants to get their children a place, so none of these issues is any cause of it not selling. All of the agents commented on how nice it was, and what a good area it is.

It has now been marketed by a total of 10 estate agents, 7 of whom are still supposed to be marketing it. I have reduced the price twice with a total reduction of almost £10, 000. None of them can sell it even at the reduced price, despite the news claims that prices have been increasing all the time. I have even advertised it on about 10 internet estate sites at an even lower price, and have an internet site of my own with full details and many photographs linked to these.  

Despite all of this, after more than six months none of the agents have been able to sell it even at the reduced price (which is now significantly lower than they valued it at originally) and I have had a total of only 2 actual people to view it over that period. There have also been 4 no-shows for previously-made appointments. I have checked on hometrack.co.uk and my current price is a very very keen price.

So my experience says - don't pay any attention to all of this bilge these so-called experts give you. I am about to move back all the furniture and possessions from storage to save wasting any more money. I have wasted many thousands of pounds doing all of this all for nothing! Save your money moneysavers. Don't get fooled by these charlatans as I was.

Hi drrdf2,

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience.

I still maintain that the 'so called' experts like the House Doctor have generally got it right - declutter, depersonalise, refresh the decor, etc. However, your mileage may vary, of course.

There must be some other reason why your house isn't selling, especially as you've only had two people through the door to look at it and four no-shows.

Just how close to Stansted and the M11 is it? Can you hear traffic and/or airplane noise?