trouble selling house

cheltenhamgirl

Speaking as an EA myself, in 99% of cases, the only reason a property would be on the market for that length of time is PRICE. Every property will sell at the right price. Please don't use one of those companies that offer a lower % of the market value. they do not offer good value for money....ever.

Did they have several valuations at the time? What prices were they coming in at? Have they been on with the one agent the whole time. Even though I don't like to admit it, properties do get stale in the books of one agent. A new approach after this length of tijme is probably a good idea.


This is the plan of action I suggest....

Get 3 new agents around for a valuation. Ask all of them to be totally honest with what they see to be a realistic asking price and selling price. Also ask them to show comparables of what else they have sold recently to justify the price. That should give you a more accurate idea of what the property should be on the market at. Whilst the agents are around, your parents should ask exactly how their property will be marketed and where (previous poster suggested Country Life...this may well be a good idea if the property is impressive/unique enough), and check that it will be on Rightmove. Your parents can then pick the new agent that they feel is most likely to sell their house, and will know from all three agents what's the best marketing price.

If you market at the right price, you may end up getting two or more people fighting over it, and this will give you full market value. Any house will sell at the right price, and you will almost certainly get more money just by having it on the market at the right price than by using one of the companies as you suggested.

I hope that helps.

Doozergirl

cheltenham girl is, of course, right. You need to get a valuation from agents which is realistic and acheivable. Once that price is set and the agent is confident with that price, the house will sell.

There is no point in using a quick sale company if you can get best price. They will not use your asking price as market value - they will do their own research, find the realistic selling price and then knock their 20% or so off.

If your parents decor is at all dated, then it would be ideal to market the property as needing some modernisation. People love it.

Guy_Montag

Though I shudder to suggest this *shudder* could they apply for planning permission to convert it into flats & sell it with that as a bonus, opening up the market to developers *weeps quietly at the thought*

A_Nice_Englishman

As it's a unique property and was last sold 25 years ago any estate agent's or buyer's valuation is going to be complete guesswork.

How about putting it up for auction? Provided the auction is advertised properly it should result in a sale at the best possible price.

jonewer

Hi All,

My parents bought a widget for 21p a few years back and now they are trying to sell it for £13254598579845632045627856081756014327510375bazillionsquallion pounds! Anyone have any ideas why it hasnt sold yet!?
They had one or two people in saying how nice their widget was but no-one has actually bought it yet?!

Anyone have any ideas why it hasnt sold?!!!!

edit - this post is a parody designed to be an illustration and should not be taken (too) seriously

david29dpo

My house was on the market 12 months ago for nearly 18 months without selling. Did reduce the price but nothing. Did all the right things but still nothing. House down the road went for £25k more the day i took mine off the market! never understood why, everyone said its the price but it cant be.

tincat

What about geting in 'house doctors'?

There's a possibility that the people viewing were just being polite, I mean how many people would say, 'sorry, your house is a dump'?

I've heard of companies that do this for you, (not only that woman off the telly), and it costs a fraction of the sale price. A quick google search brings up a few, and the only one I looked at seemed quite good - thefinaltouch . co. uk.

Maybe there are cosmetic changes needing doing that buyers can't see how to do for themselves. Before you drop the price too much, maybe you should see what can be done in this area.

Good luck

BettiePage

tincat wrote: »

costs a fraction of the sale price.

Or people on here will do it for free if you post a link to your parents house.

stevie_wonder

Any chance of posting the link - I'm sure we could offer more constructive comments if we knew what we were dealing with.

Another comment, if it's been on for 2 years, has there been a for sale board up for 2 years? Sometimes being on a long time can put off potential buyers from even considering it "oh that one is still on".