Did morning expect us to be in this situation..

PeonySugar

So for the last year we have been renovating from top to bottom our house. We have had a new roof, electrics, plumbing, plaster, decoration, kitchen, bathroom, carpets, and certainly not the cheapest of everything. We had solid oak work tops installed, thick carpets, an entire beige tiled bathroom, dimmer switches, sockets with USB ports... the decor scheme is neutral with various shades of beige painted onto plaster so it is easily changed. We are about 95% done with just the loft to be made into a bedroom. We got a letter through the door on Thursday asking if we want to sell as they have a client who is looking to move ASAP. I ring up the estate agents, they say the house is excellent, nothing else we could do to make it better. They get back to the office, ring the customer and then ring me back to say not only does the customer want to come at the first opportunity Monday night, but also a second customer a Mr B wants to come and do we want to sign a weeks contract to allow these people to come. Fantastic so we spend the entire weekend sorting out the house doing all the odd jobs that needed doing, getting the paint out, cleaning, tidying the garden etc. Today arrives, I ring the estate agent in the morning to check that everything is still okay he says yeah it's fine. I get a phone call 30 minutes before the first person is to arrive saying that apparently the estate agent has fallen down a customers stairs and he is going to hospital to get checked out. I ask if the customers are still coming, they said yes a Mr and Mrs C are coming which I hadn't heard of before. I asked if the original woman who was looking to move asap is coming the guy had no idea who I was talking about and started saying they can't get a hold of the injured estate agent. Fast forward and mr and mrs c come, they didn't know we still had work to do on the house, they didn't know the asking price, they knew nothing. Now is this standard practice for selling a house and paying someone 3 grand in commission to do absolutely nothing at all, because if it is I think I would rather sell my house for £10 and escape to the wilderness and live off plants or something I can't take it!

SuzieSue

Yes, sounds typical of a lot of estate agents. There are a few good ones around, but you need to find them and it won't be easy unless you can find one by recommendation from someone you trust.

Cakeguts

Do you know which estate agent it was? Are they local?

jimbog

PeonySugar wrote: »

We got a letter through the door on Thursday asking if we want to sell as they have a client who is looking to move ASAP.

We get these letters through the letterbox every week or so from the local agents. No specific client exists. This is a marketing approach solely for you to ....

PeonySugar wrote: »

ring up the estate agents

Then they look at their books to see who to send round

Mr A and Mr B probably never existed

ACG

Estate agents are pretty much the lowest of the low. Do not trust a single word they say. Why are you paying them £3k?!?!

mysterymurdoch

Wow.


Were you renovating to sell?

Ignore this letter and the whole shebang. If you want to move, find your own agent and go from there. All the noise/fine detail above doesn't matter.

michelle2008

This post confuses me! How did the estate agent know anything about the interior of your house? Had you planned to sell and asked them round before you got this letter?

Are you sure it wasn't just a generic advertisement?

Or maybe you are joking and I am taking it too literally!!:rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally - I'm puzzled why someone would go to all the hard work/expense of renovating a house up to pretty decent standard and then out of the blue respond to any invites to put it on the market.

If you've got it together to that standard = are you sure you want to move?

DaftyDuck

You are going to lose as much money from the renovation as from falling for standard estate agent guff. If they say 'we have a definite buyer', your correct response is allow a single viewing contract, or a two week tie in.

This was just standard marketing guff, and it reeled you in....

But the burning question, are you a fan of Gerard Manley Hopkins, or why have you personified morning?

AdrianC

PeonySugar wrote: »

Now is this standard practice for selling a house and paying someone 3 grand in commission to do absolutely nothing at all

You aren't paying £1 in commission, let alone £3k, unless YOU agree a sale with a buyer THEY introduced.

If that happens, then they certainly haven't done "absolutely nothing at all", have they? They've found you a buyer...

because if it is I think I would rather sell my house for £10 and escape to the wilderness and live off plants or something I can't take it!

<puts tenner on table, offers hand to shake>

DaftyDuck wrote: »

But the burning question, are you a fan of Gerard Manley Hopkins, or why have you personified morning?

Autocockup. Instead of N-O-T, the OP typed M-O-R (N/M, T/R are next to each other), then accepted the default autocorrect suggestion.

agrinnall

AdrianC wrote: »

<puts tenner on table, offers hand to shake>

I'll gazump you by throwing in a container of slug pellets to help protect the plants that the OP will be living off...