Getting Round Estate Agent's contract

sundropstar

Hi, Can anyone help me please?

In Aug I put my house on the market for 250K. Used the local agents as we weren't in too much of a hurry and were happy with their fee of 0.75%. They sent round 8 viewers on the first day and we had 3 full asking price offers the following day. But, as we were not in a position to be moving so quickly, we decided not to go ahead at that time.

Circumstances have now changed and we HAVE to be out of the house by May 08.

Went back to the same EA and agreed a 12 week sole contract for 0.95% incl. HIP. Ringing me over and over to get me in to sign the contract, which I did on 1st Oct.

Last time his recommended price sold very quickly so decided to increase his recommended price from £270K to £287K, just to test the water. He put it on the internet. A week later we hadn't heard a dickybird.

Rang the agent and asked why? He said it was overpriced. OK, we know that, but why didn't he ring us to discuss? We lowered the price to £274,950 and told him to ring round all of his clients and get back to me by the end of the day to tell me if there was any interest and what they said. He laughed. He called me back 2 hours later and said he had called 30 people and that as we had a downstairs bathroom and no garage people weren't interested. (not mentioned last time)

He had though, secured 2 viewings, but not put the house in the local paper 'for reasons he didnt want to go into'.

Rang me after the weekend to say that the viewers weren't interested as too far from transport. (we are on a local but route and 10 mins walk from 2 mainline stations that are 25 mins from London.) he said some people are lazy!

Just spoke to him again and he confirms did go in this weeks paper, on a 'special' larger ad, I asked if anyone had rung, he said 'no'.......

What can I do? I feel like i'm in an estate agents straightjacket!

I know it sounds like I am being impatient but if we are not out of here by May 08 then we are going to have to pay out thousands of pounds that we can't really afford. I don't want unnecessary delays at the very beginning to hold everything up. We aren't even buying anywhere else!

We are not hell bent on fleecing anyone or getting the agent to work for nothing, we have spoken to other agents who have said they are known for waiting for business to come to them. The other agents have also said they will go joint sole agency if the current agent will let us but they will do 0.95% work for a 0.95% fee!

I can't sell it privately as I have too much on my plate to do that too.

What can I do? Any advice gratefully received.

silvercar

Your at a really difficult price point. Under 250k and the stamp duty is 1%, over 250k and it rises to 3%. So incoreasing the price from 250k to 270k increases the cost from 252.5 to 278.1; buyers begrudge paying the extra stamp duty making the property difficult to sell. In my area nethouseprices has over 1000 properties sold in the last 7 years. Nothing at all between 250 and 264k!

How does this help you? It doesn't, but it explains a lot. Price it at 250k and you'll have 3 offers tomorrow.

nobblyned

Sounds like you messed them around last time, now they are getting their revenge.

bap98189

It sounds like you have annoyed them and they aren't going to go out of their way to help you. If anything they are fobbing you off to get you off the phone.

Whose idea was it to put it on the market above the valuation price? I'm guessing it was yours, probably against their advice. It didn't work, now you want it lowered and are on the phone, demanding they ring all their clients and telling them how to do their job.

I'm not surprised they are a little bit !!!!!! off.

sundropstar

Sounds like you messed them around last time, now they are getting their revenge.

No, we explained the situation to them fully at the time and promised to use them again, as we have. I couldn't have been more apologetic and they were perfectly understanding. They have used all of the same info as last time, just a different price.


Whose idea was it to put it on the market above the valuation price? I'm guessing it was yours, probably against their advice. It didn't work, now you want it lowered and are on the phone, demanding they ring all their clients and telling them how to do their job.

Yes, it was our idea, the agent said he would give it a go, we said we were just testing the waters and expected it to be lowered in the following week or so, he said that was fine.
I was annoyed with them that there was no contact from them whatsoever once we had signed the contracts, even to give us an update. I asked them to ring round their clients on the advice of another agent who said they do this and provide their clients with an update as a matter of routine, our agents apparently do not. My agent said he understood why I was annoyed and would keep in touch in future, he hasn't.
I am not in the habit of jumping up and down and upsetting people. I want some ideas to go back to the agent with to try to prompt either further action from them or a release into a dual agency hopefully to find more buyers.

SquatNow

Like anything else, your house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay you for it.

You think it's worth £274k. Other people don't. They're right, you're wrong.

You need to lower your price until it meets up with the price other people think is worth. Since you HAVE to sell before May 2008 you need to be VERY aggressive in your pricing. Basically you need a CASH buyer to walk up and offer you the money, else you wont complete by May.

Drop the price in £10k increments each fortnight until you get an offer.

I expect you'll get offers once you get below £240k

Don't try and hold out for a higher price or you could end up chasing the market down, or worse still, as sales volumes are dropping off a cliff, you might find yourself unable to sell it at all.

Remember, until the buyers cash is in your bank account, your house is worth precisely £0.

A_Nice_Englishman

What have similar properties sold for recently? Have a look on www.nethouseprices.com

If you post a link to your house on Rightmove, I'm sure people will comment on the price, presentation and the ad itself.

sundropstar

I'm a bit reluctant to post my house details on here, to be honest. But basically, we are in Surrey, we are near lots of lovely schools, A brand new state of the art secondary school is about to be built nearby. I
in my postcode there is only one other house at the same price but it does have an upstairs bathroom and a garage at the end of the garden, but the garden is small and it is quite gothic in it's decoration. They have had offers up to £273K and turned them down.
The next lower prices are for houses on an ex-council estate and flats. Next prices up are around £290-£450K for houses in nearby roads.
So basically, if you want a house in a nice area, not on the ex-council estate and not in the next price bracket then ours fits the bill.
It's nicely decorated, light and roomy, luxury bathroom, always had good comments. Kitchen is White but been in a few years, if I was staying would put in a new one. Bedrooms are very roomy, and all cleanly decorated. Double glazed, central heating new electrics, completely replastered laminate flooring, all the usuals. Similar house in next road sold recently for £280K but they had a bigger kitchen.

Running_Horse

sundropstar wrote: »

What can I do? Any advice gratefully received.

Stop messing people about.

What you have told us makes you sound like the client from hell. What goes around comes around, and sadly you may have missed the boat for quick full asking price sales. Even the thread title talks about getting round something you agreed to.

rosysparkle

silvercar wrote: »

Your at a really difficult price point. Under 250k and the stamp duty is 1%, over 250k and it rises to 3%. So incoreasing the price from 250k to 270k increases the cost from 252.5 to 278.1; buyers begrudge paying the extra stamp duty making the property difficult to sell. In my area nethouseprices has over 1000 properties sold in the last 7 years. Nothing at all between 250 and 264k!

How does this help you? It doesn't, but it explains a lot. Price it at 250k and you'll have 3 offers tomorrow.

As silvercar says, you are unlikely to sell in the price bracket you have marketed your house in. Drop to 250 if you want a quick sale.