Estate agent advice

gerbiljo

Thank all for your help

new_owner

How long is the contract you have signed on for?

gerbiljo

20weeks and weeks and we’re about 8 in

keithdc

gerbiljo wrote: »

Hi ya
To keep it simple I would like some estate agent advice.
We have found a house we would like to buy and so signed up with the same estate that the house is up for sale with to keep it simple. We did this before with our last sale as the vendor and it worked excellently. The estate agent is very expensive but has done a great job on photos etc I’m not a great believer in estate agents as such but I thought having the financial incentive of 2 lots of commission might work in our favour and be worth the cost. Also on their write up they discussed they would fight to get you the right price etc so I guess I thought I would be buying a good service compared to cheaper companies who just want to give away your house cheap for a fixed commission rate.
For the valuation my husband wasn’t home so I signed up without his input but I was very honest about what we can afford and that the gap we can jump is around the 100k mark, obviously less the better. The agent said it’s only worth putting on the market for a round figure and so I said the higher figure of the two he gave me because that was what we needed for the sale to happen the other was completely unrealistic and would make it impossible to buy the other house. He said they try to get multiple buyers interested and get them bidding to get a price over the asking price.
The property was on at this price for about 6 days and we had 1 person round, at this point the estate agent kept calling to get us to reduce by 50k we said no, because we couldn’t afford to take this drop but they said they would still expect to achieve our original price or very near to it if they could just get interested people thru the door and they were so pushy and wouldn’t get off the phone or take no for an answer and in the end my husband literally said ‘do what you want’ because she insisted we would not have to accept an offer so nothing lost with this new tactic.i felt really upset and completely bullied into the decision and so did he but I guess we thought maybe they are right so we thought we would see what happened. She also said the house we want was also being reduced by 50k so the ‘gap’ if you like is no different.
Obviously we independently want the best price for our house and for them to work for us not just sell our house cheap so they get their double sale. So in hindsight the same agent was probably an error. Since this time we have both felt deflated and unhappy about the decision because we know it is worth more and as it stands the asking price makes it impossible for us to afford the other house at asking price also the house we want subsequently never got reduced as they said it would, although they are saying they are keeping the price high to stop other buyers but in reality I really don’t know what I can believe.
Last week after just over 2 weeks at this price they had 2 people wanting to view but we were struggling to get a time to suit. My husband called them back to rearrange and there was only a record of the one family when speaking to another member of staff. Neither my husband or I am confrontational and we are quite honest people and we do not feel comfortable with this approach so yesterday we advised the agents in that we wanted the price to go up to what it was originally as the other property had not reduced and currently we couldn’t afford the other house and as there was only 1 interested party it was obvious that no one in their right mind would pay 50k over the asking price. Also we both work and have kids pets and viewings are a pain so we neither want to waste theirs or our time when the price will not be met. So we sent her a firm but strongly worded email (as we are not phone people) advising her to please increase the price and ensure any viewers are aware of this change so we don’t waste anyone’s time. A different EA called to arrange another interested party viewing later that day (but no reply to our email) for this Thursday so we now have two people but my husband advised we’d emailed them and we wanted the price up again and he just said he would pass the message on.
Again we have not heard back. I am really not sure what to do now I am annoyed they have just ignored our correspondence and feeling very foolish for 1- not standing our ground in the first place and 2-signing up to such a long contract without considering other options. I thought we would get a quality service and arguably they might be very good negotiators but I just feel like we’ve been pushed into decisions and they are not working for us at all. Any advice gratefully received.

If i saw a house had been decreased by 50k then increased by 50k on rightmove, i would just not bother viewing.

It does sound like you and the estate agent need to meet in the middle, but be aware that pricing your property based on what you need it to get rather than what it is worth is not going to end well.

mije1983

It sounds like you can't really afford to move to the house you want. You might think your house is worth more, but clearly buyers don't.

What percentage of the asking price is the £50k? £50k on a £200k house is a lot and will count out a lot of buyers, but if your house is £2m then it probably matters little.

How does the price compare to similar properties that have sold recently?

gerbiljo

Thanks guys

gerbiljo

Thanks guys

Thrugelmir

gerbiljo wrote: »

I don!!!8217;t think ours is over priced I could be deluded but that!!!8217;s my honest opinion.

What's the feedback from potential purchasers. Always a good indication with more expensive properties. As to what somebody believes a property is worth. As it's Location, Location, Location that will ultimately set the selling price. If people have the budget. Then the condition isn't as important. If somebody is prepared to part with £30k for stamp duty. Then spending £50k plus on the house is a real possibility.

gerbiljo

Oh dear not sure why all the funny numbers come up

gerbiljo

We;ve had 2 round in total. One guy said he couldnt afford it but the agent sent him round. The other people said they liked it but the driveway is steep and they were worried about water run off from the road. So neither commented on price. The first guy said he couldnt afford it well actually that he was self employed and didnt want to take the risk rather than it being over priced but he was a single guy and its a 5 bed house so I think probably just more than he needed, whether they thought it was over priced I cant say

Smodlet

Can you afford some paragraphs? Your initial post is immensely off-putting.