Estate agents

bonkers12

Good morning all , i have put my mother and father in laws flat up for sale,they are both in a care home and we are having to sell the property to pay the care home costs , its been many years since we have sold a house so wondering if you have any advice for us please.
The estate agent put the flat up for sale at £299,950 and after 6 weeks said we should lower the price to £285,000 which we agreed to ,we thought the initial asking price was most likely too high to start with to be honest, after 8 weeks they are saying maybe we should reduce it again, we have had one offer for £260,000 which we turned down ,we are hoping for an offer closer to the £270,000 mark which we think is reasonable based on the prices flats are selling for in the area.
Do you think the estate agent wanting to reduce the price on the property twice in an eight week period is poor? , we are not really in any great hurry to sell the property ,thanks for any thoughts.

Comms69

Well it's not really their fault - the flat is ONLY worth what someone will pay for it

G_M

How many EAs did you approach? What did they each suggest as
a) a price to market the property at, and
b) a realistic price to achieve?

What are other similar local properties selling for? And how do their condition compare?

What is you contract with the EA/ are you locked in for 6 months or what?

bonkers12

Hi G-M thanks for your reply, we contacted 3 estate agents , one advised putting it on the market for offers over £275,000 the other one said they would put it on the market for an asking price of £290,000 and the estate we are with put it on the market for £299,950.
they mostly all said they thought around the £280,000 was a realistic price too achieve . other properties close by are around the £280,000-£300,000 price.
We are locked into a 4 month contract with current estate agent.

G_M

So you went with the EA who suggested the highest price (wonder why they did that), and are surprised when they later suggest reducing it.

other properties close by are around the £280,000-£300,000 price.

Do you mean they are being advertised at those prices, or are selling for thse prices.....

If as I suspect you mean advertised, then I'd guess a realistic selling figure for you is close to £265 - 270K.


Why on earth did you lock yourself in for so long......:eek: 8 weeks would be the maximum I'd agree to.



If you're in no hurry, leave the price as is a bit longer and see what happens.

Or reduce to a price that will attract viewers & buyers.

How many viewers have you had through the door?

bonkers12

Hi G-M Yes i meant the price adverised was £299,950 so i was hoping around the £270,000 mark for it , the estate agent reckons there has been 6 viewings so far. I think i will do what you suggest and leave it on the market for £285,000 and see what happens. I didn't realise that you could be locked into a contract with the estate agents for less than 4 months but thats what i get for not doing my homework i guess, if we end up with another another estate agent after the 4 months i will be better prepared and a tad less thick:D thanks again for your advice .

TBagpuss

Take a look at sold prices on zoopla & rightmove to get an idea of realistic values.

When you get to the end of the tie in period, have a look round at other agents - look at how the properties they are selling appear on rightmove, and when they come to look at the flat, ask them about realistic selling prices and how long they would expect it to take to sell.

remember that estate agents contracts are not set in stone. Their standard contract will normally have a long lock in period, but that is usually negotiable. Their fees are usually also negotiable.

double check what the contract says about paying them if you take the property off the market or change agents. They should not be looking to charge you except if the buyer is someone they introduced. ( and if you change from your current agents, make sure that they provide you with a list of people they have introduced, and be aware that if one of those people were to later buy the flat you could be looking at 2 sets of agents fees.

G_M

bonkers12 wrote: »

......I didn't realise that you could be locked into a contract with the estate agents for less than 4 months but thats what i get for not doing my homework i guess, if we end up with another another estate agent after the 4 months i will be better prepared ........

If/when you look for a different agent, remember their contract is ttotaally neggotiable. And if they won't negotiate, you can walk away.....at which point they will negotiate!

* The fee. As low as possible. comparee and exploit fees offered by other agents

* The payment. Due when? On Completion of a sale, not just if they "introduce a ready and willing buyer" or similar worrds

* The minmum contract length. 4 weeks? 6? 8? When they say (as they will!) "We have lots of buyers looking for a property like yours" you reply "In that case you'll only need 6 weeks to find a buyer." Then delete the "4 months" in teir contract and replace it with "6 weeks".

bonkers12

Thanks again G-M , really helpful advice.

betsie

Also depends on the value of your house and what service you want.
I managed to get 0.5% from a local agent (also offered me a fixed fee) but my house is on a busy road and is high value so they are still getting a decent fee and it is good advertising for them . I am doing all the viewings myself as well.

Re Doorstep, from a buyers point of view I have found them useless. Took the girl 15mins to find the house on her system when I phoned to make an appointment to view. First appointment cancelled, 2nd one vendor didn!!!8217;t show as they hadn!!!8217;t notified them of the appointment. Only got to see inside by speaking to a neighbour who had the owners contact details. They had only had 2 viewers in 5 mths via doorstep and I can see why.

Surrey_EA

betsie wrote: »

Also depends on the value of your house and what service you want.
I managed to get 0.5% from a local agent (also offered me a fixed fee) but my house is on a busy road and is high value so they are still getting a decent fee and it is good advertising for them . I am doing all the viewings myself as well.

Re Doorstep, from a buyers point of view I have found them useless. Took the girl 15mins to find the house on her system when I phoned to make an appointment to view. First appointment cancelled, 2nd one vendor didn!!!8217;t show as they hadn!!!8217;t notified them of the appointment. Only got to see inside by speaking to a neighbour who had the owners contact details. They had only had 2 viewers in 5 mths via doorstep and I can see why.

Did you mean to post that here?:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5810288