Should I change estate agent?

nicky73

I put my house up for sale mid June after 3 valuations all of which valued at the same amount.
I picked the local estate agent as they had good online reviews & sell quite a few properties in my area. They (of course!) assured me the house would sell quickly.
I had 3 viewings in the first month (done by EA). Each time the EA told me they loved the house & things looked positive. They promised to follow up with each viewer but each time I heard nothing more.
A couple of weeks ago I asked what I could do to help things & asked if there was anything I could do to the house or if a price drop would help. They assured me the house is well presented (its neutral / no clutter / fairly new bathroom & kitchen & no work needed ) & so reducing the price may help. As it was on for £415K they suggested reduce to £406,250. This seemed a strange amount to me so I asked them to reduce to £400K so it would come up on other right move searches.
Following this I had another viewer on Saturday & a very positive email from EA that day saying the viewers loved it & said it was 'by far the best house they'd seen'. They went on to say they were confident this would lead to a 2nd viewing or offer.
After hearing nothing since I called them today to ask if they'd heard anything. They said they'd tried to call viewer but hadn't got through & would call 'if we hear'. After all their positivity after the viewing I had hoped they'd follow up again. I asked them to try & get feedback as if there is anything I can change I will.

The market here is slow & properties of same value / size are taking a while to sell so I'm not alone but it's so frustrating to have zero feedback. If people loved it as much as EA claims then surely I'd have an offer? Or 2nd viewing? I have checked sold prices in the area & am confident it's not over priced so feedback about the house would help.

I'd rather not put on RM link but photos are good & it has a floor plan. The house is neutral / uncluttered / fresh flowers / plants by front door / garden done etc etc.

Is it worth changing EA (I'm just outside contract time now) for a fresh listing? I feel I am chasing this EA for feedback & that they always tell me the same thing!

I really want to move to a nearby town but if I don't sell in next couple of months I'm considering taking off the market until Feb/Mar next year as I don't need to move.

Apologies for long post. Any advice really appreciated.

Many thanks

Crashy_Time

Trying to sell it slap bang in the middle of whatever Brexit mess the government is about to deliver won`t work too well IMO. Drop the price and try to sell it now.

nicky73

Thanks for the advice - Brexit is a real worry & as you say will no doubt make selling a house even worse than it is now! The one saving grace is that if my house price drops so will others.

I'm thinking maybe leave it on at same price until the end of the month then drop it at the end of the school holidays?

Wish I'd decided to move a couple of years ago - a couple of my neighbours with identical layouts / house condition sold then at great price within a month.

I'll discuss with the estate agent this week too & see what they think. I can drop a little more but not a huge amount or I won't be able to move on easily.

Crashy_Time

nicky73 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice - Brexit is a real worry & as you say will no doubt make selling a house even worse than it is now! The one saving grace is that if my house price drops so will others.

I'm thinking maybe leave it on at same price until the end of the month then drop it at the end of the school holidays?

Wish I'd decided to move a couple of years ago - a couple of my neighbours with identical layouts / house condition sold then at great price within a month.

I'll discuss with the estate agent this week too & see what they think. I can drop a little more but not a huge amount or I won't be able to move on easily.

People often seem to overlook this, the amount of debt people need for housing could greatly reduce if we all caught on?

kinger101

Ignore Crashy. He lives in a bedsit. He's not much use for house selling advice, but he could probably give you some good tips on how to make eating Pot Noodles everyday more bearable.

I'd get rid of the agent for the simple reason nobody drops from £415K to £406,250, for the reasons you've already pointed out. The fact they don't know this suggests they're at the bottom end of the bell-curve.


They all tell you they'll sell it really quickly. What you should have done at the point is said "great, you wouldn't mind if we changed the termination clause to four weeks then would you".

A good reason to change agents is the fact you'll get a new RM listing, and will again appear in e-mail alerts.

Posting a link might be useful for getting feedback on how well your house is presented, and how others view it compared to others on the market.

bertiewhite

I felt my EA wasn't doing enough to sell my house so I served notice, saying that I was changing agents. Within the week, one of the original viewers returned for another viewing and then put in an offer which we accepted.

I can't say if it was co-incidence or not but I'd like to think that when I accused the EA of sitting on their @r2es, simply advertising the house instead of pro-actively SELLING the house, it prompted some action from them.

Margot123

I do wonder if some estate agents value a house with a prospective buyer in mind, someone they already have on their books.

When that buyer (or several they have in mind) don't 'bite' they loose interest in pushing the sale.

If your agent isn't pro-active, you need to give them one big last push. Don't make idle threats about terminating, make it a deadline for them to work to. Mention the word 'commission' and that will wake them up.

nicky73

Thanks for the replies.

I certainly feel that EA hasn't done much / anything except upload details to RM & hope for the best.

I'll speak to them about serving notice & hopefully this will give them the push they need. If not then at least I can go elsewhere to someone who will want to sell it (& earn commission).

Hopefully I'll have some success like you have soon.

Many thanks

Crashy_Time

Definitely not as simple as just changing agent IMO, the agent is unlikely to care either way TBH, many will be struggling to survive now anyway.


https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/property/property-news/property-transactions-fall-21-year-year-areas-2017/

nicky73

Well estate agent emailed me earlier with feedback on the viewing.
They said (again) that the couple loved the house & best they've seen BUT they think the garden is too overlooked.
Unfortunately nothing I can do about that - it's an 8 year old end terrace house & of course as with all new builds gardens are overlooked. But for the price in this area (S.East) & in this town I can't see them finding anything which isn't overlooked.

I guess it's good news that they liked the house & have to hope someone won't mind being overlooked as for the budget in this town I think you always will be.

I completely understand not wanting to be overlooked as it's one of the reasons I want to move. If I go to the next town houses are cheaper so I can get something slightly cheaper for same size but with a more secluded garden. But I won't have a train line to London so there are advantages of living here & that will of course be more important to someone working in London.

Although I don't need to move & haven't looked at anywhere in person there are a couple of properties on RM that I love so it's so frustrating not selling as I'm sure someone will snap them up.

Cakeguts

There is overlooked and overlooked. There is a house near us where all of the house and garden are overlooked by a block of flats right next door.



Then there is the house my mother lived in which was overlooked by a house at the bottom of the very small garden.



Then there is the house that we looked at but didn't buy where you could have seen the owner of the house at the back in the bathroom brushing his teeth.