Steaming mad with our Estate Agent

seabiscuit_2

Is this normal:

Our house went on the market two weeks ago, it has been in the local newspaper twice so far.

There is still no for sale board - they are chasing getting one up by their subcontractors.

The brochure was provisionally ready at the end of the first week, however lacked some details and internal photos, this was ready by the end of last week

Apparently a few people have requested brochures

HOWEVER - we have had absolutely no viewers at all in the whole time, and now they are saying if by the end of next week we have had no viewers they will talk about putting our price down - even though this was the price they said it would sell at within 4 weeks, and that they had a list of people who wanted to live where we live

We chose them because they seemed most interested in selling the house (although they charge 1.5%), however I was so mad today Ive told them if there is still no interest and we have to put the price down we will cancel our contract with them and go with another agency who valued lower but will only charge 1%

Is any of this normal? Are we overpriced? or are they just not bothering to market us properly

we need to sell asap and this is just annoying the heck out of us

meanmachine_2

I think only your EA can tell you what is REALLY going on.

I suspect an abundance of supply, and a number of similarly disappointed vendors like yourself.

A lot of EAs have tended in the past to give overvaluations just to secure your business. At present I don't see why they would be motivated to do this.

They probably wanted to test the water with the current valuation and see if there were any early takers.

But not all EAs are the same. You might just have chosen a bad one. I'd suggest, after you've dropped the price and still had no joy, threatening them with multi agency.

Sadly I just think you've picked a bad time to sell.

Let us know how you get on.

dougk_2

Did you get other EA's to value your property? If so did they all say about the same value?

Do they publish on rightmove? If bot then you are mising a big chunk of potential buyers as many people search this.

If they do, have you searched rightmove yourself to see if your house is on there and to also gauge what your local competition is like.

I think many EA's like Meanmachine overvalue the property - they are still doing it as you think you can get more through them and nece choose them.

The waiting for contractor to put up a board is a joke.... they should be able to get this done within a day or two at the most.

Lastly - NEVER beeive what EA's agents say to you always question them! Experience has told me that a vast number of EA's don't actually tell the truth that often!

loanranger_4

Have to agree, talk to the Agent and find out what is going on.

This looks like pretty shoddy work to me. No internal photos, a For Sale sign or viewings. Where are those interested buyers they spoke of?

Talk of lowering the price at this early stage is a pretty poor way of marketing the property too ! How does it stack up with the other properties in the area?

I'd complain to the manager and if this doesn't work, take your money elsewhere.

seabiscuit_2

thanks folks, in answer to your questions:

the house is on their website and on rightmove, but hasnt got the full interior shots as "their website has been having updating problems"

there has been no isght of any potential buyers and they are blaming teh bank holiday for things being quiet this week

and im begining to think it is too high - we had 3 valuations done - this was the top one - but we looked at the only other property like this on the market locally which is like ours but it doesnt have an extention nor does it have a garage and they are currently priced at offers of 10k less than ours and the same valuation as one of the lower ones so we thought this was a realistic price - but if we do lower the price - ive already told the estate agents we will take our business elsewhere as one agency will market it for 1% - luckily we have no lock in period so i hope that if nothing else - this will give them a swift kick

meanmachine_2

Bank holidays are *normally* a busy time for estate agents. Whitsun is usually seen as the last big hope before the inevitable summer lull.

Sounds to me like you've missed the boat and/or picked an incompetent agency.

Sadly you're in the middle of a mexican stand-off. Skint buyers on one side and on the other sellers reluctant to see real falls in their properties.

Good luck though.

dougk_2

Like meanmachine said bank holidays are usually busy times as are weekends.
To me it sounds as if your EA are just making up excuses for their lack of commitment.
Is your EA open 7 days a week? Don't forget weekends are often the only time buyers have free to look at available properties.

deemy2004

If you want to sell quick, I think you should go with the lowest valuation

nelly_2

Estate agents lying! Ive never heard such a thing.

bridiej

deemy2004 wrote:

If you want to sell quick, I think you should go with the lowest valuation

I agree, our neighbours have been on the market for a year now and all because they were greedy - they took the highest valuation. Even now they've dropped £10K and still overpriced and hanging around on the market.... should be good for us though as when we go on in a couple of months we'll be over £40K lower!

Debt_Free_Chick

seabiscuit wrote:

and im begining to think it is too high - we had 3 valuations done - this was the top one - but we looked at the only other property like this on the market locally which is like ours but it doesnt have an extention nor does it have a garage and they are currently priced at offers of 10k less than ours and the same valuation as one of the lower ones so we thought this was a realistic price

Oh dear .. I think this is your problem. You would be better marketing at the mid-price i.e. halfway between the highest & lowest valuation you had.

looking at other properties on the market is not really a guide - they can be on at too high a price too! Ideally, you need to know what a house like yours has actually sold for ... not what the asking price was.

HTH