Estate agent - £25k reduction after a month

davidmcn

ClaireB182 wrote: »

Thats not patronising?!

No, it really isn't.

Brock_and_Roll

The problem with Estate Agents is that almost everything they say is either a lie or at best a severe distortion of the truth!

In all likelihood:

1) The EA over-egged the pudding to get the OP's business in the first place

2) The EA made out to the viewing family that the property was what they were looking for when clearly it was not "mystery home" etc

3) The suggestion for a down valuation after two weeks MIGHT be based on his assessment that the local market has deteriorated.....but it is just as likely that he is thinking about his end of year bonus!


The question for the OP is how keen are they to sell? If no rush, they might want to keep flying the kite until either the market picks up or someone comes along that loves the property.

Of course house prices might carry on stagnating or gently decline, it is even possible that there might be more severe declines, however, at present there does not seem to be an obvious catalyst for anything more than stagnation or slow decline. Of course if there is a general decline in the market, what the OP loses on selling their current place, they will gain buying their next one.

These are the risks the OP needs to weigh up .

getmore4less

ClaireB182 wrote: »

Hi all

Our estate agent valued our house and put it on the market 5 weeks ago.
......
Any advice much appreciated please. Thank you.

What did your research of the market tell you it might be worth?

pretty easy with rightmove to look at SSTC and sold through prices for the last year which give a good indicator of what people are paying for places.

Mutton_Geoff

ClaireB182 wrote: »

The reason people use EA's is that they are supposed to be the 'expert' in house prices. I dont expect an EA to come out and value the house and then want to drop the value by £25K four weeks later. As I said, perhaps I am just stupid and this is all normal.

It is common practise for agents to pitch house prices to gain your business, often signing you up to a "sole selling contract" rather than a "sole agency". The current market reinforces this for them when they could then come back and ask you to reduce because of Brexit/winter/Christmas/slow market or any other reason.


If the agent suggested £400k at the outset, then the question should have been "prove it" and ask for recent comparables.


My last sale, I had 4 agents round. Three of them valued the house at x which I felt was a little pessimistic. A fourth agent valued it about 30% more. I asked for comparables which they provided. And they sold it within 4 weeks at very near asking price.


I wouldn't rely on an agent to value a house, only the market does that, but I would expect an agent to be fully up to speed on that market and know exactly what was selling for what and not just stick a finger in the air and hope for the best.


High valuations are often combined with sole selling rights contracts and long contract periods. Just in case you need to change agents, do check your own terms that you signed up to.

Davesnave

steampowered wrote: »

To put it in context, £25k off a £400k property is a 6.25% price reduction.

.....which you don't have to agree to, but the bottom line is that you need to move more than those who would just sit out the time of year and political/economic uncertainties. This may mean such a reduction, or even more when offers are accounted for.

The other consideration is whether your agent has done a good job, regardless of this valuation issue. You must decide if they've presented your house well compared with houses listed by the competition. If you've had little interest, then people have not perceived value sufficient to warrant a visit. Much of that might be price, but there may also be poor presentation in play. Agents who don't shift property quickly tend to be those who make a hash of their adverts, though the majority leave something to be desired. For example, things, like the lack of a floor plan or 'offers in excess of' are big turn-offs.

Daring to put your Rightmove ad up here might give you painful, but useful, opinions.

For background, we sold our house at an inauspicious time for 16% below the original agreed price, 'losing' about £60k on paper. Three of our agreed sales failed.

That's half the story. By being more flexible and creative, we also bought at 10% -15% below the typical market price from someone else who was very motivated to move. A duff market affects everyone.

getmore4less

We have had a few here say the market is slow which is why they are not getting viewings.

When you look at the numbers there are plenty of buyers and plenty of properties and it is often price/value against the competition.

when selling you have to think like a buyer and look at what else you could get for the money you are asking for your place.

Once on the market Rightmove SSTC is the key indicator as that is what people are viewing and making offers on while not even bothering with yours.

Work out why.

IF you have any new builds in your area then HTB will cripple your viewings unless your house has features that make it potentially a LOT more desirable.

johnathan45

If your property is listed on Zoopla, see how popular it is. You can do this by sorting the listings by popularity. If a similarly priced property(listed around the same time) has more online views, it means the listing is not catchy enough.

If it is not on Zoopla ask your agent why it is not?

Cakeguts

Just remember that if you sell for less in the current market you will also buy for less so it will balance out.

pinkteapot

I know it's hard when you need the money, but you haven't 'lost' £25k. The EA gave an unrealistic valuation and the market doesn't think your house is worth that much. It never was worth that much, so it's not money you had and have lost, much as it feels that way right now. You don't have to reduce by as much as they say though - you could reduce to £390k or £385k if you're more comfortable with that. You have the final say - not them.

I know this advice is too late for you, but for the future and for others reading:

When an EA comes to value, ask them for two figures - "What price do you realistically expect it to achieve and what price would you market it at?" They're not always the same.

The EA will ask you questions to find out how quickly you need to sell, how desperate you are for every penny, etc. If they can tell you want a quick sale and aren't dependent on achieving the very highest price, they'll value a bit lower as it makes their life easier if they get you a quick sale. Have a very frank conversation with them about your needs and expectations.

Unfortunately, if you haven't bought/sold for a while, it's hard to be that confident when dealing with them. But I find the quickest way to cut off their sales patter is to make it clear that you understand the market and know exactly what houses are selling for locally and how long they've been sat on the market.

GDB2222

I feel for Claire. She’s had a life changing health change whilst in the prime of life. That’s then forced her down the route of selling her home, which she fundamentally doesn’t want to do. Who would? She’s been there many years.

I would check what happens when your current mortgage runs out. I expect you would go onto a higher interest rate. Whilst that’s expensive, there’s not quite the same urgency about selling up at any cost that’s being depicted.

Valuing a property can be difficult. We have recently received 3 valuations that differ by 15%. The incumbent agent was the lowest, whilst the two agents who want the business came in higher. Hardly a surprise. But the property really is unusual, and it’s genuinely quite hard to know what it’s worth. That creates a dilemma. If you market at a higher figure you may get little interest, but then again you only need one buyer.

FWIW, my advice to Claire is to clarify the mortgage situation, and then decide how urgent it is to sell. If you really need to sell urgently, price it fairly keenly but try to get very close to asking price. It really makes no difference to the end result if you market at £400k but accept an offer of £375k, or market at £375k and accept that figure. The difference is that you may have a lot more interest at the lower asking price.