Misleading Estate agent - putting off buyers?

deannagone

If the contract reads as you say, sounds like they don't have to be good, they don't have to sell a property, they get money anyway.  Doesn't sound right.  I hope the contract reads differently.  There are 'money up front' EA's is your estate agent one of these?

tlc678910

If the agent is being negative about the property (and I think saying "it's a Council Estate you know" immediately is negative) then I would worry that they know someone who wants to buy it later when you are resigned to a lack of interest.

I would write and complain about the negativity and ask for someone else to carry out viewings.  You could also arrange an open house day where you are present to show people around.

TheJP

How much do you trust what your neighbour is telling you? There could still be social housing in the area which prospective buyers can check themselves. 

Talk to your EA for an explanation and tell them to stop telling people its a council estate (that's if they actually are doing this).

HampshireH

It's a problem and it's more of a problem they have refused to acknowledge it.

If she lost signal she should have called you back as soon as she could 

I would call, speak to someone senior and set out the details you want mentioned during viewings.

Being on a "council estate" even if it were shouldn't even be being raised by the EA. It's irrelevant unless someone asks 

turnitround

Can you arrange for a friend/relative to book a viewing and find out what is said to them.  I bought a house which is on a council estate, Im 4 doors from the main road so not by any means in the middle of the estate but I still have a brother who asked me why on earth I would consider living where I do.

1. I have a very well built house, larger rooms than a new build, established large garden which is fenced and not open plan as so many new estates are, good bus route/train station, etc, etc.

2. I have lovely neighbours and from my house I can look down the street and only 2 of the properties I can see out of probably more than 20 are still council owned. 

3. I have tried living in a new build and hated everything about it.

4. I get much more value for my money.

There is a kind of snobbery about not living on council estates and to be fair I would not want to live on the other side of the estate I am on as there are a few houses in a row where the people sit outside swigging larger in their vests and the gardens resemble junk yards but I'm sure anyone going to look at a property has looked at the location first and if it was unacceptable why would they then arrange a viewing.

Crashy_Time

It will be price that is putting off buyers, accept that and there will be a lot less stress involved IMO.

Veromartos

We put our house in the market, is and ex council house.
We have refurbished the house to a really good standard. Even the estate agents were really impressed and said it was the best house the have seen in this area,  but we were still worried about being an ex council house could put buyers off.
We have 12 visits during the first weekend and we got an offer of 10k over the asking price.
As people said, you have to find the right buyer.
Council houses are bigger and well built, my neighbours are lovely and there is only one house left own by the council, the rest are home owners.
Good luck.

michael1234

Rebeccas90 said:

<snip>
Our neighbour is very nice but a bit nosy, he called for a viewing and a lady in the EA told him that it is still a council estate and she didn't know if it was us or the old owners who renovated.
<snip>

Wow. I thought my neighbour was nice but nosy. Don't see why he/she wants a viewing. Keep up good relations though - especially as you are selling.

To your point main point I would definitely be looking to give 28 days notice as your existing EA sounds awful.

Another thing, even though you've done a lot of work if its not a big ticket extension or brand new kitchen are you sure the price the EA proposed is justified? Maybe it is as you've moved it on from a mess to somewhere very livable....

 To take care of house inflation since you bought it, how much does Zoopla (https://www.zoopla.co.uk/home-values/ ) say your place is worth? Then add on what you reckon the home improvements are worth.

diggingdude

I think your difficulties could be that it's on a council estate which would always put many off and you are asking a lot more money than what you paid only 18 months ago. My issues for not buying would be

1) I'm not living on a council estate 
2) why do they think it's worth that. I know they only paid X amount 18 months ago. 
3) they are moving after 18 months.despite spending all that money.  Must be a troublesome council estate neighbour.

Not saying any of those are true or fair but realistic for some I reckon 

Rebeccas90

Yes, our neighbours are lovely. I trust what they said they heard.

The manager finally responded when we put our complaint in writing (thank you for suggesting this), she said that she doubts her EA did this but she will talk to her

We've given our 28 days notice, the EA have not said if they will send details who they have spoken with to the new EA. They've said their advert could still influence someone to buy the property. Someone at my husbands work is looking into the contract for us. They aren't a pay up front EA

Zoopla says it's about 165k now, we've spent about 52-55k fixing it up. Our EA does not know what we spent on it when they valued it so not too sure. The highest valuation was 210k but that's not going to happen in this area!

We had a survey when we bought it but the surveyor said the old owners had stuff everywhere and he could not access a lot of walls or part of the garden. Basically it seems they hid the signs of the roof leaking, rotten flooring, black mould, missing insulation, faulty wiring, missing pointing, etc. All are fixed now

Apparently the old owners had 2 buyers fall through then they took it off the market and when they put it back on it was for 15k less. That's when we saw the house and bought it. They said it was reduced because they were in a rush as they'd already found a house.