Time to change agent?

gwynlas

I find it interesting that most people assume I make up the price of the house. I ask the so-called experts. They tell me a price. I only then decide which one. None of which are the highest one -- in fact nowhere near the highest one. And even less near now -- in fact I am now at £150,000 less than the highest price I was urged by an agent to put it on with -- an agent who still is trying to get my business... because I haven't sold at a price way lower than he quoted! 

Perhaps this is the problem. Your house might be worth the higher figure quoted and the people who can afford that are not looking at your price point. Those  that are coming for second viewings are wondering what is the catch? They are seeing a million pound house at £600.000 and whereas you would think in a flat it was down to the length of the lease with a house they might think there is an adverse mining report or perhaps boundary or planning issues. Take it off the market redress the house for sale and relist it at higher price. I cannot understand sellers decreasing property by x amount as buyers can always make any offer they choose.

Dogen

gwynlas said:

I find it interesting that most people assume I make up the price of the house. I ask the so-called experts. They tell me a price. I only then decide which one. None of which are the highest one -- in fact nowhere near the highest one. And even less near now -- in fact I am now at £150,000 less than the highest price I was urged by an agent to put it on with -- an agent who still is trying to get my business... because I haven't sold at a price way lower than he quoted! 

Perhaps this is the problem. Your house might be worth the higher figure quoted and the people who can afford that are not looking at your price point. Those  that are coming for second viewings are wondering what is the catch? They are seeing a million pound house at £600.000 and whereas you would think in a flat it was down to the length of the lease with a house they might think there is an adverse mining report or perhaps boundary or planning issues. Take it off the market redress the house for sale and relist it at higher price. I cannot understand sellers decreasing property by x amount as buyers can always make any offer they choose.

That's a fresh point of view Gwynlas. I had a talk to my EA about your last point some time ago; I asked what the point of lowering the price was, because people can always make a lower offer. She said she would, and perhaps I would too, but some people don;t think that flexibly; they see a house on at a price more than they can afford and don't even search in that price range despite the fact it could be offered on. 

CSI_Yorkshire

I think there's a bit of that. Last time I searched I had a price range and wouldn't see anything below that - so it would have been possible for something to get reduced out of visibility.  Equally, my search range was slightly above what I could afford, to look for things that might drop it I could offer below asking on.  I don't know how big that range is for others though.

For reference, I searched 275-375 and bought at 333 .

Sarah1Mitty2

Dogen said:

gwynlas said:

I find it interesting that most people assume I make up the price of the house. I ask the so-called experts. They tell me a price. I only then decide which one. None of which are the highest one -- in fact nowhere near the highest one. And even less near now -- in fact I am now at £150,000 less than the highest price I was urged by an agent to put it on with -- an agent who still is trying to get my business... because I haven't sold at a price way lower than he quoted! 

Perhaps this is the problem. Your house might be worth the higher figure quoted and the people who can afford that are not looking at your price point. Those  that are coming for second viewings are wondering what is the catch? They are seeing a million pound house at £600.000 and whereas you would think in a flat it was down to the length of the lease with a house they might think there is an adverse mining report or perhaps boundary or planning issues. Take it off the market redress the house for sale and relist it at higher price. I cannot understand sellers decreasing property by x amount as buyers can always make any offer they choose.

That's a fresh point of view Gwynlas. I had a talk to my EA about your last point some time ago; I asked what the point of lowering the price was, because people can always make a lower offer. She said she would, and perhaps I would too, but some people don;t think that flexibly; they see a house on at a price more than they can afford and don't even search in that price range despite the fact it could be offered on. 

Yes, but many people won`t be comfortable doing this, they will just stay where they are until the media start telling them that prices are "correcting", or some seller accepts a lower valuation. Setting a realistic price for the economic climate early saves you chasing the market down, which is something you don`t want to do.

Emily_Joy

OP, I agree with the one who suggested to stay at home during the viewing and listen to questions the potential buyers ask and the agent answers. When I was selling a house a few years back, the agent told the potential buyers that there was a leak. In  reality what they saw was my builder fixing the consequences of a break in...

Sarah1Mitty2

Emily_Joy said:

OP, I agree with the one who suggested to stay at home during the viewing and listen to questions the potential buyers ask and the agent answers. When I was selling a house a few years back, the agent told the potential buyers that there was a leak. In  reality what they saw was my builder fixing the consequences of a break in...

People are not fussing about potential repairs that the seller might be hiding now though, they are genuinely concerned about affordability, did you see Sky news earlier with the care worker who has seen his mortgage go from 700 per month to 1400?

Dogen

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Emily_Joy said:

OP, I agree with the one who suggested to stay at home during the viewing and listen to questions the potential buyers ask and the agent answers. When I was selling a house a few years back, the agent told the potential buyers that there was a leak. In  reality what they saw was my builder fixing the consequences of a break in...

People are not fussing about potential repairs that the seller might be hiding now though, they are genuinely concerned about affordability, did you see Sky news earlier with the care worker who has seen his mortgage go from 700 per month to 1400?

Actually I think the harder things are for potential buyers, the more likely they are to expect nothing obvious wrong with a house. And there isn't much wrong with it really; except it hasn't sold!

Sarah1Mitty2

Dogen said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Emily_Joy said:

OP, I agree with the one who suggested to stay at home during the viewing and listen to questions the potential buyers ask and the agent answers. When I was selling a house a few years back, the agent told the potential buyers that there was a leak. In  reality what they saw was my builder fixing the consequences of a break in...

People are not fussing about potential repairs that the seller might be hiding now though, they are genuinely concerned about affordability, did you see Sky news earlier with the care worker who has seen his mortgage go from 700 per month to 1400?

Actually I think the harder things are for potential buyers, the more likely they are to expect nothing obvious wrong with a house. And there isn't much wrong with it really; except it hasn't sold!

Not sure I follow your logic on that one? My point was that people are not getting past the sitting at home stage doing affordability checks on apps or whatever, they figure out how much mortgage they can afford then realise that most of the stuff they want to buy is now out of reach.

BobT36

Emily_Joy said:

OP, I agree with the one who suggested to stay at home during the viewing and listen to questions the potential buyers ask and the agent answers. When I was selling a house a few years back, the agent told the potential buyers that there was a leak. In  reality what they saw was my builder fixing the consequences of a break in...

I'd rather a fixed leak (with no obvious mega damage) than a break in! 
Your EA was quick-thinking there.. 

Emily_Joy

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

People are not fussing about potential repairs that the seller might be hiding now though, they are genuinely concerned about affordability, did you see Sky news earlier with the care worker who has seen his mortgage go from 700 per month to 1400?

Nope. I have not seen anything on TV during the past 20 years and have not been following Sky news either.