2 weeks and noone has viewed the house

Selphie1UK

We have had our house up for sale for 13 days now and not one viewing, is it the house, the estate agent, or just the uncertainty of the housing market at the moment. Our estate agent was full of promises when she came around to value, saying she already had a cash buyer and another buyer who was extremely interested in a property like mine! And now nothing, the cash buyer suddenly wants another area and the other buyer? Who knows! I've had to chase the estate agent for an update, took them 3 days to return our email even though their selling feature is they are available 7 days a week! We are still within the 14 day cool off period and not sure if we should change estate agents, we have now found out that they only use Zoopla and Facebook to sell and not Rightmove!

elsien

Is it overpriced? Can you find sold prices for similar houses in the area? 

ProDave

Definitely change for an EA that uses right move.

PeterE17

Since you're still in the cooling off period, change estate agents. My opinion only of course, but with only Zoopla and Facebook you're not really in the game.

Bigphil1474

If they don't use Right Move then they are a waste of space in my experience. Only place I look is Right Move for houses to buy.

Your property should have a rush of viewers when it first goes on the market, which gradually peters out over the first month, then should be a fairly steady trickle after the first month. Feedback from viewers is key, so you need to know why if no offers have been made. Price might put people offer to some degree but only if it is a significant over value (as they are free to offer less if they think the house is worth buying), or if it's at a particular price point e.g. if someone has £275k to spend they might search for properties up to £300k, in which case your house might be missed if it is up at £310k. Depending on how it is priced, you might want to think about that. Also, have a look at the listing and see if you like the property you are trying to sell. Look at similar properties in the area and what they are priced at. The listing is about getting people into view, the house should then sell or not on its own merits and price.

EA's tend to either want to price lower to drum up lots of interest or set a high marketing price so you go with them thinking you'll make more money, only to reduce later. As above, if they don't use Right Move, I'd be moving EA's anyway.

We are using a local EA and they have always been rapid to respond. Wouldn't be happy waiting 3 days for a response, especially in the first 2 weeks. 

housebuyer143

Get on Rightmove. When I worked at an agent it was interesting as they could break down what percentage of people used Zoopla or Rightmove to find property, and it was interesting to find that the use of each site was hugely influenced by where you lived - like there were regional differences.
If you are not on both then you are potentially losing a huge base of buyer's because most people only check the one.
This alone would be reason to leave them and go elsewhere.

Selphie1UK

Thanks everyone for the replies, I think the best thing for us to do is go with a different estate agent who definitely uses Rightmove!

We just sent an email saying we wanted to leave using the 14 day cooling off period, but apparently we have checked the market property immediately and waiver your 14 day cooling off period, EA is now saying we have to pay a fee of £495, (they responded to this email pretty quickly!!) but we are very confused has it says this payment will be due if you cancel within the 16 weeks period and for the cooling off period it states you will have to pay for any photos taken etc if you waiver your 14 day cooling off period, I will post a picture of the contract for everyone's opinion.

JM68

 To me it reads you pay nothing if you cancel within 14 days ONLY if you did not ask them to start marketing etc.  By ticking the box later you seem to be agreeing to them to start marketing and agreeing to the costs of the services they have provided within the 14 days, which they seem to have assessed as £495.  That sum does not sound unreasobale if they have done the photos, floorplan, listed, and maybe a few other bits e.g. sent info out to people of thier database etc.  Sounds ike its gonna end a moderately expensive lesson learned I'm afraid.

Selphie1UK

JM68 said:

 To me it reads you pay nothing if you cancel within 14 days ONLY if you did not ask them to start marketing etc.  By ticking the box later you seem to be agreeing to them to start marketing and agreeing to the costs of the services they have provided within the 14 days, which they seem to have assessed as £495.  That sum does not sound unreasobale if they have done the photos, floorplan, listed, and maybe a few other bits e.g. sent info out to people of thier database etc.  Sounds ike its gonna end a moderately expensive lesson learned I'm afraid.

If you read where I ticked though it says you will be liable to pay in accordance of clause 12, and the £495 amount is in clause 13 which is for when you leave within the 16 week period or sile selling rights, I am so confused 😖

BarelySentientAI

Selphie1UK said:

JM68 said:

 To me it reads you pay nothing if you cancel within 14 days ONLY if you did not ask them to start marketing etc.  By ticking the box later you seem to be agreeing to them to start marketing and agreeing to the costs of the services they have provided within the 14 days, which they seem to have assessed as £495.  That sum does not sound unreasobale if they have done the photos, floorplan, listed, and maybe a few other bits e.g. sent info out to people of thier database etc.  Sounds ike its gonna end a moderately expensive lesson learned I'm afraid.

If you read where I ticked though it says you will be liable to pay in accordance of clause 12, and the £495 amount is in clause 13 which is for when you leave within the 16 week period or sile selling rights, I am so confused 😖

Clause 12 says that you will pay them somewhere between £0 and £495 depending on how much of the work they have already done before you tell them you want to cancel.

Telling them on the 13th day of the 14 day period would make it likely that they've done most, if not all, of the work so you would end up at the top end of the range.

gwynlas

Did you not have the usul three EAs to view your property for valuation and to gauge who was better in selling your kind of home? Cancel your contract as is your right and read guidance on selling before jumping from frying pan into the fire.