Advice on selling/moving

CashMoney

Hi all,

Would like some advice on moving house. So I would like to move area and currently have my house for sale since June this year. I am in a chain. My house was initially marketed at £450k, I had 1 offer of £400k which I rejected. Around 6-7 weeks ago I dropped the price to £425k on the advice of the estate agent. I have since received an offer of £380k which I obviously rejected. I am looking for £420k minimum.

Should I think about giving another estate agent a chance? When I initially had it valued, I had 5 estate agents come around for the valuations and decided to go with the one that seemed to be selling more properties at the time. Since then they’ve all been calling me every week or so to market the house with them.

I can out of contract with my current agent so can market with others. I have been looking at other properties and actually liked a couple but as I have not accepted an offer on my property I could not put an offer in and since then they have sold.

Thanks

RHemmings

CashMoney said:

Hi all,

Would like some advice on moving house. So I would like to move area and currently have my house for sale since June this year. I am in a chain. My house was initially marketed at £450k, I had 1 offer of £400k which I rejected. Around 6-7 weeks ago I dropped the price to £425k on the advice of the estate agent. I have since received an offer of £380k which I obviously rejected. I am looking for £420k minimum.

Should I think about giving another estate agent a chance? When I initially had it valued, I had 5 estate agents come around for the valuations and decided to go with the one that seemed to be selling more properties at the time. Since then they’ve all been calling me every week or so to market the house with them.

I can out of contract with my current agent so can market with others. I have been looking at other properties and actually liked a couple but as I have not accepted an offer on my property I could not put an offer in and since then they have sold.

Thanks

Did you just reject the offers, or did you counter-offer at the times you received them? 

EssexHebridean

Have you checked whether the price you are marketing for and your expectations are realistic? Just because an agent says "we can sell this for £X!" doesn't mean that in fact that is a likely outcome - just that they want your business! 

RHemmings

I'll expand on what I said. 

If your house is not selling, it could be because:

1] The EA is not marketing it effectively.
2] The price is too high.
3] You are getting in the way. E.g. not negotiating well. 
4] You're just unlucky, and the right buyer just hasn't happened along yet. 

And probably other reasons. 

Changing EA, if this can be done easily, could give some light as to what the real problem or problems is/are. 

DE_612183

When you say you had 5 valuations - what was the range?

Have you looked at what similar properties have SOLD FOR ( not what they are for sale for )?

CashMoney

Hi thanks for the replies.

@RHemmings - I told them that I was looking for an offer closer to the valuation. There are currently 2 other houses on the street on the market both of which are higher priced than ours even at the original price of £450k.

@DE_612183 - The valuations ranged from £430k-£475k. 2 properties have sold in the area which are slightly smaller for £425k and £450k (both 2 storey, 4 bed). There are currently 2 other properties for sale on my street at £490k (on sale since December 2023, original price 525k) and £460k (on sale since June 2023, original price £500k)

One other thing I forgot to mention in my OP, since my property was advertised (June 2024), I have only had 5 viewings since which seems quite low to me.

BikingBud

CashMoney said:

Hi all,

Would like some advice on moving house. So I would like to move area and currently have my house for sale since June this year. I am in a chain. My house was initially marketed at £450k, I had 1 offer of £400k which I rejected. Around 6-7 weeks ago I dropped the price to £425k on the advice of the estate agent. I have since received an offer of £380k which I obviously rejected. I am looking for £420k minimum.

Should I think about giving another estate agent a chance? When I initially had it valued, I had 5 estate agents come around for the valuations and decided to go with the one that seemed to be selling more properties at the time. Since then they’ve all been calling me every week or so to market the house with them.

I can out of contract with my current agent so can market with others. I have been looking at other properties and actually liked a couple but as I have not accepted an offer on my property I could not put an offer in and since then they have sold.

Thanks

Unsure how you can be in a chain if you have not accepted an offer and have not made an offer but......

I feel you are still an aspirational mover but not yet proceedable and need to reassess and establish your priorities:

• How much would you like to move?
• What is the impact upon your quality of life of staying where you are? Can you put a value on that?
• What concessions might you make to achieve that desire? Can you put a value on that?
• How much do you need to achieve to cover the change? Bear in mind this is not just what you wish to sell for, it is the difference between selling current and buying next that you need to generate. 
• If you have a budget for that gap then it's covered. 
• If you are counting on a surplus from the transactions, is it realistic and achievable in a reasonable time frame?
• If there's no current budget and no clear surplus then you might be sat as an aspirant for some time.

RHemmings

It sounds to me that it might be worth trying a different agent. 

Don't forget to, in writing, ask the first EA for a list of potential buyers that they believe they have introduced to the property. And, give that list to any new EA.