Change estate agents?

katie4

We’ve been on the market nearly 5 weeks and only had 2 viewings. Whilst it is listed on Zoopla and Rightmove I’m not sure the EA is actively promoting our property like some other agents have that we have seen locally. 

My husband wants to move to another estate agent but there is a £300 fee for coming out of contract within the first 16 weeks. 

Has anyone had similar experience and positively switched? Thanks 

Brie

no experience of changing EA but I'm wondering what there might be other than that that is not generating the viewings. 

There's lots of places badly displayed on websites so perhaps that's it?  Either the photos (too messy, not enough, badly framed??) or the description (inaccurate, too short, too long??) or something else it missing (no floorplans, proximity to schools, train stations?)

Get someone you know and trust to have a look and offer feedback.  Maybe get them to ring the EA to say do they have any places like yours in the area?

Meanwhile I wonder if waiting until after Easter would be a good idea??

NameUnavailable

What are these other agents doing that yours isn't?

Most people search online so if you're not getting viewings then there may be other reasons.

MeteredOut

Surely if you don't believe your agent is doing things you believe other agents would do, you should be speaking to your agent about doing the things you believe other agents do do?

There's a good chance that if you pay the £300 and switch, the viewing numbers won't change.

What does the current agent say about the relatively low number of viewers?

(check the small print of the contract too if you do decide to jump - make sure the £300 is a complete extraction, and doesn't still leave the current agents open to a claim for commission on someone they could claim they introduced)

ReadySteadyPop

katie4 said:

We’ve been on the market nearly 5 weeks and only had 2 viewings. Whilst it is listed on Zoopla and Rightmove I’m not sure the EA is actively promoting our property like some other agents have that we have seen locally. 

My husband wants to move to another estate agent but there is a £300 fee for coming out of contract within the first 16 weeks. 

Has anyone had similar experience and positively switched? Thanks 

Usually lack of viewings is down to price, get the price right and it should sell itself.

RAS

That is RSP's response to all queries about houses that don't sell in the first few days.

MeteredOut

RAS said:

That is RSP's response to any post that mentions house prices.

Fixed that for you

ReadySteadyPop

MeteredOut said:

Surely if you don't believe your agent is doing things you believe other agents would do, you should be speaking to your agent about doing the things you believe other agents do do?

There's a good chance that if you pay the £300 and switch, the viewing numbers won't change.

What does the current agent say about the relatively low number of viewers?

(check the small print of the contract too if you do decide to jump - make sure the £300 is a complete extraction, and doesn't still leave the current agents open to a claim for commission on someone they could claim they introduced)

In my opinion the "agent loop" is just as damaging to a sale as the "staging loop", it wastes time and it will make very little difference, buyers are looking at size, location and price. Tomorrow is important, if RR gets it wrong we could soon see borrowing costs on the rise again making it even harder to sell houses.

Mustlovedogs

katie4 said:

We’ve been on the market nearly 5 weeks and only had 2 viewings. Whilst it is listed on Zoopla and Rightmove I’m not sure the EA is actively promoting our property like some other agents have that we have seen locally. 

My husband wants to move to another estate agent but there is a £300 fee for coming out of contract within the first 16 weeks. 

Has anyone had similar experience and positively switched? Thanks 

Can you find an estate agent that's no sale no fee?
As a buyer i do have to say that one estate agent seems to monopolise my area. I emailed them 6 times in total over 3 months. Firstly to request a valuation but was honest and said I wasn't sure (i said this because I need an estate agent whose personable and whilst I probably need to be thicker skinned) I need someone who cares a bit. This estate agent responded to my first request for a viewing with no response in relation to the viewing but simply 'would you like us to value your property'. Erm....no. I asked for a viewing. I know this is probably a normal question to ask but at least reference my request in the reply. I was told to call for a viewing. I did. Got voicemail. Didn't get what call back. 90% of my emails got no response and when I very politely raised this the estate agent threw it back at me and took no responsibility at all.
My view was if its this hard at the beginning, imagine what it's going to be like if I buy a property through this agent. I lost trust in them and while I appreciate it's a pretty cut throat business there is always a person on the end of it. Politeness and communication are basics. I ended up cancelling the viewing because of how they treat their buyers.
I think arrogance is this agents problem, having been the main agent in the area I think maybe they've just become arrogant. The seller did ask for feedback as to why we cancelled through the agent. I responded honestly. But I doubt that will get back to the seller....

Tabieth

Before switching I’d ask the EA what the feedback from the two viewings was and assess if you need to do anything as a result. I’d also ask what they are doing to promote the house and why so few viewings. 

Also, what have similar properties to your sold for recently? Are you priced right for your market? 

Bigphil1474

OP, we did the viewings on our house, and the vast majority of people found the property through RightMove (one of my standard questions). Unless your EA is difficult to get hold of to make appointments to view the property or are short of staff to do the viewings, changing EA's won't make much difference. 

The only way price will be affecting viewings is if its massively over priced. Most house buyers will start off offering below asking unless it's a highly desirable property in a highly desirable area.