EA coming over to discuss our marketing. Please advise!

cranezoe

Hi,

our EA called this afternoon and asked if he could come over to discuss the way forward/future marketing.

we put the house on the market 7weeks ago. we didnt have any viewings for two weeks then we had one, and another a week later. nothing since.

have had good communication from EAs and generally happy - but frustrated about the slowness of the market.

when he comes over I guess we will be asked about dropping the price - not sure what to do there as we wouldnt then be able to move to where we want to be as prices for the next step havent dropped at the min.

Im not sure if there is anything else I should be asking them to do. its on rightmove and propertfinder and their website and in the local paper each week. I got them to put a bigger ad in the paper last week.

our tie in was 20 weeks.

Spamreported

kitchen looks dark.

dont drop the price, if price was an issue, your offers would reflect it. like most agents they talk the talk and then get you to lower your price.

Suzy_M

Have they actively marketed through their Mildenhall and Thetford branches to catch the Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Honington bases?

Jorgan_2

If its in the local paper each week in may have gone a bit stale, people will start to think that there is something wrong with it as they keep on seeing it and it hasn't sold.

The market is very slow in most areas, buyers are not going into/contacting the agents. I have only seen three new buyers this week, each one left under a ton of details to read through. There is a lot of choice out there but not much movement. I have spent a lot of time on viewings with people who like the houses they are seeing but can't do anything about as they do not have a buyer themselves.

barnaby-bear

cranezoe wrote: »

Hi,

our EA called this afternoon and asked if he could come over to discuss the way forward/future marketing.

we put the house on the market 7weeks ago. we didnt have any viewings for two weeks then we had one, and another a week later. nothing since.

have had good communication from EAs and generally happy - but frustrated about the slowness of the market.

when he comes over I guess we will be asked about dropping the price - not sure what to do there as we wouldnt then be able to move to where we want to be as prices for the next step havent dropped at the min.

Im not sure if there is anything else I should be asking them to do. its on rightmove and propertfinder and their website and in the local paper each week. I got them to put a bigger ad in the paper last week.

our tie in was 20 weeks.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19462079.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?q=howes+thurston
above the ceiling for terraces in the road...

cranezoe

thanks for your replies so far.

the EA didnt originally put the photo of the kitchen on - but we didnt like hte photo being just of the breakfast bar angle so asked them to put another on. I can see why it wasnt on originally! I will ask him to take another better photo when he comes on saturday.

It hasnt been marketed in the other branches but thats a good idea to ask them to do that. I will also mention about Ipswich as thats where one of the viewers was from.

one of the sales negotiators asked us 2 weeks ago if we would consider lowering the price to get more viewings but we said we didnt want to. I 've barely spoken to her since but its the branch manager I have most dealings with - he is the guy coming over on saturday. He told me then he didnt expect us to drop the price and it was early days but guessing he may have changed his mind.

we aren't sure really whether we should just stay where we are and ride it out a bit longer and come to market again next year/later in the year, or if we should continue to let it be up for sale and hope people want to view it some time.

would dropping the price a small amount make difference to getting people to view it or are we better sticking to what we have it at?

the EA also mentioned thinking about dropping it slightly and then having it as overs in excess of this amount...?

boinging_2

Are you looking to buy a more expensive house for your next move?

If so why not lower the price of your house to get a sale and negotiate the price on your next place. Chances are you'll save more than you lose by dropping price.

cranezoe

Im worried that could backfire on us! yes we are looking for a more expensive house as we want 3 bedrooms so we can plan to extend our family and we want to have a seperate eating area/kitchen diner.
we have seen a few places we like but the prices havent dropped on these and Im worried that we could take a low offer and then not be able to move forward because we couldnt negotiate the drop in the next place

Caffca

Make sure you ask him about the feedback from the two viewings, unless you've already done that.

Spamreported has already mentioned the dark kitchen photo. What about doing a new /extra photo of the lounge - perhaps get EA to take it from the doorway into lounge looking over to the dining area - will get a better idea of the space available. Also perhaps redo the master bedroom shot - looks like it was taken at a low-level (is the EA vertically challenged or have you got a very high bed). Perhaps add a photo of second bedroom. Also see if they will do floorplans as well. I know some EA's say, don't show them everything, you need to get them interested enough to want to view but as a potential buyer (not in your area though) I prefer to see loads of photos and a floorplan as well. If areas of the house are missing, I think - what's so wrong with the room that the won't take a photo of it?!.

Sorry I can't be more helpful but I think Suzy M's idea sounds excellent.

Rover

Attract offers by instructing the agent to invite them, they'll be thinking this anyway.
Translate your perceived loss to your offer on your upward move.

Not rocket science and the way the market will work for some time come.
Big hugs and all that :grouphug:

Strapped

cranezoe wrote: »

Im worried that could backfire on us! yes we are looking for a more expensive house as we want 3 bedrooms so we can plan to extend our family and we want to have a seperate eating area/kitchen diner.
we have seen a few places we like but the prices havent dropped on these and Im worried that we could take a low offer and then not be able to move forward because we couldnt negotiate the drop in the next place

It might backfire, but it's a more positive move forward than no buyer at all. Remember, the sellers of your next place will be having the same issues!

And, sorry to say, I agree that that's a terrible kitchen photo. Clear EVERYTHING off the worksurfaces, and the draining board, then show the estate agent where to find the "light balance" and "wide angle" buttons on his camera, and get him to retake it. Also, tbh, the lounge photo doesn't do any favours - it looks tiny.