Advice sought please!

reformedEffortMaker_2

gcpc1 - you say that you have had two sales fall through. why was this?

poppy10_2

gcpc1 wrote: »

My house is structurally sound and newly repainted in neutral colours.

Sounds great! Any laminate flooring? If you have painted your house beige AND put in laminate flooring I reckon it should get at least £180,000. :j

Strapped

You'll probably find (are finding?) that buyers seriously over-estimate the cost of work that needs doing in a property - in your case, for example, a new kitchen. In a tough market too, people are much more inclined to go for "a deal on the finished one". Look at the photos of the one @ £10k more than yours, and consider which one you might choose to view if you were a buyer. Yours looks empty and unloved in comparison. (And for some buyers, it's hard to picture "the finished product"). In your shoes, I think I would spend the money on a (cheap) new kitchen, and "stage" the house with a few pieces of furniture. You say the carpets are all new, and the walls freshly decorated, but tbh, it doesn't come across in the photos.

Also, hope you don't mind me mentioning, but properties that side of the river do tend to be harder to shift in Exeter.

gcpc1

I believe - though could be totally wrong - was that the first deal fell through because purchaser couldn't sell their home and second deal was because the guy wanted a smaller, cheaper house.

I should add that the house next door on for £10k more has been on the market for at least 9 months - probably longer.

As I've mentioned, my house has been on the market since Feb 07 (it did have untidy tenants in there for the first 4 months of this period.) I've got past the stage of wanting to spend ££ doing the house up - I'd rather take the hit on the price instead. Surely if an EA is doing their job properly, they can market the property appropriately and take the relation between the 'unloved' look and price into account when marketing it to prospective viewers - that's their job, isn't it?

I bought the house 18 yrs ago and so am not duly concerned about losing an extra few £000 - my main aim is to get shot of the property asap.

My original question was how would you play the dual/multi-agency game with EAs?

bagpuss_fan

I would move from Fulfords asap. You need to be with an agent who does family houses. Being local, Fulfords were always the "posh" houses EA! Can't advise who to go with though, if it were in Exmouth I'd say Bradleys or Sharps.

I would ring them all and ask what they'd charge for multi agency. They must be longing for the sales now, so you should be able to get a good deal.

bagpuss_fan

I should also say, make sure it stays on with Rightmove. We've recently been thinking of moving back to Devon, and Rightmove is the site I check first!

Doozergirl

Ok, if you're not going to present the house then you would be better to drop the price by another £5000 if that's what you want, find an agent at 1% and afford to drop the price by another £1500. Most people find houses via the internet and 'for sale' boards and base the decision to buy on the asking price.

You do not get better service by paying more.

zappahey

gcpc1 wrote: »

I should add that the house next door on for £10k more has been on the market for at least 9 months - probably longer.

Doesn't this tell you all you need to know?

nixinix

Having read this post (but I haven't looked at your house on rightmove) it seems to me you have four options:
1. Do work on your house - you are adament you won't ...your call.
2. Reduce the price - you say it is correctly priced, but something is only worth what someone will pay for it and obviously at this price it isn't selling...if you really are desperate to sell then you may need to cut your losses.
3. Change agent/go multi agent. Personally I believe it almost doesn't matter who you go with because if someone is looking for a house in your area they will check all agents...esp. if on rightmove. If lowering the price again then you may want to find a cheaper agent....? (I sold a house multi agent (makes the agents work a bit harder sometimes...and it did work but it does show potential buyers you are desperate to sell and the price I got reflected this...
4. Consider renting the property out and selling when the market has improved. I have't seen this mentioned but thought I ouwld throw it in as an option...at least then it hopefully wouldn't be costing you anything....?

jaype

4. Consider renting the property out and selling when the market has improved. I have't seen this mentioned but thought I ouwld throw it in as an option...at least then it hopefully wouldn't be costing you anything....? Dangerous advice - if the crunch goes on you could be stuck with this millstone and a big commute to fix every little broken thing for quite some time. Add in rising mortgage rates and it will become a massive pain in the backside quite quickly.

So, if you really want shot of it, cut the price by 5 percent and continue to do this every six weeks or so until someone bites. TBH in the photos it really does look a bit unloved / student letty and the garden is really quite unpleasant with a drain cover as a centrepiece. couldn't you put a few pots out there to hide the drain at least? I'd probably want more than a 10k discount to take on all that work - new kitchen and bathroom, chipping out the crazy paving, putting something more attractive in the walled up fireplace.... Sorry if I've been a bit negative but buyers are being very fussy now so this may be what your EA is holding off saying?