A couple of question about putting the house on market

Kingspod

Hi,

We have decided to try to sell our 3 bedroom end terraced to try to get a bigger house for the family.

We are South Leeds and have had two agencies valued. One said 118k (manning statinton) and the other 130k (halifax) obviously theres a big difference there and I understand that esate agents can sometimes over value in the hope of getting custom.

In reality we were hoping for a figure in between that and this is the first time we have sold a house so wondered if you guys could help with advice on some points:

We are drawn towards Halifax, the guy from manning stainton didnt seem interested at all and only comment on the whole house was that it had black grout in the kitchen tiles (its a modern black and white kitchen) and he said people didnt like that (easy fix I would have thought). He wasn't even interested in looking outside saying that people arent interested in gardens (we recently spent 6K on the garden fully enclosing it, child proffing it and landscaping on three levels). Halifax, were much more attentive but of course could be just telling us what we want to hear.

I have to say that we are not in any way desperate to sell, so am happy to try the higher value and wait.

So my questions are:

1) Does anybody have any experience of Halifax, particularly in south leeds?

2) If I pay for the HIP with halifax up front, am I free to take this with me if I decide to move agents

3) They want me to sign a sole agent agreement with 10 weeks minimum and then 14 days notice. I assume this is pretty standard?

4) The commision is 2% which I assume is negotiable? In other peoples experience, what would a good percentage to aim for in negotiations? Are there any techniques other than standard haggling?

Any other advice woul be appreciated. I know you guys are a friendly bunch and I thank you in advance for any help

Cheers

Craig

PasturesNew

Look up how much houses in your road and similar houses have sold for in the last year. Yours should be priced no higher than any of these.
http://www.houseprices.co.uk

Ask each estate agent to show you 3 similar houses they have had on their books and ask how much they sold for.

Look online and see what prices other houses are going for. Remember - what you are looking at are houses that have not sold, so the prices you see are "prices of similar houses that nobody's buying - probably because they're priced too high".

Then: go with the person you liked the most/the one that gave you most confident, then choose your own price based on your own local realistic research of prices.

PasturesNew

Also: look at properties by both agents in rightmove.

All of the following will help show your property in the best light to get people wanting to at least see it:

- Do they have a floorplan?
- Do they have good photos/a good selection for each property?
- Do they skimp in the details; people like the full details to be readable on that first page?
- Are the measurements in feet/inches AND cm?

paintpot

My knowledge of the Halifax in Leeds is that they do tend to overvalue properties and my personal experience of Manning Stainton was poor. They have a very strong market share in Leeds and I found them to be very arrogant and not in the least proactive. I tried to sell my house through them but had to switch agents. The second agent sold my house instantly after it was on the market for months with Manning Stainton and I found their service to be much better. Then the house I bought was through Manning Stainton and I didn't like dealing with them from that side of the fence either.

Have you considered getting a third and final valuation. Where exactly in south leeds are you if you don't mind me asking. I may be able to recommend another agent depending on where you are.

Eon4

We have just been through all of this further up in the North East than you....2% was the highest fee we were quoted, 1% the lowest. Most local EAs will be open to negotiate the fee and/or the sole agency contract length, you will probably find the national ones less flexible.

I looked at each EA website locally and tried to judge how many sstc were on their website compared to properties marketed, aswell as looking at the local prices like you have already been advised.

At the end of the day you will have a gut feeling, I expect, as to who you are comfortable with....remember the market is really quiet so don't have massively high expectations of any of them at the minute!

Good luck!

bo_drinker

If you don't need to sell then don't. Unless you are in a sought after area and the house has NO issues. The market is on its !!!! big time. If you decide to go ahead then good luck. We have been otm for 8 months.

poppysarah

You need to test them out as a buyer. How pro-active are they? Do they instantly know what properties they've got?

I suspect the bored ones are either always like that, or just fed up with sellers who want too much for their house.

david29dpo

You can take the HIP with you to another agent if you have paid for it. The Hip is yours.

Kingspod

Thanks for all your help guys. The value of other houses on houseprices for our street is preety much exactly in between as I had suspected.

I am in Beeston, at the top end just past the park near co-op if you know the area.

Would there be any harm in putting at the top end price and then lowering it after a few weeks if there is NO interest?

Cheers again for your help guys

Craig

PasturesNew

Kingspod wrote: »

Would there be any harm in putting at the top end price and then lowering it after a few weeks if there is NO interest?

In my opinion, yes. Others that you see for sale haven't sold at the prices they are on for. This is now a falling/stagnating market. If they aren't selling at their price, to sell you need to put yours on less than theirs. If there's just one buyer sniffing about you're more likely to get the sale that way.

Put it on higher, then drop, smacks of desperation and that you are being a bit cheeky at the higher price. People don't like that.

phil_b_2

What you need to do is get pro-active, do some research and work out a fair value for your house yourself.
Obviously, you cant go round viewing other peoples houses to gauge the value of your own, but as PN mentioned above, check recent local sale prices, and quiz the agents more.

I have been house hunting around Leeds for the last few months and have had experience with most if not all leeds agents. Manning Stainton have been very good. I regularly get emails and texts from them, and have found there agents to be good at what they do.

Halifax arent bad, but I definately get the feeling they over-value properties. I've seen about 6 houses with them. On 4 occasions the agent urged me to put in a cheeky offer, and not be embarrased about it. I dont think any of those 6 have yet sold.

I'd suggest getting a valuation from emsleys too. I've found them to be good. I must have seen about 10 properties with them... and all have been reasonably valued. I offered on two on them but got no joy. one of the offers is still up in the air.