Estate Agents

I used to be an estate agent, and at one time went to value a rare and unusual property. I told the gentleman whose property it was, how much I believed it to be worth, at which point he told me that he'd had several valuations and they'd all told him it was worth much more - the usual trick to get a new property on your books. I told him that I would be happy to try the property for a month at the price he thought it was worth, having been told it by the other agents, and if we weren't getting suitable offers, we could then consider reducing the price a little. Because I'd been honest with him, he kindly gave us his instruction to sell, and eventually we got a sale agreed at about £3,000 over the price that I'd suggested, no where near what the other agents had told him. The sale then progressed, until the surveyor did his bit, at which point something detrimental was discovered, and the price had to be re-negotiated. He ended up selling at EXACTLY the price I had suggested, and came into the office to congratulate me on my principles of being honest about what I actually thought the house was worth.

Moving on, I know that lots of people prefer to show their own home themselves, however, while it's true that you know your home better than anyone else, from my own experiences when looking for a new home, vendors tend to talk too much, bombarding the prospective purchaser with information, which certainly on a first viewing isn't really what they want or need. I recently viewed a property which the owner showed me around, and when I left, had virtually no idea of the layout, as he wouldn't leave us alone, and wouldn't stop talking!! So in all honesty, you're better off asking your agent to do the viewings - it is after all part of the service you're paying for, then if someone is interested and wants to come back for a second viewing, they will then be prepared with the questions they want to ask. Where if you show them around, you might unwittingly, in your eagerness to sell, give them information which actually puts them off!!

Another thing the agent does is financial checks to ensure that any offer is valid, it has been known for people to say that they're cash buyers, when in actual fact they need a mortgage, you wouldn't be able to find this out. If you sell privately you can't chase the purchaser's solicitors, or even chase the purchaser to ensure that they've instructed a solicitor.

So in summary, if you interview your estate agent properly before instructing them, you should be confident that you've put your home into safe hands.

Another thing which you should be aware of, as mentioned by one of the previous posters, is most agents are very reluctant to tell you that your house is dirty, untidy, painted in terrible colours, etc, for fear of not getting your instruction. So the best words of advice are definitely de-clutter, neutralise any unusual colour schemes, and then clean, clean and clean some more. While your home is for sale, it must be spotlessly tidy and clean at ALL times, so that a last minute viewing doesn't catch you out.

Oh, and another word of advice, if you have pets of any sort, hide evidence of food bowls, litter trays etc, putting the tray outside if necessary, and ideally take your pet away when a viewing is scheduled, as a lot of people don't like cats, and dogs, and may well be put off just by seeing them, plus, even if you don't notice it, the chances are that purchasers will notice smells from your animals.

* Gabriella* because if they do not send you info on property you are not interested in people like the OP think they are not earning their money. As a buyer or renter you don't pay anyway!

Actually I think that the Land Registry figures are only 3 months out of date as they are the sold price and the asking price is not really relevant. If you are not prepared to accept an offer it is a simple matter to put 'Offers Over' which makes it clear to prospective buyers.

We have all heard about decluttering etc but we never seem to hear that we should try to look at our house from the point of view of prospective purchasers. If it is a small home, likely to attract first time buyers think what a younger person would like, if a family sized home, what would a family appreciate and if a bungalow, how convenient for an older person or someone with mobility issues. It is not about selling, it is about buying, what do you need to do to attract the right buyer?

If you monitor Rightmove you will see what type of house sells and which hang around. In our area the house which has been thoroughly updated sells very quickly, apparently often at way over the asking price. The houses which have had nothing done for years and are therefore cheap also sell quickly. It is the cluttered or dated houses which hang around for a long time, frequently because the seller is unrealistic. You need your blurb to emphasise the things people are looking for and play down the negative e.g. you will always read when a house has a southerly or westerly garden but never that the garden faces north or east.

It will depend a lot on the market where you live - prices are certainly coming down a bit around here (SW London) -but if checking fairly recent actual sold prices on e.g. nethouseprices, best to remember that they will reflect agreed prices from around 3+ months before that, which means asking prices from probably at least 3 months previously.

In other words, they can be at least 6 months out of date, which is an important factor to bear in mind if the local market is slow or prices are dropping.

Also November is definitely not a popular time to buy a new house. Many people who want to buy a home actually stop looking over Christmas time and begin again in New Year. Many others would only ever move in the spring or summer.

If you are not happy with the agent you have then change them. Do you know which agent the higher price house were advertised with? Definitely a deep clean and de-clutter, depersonalise so take down family photos etc. clean windows, cut any lawn, tidy up borders in garden. If any of your rooms are painted in dark/strong colours then paint over in white/cream. Switch lights on for any viewings. It depends on how much and how quickly you want to sell. Personally I would look on Rightmove and see what else in on market for similar price. Then reduce r house to just under the others that are similar so you know you are definitely competitively priced. If you are not happy with photos taken then get them back out to take more. Remember they are working for you. Good luck.

Not a lot.
Thing is, you give them a list of desires, garden, opening window in bathrooms, gch etc and your min and max price benchmarks, then they completely ignore everything and send ugly properties with none of your listed requirements and well over the maximum you want to pay. This is true whether buying or renting.

All I can suggest is change to another agent.
Sit down and make a list of precisely what you expect them to do, and what you are prepared to pay for their services. Don't be dictated to by them. Tell them that you expect the very highest standard of service, and that you will not budge on the price.

When we sold our last house I drafted up a simple, but very precise, contract between us and the agent, which after some surprise they agreed to and signed. I also took all the photos of our property so that service was deducted from their fee. We had a steady flow of escorted viewings, detailed feedback and offers and the whole process was much less stressful.

I know exactly what you mean about estate agents!
I had bought a flat to let and put it in the hands of a reputable agent.
They want you in their books straightaway as they always say there are people out there looking for properties just like that one.

They never let you know when they have had a viewing unless you chase them and ask. The amount of times I had to chase for the keys as this was a new built and having the snagging done, at the end I had to do it myself!
I finally did find a tenant but only by changing to a much smaller and more independent one.
All they do is upload your property on Zoopla or Rightmove or the like but we would be better off doing it ourselves.

Good luck!!

It's also much more effective to sell a French house oneself. No commission. In France it is the buyer who pays the estate agent's commission so selling privately means that it is cheaper for them. They are fierce negotiators in addition though!

That's only on second homes Monica. If it's your principal residence it doesn't apply.

In France you pay capital gains tax on house sales. We have had our house nearly 30 years and should have reached the no capital gains tax level, but it has just been raised from 22 years to 30. Thankfully we have no plans to sell the house at the moment

Yes Kathy I think many EU countries pay a lot more to sell their homes not only to EAs but also in what we call stamp duty. It is huge in Portugal and Holland

Be thankful that you are not trying to sell a house in France. The estate agents are useless and the commission fees are between 5 and 10%. It is not uncommon for houses to take five years to sell and I know of one which was on the market for eleven years.
I know many people who are desperate to get back to the UK and they are finding it very stressful and depressing.
However, good luck with yours and I hope it sells in the spring if not before.

waffle and hold keys all will done online the sooner the better

lulu in this area any house which has been on the market for that long would be considered stale or overpriced.

I think that those living in London think that their market is the same as the rest of us but most outside London have not seen a fall and many are still seeing increases.

GrandmaKT totally agree about doing your own viewings, people trust individuals far more than they trust agents. We did all our own too.

One of the benefits of changing agents is that it will go to the top of Rightmove when the new agent markets it. At the moment anyone looking will see you have been on the market for a while and suspect an issue.

Agents really don't do much for their money before an offer is accepted and then you see which are good and which are rubbish. It is when a chain gets stuck that a good agent will get to work and sort it out. Solicitors are bound by rules which don't allow them to get involved outside the property they are doing the conveyancing on. If your property is at the lower end of the market you might just as well use one of the online agents as there is not much likelihood of a chain. All agents advertise on Rightmove and serious buyers don't look in the EA's windows, they set up alerts on Rightmove and search that way.

Change agents! Get several quotes, and ask each one if there's anything you can do to make your house more attractive to buyers, declutter and de-personalise. No reason why you can't pack things already to make your house more streamlined and store them in the loft or garage etc. I have moved house 4 or 5 times in the last 15 years and have done the above each time.

Monica captures it so succinctly. A house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. My OH is a retires surveyor who worked for several estate agents over the years. The good ones give careful consideration to the value and will advise the client what its worth....not the other way round. That valuation is so important I've heard of people judging an Estate Agent on simply how high the value is...equating a higher value with a better quality Estate Agent!!!.
Nowadays all property goes on the net so its not the exposure that you are paying for. Its the valuation, the presentation and then the follow-ups and eventually nursing the sale along. I'm sorry to say that if a property is stuck on the market for too long (and there is nothing dramatically wrong with it) there is only one fault, and that's its price.

Estate agents rip you off,i have relatives who work in them they either undervalue to get a quick sale, or over value to get you to go with them.I have sold two houses without an agent,you just need a decent solicitor who does nothing other than house sales.

Please get some new agents - try three, and pick the one who seems best for you. They always try to get you to drop the price - a drop of thousands is a lot for you, but doesn't make that much difference to their fee, which is why they want you to sell fast. I can understand that they are running a business and need a turnover, but you need the best deal you can get,. We have moved five times, and always had this 'Let's try dropping the price' trick every time. One agent was so unpleasant when we refused to drop that we sacked him, and I told him that we were fully aware that if we reduced the price of our house to £500 we would sell it instantly, We did sell for very close to the original asking price. They are not working hard for you and are clearly not up to speed with their business. I really would try elsewhere - quickly!

You do really need to change agents. They can vary so much, from very good and professional, to frankly useless.

If you're locked into an agreement for the moment, insist that they amend the blurb to include crucial information like your garage and access.

I don't want to be alarmist, but I have known of agents who are both deliberately inactive over selling, and urge a price reduction, because they have a mate or colleague who wants to get it cheaply. I used to know of someone who acquired all his investment properties like this - he had 'an agreement' (consisting of brown envelopes) with more than one EA.

I often wondered that myself - when I put my house up for sale in Dover the Estate Agent that came out knew the street and houses well, and was well aware that there was only on street parking. In the first week we had lots of viewings but the feed back was always the same - lovely house but no parking! Why book viewings for people who want a dedicated parking space when none of the houses in my street had this. It was so frustrating. Then there were the couple of viewers who said the lack of a front garden put them off - again it was painfully obvious from the photo of the house that there was no front area. In hindsight I think we would have been better doing the sale ourselves - I certainly would have made very sure that potential viewers understood about the frontage and parking issues!

Here in France we have free on-line websites where we can upload photographs and advertise for free. Do you have these in your neighbourhood. Also, we have noticeboards outside our large supermarkets where you could perhaps place a picture of your house and a brief description. Hope something like this works for you

We used to buy properties to renovate and then sell on, if the agent didn't appear to be doing much I would give them an ultimatum - find a buyer within 4 weeks or I would take the property from them. Always worked for us, although of course that was some time ago.

I despair at agents these days.
I was an agent & we worked really hard for our clients. We even used to pop in to feed cats or rabbits etc if they were away for weekend. I even watered gardens at times.
I never worked for a big multiple agent only small independant ones.
Fantastic job & we used to get bottles of wine,flowers etc so often from clients - some are still friends.
All local solicitors knew us & knew we would chase them like mad if they took too long. It was such a happy job.
Look for a local independant one-they are still out there.