Estate Agents AIBU

I just want to say something positive. I have sold my house in five days.
When I said “ You have only arranged one viewing,’ he said “You will only need one viewing. We know our clients. This is the house they want.”

And he was right.

We are both happy with the price. A fair one that reflects the house and the market.

The Purple Brick houses seem to hang about forever. This might be the agency or it might be that these are houses where people generally don’t like to spend money, so maybe less inviting.

I completely agree with you MM!! . . . .nothing short of criminals . . . mostly!!

5 weeks isn't a long time . See how viewings go first before you have a think about anything . Try saving 50K ...tips please !

I like houses where people have lived for ages too and for the same reasons as gmelon.
Also just because people have lived in the same house for a long time it doesn't mean they'll be dated. I've lived in my current house for twenty years and we're always updating. I gutted the downstairs loo last year and it's now bang up to date. We fitted our kitchen a while ago so last year just replaced the worktops, sink and hob. In fact there is nothing left apart from walls that was here when I bought it. Next on my agenda is a new conservatory roof followed by a downstairs shower room created in the rear of the integral garage. I'm just waiting for my knee surgery to be over and then I'll be good to go. I like both my house and it's location.

I love houses that have been in the hands of the same people for decades.
Same ownership since new, even better.
It shows how contented they were in that house and location.
I'm also looking for a house that has been a home to others.
The memories that the house already has can be added to by us.

It is very easy for an agent to make the photos look like the house is more up to date than it actually is. I always look for the photos that are not there. Why have they only shown one bedroom, what is wrong with the others. Why haven't they mentioned what colour the bathroom suite is? Oh, look closely and it is 1960s pampas. Now many may like pampas but many more will consider it needs updating. I suppose the agents decide how to describe a house based upon feedback from viewers of other houses.

I have read some 'interesting' descriptions: "as originally built 50 years ago', 'been in the same ownership from new', euphemisms for 'needs updating and some'!

Someone else has probably said this but if you've lived there for a long time try looking at your home/house from the point of view of a potential buyer. When we were house hunting (a long time ago) I knew as soon as I walked in if I liked the place or not. Often places I didn't like were owned by older, long term residents and had a tired air. I'm not suggesting a complete make over but if you can see it through another's eyes you might be able to make changes that will make it more attractive to potential buyers.

A friend who was in the property business also gave me some good advice - you're not buying the fixtures and fittings (furniture, curtains, frilly cushions!), you're buying the empty rooms so try and get a potential buyer to see what could be done

I see what you are saying FlexibleFriend. Isn't that going to need a very substantial increase to bridge the gap between the poor bungalows she's seen - I think you mentioned gutting - and one in good liveable order.

Needs updating? For me this would probably mean there were artexed ceilings, no LED lighting, old fashioned fitted wardrobes ( and when those go the carpets need replacing too) an eighties style bathroom and/or kitchen. Our house was built in the 80's and one by one we are tackling all those things before we put it on the market in a few years time as the cost of doing them in one go is a lot of money for a purchaser to find. A young family (who would be most likely to want to purchase our house) would not want a house decorated in a style more suited to their grandparents. All in all our new kitchen cost £25k and the bathrooms and ensuites have to be another £7k or so each, plus a range of wardrobes to be replaced. We are doing this because we want to live in the house in a more modernised state but also hope that if we sell while the style is still contemporary we will find a buyer more easily.

We had our house valued a little while ago by a local agent with a god reputation. He brought with him the details for the last 5 houses that were broadly similar that had been sold in this area, we went through factors like details of location, decorative state etc. and he then offered a range between which he would suggest marketing our house.It was more or less what we had imagined it would be. I think agents need to be able to offer some evidence to back up the figures they suggest.

As someone said above a house is only worth what someone will pay for it, and one of the factors in whether to offer near the asking price or considerably less is the amount of work the purchaser will want to do to get it into a state that they find acceptable to live in.

FlexibleFriend couldn't she go ahead with her sale and rent while looking around? she's taking a massive chance turning down that offer as the markket is sluggish now - talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!

She hasn't told the agent anything yet, she's planning on telling him he's undervalued her property based on the fact she can't find a bungalow for the same price. I don't know if she's expecting the people who made the offer to increase it but I think that's quite likely. She may get away with it, she had 3 asking price offers within a week of it going up for sale, which is why she now has an offer 10 grand over asking. I guess it depends on the buyers ability and willingness to pay more.

What gmelon said FlexibleFriend. She accepted the offer and is now going to wait until after the weekend to take it off the market??? Has she told her agent to let these poor people know or are they still under the impression everything is going ahead? Time we had a system where offers and acceptance of same are legally binding other than in exception circumstances.

The cars have the firms’ branding on them and showing them would breach the BBC rules on advertising, is my guess.

What can you do gmelon ? she's got her blinkers on. Today she says she's so frustrated at being unable to find something of the same quality to what she has. She's now convinced her estate agent under valued her property. So she's planning on taking it off the market after this weekend and doing it all again later in the year. Seriously some people are just stupid.

completely off the thread ...... does anyone watch Homes Under the Hammer ? can they explain why none of the EAs have cars , they walk miles , up hills , down dales , country lanes , busy streets .. but never seen getting in or out of a car !

FlexibleFriend
She's convinced herself she wants to move MeltingMacaron there is no real reason, she's just got it into her head that she needs to move. She's still mobile and even if she wasn't a stairlift is cheaper than moving. I think she'll see sense when she viewed a few more undesirable properties

Here lies the person who causes expense and distress to a chain of people content that they have had their offer accepted and are moving.
Playing with peoples lives.

My house is on the market at the moment. I went with one agent but when I received the proof of the house details I had virtually re-write the entire thing. Spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as structural description errors. I stayed with them for 12 weeks then took it off the market. I now have it with another agent but I don't hold out much hope that they are any better.

Estate agents are very consistent...........consistantly rubbish.

She's convinced herself she wants to move MeltingMacaron there is no real reason, she's just got it into her head that she needs to move. She's still mobile and even if she wasn't a stairlift is cheaper than moving. I think she'll see sense when she viewed a few more undesirable properties.

It’s only been on the market five weeks. Hold off on reducing it a little longer.

Good luck!!

What do you think the solution might be FlexibleFriend? Does she need to be somewhere stairless? A Stannah? An apartment? A bungalow in a less expensive area? Something with one bedroom?

If the housing market is starting to stall I'd want to hang onto that buyer.

I know but I thought if a Bungalow is what you want You'd know what to expect to pay, not find a buyer for your own and then find you can't afford what you want to buy especially when your buyer has offered 10 grand over the asking price. Just frustrating for all concerned.

FlexibleFriend As bungalows tend to be the penultimate move before assisted living of some kind or indeed someone's final home they are often the ones that may have suffered some years of neglect.

I think too, that they are becoming scarcer in some areas as, once the preserve of the elderly, they are becoming popular family buys to extend both outwards and upwards.

It's a trend that worries me. Away from seaside resorts, there is a huge shortage in purpose-built property for the older buyer wanting single-level living. More and more bungalows are being converted into houses and that can only push up the price of those that remain.

I have a friend who put her house on the market, was over joyed with the valuation, had several viewings immediately and accepted an offer 10 grand over asking price. Started looking in earnest and can't find anything worth considering. They all need a huge amount of work, gutting. She considering pulling hers off the market. What she hasn't grasped is she's doing a sideways move, neither up or downsizing. She want's a bungalow and is expecting a 2 bed to be the same price as her 2 bed house and they're not. Why she didn't do some research on line before putting hers on the market I simply can't explain. It would have saved an awful lot of grief.

sarahellenwhitney I posted about this kind of thing a long way upthread. It really annoys me when a house is said to be in need of updating when it is in perfectly good order. Who decrees that a house has to be refurbished every couple of years to install the latest fad in kitchens and bathrooms? It's incredibly wasteful of resources to keep chucking perfectly good kitchen and bathroom fitments into landfill. There's a big difference between want and need. If buyers want the latest fad then they should pay for it not the vendor through a price reduction. The house has been valued as it currently is not how a buyer wants it to be.

Grandmama
Show me a EA who is not on the side of a buyer.?. They will push you to reduce as did one agent I had who claimed that viewers of the property I was selling could get the same three bed all mod cons property but for less in a city.
Given the fact my house had a uninterrupted and always would Atlantic sea and three mile long sandy beach view
I begged to differ saying, maybe, but they wouldn't get what my property had to offer in a city.