Is this estate agent rubbish or AIBU

[Sprog19]

We put our house on the market two months ago. It's an Edwardian 4 bed detached in a small town, in what's described locally as a 'sought after' road. Had 2 valuations which were much higher than we expected and went with the lower of the two for a hopefully quick sale. The EA is local and has an office in town. We had 4 viewings in first week and have had nothing g since then. Have only had feedback from the agents when we've badgered them. They are persistently using a photo of the house which shows it against a grey sky, despite us repeatedly asking them to use the one they have which has blue sky. The house is white, so it just blends into the grey sky one - when it was advertised in the paper last week it took me about two minutes to locate it on the page - and it's my house! It's a beautiful looking house from the outside, but it just looks meh in the photo.

The one piece of useful feedback we had is that buyers are put off because the garden is at the front of the house. We know this is true because initially we didn't view it for the same reason. But the garden is a decent size, enclosed, has gates and us in a no through road - we really haven't found it a problem. We are in the process of making it look as good as possible - but we need to get people through the door and I don't think the agents are being proactive. Whenever I ring the office I get an answerphone and today when I tried to go in, the whole shop is shut with scaffolding around it and no indication of why it's closed or when it will reopen. We are tied in until end of May - what do you advise?

[Redhound]

To be fair the agents generally use the same websites so it makes less difference these days who you use. Agents are often very busy and may struggle to find time to ring you with feedback as often as you would like. Also, feedback can sometimes make vendors prickly so agents might not like to convey it if its too negative.
The scaffolding sounds like one of those unavoidable things- can't blame them for that. I agree they should change the rubbish photo though. Good luck.

[bilbodog]

Sounds like they are short staffed if the office is closed - presumably out on viewings. I would ring and ask why they havent changed the photo as requested. Presume house is appearing on rightmove and has a floorplan? It could be the market has gone quiet over easter if lots of people went away. May is not very far away, but give them a few more weeks - some houses dont sell quickly especially if there is a quirk like only a front garden. If you are not happy in a few more weeks get some more agents round and discuss with them what they think you should do to sell and use your gut feeling to go with an agent that feels right to you - but dont agree to longer than 6 weeks tie in. Obviously make sure your house is presented as well as possible.

[Doobydoo]

You are the customer. You could move agents? Sounds like they are making minimal effort to me. I think lots of agents are fairly crap. Awful pics or misleading pics.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

It's very bad if you can't get hold of them and there's no indication of why the office is closed. Potential viewers have no way of making appointments.

I currently have an advert on all the main property portals by going through an online only agency who do a week's free trial. I wrote the advert myself and uploaded the photos I prefer. When I want to I edit or change the photos and they appear live within the hour. So it just shows that it doesn't take much time or application to get it done.

[Sprog19]

Funnily enough we have just got our first viewing for 6 weeks, two hours after I left a bit of a rant ( a polite rant) on their answerphone. Suspicious? I am a little.