EA advised to drop asking price but advertise as Offers Over

[mummyof2munchkins]

Having real trouble selling my house. Long story of problems with tennants, finally got house back and spent lots of money on new floors, carpets, blinds etc. Can't ever face the stress or expense of being a landlord again.

House now looks quite nice - but empty. Been on the market 12 weeks with 2 EA, had 5 viewings but no offers. EA recommended reducing the price by 5K after 6 weeks, we did but made no difference.

House is a 2 bed end terrace in a smallish village around 10 miles from Liverpool. It is the lowest priced house in the village, currently up for sale for £92950. Next door is on the market for £115000 and the house opposite for £125000.

Latest advice from agent is to put it up for offers over £85950. I've read on these boards some negative comments about offers over pricing.

Does anybody have any recommendations or advice.

Thanks.

Mummy

[MoonlightandRoses]

Given the prices of the other two, why did you go with 92k? Might it be causing people to think it's more of a 'doer-upper' / problem house than it actually is?

[mummyof2munchkins]

I posted on here at the time and had some advice that suggested the price was too low. EA, however, (who are on a fixed fee) said its only worth what somebody will pay. The other 2 houses are both up with the same agents and have had less interest than mine.

I am desperate to sell, if it goes for £85980 i will walk away still owing money on it (loan to cover repairs). I am currently paying a mortgage, council tax, gas, elec etc so I really can't afford to keep losing money. It really is a catch 22.

[MoonlightandRoses]

Ah - was there any feed-back from the people who did view? I'm guessing not?

Rather than just the standard EA site/RightMove type advertising, is there any other social media you could use to drive up interest - or maybe see if the local paper will feature it if they have a property section? Sounds like a good starter home.

[MillyMollyMama]

Can you get an opinion from another agent? Also, other people might be flying kites. What are the sold prices like? This is the key information. Zoopla might have usable data. Also, what to you is lovely, might be not so desirable to someone else. All the TV programmes suggest a house sells better if people can see what the rooms are used for, so an empty house fails this test, even if it pretty obvious. People can't actually visualise a settee or bed. This is why developers have show homes.

[mummyof2munchkins]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't had much feedback. One family said the house was in the wrong area for them - not sure why they viewed.

A house sold 6 months ago 1 street away similar to mine but no extension - it sold for £98000 with an agent i'm using. Not many other sales in the area in the last few months.

I have thought about spending money on furnishing the house - it would mean I'd have to start paying water rates. It would also cost my yet more money.

Advice from both EA is the only way to sell quickly is to lower the price. Obviously the EA's have nothing to loose - they get the same fee regardless.

[headlesslambrini]

Can you put a link up to the house? We might be able to suggest something.

[Spickle]

If your agent is on a fixed fee then it won't matter to them if you get £93k or £86k - his commission is the same but the lower price would get them a quicker sale with less work. It sounds as though your house is competitively priced as it is and I would therefore be reluctant to reduce it further. Are there any EAs around that charge a percentage fee rather than fixed? That might be a better choice as the EA will have to put in some effort to get a good price for you and as much commission as possible for them.

[mrsnec]

Hi OP,

Our house was on the market for a while, we had opinions from several agents.

Our house was in a different area to yours but same value, same situation re rental and furniture. We decided against staging it and were also in the same situation regarding other properties in the area and value.

The only agent that was getting us viewings bullied us into putting it on at offers over 90k

After a while and the fact that we can no longer afford the mortgage we accepted an offer of 87 and they beat us down another 1k after survey.

I wanted to keep it on at 125 ish. From experience you never get offers over when you put that. I don't know why the eas do it.

We got very nervous about holding out for more when we heard stories of the area going even more downhill and we'd already lost a lot of money on the place.

[mummyof2munchkins]

We switched from a percentage only EA after 4 weeks. They did absolutely nothing to sell the house - just relied on rightmove etc. They did tell me that at the low priced end of the market there is little point in them spending lots advertising because the margins are so small anyway.

We're now with the only agents who appear to have sold anything in the area

I can't link from my phone but the postcode is L34 0EH if anybody has the time to look. I appreciate any advice.

Mrsnec that is exactly the problem we have - can't afford to sit it out, can't afford to accept an exceptionally low offer. There are lots of buy to let houses in this area now and there is a worry the area which was once very sought after, is now going downhill.

[juneybean]

It looks like its on twice, is that right?

[juneybean]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30124515.html

Hope its alright to link.

[mummyof2munchkins]

Thanks for the link.

[ooerrmissus]

OP don't know anything about the area but what I would say is that one agent is using photos which are appallingly bad and the other one hasn't put a floorplan or much of a description on. I don't think either of them have done enough to earn a fee. Could you change agent or even do it yourself?

[lecherrs]

It looks a nice house. With regards to neighbours properties, are they also two beds or three...?

There are no room sizes on the details... Do you have big rooms? Without any furniture, it is difficult to gauge whether this is a big house or not? If you do have good sized rooms could you get those details added?

Also, the shower in the bedroom would really put me off. I don't know if that photo would add. If I bought that house, I'd probably take the shower out. Maybe take out the photo from there?

Just my thoughts though, and I know nothing about property (I just like being nosy!)

Good luck

[RoganJosh]

There are no dimensions. You definitely need to get them added.
Some of the photos are pretty bad, one of a blue wall for example.
You'd presume that the rooms are tiny from putting the two together.

[mrsnec]

Well I don't think our area was ever sought after (west Midlands m6 j10 area) but is getting worse so I'm trying to convince myself we're doing the right thing.I do like your house though and it is similar to ours but I agree about dimensions. And we have that blue paint in our box room!

In houses like these wher they are going as mainly a buy to let market is staging relevant when the new buyers will be working out for themselves how to make the most of the space. In our case we'd already shipped our furniture abroad to then have to buy more to stage only to have to get rid of it again just doesn't make sense and it wasn't going to pay for itself or add any value. In different parts of the country I can understand that though Eg, my dss m4 corridor has a similar house shes selling for 400k, had we have had a valuation like that I might have.

We are now at the stage where we've signed our contract but the day after we received a 3 page questionnaire about the conservatory. We're just waiting on the buyers response now. When they insisted on the price reduction they want it in the form of cash back but if they keep us waiting any longer to complete and we have to pay another mortgage payment I think we should threaten to withdraw that.

I can't help thinking though they still would have viewed and offered had we have had it on for a bit more. We didn't have one single offer over and still loads ridiculously under.

Good luck!

[headlesslambrini]

I think it looks lovely. I agree with comments over the photos and 'dressing' it in some way. Can you take some kitchen stuff with you, plants/ flowers etc and place in kitchen before they re-do the photos, same with bathroom /hall. Move plant/flowers around.

Cut the grass, possibly some pots etc before photos taken.

These shouldnt cost you anything if you take your own stuff from home.

You can hire furniture for the lounge and main bedroom. I wouldnt bother for the other rooms at this stage. If you approach a local furniture charity place they might be able to offer you a better deal.

[headlesslambrini]

Oh and get a new agent. Be there when they take the photo's. Add in room sizes and that there is off road parking.

[mrsnec]

I just had a look on Rightmove.

There is only one house for sale in our cul-de-sac. It has been on the market longer than ours with an agent we sacked. It's on for 105k. It's the same size as ours but has no garage or conservatory and the pictures show it staged.

We sacked the agent because we weren't getting viewings so I mystery shopped them and found they weren't pushing our property and it wasn't in their window.I would love to know why ours sold and that one hasn't. Perhaps it is the sellers holding out for more or that agency still not pushing viewings?

I think the trick is getting the viewings then it's up to the agent to get you as much money as possible and to help process the sale as quickly as possible which is where ours are currently letting us down.

[MrsJohnDeere]

Most of the photos look great. It looks clean and fresh and any buyer could just move in and get on with life. Nice garden, nice kitchen.

The bedroom with shower photo would probably put me off looking though. I like ensuites but I wouldn't want a shower in my bedroom.

The blue wall photo is odd too.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

I hate offers over. Puts me off the house instantly and I don't even bother to look at it. What does it even mean

[mrsnec]

Our agent was implying that's it's an easier way of communicating to potential buyers the minimum you would be prepared to accept and to him if your house is worth 100k and you want 90 you would still get the same viewings and offers if it was just 100k, oiro105 or offers over 90. I think he thought it would stop us getting silly offers but it didn't.

Interesting Jazz, I'm never going to do it again but it never occurred to me that wording would put people off.

[todayisnottheday]

Personally I would take out the shower and put in a decent closet but that's probably a bit of a big job! Definitely get some better photos done. It looks like a lovely place so I suspect it's more a matter of time.

[Spickle]

In Picture 1, it appears to show that your next door neighbour has a side extension with a roof and drainpipe which extends over your side of the dividing wall. Is this correct? That might put people off if they think there is potential for a boundary dispute.

[Dec2013mummy]

Not a huge issue but one agent states Acumen Estates are pleased to offer to LET this well presented Two bedroom end town house. Accommodation comprises of entrance hall,

This maybe confusing for buyers. Also the lack of measurement and room details is an issue e.g an investor would want to know the type of fire, nature of any white goods etc.