'Why isn' t my house selling?' threads

[Findahouse21]

With the buoyant market at the moment I have noticed a huge amount of these threads lately, with the rightmove listing linked, and 9/10 the OP is given a lot of valuable feedback although there are often one of two people who try to be deliberately nasty. I myself have be fitted from an anonymous view of my much loved house.

However why are these threads needed? Why are estate agents so reluctant to make even gentle suggestions about tidying/staging/decluttering?

[JoJoSM2]

Not everyone is open to sugtestions. Also, if trying to win business, agents need to careful not to offend the vendor. I also wouldn’t assume that every agent would have the sense/vision to give helpful advice.

[Lockdownseperation]

I often wonder this. I don’t think I have the top notch make up counter look to be an estate agent but I’m very organised and often wonder what the estate agents are thinking when they post of photos online. I wonder if I would be good at or would want to be an estate agent.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

It’s s good question and I think if your estate agent isn’t telling you this stuff hey aren’t doing their job properly. But people can be - understandably - very protective of their homes and I suspect agents are wary of telling people negative things for fear of a strop being thrown and the business lost.

I also think that in many parts of the country, the market has been so buoyant for so many years that many houses have more or less sold themselves without much input from agents, who’ve gotten a bit lazy and used to doing little more than opening the front door and letting viewers in. I think hat might change if the markets flattens out and agents have to work harder for their sales.

[FlamingoAndJohn]

One thing I have noticed is that the posters of the ‘why isn’t my house selling’ threads seem to have gone with online agents.

[Bluntness100]

I myself have be fitted from an anonymous view of my much loved house

I assume typo but can’t actually work out what this means.

And as to the pp who said it’s on line agents, it’s clearly not. I think people just want a cold eyes and are a bit desperate.

[hoistbymyownzombiepetard]

" I myself have be fitted from an anonymous view of my much loved house

I assume typo but can’t actually work out what this means"

Benefited from.

[lurker101]

I think often the problem is estate agents don’t ask for feedback from viewers - we viewed countless places and were not asked for feedback from the agents. So the vendors would have struggled to get real insights on that front. I’m guessing if the vendor asked those agents we viewed with they probably gave a woolly reason for why we didn’t put an offer in instead of actually asking us! One agent didn’t even come into the property we were viewing and told us to look round ourselves! I would have been horrified had I been the vendor and knowing strangers were wandering around my property unaccompanied

[Regularsizedrudy]

Because estate agents are busy and don’t have time to give tailored advice to everyone, they are also trying to keep on your good side.

[bravotango]

I assumed "benefitted" ^^

[mklanch]

this house is a great example of this

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71363883.html

i asked for a video tour, to include a detailed one of the garden. they sent me a tour that was so fast it made me dizzy and clearly they were trying to hide the mess. they didnt show me the garden because they said the garden needs work as is run down.
why would they not tell them to clear it up a bit for viewings. the garden is the main thing we are looking for so would be the main selling point. the house is a right mess though.
maybe estate agents should offer some sort of cleaning service before pictures are taken.

[mklanch]

@mklanch

this house is a great example of this

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71363883.html

i asked for a video tour, to include a detailed one of the garden. they sent me a tour that was so fast it made me dizzy and clearly they were trying to hide the mess. they didnt show me the garden because they said the garden needs work as is run down.
why would they not tell them to clear it up a bit for viewings. the garden is the main thing we are looking for so would be the main selling point. the house is a right mess though.
maybe estate agents should offer some sort of cleaning service before pictures are taken.

oo just notice they cleaned the bathroom up....originally when this house first came online there was no shower...bathroom was a mess with tissue etc everywhere. now they seem to have fitted the shower and cleaned it up a bit

[BluePaintSample]

mk it looks like someone is in the bed on the one you linked!

That is awful, why on earth would they not tidy up? Why has the estate agent not shown them other properties that they are up against on the market, which would no doubt show a tidy house?

[mklanch]

@BluePaintSample

mk it looks like someone is in the bed on the one you linked!

That is awful, why on earth would they not tidy up? Why has the estate agent not shown them other properties that they are up against on the market, which would no doubt show a tidy house?

after i messaged that i need to be able to see the garden as i want to continue my smallholding, they added a few outside pictures. one where it looks like there is a leak or puddle forming right at the side of the house! why would they think that was a good picture? they originally didn't have a floorplan either until i asked for one.
its crazy how i was very interested but the estate agents and owner made not effort to answer any of my questions or provide me with any of the details i asked.
i just cant believe they were happy for these pictures to go on the internet. one of the mattresses on the bed looks soiled!
its a very beautiful house its a real shame .

[ComtesseDeSpair]

With that house - I suppose if people live their lives like that and are happy with it and don’t see anything strange about it, why would they do anything about it to sell? To them, that must just be perfectly normal. You don’t change what you don’t think needs changing.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

And to be fair, it isn’t dirty, all the floors look mopped and vacuumed, bathrooms clean, kitchen surfaces clear and wiped. It’s just very untidy and cluttered, and they’re used to it that way.

[wowfudge]

Love the photo of the garden with smouldering remains of something in it! I would assume that house had tenants tbh. If the LL was selling and marketing before you'd moved out you'd quite possibly feel no compunction to tidy up or clean.

[GoneFishingAgain]

@ComtesseDeSpair

With that house - I suppose if people live their lives like that and are happy with it and don’t see anything strange about it, why would they do anything about it to sell? To them, that must just be perfectly normal. You don’t change what you don’t think needs changing.

They might have been tenants and therefore have no incentive to make the house look nice for a sale.

Have to say, any house I've sold I've had to rewrite the blurb. Not sure I would use an estate agent in future if I was selling again.

[mklanch]

@ComtesseDeSpair

With that house - I suppose if people live their lives like that and are happy with it and don’t see anything strange about it, why would they do anything about it to sell? To them, that must just be perfectly normal. You don’t change what you don’t think needs changing.

thats true.
my first house i lived in was a shit hole! i didn't notice how bad it was until i moved out and then saw the pictures of it online. this was many years ago lol

[mogloveseggs]

There's definitely someone in that bed @mklanch
Lovely house though

[mklanch]

@mogloveseggs

There's definitely someone in that bed *@mklanch*
Lovely house though

let me have another look. i didnt notice anyone in a bed

[mklanch]

@mogloveseggs

There's definitely someone in that bed *@mklanch*
Lovely house though

omg...your right. haha how did i miss that!?

[ComtesseDeSpair]

They might have been tenants and therefore have no incentive to make the house look nice for a sale.

Perhaps. Although - and I get it sounds very Hyacinth Bucket! - I’d be ashamed for anyone to see my house like that, even if I was disgruntled about it being sold. I just therefore assume that’s just normal for the people who live there.

[jimmyjammy001]

99.9% of the time it's the price, but no estate agent will ever want to lower the price as in the current climate it is likely to down spiral and houses become worth less and less, also those that brought in the last few years can not lower their prices as they have likely brought at the top of the market and lowering their price will land them in negative equity. Until people are forced to sell then house prices will have to come down and houses will start selling again, I think that when the stamp duty holiday is withdrawn and the job losses take effect we may see more houses starting to sell.

[doublehalo]

I've done a couple of viewings on properties where it was obvious the occupiers didn't want to sell. One was a property tenanted by the vendor's sister. That had about 30 massive dog poops in a small courtyard garden space. I didn't dare go out the back door.

The other house was owned by a woman with a lot of kids who was being forced to sell due to her divorce.

I think it's expecting too much from the EA to be proactive about anything as from my current bitter experience they are fucking useless.

[diplodocusinermine]

Last time we sold we used an estate agency who were pretty useless. We re-did all the photos ourselves and I went all grammar pedant after reading the listing.

The house was incredibly niche and the only viewings we had were while we were on holiday (the house had been on the market for quite a while - we didn't list it then immediately bugger off on holiday), and we asked the agent to do the viewings (there were 2) - the agent's office is literally a 2 minute walk from the house. They were really difficult about doing the viewings, and we received NO feedback whatsoever. We did wonder what we were paying them for.