Would it be silly to stop the estate agent sending me feedback?

[LonelySod]

I'm selling the parental home following my mum's death. It needs modernization throughout. We've had about 10 viewings and I'm struggling with the feedback emails from the agent. Most viewers like/love the house but all have commented on the amount of work needed, implying it's way too expensive. It's at the price that 2 separate estate agents quoted. I'm finding it really upsetting. It was mum's house and she loved it.

I'm contemplating getting the estate agent not to send me feedback . I just want them to let me know if there's been an offer or if the price needs reducing.

I dread getting emails about the house.

My mental health is rock bottom since losing mum. I'm not coping with any of it.

I suppose if you know it needs modernising, the estate agent knows this too, and all viewings are saying the same - then arguably you're not learning anything new from the feedback.

You say you just want the estate agent to let you know if the price needs reducing - but you can probably decide for yourself to allow you to take control. If you've had 10 viewings, and no offers, and feedback about level of work needed .... what's going to make the 11th or 12th viewer think differently? Can you feasibly reduce the price? Most people selling in this situation can, in that they're not relying on achieving a certain price to then move up the property ladder themselves.

Just tell them you are not interested in the feedback.
I am selling a property and have told the agents to only let me know if there are offers. Then I will decide on the offers.

There are other beneficiaries of the will other than myself so I need to consider them . If it was just me I'd lower the price just to get the agony over with

I think I will do this. I need to take control.

Can you ask them for constructive feedback only? ie, if you can do something about it then pass that on, but nothing else.

Sorry for your loss. Definitely tell them, you are the client and they should respect your wishes. It is horrible selling the property of a parent. Try to focus on the memories of your parents, that's what matters.

Thank you. I feel like I'm trapped in a nightmare 😭

So apparently they would have to stop the email that informs me of viewings as well, as feedback is linked to that🙄. Suppose I will just have to try and not read the feedback 😕

Reduce the price to reflect the amount of work required otherwise you’ll be stuck in this limbo for a good while. You need to move on from this for your well-being so prolonging the emotional turmoil is only going to make things worse.

Could it be a bit overpriced?

My DM’s house was liveable, but did need modernising. Dbro who was handling the sale asked 3 EAs for ‘realistic’ valuations, not what they thought we wanted to hear. (Which TBH is what they so often tell you.)

One EA gave him 3 prices. One, optimistic, could take 6 months, Two, more realistic, should take 3 months, Three, I’ll sell it in a week.

Dbro went for 3 (none of us lived near, to do the garden etc.) and the EA did.
There wasn’t actually a massive difference in the prices anyway.

If the feedback is consistently saying the same thing (that it’s overpriced for the amount of work that needs doing), I’d start listening, talk to the other vendors, and either reduce the price or do the work. Has it been on the market for long?

Only 2 months.

I can understand just how you feel, OP. I sold my late mother's house last year, and I would have taken any negative comments quite personally. My estate agent phoned me with feedback but didn't go into much detail over the phone. I think I would have brooded over email feedback. Like many older people's homes, my mums house was a bit outdated and most people would have wanted to change the layout, but I felt really relieved that the purchaser was a middle aged single man who had just sold his own late mother's much larger house, where he had lived, and he found my mum's house suited him perfectly without major changes.

I think if it was me, I would ask the agent to stop sending you emails and just let you know when they receive an offer, or if they really recommend you reducing the price.

Another point of view is that the ea is pushing the viewers to make an offer or give feedback why not . They may just be using the amount of work as a polite reason to say it isn't for them . It isn't implied as personally as you are taking it.

I feel for you OP but I think you need to get the other beneficiaries of the will together, explain the situation, talk to the estate agent and drop the price. If you are getting quite a lot of similar feedback then the house is perhaps over priced.
I know it isn't easy - I have been through selling my parents house, and realistically we will be facing similar with my PILs home in the not too distant future. Aside from the stress of course it costs you money to maintain an empty house, so dropping the price may not be as much of a financial hit as it first seems. When you calculate the difference it makes to each beneficiary, by the time you've factored in the legal costs, estate agent fees and what you are potentially saving on council tax and maintaining the house in the interim, even a fairly big drop in the price may not actually make that much difference to what each individual inherits in the end. The longer it's on the market the more likely it is that you are going to have to drop the price anyway and there's then months of upkeep to consider and a whole load of stress for you to deal with in the meantime.
It's not a nice thing to do I know. My niece lives quite close to my parents old house and when I visit her I take a longer route so I don't have to drive past it as I don't like what the new owners have done to it and it upsets me still. But that is the way things are, I can't turn the clock back much as I would love to. I know it might seem harsh, but my siblings and I took the very pragmatic view that we would accept the first reasonable offer because we wanted closure. I kind of felt I couldn't properly grieve for my Dad whilst we still had his house if that makes any kind of sense? It was horrible to close the door on our childhood home for the last time but somehow doing so made it easier to move forwards. Fortunately all my sibllings and I saw eye to eye on the subject though. I know that is unlikely to be the case for my DH when his parents die so I can sympathise if that is your situation. But if you are able to reduce the price and get quicker sale it may well be better for you overall.

2 months on the market is quite a long time. If you want to sell you probably do need to drop the price.

Feedback is a waste of time so yes, tell them you dont need to hear it right now. People feel like they have to say something when pressed by the agent so obviously say it needs modernisation, no shit! They can still offer what they want regardless whats its on for.

If the other beneficiaries are in a position to, and if they are concerned about receiving the most possible from the property, make them deal with the estate agents. The estate agents should call you with viewings and offers in these circumstances. They are being lazy and unreasonable.

Do you have a partner who could read the emails for you? Could one of the other beneficiaries emotionally handle the feedback?

But I agree with the PP that ideally you'd get together with the beneficiaries and decide what to do as a group/family.

I'm sorry for your loss. When my mum was selling my grandparents' home the estate agent gave proper constructive advice on what to do to make the house more attractive to buyers and get it sold reasonably quickly, ie replace the hall and stair carpet as this was the oldest and redecorate the downstairs in white. They advised on how much to spend and how much it would improve the value of the house.

Could you shop around a bit and see if any other estate agents are more helpful etc? I appreciate it's very sad and stressful managing everything after a parent passed away 💐

Selling property is stressful at any time and selling after a loved one has passed away must be the most difficult selling situation.
I agree with telling EA you only want to hear when an offer is made. EA works for you so be firm with what you want and don’t want.
I hope it sells soon, there’s a buyer for every property, just need to find the right one.

I think the agents push for feedback if no offer is immediately forthcoming from a viewing. I would be clear with them that you don't wish to receive it. They need to manage how that happens.

We have already dropped the price once (not the EAs fault, they had suggested a lower price but sister wanted to try a higher price).

I'm thinking of a fresh start with another EA, but their notice period is 2 months🙄

Can you set up a filter so that your inbox auto deletes feedback emails. It would need something to identify them but if it said something like subject: viewing feedback you could do it easily.