Estate Agent is taking the piss?

[MyNeighbourIsStrange]

I had my house on the market whilst an insurance claim was going through. The claim is now settled. I am in London and hadn't realised that the London housing market has bucked the national trend. The estate agent didn't indicate that now the claim was settled and the market had risen the marketing value of the house should change.

I was going to accept an offer for beneath my asking price,when I saw two boards go up, both are inferior houses compared to mine and both sold for significantly more than mine.

I am getting some valuations done independant of my EA.

What do I do if the EA is taking the piss?

I co own with my an abusive exhusband and the court order stated the asking price, the estate agent, the division of equity was based on certain figures, so at present if the house sells for more, ex only prophits. If I can get the court order changed I could get more equity to rehome the children and myself.

Solicitors and barristers have prophited so much, now estate agents and the buyers by similar amount of equity I would get, as the house was so underpriced, All those people were going to prophit at our expence, it is unbearable.

The short point here is that it doesn't matter what other people are asking for their properties - if yours has been on the market and hasn't had an offer in that region, there is no reason to expect that upping your price now will result in one. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it - asking prices mean absolutely nothing. An estate agent is under no duty to advise you to up your price - having it on the market in the first place tests whether it is priced correctly and from what you say it sounds like it is/was.

Are you sure those other properties which you believe have sold for more are truly comparable to yours? By all means get some other valuations done, but be careful about rejecting an offer which you would otherwise have accepted as you may find the next one slow to come.

Yes, they both had much higher offers than mine, one sold now, the other sale fell through as their garden is small, smaller by far than mine.

Mine sold the first viewings once insurance claim was complete for full asking price, it fell through as buyer couldn't get a mortgage, they owned other buy to let property's. It didn't sell previously as people got cold feet once they spoke to solicitors about outstanding unsurance claim.

Why not terminate your contract with your existing agent (check the wording of the contract to see when you can do this) and start anew with a different one?

P.S. profit is spelled profit, not prophit (just fyi).

Ok, thanks. It is reassuring that you think the EA needs to be sacked.

I don't.

But sometimes a sale can just do with a "freshen up" especially when circumstances change (such as, in your case, the insurance claim being settled).

Be aware though that most people looking for a house like yours in your area will have seen yours @ price x. If you relist for more then potential buyers may well think you are messing about and not seriously looking for a sale.

London may have bucked the downward trend in prices to a degree, but you'll see very few houses putting up their prices...

If someone is aware of my house, its not for them anyway, as they discounted viewing or offering on it already if they viewed, I assume it will be someone new to viewing who will buy eventually. It was a waste of time marketing the house with outstanding insurance claims people were always advised to steer clear until the claim was settled, it was a decision out of my hands.