Do you think estate agents favour certain clients over others and work harder to sell their houses?

[bumbledoor]

I tried to sell last year in London, I am not a fan of estate agents but suffered them gladly rather than going out of my way to be nice to them. My home is in a great location/catchment, big, spacious Victorian, reasonably clean, some original features large garden (rare in our part of zone 3). During the few weeks I had it on, I found the agents to be really insipid and actually critical of my house just because they could not sell it. The sorts of reasons they were coming up with were along the lines of 'One of your bedrooms isn't a double, buyers don't like large gardens bc gardening is a hassle, there is a bit of skirting missing there around 5cm, one room doesn't have a ceiling rose ; buyers like original features absolutely everywhere, not just in half of the house.....etc etc. I was really sad about all of this and even dropped the price in response but it made no difference and I took it off within weeks. Now, I am feeling bad bc I wanted to move but never did, I keep an eye on what they have sold and how much they advertize those houses for and as far as I can see, there is nothing great about those houses. All I can say for sure is that the descriptions and photography is better and those houses do take longer to sell than the time I had mine on for. I guess I would like some advice re trying again. Do you think Feb is a good time to remarket or should I wait until after the elections? Should I go back with a local agent (same/different) or try an internet agent (if so, which one) purely to be able to market at a lower price thereby passing on the cost saving? As I said, this is one of the most popular parts of London and it is embarrassing and baffling as to why this happened even though the market had begun to quieten down at that stage.

putting your house on the market for only 4 weeks is daft! It does sound as if you may have been trying to market for too much money, particularly if the EAs were surprised at the figure you wanted right from the off. No EA would want you to under-sell your property - sometimes looking on line at similar properties doesn't really give the whole picture - houses can 'feel' very different. A fully rennovated property would have recently been re-plumbed, new boiler, electrics all checked or replaced - that could add quite a lot to the value of a property (as well as new roof?) so on paper other houses may look similar but could differ in those ways. If you haven't done all these modernising things recently (within last 2/3 years) then most people today will look at your house as one requiring some modernisation to bring it up to modern standards.

I dunno, in London (until recently) it seemed realistic. This coincided with the time when the lights seemed to go out on the market and the summer lull. There were a lot of question marks and I was not about to waste a much needed summer break from routines for something that did not look as though it was going to happen.

We incentivised our EA by negotiating an unusual payment structure. We gave them nothing to sell up to a certain value but 10% of the increment over that value.

We'll never know if it made a difference but we did get a very good service and an excellent price.

However an overpriced house will never sell. Get some new valuations, pick a new agent and don't necessarily go with the one that values highest.

The housing market has slowed down in london and sellers need to be a bit more realistic.

If your house is as desirable as you say then you must have over priced. It has to be in perfect condition to get a premium tbh.

Good idea Spincy but a chain agency would not stand for it would they? Yes, it was overpriced and not developed to developer standards - I must not get carried away by the hype next time around

when you do go back to the market also make sure the EAs are going to do the viewings. Most buyers prefer this because then they are free to comment as they walk around without fear of upsetting the owners. You should have enough agents to choose from to find one that would be willing to agree to a variable fee structure as previously suggested. Best advice for selling is ALWAYS to tidy up and clean so the property 'feels' clean.
good luck.

I have no idea if your house was overpriced or not, but that is one of the key reasons why houses don't sell. Some are correctly priced but just take time though.

Fees are always up for negotiation. Personally I think a good agent should be up for the challenge, whereas the less good ones will insist on their x% of asking price which IMO doesn't incentivise them to get a good price. Any muppet can sell an underpriced house. Worth asking anyway, IMO.

Just watch out for agents giving you a high valuation to get your business, not doing much with it for the first 4-6 weeks because they know it's overpriced, then suggesting you drop it to the valuation the other EAs suggested in the first place! I've been stung that way before.

Thanks, there have been some positive stories regarding economic forecasts for the spring in the news today. I never wanted to do the viewings but they agreed to do them then landed me in it knowing that we would have to clear out for the viewings so were not in aposition to drop off the keys and completely leave them to it. They tested the water the first time by claiming to be running late, sending the prospective buyers to our doorstep in advance so that I wasn't even prepared to show anyone around. That set the scene for every other viewing to follow. I think there is an online agent which offers a thousand pound package for London sellers which includes conducting the viewings themselves. The papers identify my area as a top ranking property hotspot which has rubbed salt into the wound but motivated me to keep on trying at the same time.

Def wouldnt want to live next to community centre - they could do functions at weekends with loud music and people piling out drunk in the early hours - also imagine issues with parking etc....and it would be the uncertainty of what it could be used for in the future - it is a compromise and potentials nuisance like living on a busy road - so would expect significant financial discount.

A good agent will provide evidence for their valuation - ie SOLD prices of those in your area - why some were over and some were under your valuation.

I think if the school catchment is key then now would be a better time that Nov as in reality parents would be looking to move in during school holidays rather than mid school year (if you sold in Nov).

Depends what you want to do and when ie what are your motivations and timelines for selling now?

Are you downsizing in the area or cashing in and getting out of the London market...?

Personally I dont think that the possible 50k over price is an issue - a savvy buyer will have done their homework and offer accordingly.

Well, it is next to a very long private pathway rather than the center itself and that is only opened when the centre is being used which is always in the daytime and would never be at night. It is actually better than having even a quiet family next to you in a semi in terms of privacy and tranquility (I owned one before) but accepted that an outsider may not readily appreciate that point.

It is like a members club, it would never be let out for parties etc. and any noise would be made way beyond the boundries of my house

You're making a lot of assumptions about how the club will operate in the future. Its a big unknown and I, for one, would be very wary.

I'd be equally wary about living near a pub or takeaway.

Clubs can change when the person operating change. I've seen a local social (working mans) club change from being used by quite, aging drinkers to attracting every underage drinker in a 20 mile radius.

It could do but highly unlikely in this case specifically. Of course, a house next door to another could turn into a brothel or drug factory etc. I think that a small reduction is in order say tens of thousands, certainly not hundreds of thousands though bc an 1870s Victorian house in a desirable part of London is basically not going to lose a vast amount of value when it has a lot of positives. I will have to think about how to play this one but other than inviting prospective buyers to camp out in my garden for a few days, they would have to trust me as the seller and make that leap of faith.

In the 90s slowdown, desirable places in London halved.

Prices in London are very high at the moment. To me, that means there is more leverage and more risk.

I am not a fan of estate agents but suffered them gladly rather than going out of my way to be nice to them.

This may also be a problem... back in the day when I was an EA if I had a nice client I would make sure that any vaguely suitable person had a look, arrive 10 minutes early for viewings - clean up if I had to, make beds, move bins, wash dog bowls, spray air freshner, take washing in, take new pictures on a sunny day if I was on my way home. If they were not so nice I would just do what I had to. No offence, but I was busy - contra to popular belief EAs do work hard for the pittance in commission they earn. Typically 0.5 - 2% of the commision paid (0.5 - 2.5% of sale price) on completion... so a 200K house is less than 100.

You want a good EA - then value the work they put in, don't look down on them.

hreandthere fair point but I think we are dealing with a completely different global market compared to the previous slowdown. There may be a slight drop but as to whether I am going to lead in providing a buyer with a price that compares to winning the lottery, it is most unlikely. I would like to move but I am not desperate and it is not necessary for economic reasons. It is merely a preference and I could easily just sit it out until the market turns. It is a lovely house, far too big for us (which is why I want to downsize) but I could just count my blessings and stay put.
Unescorted - that sounds like going the extra mile, I am surprised. I would be very surprised if the agents with whom I dealt would be prepared to do any of those things.

if you are not more motivated to sell your house then that will be one reason the EAs aren't taking you seriously. They don't want to waste their time 'trying' to sell your house - you probably wont accept an offer - if it hangs around on the books it doesn't do you or them any favours if the price is too high. They will concentrate on other properties that are going to sell. If you do not really need to sell now then you should wait until you are.

Bumbledoor it isn't unusual or going the extra mile.

If you are serious about selling then they will get the best possible price for it - if they are getting feedback from the viewers that they like it but it is too expensive then listen to them. You can either take it off the market and hope prices rise, make small changes to improve its saleability or reduce the price to a more realistic value for the market conditions.

Also, make an appointment with your EA and ask them what you can do to make it easier for them.

A handy guide to EA speak -

"cosy" = cluttered & pokey - get rid of the back cataloge of magazines in the toilet, empty the recycling, 30 pairs of shoes in the porch. Cobwebs aren't a new trend in domestic house decoration
"family feel" = shit tip & I am sick of having to put your kids crap away before I open the door to viewers. It might be wise to take that rusting bike to the tip, because it is not an asset in the front garden.
"you have a busy life" = please remember to put the washing up away before you go out. The other tell tale sign is that you find dirty crockery in random cupboards.
"Minimalist" = this house feels as if no one has lived in it for months. Are you and your partner divorcing and half the stuff has been shipped out?
"You must have some good parties here" / "it will appeal to younger people" = My feet are sticking to the floor and have you noticed the random stains on the wall in the second bedroom?
"the decoration is very unique" = can you please change the picture of you naked when you were 23 / remove the stuffed cow head / take the books on human embalming off the coffee table.
"The garden looks as if it takes a lot of work / will appeal to a keen gardener" = if you can't be arsed to mow the lawn get a gardener.
"are the water colours original" = open the fucking curtains you cretin.
"is this pole structral" = pole dancing doesn't appeal to the demographic of the potential viewers or a suburban semi - can you get rid of it.
"is this staircase original" - I have just felt it move & I am now wondering if the structural beams are in a similarly rotten state.
"it will appeal to developers" = your DIY efforts have made the property virtually unsaleable. Hopefully someone will have watched too much Sarah Beany. If I am lucky it will sell before I get killed.
"we get the best results if we do the viewings during the day" = if you follow me around the house interjecting with your unhelpful comments about the neighbours, lack of parking, poor transport or benefit scroungers / foreigners bringing the area down your house will never sell.
"you can smell the age of the property" = it stinks - open the windows once in a while

These are all based on real house sales / vendors ....

Re: the community centre/club - I agree it's wrong to assume its usage won't change given time. We once (in the mid '90s) bought a lovely detached house that at right angles to the rear garden had an old-fashioned hall last used in the 1960s to hold tea dances but more latterly used as a venue for antique fairs etc. Shortly after purchasing the house the hall was revamped and opened as a venue for indie bands. As it had rear access with fire escape etc that overlooked our garden, not only did we have to put up with bloody loud music several nights a week, but staff hanging out at the back into the early hours yelling and generally making our lives unpleasant.....

I've always thought that EAs should conduct viewings and most houses we've sold this has been the norm - with one exception when selling in Essex in 2011 - so when we sold our last house (back end of 2014) in Wilts we specifically chose one that did. Little did we know that within a couple of weeks the manager would jump ship, leaving a skeleton staff who obviously couldn't cope with the volume of property on their books. We ended up doing majority of the viewings ourselves, but in the event this turned out to be a blessing.....our EA office said they had someone that wanted to view - in fact they tried to warn us off saying the person was flaky and a time waster, having already had an offer accepted on another house now down the line was starting to have second thoughts - anyway, the EA asked if we could do the viewing, to which we reluctantly agreed.

Long story short, the viewer was evidently in love with our house from the moment they stepped over the threshold and was in tears half way round. They offered full asking price at the end of the viewing and completed on the purchase ten weeks later!

Think if it had been down to our EA to conduct the viewing their attitude towards this particular person would have put a different complexion on things.....so doing your own viewings isn't always a bad thing!

I think our we look at our homes in the same way we think our children are beautiful. Which of course they are but we can be quite blinkered sometimes and just because we may like our decor, it won't necessarily appeal to many others. They don't see it in the way that we have, in that we may have spent years doing it up spent a fortune on it, but someone else may think it all needs pulling apart again.

So if it has been on rightmove OP and failed to attract much interest then it is either too expensive or not what others are looking for.

The buyer will be out there. Don't give up. Try another agent. Tell them you want honest feedback. What would we need to change to sell etc.

Good points thanks. I need to show them I want to go and value their input. Luckily, I have not had any of those estate agent terms used in my ad but I have seen them elsewhere. The thing about my part of London is that everything that is being built is a house or a flat. There is simply no value on any alternative use so a buyer who would like to live next to another house would prob have their wishes answered if the site was ever sold.

The next tine we move im going to use internet agents. I think there is one called purple bricks. A fraction of the cost the local agents charge. You have nothing to lose.

Yes. Some are much much much better than other. Estate agents that is.

I believe you have click with your agent the same as you would with any other professional you hire for a job. If you don't take to them, don't appoint them. It won't end well if you appoint one you don't like just because they can quote lots of sales in your area and a cheaper fee.

And as for cheaper fees. Peanuts monkeys springs to mind. Paying the agent properly will get their attention. They may well be prepared to halve their fee but don't expect service for that at all.

Last house we sold 4 years ago in a prime part of central London. A beautiful house. I had three agents round. One who said "yeah it's nice but ....." Another who said "buyers here only want this etc etc" and one who was very honest and said he could sell it for x within y timescale.

He was also a nice guy with lots of knowledge and I clicked with him. His fee was also by far the highest.

He sold out house on the first Saturday with 6 offers and for £150k more than the two very negative agents had valued it at.

He was motivated, keen and offered a realistic fee for his services.

Don't be taken in by those who say they will sell your house for 0.5% fee. They will stick on rightmove and do nothing else and probably recommend other property on their books above yours if the fee is higher.

And as for "period features everywhere" etc. yes ideally some people would like that but it's all part of where the property is located, how much to buy, how many sqft and decorative condition. And yes crammed full of period features is perhaps idea but it just makes the agents job easier. The agent should be prepared to help buyers see past that(it's what you're paying them for).

Good luck with your sale. Btw London hasn't gone off the boil. There is a general election shortly. Once that's done, the market will flow much faster again.

they would have to trust me as the seller and make that leap of faith.

Really???

...would you trust the seller and take a leap of faith? Why?

This is not the way to sell a house.

You need to approach this with a much more commercial, detached stance and from the perspective of the buyer - this time around - otherwise you will get derailed again.

Put time in up front on the valuation.

You need to seek a range of honest and rigorous analysis backed up by evidence from 3-5 agents for the valuation. Listen to what they are saying, (challenge anything you disagree with to confirm they can back it up) - and then take it on board.

Any house is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

You might assume that the uncertainty of commercial use of an a-joining facility is a compromise worth only tens of thousands - but you are not the buyer...they might decide it is 10%.

Well, it is prob around the same then as I am not exactly wealthy! I guess it has never had a fair turn on the market for a normal valuation price. It is difficult to say until I (clean up) and remarket