Selling my house - so conflicted about EA/price/reduction/etc!

[PoochiePie]

Sorry for the long post... TLDR at the end!!

I'm currently 6months pregnant, and my husband has accepted a job in Scotland. Meaning we have now committed to moving from Cornwall to Scotland - and hopefully before my due date in June! It's not ideal but we felt it we didn't do it now he would be trapped in his (very unfulfilling job) for a couple of years. I am very, very stressed about all this.

We have only owned our house 6months, as it was a new build and despite exchanging a year ago, the builder did an excellent job of messing things up and things were delayed by 5 months.

We bought our house for £206k (it was listed at £212 but we haggled them down) back in January. It's a 3 bed detached in Cornwall with garage and drive, and large gardens (compared to everything else on site). It's also stone fronted so won't have bleeding render. On this estates new phase, a 3 bed semi/terrace with a postage stamp garden and no garage is on for £200k - and obviously they are offering incentives for the less desirable hard to sell plots. There are no 3 bed detached available, and these are rumoured to be £220k plus when they are released. The other alternative is a 4 bed detached at £245k. Floor space wise it isn't much bigger than ours.

• ours is listed at £220k and we would take offers (although I can't make a loss after fees) as I just want to be settled in Scotland early enough, and I need to have enough to buy again otherwise I'll then have to pay my mortgage provider our ERC of £4.5k.

So we had 2 agents round, one from an 'online' company, and one the local EA who apparently represent the developer in their new build sales. They claim to have a list of 'interested' people that wanted this type of house but didn't get it.

• online EA is £1100 all in including rightmove premium listing and accompanied viewings.
• traditional EA would be about £3600 but conditional upon a sale. They also require 12 weeks of exclusivity.

We hired the online one, as DH company refused to offer relocation, and we just couldn't sacrifice that much of our deposit in addition to fees etc. Our mortgage provider will not let us let rent the property out, and things will be very tight renting in Scotland (Glasgow) and paying mortgage here - esp when mat pay dwindles and then nursery fees in the long term.

I'm now wondering if I should just pay for the traditional EA, eventhough im not convinced they will really have that much of an advantage, and I didn't really like the traditional EA (the owner).

Things putting me off my agent:

• My DH thinks his photos are unflattering.
• I think his ad isn't as great as it maybe could be.
• we had a viewing request that ended up not going ahead. I requested feedback from said viewing and only found out at the next viewing a week later that it never happened. I felt he was a bit coy about this.
• I emailed him 2 days ago with changes to the ad (i.e. Added info about ceramic/porcelain tiling, integrated appliances etc), and photos of our garden, question about reducing price and have heard nothing.
• they don't give viewers any paper of the property after viewing which I think traditional EAs do. Our garden is damaged from our dogs and I'm considering paying for it to be re-landscaped when we leave. That could be helpful info to give and I'm considering making these myself..
• I saw him do a viewing and it lasted literally 2 minutes... maybe I was expecting more but I didn't feel like there was much enthusiasm. Just 'here's the kitchen'.

So TLDR:

1. want to go to Scotland on mat leave in 7 weeks and be with my husband/do antenatal classes etc. Feel like house sale possibility is dwindling.
2. should I pay an additional £3600 and hire a traditional EA as I don't think mine is great. That will make taking offers on the house more difficult as it would eat into a deposit and fees on something else.
3. house has been on market for 14 days, had 4 viewing requests (1 cancellled as had an offer elsewhere, 1 didn't manage to arrange a viewing and has now gone quiet, 1 flaky viewing clearly just being nosey, and 1 serious one this weekend I've heard nothing back from yet). Am I being too hasty? Should i reduce the price slightly?

namechangedtoday15 - no we are actually really not overlooked at all!

Essentially the road (which is about a metre high) goes along the side of our house. Our garage and rear access are off of the road, and there's a high brick wall that makes our (future) courtyard area. Along the front of the house is a footpath and a lovely hedgerow, so literally not overlooked at all. But I just can't figure out a way to demonstrate that in photos - had hoped the boundary lines in the floorplan would help but clearly not that obvious If you MN'ers aren't seeing it! :(

Don't photo shop the grass, it always looks obviously photoshopped which makes people think you are hiding something. The plot plan doesn't make it clear which house is yours. The photos are ok, not great but ok, I'd view if I was looking in the area but I think it's really hard to sell a nearly new build.

I know you don't want to pay the erc to your mortgage but could you lower the spec of your Scotland house to keep within budget and then move again in a year or 2?

As a PP said, definitely try to negotiate the 'real' agent down on price. Ours asked for 1.5% which would be £6375 based on our sale price, but they were happy to agree to do it for 1% which is £4250 - a big saving. It wasn't even a tricky negotiation, they said yes straight away - I think they expect to be asked.

Depending on why you are moving from Cornwall to Scotland, do you have to live in Glasgow? Is dh's job there or further out?

OP I've just tried to look at the Street View and it doesn't look as though your estate is on there (probably because its new) and then when you check the schools, the 2 closest schools both "Require Improvement" according to Ofsted. I think that's another hurdle you're going to have to get over - the estate as a whole is not going to appeal to families (even though your house looks like a nice family house) because the schools, on the face of it, look poor. I wouldn't consider a house where the only school I'd get my children into was a "requires improvement".

I don't know which of the plots in the plan is yours?

I think it is lovely though I personally don't like the fact the walls are red brick next to the stone front on the house, I would want it all to match. I am sure that is just me though!!! It is a lovely house. I personally recommend high street EA's rather than online, we didn't even view any houses with online EA's as I prefer to be able to call in and speak to them if needed.

scaryteacher his job is in central Glasgow, and Ive got a job secured for after my mat leave in north west Glasgow. Happy to live a bit further out but I am worried about being too far and being isolated, I don't have any family or friends in Scotland and DH will be away with work approx 1 week/month - we had that when we first moved to a lovely cottage in Cornwall. We discovered all our neighbours were incredibly stuck up, or retirees. As two 25 year olds who look younger than we actually are we really didn't fit in, it was actually very gossipy and strange. Living in this new build though all our neighbours are between 25-50ish and totally normal. So I'm a bit wary of moving somewhere where everyone is established and not keen to accept 'newcomers'/also would be nice to be close to nurseries/things to do/people to meet.

Thank you by the way to everyone contributing - you guys are giving me some strength to sort out the EA situation, and helping me accept I need to rent somewhere soonish even if I am paying double until we sell our house!

Early days and I'm sure that you'll get more viewings soon. Meanwhile I'd try to soften up the frontage with a couple of big plants in pots. Robina, for example are cheap, quite striking and easy to look after.
Your house is lovely and obviously makes a great family home, but appears cold. Others have given good ideas for adding interest and life style.
If possible new photos on a more cheerful, sunny day. Good luck.

The sale price of this house type was £212 a year ago, but because we bought off plan and early bird at that, and were chain free that's why we managed to get it down.

I was expecting you to say you'd put a conservatory on or other larger modification.

I know nothing about the house market where you are (which makes a huge difference) but can't get over a 14k increase because of flooring. I'd feel as a buyer I was being taken for a mug.

Good thing is you have time and are getting viewing and the house looks lovely so I'm crossing fingers it all falls right. At least as others suggest renting might be an option down the line if you need to get moving - good luck!

As far as what we have done to the property, essentially carpet, tiling and laminate (as opposed to vinyl which most others have) and turfing the whole garden - which incidentally will need to be replaced thanks to my lovely dogs..

Get this in the description - something like "current owners have replaced vinyal flooring throughout with luxury carpet" or something.

I hope you sell, it looks like a really nice house.

Poochie I was wondering if he had a job at Babcock at Faslane, and you could have looked at Helensburgh or Rhu...but evidently not.

Your house is in the nicer bit of Liskeard, I always think it's soulless on the approach to Morrisons. Yours is on the right when coming in from Callington (which is my neck of the woods when in UK)?

Perhaps you could have a statement in the details that says something along the lines of 'selling due to relocation' as it is quite unusual to sell a house so soon and it might give the impression that their is a problem with the house or the neighbours (which is obviously not the case here).

The lack of garden photos is also offputting, especially as it is a large space. However seeing a trashed garden would also put me off so that could be a no-win situation. Having viewed property before, I now realise that if there isn't a photo of a particular element of the property, it's for a badreason so is it possible to get the best possible shot of the garden even if you have to be creative with the angle?

Good luck with the sale!

Reason for selling is a great idea.. plus a little line along the fact it's an exclusive / usual desirable plot ?

Ask the other estate agent if they can do 1% plus VAT.