Requests to Estate Agent selling house

[Blobby10]

I have an estate agent coming round tomorrow to discuss putting my house on the market. Am I shooting myself in the foot by asking for the following:

1. no viewings unless they can proceed ie no house to sell or house sale already agreed.
2. at least 24 hours notice for viewings
3. feedback - please call /message me within 48 hours of viewing, even if its only to say you can't get hold of them!
4. dont open the cupboards/airing cupboard or stuff may -will- fall out (I think I know the answer to this one)
5. please guide me how to present the house in a more attractive manner

Having been messed around hugely in every house sale I've done over the years, I really want to be the one in control this time. Am I unreasonable?

In a hot market, no sale no view. It was certainly the case round here a couple of years ago.

Now it’s slower and we viewed a house without having even got our house ready to market, decided we loved it and sold ours quickly. We’re now all moved in.

I don’t think in this market you can control the terms... a buyers market is exactly that.

Or perhaps you could go with an online agent and do your own viewings? You'd be a bit more in control. When we did it, we gave the online agency a list of available timings that they could book. E.g. Saturday 9-6, Wednesday 5-9 etc.

We went from not even thinking about moving house to having offered and then put ours on the market and sold it in under a week, so I think 1 is unreasonable. You don’t know what other people have to sell and what the market for their property is like.

I also think that while notice is nice you shouldn’t limit yourself. I sold our old flat by myself on a Saturday afternoon with an hour’s notice. The agent begged me to let them see it. I had laundry everywhere and was mid-cleaning. The offered straight away and I was so against having to do the viewing.

Just be open minded

Just to update -met the agent this morning and he completely agreed with everything you guys said about some of my ideas 😁😁. Photos being done early July after deep clean and after my holiday. On for £30k less than next door which has an extension, new kitchen, bathroom and en suite. Felt that, for once, the agent was honest about the slow/poor market and potential for sale- hoping that this will be the one house move which goes more smoothly 🤞🤞

Good luck with the viewings OP, hope it sells quickly and easily for you!

So next door is better than your house in that's it has an extension, a modernised kitchen, modernised bathroom + an ensuite extra? All else being equal?

Are you sure the pricing is right?

That’s a difficult one - if next door has all that for £30k extra it’s a bargain and I’d buy that. Is theirs underpriced? Or is yours over? Is it the same agent? On the plus side, waiting a few weeks should mean theirs is sold...

Jojo I feel their house is overpriced - hey are using an agent who is trying to break into the ‘big standard housing estate’ market - they usually market bigger country houses or those in villages. My agent focuses on houses like mine so I feel that whilst it’s still on for more than I think it’s worth, I think it’s more realistic. The extension next door isn’t huge - probably adds 30-40 sq feet to the kitchen. Mine is perfectly pleasant to live in but still has the original kitchen and bathroom and it’s 20 years old so a bit tired which is why I priced it realistically.

If next door is over priced, then I’d think yours is too? The difference between them looks like more than £30k?

For number 5, dress your beds! So many beds are poorly made in photographs. Invest in a nice throw and some cushions and euro pillows to make them look really lush. I notice it heaps in British house listings, how poorly made the beds are.

I bought and sold last year. I often look inside built in cupboards (never stand alone as they're not part of the house). Looking inside cupboards is important. It can reveal if there is damp or infestations. Cupboard doors can be hiding broken shelves that need fixing. Or even the cupboard doors may be painted shut, making it unusable. People need to know what they're buying, as if they find out something new later in the sale process, it could put them off. All of the above have been revealed to me on house viewings by opening cupboards! Once it gets to the point of having a survey, the surveyor will be poking around in cupboards anyway.

I would ask first but any seller who refuses to allow me to look in fixed (part of the house sale) cupboards would raise suspicions (What are they hiding? Broken doors/false door fronts/ damaged carcass)

I would ask to check taps and the shower too. I'd look at the boiler & turn on/off lights.

You wouldn't buy a car just by looking at the body work, you'd test drive it. Same with a house - you need to know that fixtures/fittings are in good order.

We were told we weren’t allowed to look in a particular cupboard in a house we viewed, as the seller didn’t use it. It put us right off the house and there is no way we would buy a house where we weren’t allowed to view every (fixed) part of it. Even if the cupboard is cluttered you need to make sure people can open the door and peer in.

It’s a shit list. You need to relax about the sales process.

You’re shooting yourself in your foot if you only allow viewings from people with a sale agreed, or nothing to sell.

I wouldn’t accept an offer and remove my house from the market from someone not in a proceedable position, but people can move very quickly sometimes if they really like you’re house.

On for £30k less than next door which has an extension, new kitchen, bathroom and en suite

Oh man, you’re already hugely overpriced then 😂