Estate agents - just need to vent a tiny bit

[StiffyByng]

We put our house on the market a while back and no one wants it. Very quiet market, house is a bit quirky, not astonished, we'll live.

BUT as ever I have just been irritated beyond belief by the estate agents. We went with our lot because they seemed fairly realistic about it on the whole, but even they went with glowing praise about its great decor, amazing kitchen, garden, yada yada.

Every viewing we've had feedback on some aspect of the house and along the way it's now become accepted wisdom with them that the house has many flaws, most of them nothing we can address (see quirky), but some of them in direct contradiction to the benefits they identified when they valued it which they're now saying are issues we might need to address.

I just want an estate agent to offer a properly honest opinion when they value it, especially in a tricky market, so you have some shot of pricing it right to take the issues into account and even sorting some things out in advance. Instead you just get timewasting flannel, and then a long drip drip of 'well, it IS a tricky garden' which wears away at your very soul.

We've taken it off today - were planning to do so after one last viewing - and the feedback was 'a definite no, given the amount of work that needs doing, as they're expecting a baby'. A few weeks ago we were told our house (much extended/fiddled with) was in great condition with everything that could be done to it already done. The passage of time has been cruel to my house over the last two months clearly! The year I spent getting to know my builders and their family was for nothing it seems.

@blinkthreetimes

What I’m saying is the general day to day EA’s and the ones you contact have very little control over what is happening and are often forced into things that are clearly bonkers, it’s the managers/those higher up who are instructing weird practices

This is a two person company so they are making their own rules.

They promised no estate agent bullshit.

Ditto!!!

Keep being told it's amazing, it's worth £££ yet people complain about everything. Even had estate agents put on info needs some redecorating (divorce sale, can't be doing with redecorating)

We recently had a very similar experience selling our house in London. Wes renovated extensively and were told it was ‘high end’ and would sell instantly despite its quirks (terrace house but with odd angles due to curve of road). 30 viewings later we accepted the only offer we had - considerably below asking. We had asked the agent to list it for less than they (& others) had valued it at but it still didn’t shift. The agent who valued it at one point accused us of trying to push the higher price. It’s sad because I began to resent a much loved family home from all the feedback - most of which contradicted what every EA had told us were strong selling points like adding a utility at the expense of being fully open plan.

I think in some cases estate agents overvalue because they don’t have many properties on their books so they are desperate for you to pick them. The estate agents who viewed ours in central London all basically said that. They are worried they have barely any properties on their books - but even fewer buyers it seems.
But still, when the buyers return they will need to have plenty of properties on their books to draw them in. So it’s not all just about a small increase in their commission if they can sell an overvalued property.