About to put our house up for sale.. anyone else?

[DomusAurea]

We are taking the plunge and it's happening - we are selling our house (and relocating 200 miles away but that's another thread I guess) - anyone else? I could do with a collective handhold!

This is where we are now:

• finishing the last small jobs such as painting a ceiling
• having meets with estate agents for valuation
• nervously searching rightmove for possible houses in our relocation area (there isn't a lot!)

Are you going for sale soon? Tell me how it's going!

(we are in the South East)

as an addendum, we are looking at local estate agents and also a couple of larger national chain ones, we have discarded the idea of online ones. I have prepared a spreadsheet in which I note each agent's valuation, their commission, other extra costs (photographs, plans) and if they use professional photography - anything else I shall think of?

Also, we will do some staging and decluttering before going for sale, and, as I have NC for this not to get attached to my old posts, I may even be brave and post our rightmove link for feedback - when we get there.

Finally, this is the fourth time that we are buying/selling - maybe I am getting older but this time I am TERRIFIED about it, although I know that we are doing the right thing.

So they do open house events?

Oh, good point MrsMoastyToasty - I did not think about asking this.

Similar-ish situation here. We are hoping to relocate 200 miles away too but won't be putting the house up until I have a job offer. I am really anxious about it all. When we bought the house, we were really naive. Knowing what I know now, mainly by reading the forum, I fear all these issues about the buying/selling process. Sometimes I think the ignorance of being a FTB was bliss....

Hi Beehive99, somehow instead of getting easier emotionally it gets worse because you know all the problems that will come!

Moreover, I am quite a truthful person and find working with EAs difficult - we went to see a house at the weekend to have an idea of what we could get in the new location, and there was an obvious damp problem (new paint already bubbling up), and the EA said it was because they left the windows open during the storm - total BS!

So what do you do when an EA lies to you? do you call BS or just nod politely and take a mental note never to believe anything they say? (and why are the standards in the profession so low?)

Sold twice in the past year (our own house and then my late parents property) and used different (local) agents for both.

For our house the EA reinforced all my previous fears about EA's being lazy liars.
They advised us to go with the first offer (despite it being slightly under the asking price) and to cancel all further viewings. They (wrongly) advised that this buyer was sold, in temp accommodation etc and ready to go. Problem after problem followed and the EA did nothing to help. In short they were the perfect example of why EA's are held with such contempt.

For my parents house I was now fully clued up to the depths EA's will stoop to get a sale but this time the EA turned out to have some integrity and actually worked for us.
We had a full week of viewings (all bar one were sold, in temp accommodation and ready to go) and after everyone had 4-days to submit a B&F offer.
This was far better than our previous EA and we completed last Friday.

Good luck with your sale.

Yes me! We are having one last declutter before we get agents round to value - I have my sights set on a new build but that’s adding a whole new layer of stress I could probably do without!

@MrsMoastyToasty

So they do open house events?

What they appear to do (we've had a couple of properties sold in our village lately) is send the owners out for the day, park 2 or 3 EA at the property all day, and have timed appointments on the half hour or every 20 minutes, and cram as many people through the door as possible on that day - such that they see another view before and a different one arrive, thus putting the pressure on that this house is popular. They also seem to encourage 2nd and 3rd viewings, have seen the same people wander round the area on different days.

Dougieowner - well done for your sales - twice in a year would probably se me in a straightjacket, so congratulation for your nerves of steel! And also thank you for mentioning a word I am now going to use in my dealing with EAs - integrity! That's going to be the keyword in my choice.

FleurDeLizz - GOOD LUCK to you! New built takes out some stress but also bring some different ones - argh, there is no easy house purchase unless one has a spare million! (I don't)

Ours is going up very soon, but we are in Scotland. From what I read on MN I am very glad to be here. We're downsizing, we've already bought our new property - from offer to completion in 6 weeks or so.
We have just painted our last ceiling, finished a monumental declutter (have been in the house for 22 years) and need to blitz the garden (which I have grown to hate, can't wait to move to a courtyard with no grass and no encroaching brambles).

I sold my late parents house this year
I can’t fault the estate agent
He got a brilliant price - 20k over the asking price
And he’s been on the ball with the buyers who are ftb and want to keep visiting the house to measure up

Chemenger - hahaha I know what you mean about the garden, we also have a largish garden and am totally fed up with the constant mowing-de-ivying-fight agains brambles-weeding routine. Of course our lawn mower has just died, could not have chosen a better moment

And'- from offer to completion in 6 weeks or so.' - wonderful!

70kid - glad you had a good estate agent - hopefully I'll find one that is not too bad.

We were talking about estate agents last night and my DH suggested ones I’ve dealt with before - nope! They may be popular but they’re a bunch of lying snakes who made me cry with frustration at their lies on more than one occasion! We have two I’m going to ask but looking for a third as I’ve heard it’s best to get 3 quotes

Fleur, I am seeing 7 estate agents! I want to gather as much information as I can, and see as many people as I can before I go to the market. definitely see at least 3.

Another thing I did was to check on Rightmove the houses that have sold within 14 days in my area (to do this, do a search with houses sold in the last 14 days including houses sold subject to contract) and I took note of the agents who sold houses within 14 days and I am definitely having those round for a valuation.

PS I am sorry they made you cry

I buy and sell property for a living.

I always use the big chains - Winkworth, Savills (tend to overprice but effective), Chestertons (also tend to overprice), Hamptons, Knight Frank or Dexters and the really good local agents (can't give examples as it's area specific but you can tell from their reviews and from meeting them).

The kinds of batshit & imbecilic behaviour I've seen from small local agents has astonished me over the years.

It's worth paying more commission for better service ime. The same goes with lawyers.

We went on the market last week and had an "open" house on Saturday; awaiting feedback today.

Also looking to move from S.E to N.E

We are in the middle of this - we sold in SE end of last year to relocate 200 miles north for a new job. We're renting ATM and have just had an offer accepted on a house up here.

We had house valued by 3 estate agents - we looked at Which recommendations for houses of that size/price range and spoke to friends who'd sold in last couple of years. There was £100k difference between the valuations! One EA was
very annoying - pushy, didn't listen, new to area and seemed less confident with the pricing. We went with the one who put the most effort in and whom friends spoke of highly. We also ended up with a slightly higher fee as we went with one that would manage the house too once we had moved out, which meant we weren't having to do 400 mile trips at weekends to keep an eye on it.

We used a solicitor at new location which also really paid off as we were able to hand deliver paperwork easily and quickly rather than risk the postal delays.

Oh before we sold we put some stuff into storage to make the house look less cluttered and also decluttered ruthlessly. We touched up where paint had worn off on corners and where stairgates had been, plus painted front gates and made front garden look especially good.

Some EA made a big thing about using professional photographers, others did it with a tripod thing, we went with the one that would do realistic pictures. There's no point getting viewers thru the door on the basis of inaccurate photos!

We had lots of viewings (in two Saturday batches) but no offers until we'd actually moved out and gone north. The house looked a lot bigger then . We booked an 'end of tenancy' cleaner to do a really thorough clean, carpet shampoo, window clean etc once we'd left, then the photos were redone of the empty house. We had an offer accepted two weeks later and it then took 30 days to completion.

We'd have struggled to buy something immediately up here as there was very little on the market and nothing that suited us.

@DomusAurea

Fleur, I am seeing 7 estate agents! I want to gather as much information as I can, and see as many people as I can before I go to the market. definitely see at least 3.

Another thing I did was to check on Rightmove the houses that have sold within 14 days in my area (to do this, do a search with houses sold in the last 14 days including houses sold subject to contract) and I took note of the agents who sold houses within 14 days and I am definitely having those round for a valuation.

Ooh what a brilliant idea I hadn’t thought of that, checking the sold in the last 14 days. My two favourites appear to be the front runners so maybe I’ll expand the search distance and check again later!

Re choosing agents. Some have their own agenda. One really, really pushed for us to have an interactive walkthrough video done. It was a hard sell and I was adamant I didn't want it. He even went so far to say everyone has them except elderly people who don't understand technology. Gave me a right old sales pitch so there must have been something in it for him. Anyway, I still declined.

The other thing they tried to sell me was premium on Rightmove where your property is highlighted or pinned to page one. Told me that 99% of people don't look beyond page one so it's worth paying the extra for. I called bullshit. Anyone who didn't look past page one was not a serious buyer and I was only on the market for a serious buyer.

Another one gave a huge price range and offered to start really high and see if we got any interest. That's a no no. He mostly spent his time blowing his own trumpet, telling me he broke the ceiling price for the road, could sell anything etc. Again this was rubbish, all his properties on Rightmove had been reduced.

We chose the agents who came across as the most professional, could demonstrate that they understood our expectations and we were all on the same page. They weren't the ones who valued highest but they did sell at full asking price which we were more than happy with and the sale went smoothly with them keeping us informed every step of the way.

Finally, you could get some friends to ring round and make some enquiries just to check that they do actually answer the phone and return calls, etc.

I used to buy and sell a lot (sold three houses last year, bought one after two other aborted purchases). I always used the same agent, who did the photographs himself, did a walk through video, got floorplans done with all measurements professionally, all included in their commission. The agents do all the viewings snd have me feedback each time.
Go with your gut, but make sure whoever conducts the viewings knows all about your house.

Lots of great suggestions, thank you!
It's interesting what you say RidingMyBike about the house selling more easily when empty - the consensus seems to be that its furniture houses photograph better, but I so much prefer to see pictures of empty houses so i can easily imagine my own stuff in there.

And absolutely yes to cleaning: I had the outside of my house cleaned professionally and thinking I may get the oven and hob professionally cleaned too - they are clean now but it would be good to get them to sparkle.

Regarding the carpets - hmmm - I have only carpet on the second floor (real wood throughout except in the bathroom and downs loo) and the carpet has seen better days, tbh - fortunately it's charcoal so it doesn't look too bad. I don't think having professionally cleaned it's going to lift it, tbh. I wonder if I should bit the bullet and replace it...