Should I Change Agents?

[FrustratedHouseSeller]

I’m wondering if I should switch agents to help sell my house but unsure what to do for the best. Seen a lot of really good advice on here so thought I would put it out there to see what others think I should do.

Background is I’ve been on the market since Feb 23. House is a unique beautiful (I think!) detached modern architect designed house with lots of floor to ceiling windows and eco- features to be super energy efficient but it’s a quirky layout and in a not so nice London suburb on a not very nice street opposite a huge concrete council estate (which has been no problem but viewers wouldn’t necessarily know that). I think it’s priced appropriately at a lot less than other 4 beds in the area which are typically period terrace houses.

I first went under offer in April but fell through because buyers couldn’t get mortgage. Went under offer again after a week at above asking price in May. Buyers strung the whole thing along for ages until we were days from exchange in September and they sent a snooty email one weekend saying they had just changed their minds. I offered a price reduction and even my vendor (I was buying direct from a developer) offered to pass money down the chain but buyers said no that wasn’t it.

So I went back on the market a month ago and as the market has changed I dropped the price down to the amount I originally paid for the house in June 2019. In the last month I’ve had over 20 viewings including 2 second viewings but no offers and not much useful feedback from my agent.

I’ve relocated outside London for work/my sons school so staying in an Airbnb in new city (as originally though we were about to exchange) and as a single parent my funds are limited so really need to sell/buy asap. (The flat I was trying to buy is still on the market so would love to get back in the running for it if I can find new buyers quickly)

Came back to the house in London for half term and while here had a few other agents out to visit who of course claim if I switch to them they will magic up the right buyer in a few weeks. But is it actually worth switching and if so how do I choose which one? Can another agent really do a better job if I’m on rightmove and all the other portals anyway specially as we’re coming up to the traditionally quiet phase over xmas?

Your agent has got you 20 viewings in a month so they are doing something right. All they are doing wrong is not giving you as much useful feedback as they could.

I think you should stick with them and with the number of viewings you’re getting, I’m sure you will get an offer before too long. It’s just a waiting game, try not to let it stress you out too much. Easier said than done, I’m sure.

I don't really think so. Data shows that switching agent can decrease your likelihood of selling by something like 30-50%. Excuse me if I can't produce the exact figure; it's from a weekly video produced by an industry chap who does a weekly stats show for EAs.

I think unique properties always take longer to sell than cookie cutter houses because people love them, but have to talk themselves into buying them because of the 'but how can we' and 'what if' questions.

If it's a diamond in the rough, buyers may also be considering resale value, and that could be holding you back in a falling market.

I would say your EA could do better job of vetting viewers. If your buyers gave them an agreement in principle showing they could borrow up to, for example, 650k and your house is for sale at 600k, you should assume the actual amount might be more like 400k, because the 650k has to meet every single set of lending criteria. There are also an awful lot of people out there who think they can borrow far more than they actually can, because they last got an online quote six months ago.

Agreement in Principle - I am referring to the generic ones you can get generated instanly by an online broker. However, if a buyer produces a decision in principle which is produced by a lender (that can also be done via a broker who plugs the info into the lenders systems), some of that initial advanced affordability criteria will have already been done. So, if they have a DIP from July, it should be taken less seriously than a more recent one, because lending criteria change from month to month.

NB: sometimes, they are called the same bleeding thing!!

Agents should also be checking proceedability. If they say they have sold their house, where is the proof? If they say they are living in a rental, where is the lease showing one month's notice? If they say they have no chain, does the EA have proof or believe them?

The EA needs to handle your future buyers as though you are about to hand over your firstborn, and it sounds as though they are letting any old Joe through the door who claims to be Mary Poppins.

Serious buyers should not mind being asked to provide proof.

If there are any major weird quirks the house doesn't show or describe on the ad, the EA should be warning them during their enquiry call. I know someone buying at the moment who was warned by the EA 'it is cheap but you should be aware, you are going to have to sort out the electrics.'

It's unorthodox, but they priced up all the work before they even got through the door, and how their offer has been accepted.

Thanks - useful to hear others opinions. It’s so easy to be swayed by glossy salesmen promising to find me a buyer asap when I’m so desperate to get my own place in our new location. Think I need to keep a level head and just be a little more patient

Sorry to hear of your situation @FrustratedHouseSeller. Twenty viewings sounds positive. What have you had regarding feedback? Your house sounds amazing, but this is a tough old market. People get super fussy in difficult downturns.

If I were you, get a few people you know and trust to come and view the house. Get them to be super honest about why they wouldn't buy it, and why they would. Take all emotion out of it and see what you can do about addressing any niggles. It might be as simple as turning a bedroom being used as a study into a staged bedroom... You can always privately message me, if you like, and I'll try and offer my thoughts!

I shouldn't think that changing agent will really make a difference UNLESS there is one who regularly sells houses "off market" before they hit rightmove.

There is one local to me that does that - they do instagram sneak peeks each Monday and tell you about houses they have coming up. They will then allow a weekend of discretionary viewings and will allow offers to be made during that time. So many of the houses they sell are SSTC before they hit Rightmove. In the height of the frenzy I lived for those sneak peeks to try and get to a house before the mass market! Didn't help, we were always outbid.

Anyway, unless there's an agent offering something different (like that) then I wouldn't bother changing.

As PP have said, see if you can get some more useful info from your EA. Clarify with them what information they take from potential viewers to ensure you didn't have 20 viewings by timewasters who weren't proceedable.

I think that’s right @FrustratedHouseSeller - other EAs will promise the world but can’t deliver any more than your current agent in terms of viewings. Nearly everyone uses Rightmove anyway. What you could do is be more forceful with your current agent about getting more useful feedback.

Have you thought about The Modern House - a bit of a different approach to high street agents.

Omg, that's my afternoon gone - every time I go on their website I get sucked into a property porn vortex...

I know, I love their properties

@DepartureLounge I actually had their appraiser round earlier this week! She said the house was great but given the time my house has been on the market, the price reductions and the high level of interest I've had she didn’t think there was much more they could do to help me sell in the time frame I need, specially considering their fees are likely to be higher than my current agent. I certainly didn’t expect that after all the aggressive sales people I’d spoken to from other agents

@MillTree thats a very good idea about getting people I know to come round and be objective. My close friends who know my house well say they think the house is lovely but the area isn’t (they’ve all chosen much nicer London suburbs as home) or it’s just so unique it’s only appealing to a smaller set of buyers. I’ve also been told very sternly by them not to pick a quirky place for my onward purchase!!

Everything sells at a particular price point. Seen so many threads on here where there people say they can't sell, they post a link and there is nothing wrong with the listing, just that it's priced too high.

You have had a decent number of viewings so it's not as if the appeal is that niche. Although maybe a lot of the viewers are simply property tourists, just wanting a nose inside?

If it's in London and its a 4 bed detached the price is going to be high, and it costs substantially more for a buyer today than it did in 2019. For instance using crude maths someone with a £500k mortgage now pays £30k of interest a year (assuming 6%), but if they had 1% it was £5k.

If you need to sell ASAP then price is the way. The previous paid price is irrelevant now, the market doesn't care about that. More relevant is the price of other properties. Even if there is nothing like it, what kind of things would potential purchasers go for in above and below price brackets.

Great advice, use PropertyLog to see the price changes on other properties and use an online mortgage calculator to see how much your target audience would have to pay a month and price accordingly.

Does it have a 360 walk through online? Or a not crap video? Because those have saved me from a lot of appointments that would have wasted people's time.

My favourites are the 360 where I can spin to look at ceilings, all angles of the room, etc.