House went on market last week of April and agent suggested a reduction today

[Housepriceq]

Our house went on the market in the last week of April. We based it on the price suggested by the agent. The agent had also marketed a similar property which went under offer in under three weeks at a similar asking price, with owners accepting a reduced asking price from the buyer in ballpark of what we would also be happy to accept.
It looks a bit rubbish for houses to be reduced, although I know many of them are. I just think one week is a bit soon. I’d rather they took house off market and put it back on in a few days as a new property with a lower price! Are they able to do that? Has anyone got experience with being advised to reduce so quickly? I also thought it was a slow market at the moment.

I think it could be to do with the fact that the market is so scarce lately that many properties are selling within hours-days (my mum’s house for example, sold within 2 hours of going on the market!).
Perhaps properties just like yours but priced cheaper?
It’s been a seller’s market for a long time although having said that, I have noticed a fair amount of properties selling a day or two after having been reduced lately. Especially in the past month.

"Hi Tarquin - given the house only went on the market last week, please can you advise me of the benefit of reducing the price (which you advised as a marketable rate) a matter of days later please?"

To be relisted as a new property on rightmove you have to have a gap of 3 or 4 months not on rightmove.

It’s hard to know what to do. Reducing the price might get more interest, but a week does feel very early to do that.

They played the old estate agent’s trick of overvaluing the house to get the business, Even in a profession not known for its ethics, asking you to reduce after one week is pretty blatant!

I would take them off the sale for that and appoint a better and more honourable agent.

Have you had any viewings?

Houses are hanging around for months and some for years here, so it’s definitely a buyers market. I’ve also noticed fewer sale boards, so I think people are either waiting until the market changes, if they don’t have to move, or extending and remodelling rather than move. Trades people seem to be very busy which would indicate that homeowners are doing work rather than move.

I think a week to ten days is too soon to reduce, but it depends too, on whether there’s been any interest.

I wouldn't reduce after a week. People can always offer under asking price

I wouldn't reduce after one week and I would actually put a rocket under your agent for suggesting it. Ask them if they actually know what they are doing because if not you'll wait out your contract and go elsewhere to sell it with a professional EA. Let them feel some heat.

Have you had any viewings? Has your agent said why they think it should be reduced?

100% this. And obviously I assumed his name was Tarquin. He could equally be called Wezza or T-Bone.

I wouldn’t reduce yet however have you had any viewings? Ours went on in November, had no viewings and a month later dropped the price. Had 2 viewings and gave our EA a months notice mid January as they were rubbish. Went on with an independent EA second half of Feb. Had close to 20 viewings since (something like 15 first viewings and 4/5 second viewings). We accepted an offer 2 weeks of being on the market which fell through a week later. We are still on at the price we reduced to in December. I thought we’d be sold by now tbh but we’re still getting viewings booking in so we’re not reducing further however if the viewings stop then we will.
We are finding people either want a house done to a very very very high standard or they want a renovation property. Ours is neither.

Also ask them what they’re doing to get viewings/interest. Our first EA couldn’t give me examples. Our current EA is big on social media and sends us updates regularly. They work for you, if you’re not happy with them then tell them!

Asking you to reduce after one week shows that know their original valuation was wrong. It’s a big red flag for them so I would be examining my contract to see how soon I could ditch them.

If you have received no viewings within a few weeks it’s time to reduce the price, not normally within a few days.

Ok, reading between the lines what could have happened here is the agent has had zero, or next to zero interest in your house. Normally in the first week or two of a new home coming to market you would get a flurry of interest from the pool of active buyers in the area (and there certainly will be a pool of people looking to buy). It seems your price point may have missed these buyers expectations completely. Either your agent, or possibly also yourself, haven't yet understood the rapid market changes. Unfortunately you may to need to make a significant reduction - and not just tinker around the edges.
Your right that it does look bad reducing so quickly. I would be tempted to either make a big reduction or remove it and remarket later in the year. The problem though is that there is a good chance that by later in the year interest rates and inflation will have increased - further softening values.
You also have to take some responsibility for this situation yourself - everyone is always very quick to blame the agent -but its your house and ultimately also your responsibility to try and accurately ascertain both its value and the direction of the market. I have no doubt that if your conversation with the agent initially was "at what price should we market to bring in competitive bids ?" rather than "we need as much as possible for it" then you would be in a better position to progress promptly.

Did you get a valuation from other estate agents?
How many viewings have you had?

There were three agents - we asked for realistic pricing. Two were in the same ballpark and one was much much higher. The agent we went with suggested a marketing price range (x to x plus £50,000). We chose x. Our first update was yesterday where they have said they’ve had no enquiries and to reduce it.

Sounds quite reasonable since there has berm zero interest but it's only a suggestion and your prerogative to set the asking price. Just tell the agent you want to leave x weeks before reducing. Good luck.

Forgot to say we didn’t go with the agent who gave the much much higher price.

As you did not go with the much higher price, I would definitely leave it for a couple more weeks at least before reducing. And ask them what they can do to try to generate more interest. I'm assuming it's on Rightmove?

It’s in rightmove etc.

The market is terrible at the moment. We had zero interest in ours until it was reduced by 5%. We've just had an offer at 6% below that!

We had 12 viewings in 2 weeks after we reduced it.

My tip to all who sell houses is always appoint at least two agents simultaneously.

The reality is that agents show their best buyers houses that they are in competition to sell. Why wouldn’t they? With sole agency, they know they will get your money eventually, so they can afford to wait. In competition, they could lose the business.

I would tend to use two agents: I think that they call it joint sole agency. The commission is a little more (but not much), and they will work a lot harder to sell your house

Are they actively marketing your property? Get one of your mates to register saying they’re looking for a property that makes your exact description and see if they offer your house as a viewing to this person?
If they’ve just whacked it on Rightmove to see what happens that is no good in this market

Strong disagree. It costs more, looks desperate and everyone just looks on Rightmove anyway.

@Twiglets1 ,

This is one AI answer:

‘Sole agency is often better if:

• Your property is in high demand or a desirable area
• You want a dedicated agent focused solely on your sale
• You prefer a single point of contact
• You value a more personal relationship with your agent

Multiple agency works better if:

• Your property is harder to shift or in a competitive market
• You want maximum exposure to multiple networks and buyer pools
• You're willing to manage relationships with several agents
• Speed of sale is your priority’

I think it does just depend a bit on the area, but my personal experience (selling several properties over many years) is that estate agents are much more motivated in competition with one another

Yeah I don't get the answers to important life choices from AI.