After over a year on the market, the sale on my "old" property has fallen through again, for the second time. First time it was due to the buyers solicitors not having a clue and the process getting so crazy I withdrew after 5 months and this time it's due to the buyers having beena little colourful regarding their employment situations and basically not being able to get a mortgage when the truth came out (both on temp contracts which were always "almost" permanent...) and I am getting pretty desperate now as I am moving abroad in less than two weeks!
I obviously know I'm not likely to get a successful sale any time soon and much as it pains me to I can afford to maintain the property for another few months but my question really is about the Estate Agents. Not wanting to tar all with the same brush (waiting for the attack by the EA forumees here!) but they haven't been great and now that I'm moving I'm debating my best course of action. They're pretty unhelpful most of the time and I don't feel they're actively marketing the property (it's not in the window and I don't live in the same area so can't find out if it's in their property newspaper thingy). There has been one viewing in the month since it's been back on the market. It's well within FTB reach and is in move in condition so I would have hoped for a little more interest than that, and when I ask why no-one else has been shown round I'm told it's a "quiet time" for sales.
Do you think I should go in for a meeting with them and lay it on the line? Or is this how they all act and I should put up with it?!
Is it on their website? Is it on sites like RightMove? Are the photos good?
Would you like to post the link to it so that we can have a look and make suggestions on how it's being marketed? (But if you're going to be leaving the house empty soon, it may not be a good idea to do this!)
It is on Rightmove, the photos are ok (I took them - theirs were awful) and it was on with a previous agent who found the first buyer.....so after that fiasco I moved it to the new one who found the serial tempworker buyers.
I'm not saying it's the agents fault (I know these things happen) but I don't think they are that bothered about selling it (it's the cheapest on their books) and I really really really need the cash from it.
Maybe you should try joint marketing. My next door neighbour who's a property developer swears by it. Says the competition between the agents really gets them going. He told me that sometimes he promises a personal bonus to the individual ea who finds the buyer. On the other hand, I do believe that things are probably quite quiet. Good luck. It must be such a worry.
I was just thinking 'auction' too, probably because I watched House Auction for the first time last night. There was a ready-to-move-into house on it (guy needed the money out quickly). It didn't sell, but only because he set the reserve unrealistically high.
If your really desperate for the Money than it has to be an Auction. You will probably achieve somewhere around your price but don't forget there is a higher % charge on the final sale price and also an entry fee of £3-400 in most Auction rooms. Any Pictures Tater Tot?
I really feel for you Tater Tot - we have had 5 sales fall through & are still awaiting that elusive buyer. I was going to change agents, but as soon as I mentioned this to my EA, they pulled their socks up & we had 5 viewings last week. So maybe meeting your EA & threatening to change agents might do the trick?
ouch. feel for you - three sales fallen through in 1 year for me, 2 for same reasons as this one for you (not enough cash). I changed agents after sale number one fell through slowly and painfully. The second agent reached the conclusion that the sale couldn't proceed much more quickly than the first agent.
What you need is an ea who sends suitable viewers AND follows up offers competently. Josie - were all your 5 viewers 'suitable' - one of our ea's was sending any old person round. Overall, given the stress, I'd rather have quality than quantity.
Good luck all - someone on here recently completed who had experienced similar problems so let's hope it happens for all of us too.
A key job the EA should be doing for you is to vet the quality of the buyer and to keep pushing the sale through. If they have let it run on a year with such a poor quality buyer and no action I would recommend moving to another EA.
The way we found our EA was to look at whose boards were most prevalent in our area and then interview them all (four of them in our case). We had already collected details of other houses from them to check out the quality of the details and checked out their websites. When they visited we asked them all our questions and picked the one with the best answers, who was prepared to listen to us and who we got on with best.
I then took an active part in pushing the sale through. If waiting on something to happen I made sure I knew exactly what and the time scale. If it didn't happen in the expected time I was on the phone to the EA and email to my solicitor to find out why. As I couldn't phone my buyers solicitor, if I felt the delay was with them I asked the EA to phone and find out why the delay. In the end the EA should be working with you but they need prodding although not to the point where you are pestering them too often without good reason.
Small note on price as you mention yours is an FTB property. Are you just above 120K if so consider a drop the avoid the stamp duty.
We've got quite a strict deadline on selling our flat (still waiting for an offer though!) and I hadn't thought about an auction til I read this post. What's the score though - would perspective buyers come round first to view it? Also is it true that a buyer would need to be able to complete within quite a small timeframe? As its a leasehold flat how would this affect the sale - would this need to be inspected before the flat went under the hammer? Thanks in advance for any advice.
From watching Homes Under the Hammer I can tell you that:
Yes you do sometimes get viewings beforehand, although then again some buyers just look at the details in the catalogue and never visit beforehand. Some buyers are more thorough and even get surveys done I believe. Don't know about the leasehold issue.
After the hammer comes down, the buyer has to complete within a certain period - I believe it's 2 weeks. There have been buyers on HUTH who failed to do that and they forfeited their deposit (from memory they have to put down 10% on the day at the auction).
You can put a 'reserve price' on the property, so that if it doesn't reach a certain figure it doesn't sell, to avoid you selling for less than you wish - but then again, don't set it too high if you want to get rid of it!
