Trying to sell!

[andrea81]

Just thought I'd ask if there are any tips on selling your house. So far my house has been up since beginning of January and have had pictures taken and the normal formality the estate agents do... blah blah.... But the market is sooo slow.

I sometimes think that the estate agents don't do much to help (I've only had 2 viewings) and I think that the pictures they took arn't really all that good and don't do my house justice!

I'm only with one estate agents at the moment and think the contract says they have to be the sole agents for 4 months!

Ahhh.... any good tips? (not sold before!)

[Theakstone]

To be honest, I dont think estate agents are worth thier commission. I would hassle them and ask about where your proprty is being advertised, (local paper, shop window or internet?) Be pushy and ask for more exposure. If you are not happy with the photos, tell them you want them to be taken again. You are paying a massive fee to them so demand a better service! When i tried to sell my flat i found out the estate agents office did not have an answerphone and many potential buyers were unable to leave a message when the office was busy losing me a potential buyer!! The only thing you can do is make a real pain of yourself and they will be forced to step it up a bit just to get rid of you!! Finally failing all else, take it off the market wait 12 weeks (or whatever they stipulate in thier contract) and sell it yourself on line. Make up an easy to read board and take your own pictures. Best of luck !

[andrea81]

Cheers, it's such a pain selling and I think I have to make a pin of myself as you said!

I just took a look at the fees again and I think their �1800 fee is insentive enough to get on their backs!!!!!

[meglet]

Is your property on www.rightmove.co.uk? Most agents have their properties on there and that is where most people look these days. It saves the estate agents a fortune in printing and postage costs as well (don't see them reducing their fees though do you?)

4 months is a bit long, best you read the small print next time :-) I would suggest you serve them notice now to expire at the of the contract so they know that if they don't sell your property in that time they'll have no commission. In my experience this has managed to chivvy them up a bit.

I agree with Theakstone too, get them to redo the photos if you're not happy.

[Twenty20]

As said above, 4 months is too long really, you should have negotiated a shorter contract, perhaps 2 months. If you went in to an estate agents as a potential buyer and they handed you details on a property that had been on their books for 4 months you'd probably wonder what was wrong with it.

You can still sell it privately even if youre with an agent, its only if you instruct another agent that the commission will go through the roof. Try putting it on something like propertyladder.co.uk. You can upload your own pictures and they'll send you a board to put up for a total fee of about �200.

Are other properties in the area selling? Would you consider reducing the price to stimulate interest? I think the market is flat at the moment though, no matter what the agents say.

[flyciderman]

Have a good chat with your agent and see if you can work with them, ask them about theprice, the local market and could you do somthing to get a sale.

But the house prices are falling in most of the contry, other may tell you that this is not true but I would suggest that they are not reading the papers

[andrea81]

Hi all, thanks for your posts. After signing my contact with the estate agents, I spoke to some other people who sayd that 4 months was too long. I think they might have taken advantage of the fact that I have never done it before!

The property is on rightmove.com, I just checked, cheers!

Yes I do think that new photos will be necessary, i'll have to bottle up some courage and go down there fact to face!

I think that the market is quite flat as no-where is sellign at the moment and we have been very realistic with our house price as we took a look at other prices and have gone a little below those others in the street.

Problem is, everyone is in the same boat and I bet no-one is making an offer as they are waiting to sell theirs (frustrates me as we could be all waiting on one move!)

[My Angel Pie]

OK my tips.... mystery shop your agent.... OK ring up say you are looking for house in such and such an area, your budget and rooms etc, see if they talk about your property, if they don't match it to your supposed needs you have a problem, they are not thinking about your property. If they do mention it what do they say?? does it sound exciting to potentail customers...i did this once when we had a 'gem' of a cottage and i was able to go back to my agents 10 mins after my mystery shopper call and point out where they needed to improve bigtime! I'm in sales by the way - can you tell!! Also i always prefer to do my own veiwing that the agent lines up, they never talk about all the postives that you could do, also if the veiwing is without the agent have some friends there at the time as if they are also veiwing the property it just breeds a competitive edge!

[annie0000]

I agree with what has been said here -
1. Get them to do new photos
2. hassel them constantly but politely
3. Advertise it yourself - you will have to pay them their marketing costs, but you don't need to give them the fee if you found your own purchaser
4. make sure that your house is presented at its best at all times. I once sold a flat to a guy that was passing and saw the for sale sign and I was able to show it to him straight away.
5. Spread the word yourself among friends, family and colleagues - you could offer to take a grand of the price if they don't go through the agent.
6. Are there smaller houses than yours on the same estate? - somebody may be looking to move up a level. Offer them the same discount - put a leaflet through their door.

[Batterseadog]

Always have a board up, people do drive around looking at streets and the board really does work. Neighbours that want to know how much your house is will find out soon enough anyway.
Be completely honest, and take a hard look at your property. Is it clean, clutter free, no weeds, nice hanging basket or flower pots. Sparkling windows, shiny door, knocker, working bell. Smells nice on stepping inside, no dogs or cats and litter trays, food bowls.
Take away all excess furniture, photos, mats and general clutter. Nice bowl of fruit or flowers. Make it look huge by removing unnecessary and don't just stuff things into cupboards. People like to look in them to see if there is room for their stuff. You are moving anyway so its a good time to have a good sort out and start packing up knickknacks. Is your bathroom completely spotless and almost hotel like with gorgeous fluffy towels and all colour co-ordinated. Clear stuff from under beds and above wardrobes, spotless, chrisp bedding and grotty robes removed from backs of doors. If you want your place to be attractive to buyers, you have to make it attractive and somewhere that people come in and imagine themselves living there. Be brutally honest about it and even ask friends/neighbours and even the agent to be frank with you. If you have done all this then possibly your asking price is too high. We all do it, think our own home is worth a fortune and want to snap someone elses home at a bargain price. Call the agent after any viewing and ask what the clients said about the place, that means the insults. Don't be offended, learn from it, put it right and move on to the next client. Good luck, like to hear how you get on