Estate Agents? (1 Viewer)

[EuroTrotters]

Hi

So, could you offer some advice please?.

We are not new to this have done it before, the buying and selling of houses.

So, we have had estate agents around to value a house. Local and Purple Bricks etc. Now, to me, its just an internet exercise for the agents these days. They load up zoopla or right move, see when the others are selling or have sold for and suggest a price!?. No consideration for anything else

So, lets say house:

A: Detached, Large Driveway for 6 cars plus garage, workshop, not over looked, private drive, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, kitchen and large office. Large plot with space to extend to rear and side of property. Bathroom and kitchen a bit dated. £550,000

B: Same style house as above, Detached, limited parking, no garage or workshop, smaller plot, over looked not private. But more modern interior in most rooms.£595,000

C: Much smaller semi detached house, same area as above. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen/diner with small lounge. Limited parking on a main road with a bus stop directly outside the house (have to have the blinds closed to prevent people looking in from the busses). Tiny rear garden £470,000

I understand valuers will be strict with mortgage lenders restrictions. But I just do not understand their methods of valuation.

Any recommendations please? Suggestions?

TM

 

[Hollyberry]

If you are selling look at Get Agent. Free to use. They give you a breakdown of agents local to you, percentage of asking price achieved, no of weeks to sell etc... https://www.getagent.co.uk/
I used them to choose an agent. Sold my house in 5 days for the price I wanted, 1% commission.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Hi

So, could you offer some advice please?.

We are not new to this have done it before, the buying and selling of houses.

So, we have had estate agents around to value a house. Local and Purple Bricks etc. Now, to me, its just an internet exercise for the agents these days. They load up zoopla or right move, see when the others are selling or have sold for and suggest a price!?. No consideration for anything else

So, lets say house:

A: Detached, Large Driveway for 6 cars plus garage, workshop, not over looked, private drive, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, kitchen and large office. Large plot with space to extend to rear and side of property. Bathroom and kitchen a bit dated. £550,000

B: Same style house as above, Detached, limited parking, no garage or workshop, smaller plot, over looked not private. But more modern interior in most rooms.£595,000

C: Much smaller semi detached house, same area as above. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen/diner with small lounge. Limited parking on a main road with a bus stop directly outside the house (have to have the blinds closed to prevent people looking in from the busses). Tiny rear garden £470,000

I understand valuers will be strict with mortgage lenders restrictions. But I just do not understand their methods of valuation.

Any recommendations please? Suggestions?

TM

They tell you want you want to hear to get the listing, then they use ”lancelot” and “set of balls 4” to verify the number, and check the land registry site (free to everyone) to see when it or the neighbour sold and for how much
Then charge a fortune

heres a trick, search rightmove yourself for your postcode, + 1 mile, and “include” sold,subject to contract filter
Then see which agent has most agreed sales
Not overly scientific, but a good starting point

Remember an agent who values your house at 50k more than it is actually worth is NOT a better agent

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[Grianan]

E

Hi

So, could you offer some advice please?.

We are not new to this have done it before, the buying and selling of houses.

So, we have had estate agents around to value a house. Local and Purple Bricks etc. Now, to me, its just an internet exercise for the agents these days. They load up zoopla or right move, see when the others are selling or have sold for and suggest a price!?. No consideration for anything else

So, lets say house:

A: Detached, Large Driveway for 6 cars plus garage, workshop, not over looked, private drive, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, kitchen and large office. Large plot with space to extend to rear and side of property. Bathroom and kitchen a bit dated. £550,000

B: Same style house as above, Detached, limited parking, no garage or workshop, smaller plot, over looked not private. But more modern interior in most rooms.£595,000

C: Much smaller semi detached house, same area as above. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen/diner with small lounge. Limited parking on a main road with a bus stop directly outside the house (have to have the blinds closed to prevent people looking in from the busses). Tiny rear garden £470,000

I understand valuers will be strict with mortgage lenders restrictions. But I just do not understand their methods of valuation.

Any recommendations please? Suggestions?

TM

When we sold my mums house for her the agent we used explained that, regardless of asking price, undeveloped houses on her street all actually achieved a similar price ... then took us through examples to prove it. He convinced me he knew his stuff.
He put the house on the market and after the first couple of offers were in went to best and final. There were 8 offers and he worked hugely hard to get the right one for us and to keep the buyer on track.
He made a hefty commission but made my mum even more ...

I see you’re Manchester ... my mum was in Hale Barns and used Waterson in Hale.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Please don't confuse asking prices with actual sale values. The former can be very wide of the mark and unrealistic expectations of sellers who have suffered a lot of hype and influenced by ambitious agents saying whatever is necessary to get something on their books and they'll then be prepared to eat humble pie to reduce a price later so they still get their commision. Look at the actual sales figures recorded by Land Registry often shown on the websites a few months after completion. Even those actual sales can have variance as you don't know how long the sale took to complete, you can't identify the true condition of the property or circumstances of buyer and seller. Residential property value can be very subjective influenced by many factors of precise location, condition, size, percieved potential, and sometimes buyers do pay too much simply to secure the house of their dreams.

 

[Odd job]

I don't like estate agents but the slimy b@stard who sold our last house got us more than we expected, even after commission

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[Brains]

Ask for a 'red book' valuation.
This is the IHT price expected for the property.

To use your house example above.

A: Detached, Large Driveway for 6 cars plus garage, workshop, not over looked, private drive, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, kitchen and large office. Large plot with space to extend to rear and side of property. Bathroom and kitchen a bit dated. £550,000

Couple with kids running a taxi company who were woking every hour of the day to try move up the ladder

B: Same style house as above, Detached, limited parking, no garage or workshop, smaller plot, over looked not private. But more modern interior in most rooms.£595,000

Couple with no kids, she is a lawyer, he is a banker, they have the option of the cheaper bank mortgage

C: Much smaller semi detached house, same area as above. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen/diner with small lounge. Limited parking on a main road with a bus stop directly outside the house (have to have the blinds closed to prevent people looking in from the busses). Tiny rear garden £470,000

Buy to Let buyer, looking for a "pied a tierre" for his mistress

 

[Mick and Ruth]

My dad was selling his farm in Northern Ireland and got a price from a local auctioneer who he knew and went to school with. He was charging .75% commission. I was suspicious of his low valuation price so I rang him and told him if he got another 50k I would give him and extra .25% and if he got us an extra 100k I would give him 1.25% total for his services. Guess what? Mysteriously he managed to get the extra 100k target for the sale. Since then I’ve got estate agents to agree that I would only pay their full commission fee if they sold the house within 4 weeks or the fees would be .25% less if it took longer, this puts their boast to sell the house to the test . The two times I’ve done this the houses were sold within a couple of weeks. Good luck

 

[maison]

When we sold our last house we wanted to sell quickly as we had found a house to move to.

The Estate Agent was up front with us that he didn’t know what our house was likely to be worth on the open market. It was in a village of 23 houses, all different. The last house to come on the market was ours, when we had bought it 28 years before. There were no shops etc nearby and no public transport. On the other hand the village had won the “Best Kept Village” award the previous year and was very attractive.

We told him how much we needed and he said he would see what he could do. He put the house on the Internet with a view to arranging viewings. We expected it to go “live” on the Saturday.

We had booked to go away in the motorhome for the weekend so left on the Friday morning. Around lunchtime we received a text to say that it had gone live at 1100hrs Friday. During the afternoon we received 8 further texts saying he had interested buyers and he was holding “open house” on the Saturday. By 1600hrs on the Saturday we had 4 offers at the selling price. On his advice we moved to “final offers” by the following Friday, and accepted an offer of £30k more than our asking price.

The house was immaculate and ready for occupation so a relatively easy sell, and we may have undervalued it in the first place but we were happy with the final result and that is what really counts.

We felt that the Estate Agent had done a good job on our behalf.

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[John Barrett]

When Stirling Moss was asked why he was such a good racing driver he replied that he had a talent for it. He added that if he had no talent he would be either a Member of Parliament or an Estate Agent...
John

 

[Silver-Fox]

We’re just in the process of selling and buying.

The CV jobbie didn’t help us any but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

The one we’re looking to buy needs serious work doing to it.
Unfortunately it was over valued to start with.
This is born out by it being on the market for a long time and only received one Offer even after lots of viewings well below asking price.

Agents look at previous prices and then guess what to ask.

If you have lots of viewings and lots of offers it may raise the price, it’s priced right or a little low.

If you have a couple of viewings and no offers it’s over valued.

Good luck

 

[TinaLes]

I agree with all of the above, the asking price is NOT the price you can in most cases expect to receive unless the market is very buoyant, because of a pending deadline of say an increase in Stamp Duty or similar.
I have no idea of what the market is truly like today, during this corona virus episodic, with many losing jobs, rumours of high inflation, and the effect that will have etc.
Once an acceptable is made however, do not take it off the open market, until you have had a visit from the prospective buyers valuation surveyor!.You will be under a lot of pressure maybe from the estate agent to put their under offer sign up but DONT let them until the valuation surveyor has been and agreed the property valuation.
Why you may ask, well its because its the final tick in the box before the lender approves the mortgage to your prospective buyers, thats after the initial credit searches, proof of income & deposit have been done.
We learned this the hard way on trying to sell a buy to let flat, we had many offers but only accepted 4 offers over 2 years of marketing the house, 2 of which didn't have their mortgage promise subject to valuation (Estate agent lied so they were sacked) the 3rd decided to continue renting on the day of contract exchange, and the 4th lender reduced the amount they were prepared to lend as the previous week Mark Carney had predicted a 10/20% fall in house prices over the coming year
The same valuation surveyor that had appeared before, came round although he knew the flat inside out, and down valued the agreed offer price by a further 15K.
Needless to say we still own the damn thing, lost 2 years rental income, and its now re-let until we can build up the stamina to re-market it.
Good luck, buying something as always is much easier than selling something, unless you have luck on your side.
LES

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[Peg Star]

If feasible, think about upgrading / renewing bathrooms & kitchen? Maybe modernise decor, spend £30k earn extra £75k (maybe?!) Bet there are some deals about at the moment!

Plus from experience, put it on the market for what you believe it’s worth. Many years ago I was selling my much loved end of terrace early 1900’s cottage, the estate agent said £120,000 to get £118,000 or advertise at £115,000 for quick sale. I thought bugger that, told them to put it on at £130,000 (stamp duty bracket was £125,000). First person round offered £125,000 and even had folks knocking at the door wanting to view or be contacted if sale fell through!! If someone sees your house for what it actually is in comparison to the others they will pay more. You can always come down in price, rarely go up though previous ‘maison’ has proved it can happen!! Isn’t ‘maison’ French for house?!
(Sorry not learnt how to highlight other funsters names from previous comments)

 

[steve 6644]

We are rapidly approaching the time when constuction method will imapct house values, The crap they build today will plummet and the brick and block era will be valued much higher I think.

 

[Gaston aires]

Our neighbour used Purple bricks. He so wished he hadn’t, useless to say the least, his words. After his experience I wouldn’t use them.
Phil

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[TinaLes]

Our neighbour used Purple bricks. He so wished he hadn’t, useless to say the least, his words. After his experience I wouldn’t use them.
Phil

That's the detail we need , surely we already know that you "normally" only get what you pay for, but I dont know having never used them, the difference between online estate agents, and high street ones.
Like many I guess, I see more & more Purple Bricks for sale signs than ever before, but never hear the story of how good or bad they are?
I also know that the online ones require an upfront fee to market having NOT sold, maybe that puts people off, again I dont know.
So if anyone knows, or can give a personal experience, please spill the beans.
Thanks
LES

 

[John.]

Are viewings allowed at the moment ?

 

[big map]

My daughter put her flat on the market with purple bricks and wishes she hadn't so much so she is thinking of buying herself out of the contract.

Are viewings allowed at the moment ?

Yes.

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[34127]

I have recently been through the process of selling and buying a house. There was one state agent that always suggested a higher price than other agents just to suck the customer in and get the business, and then after a period of about 4-6 weeks when there has been no or little interest in the property they suggest lowering the price to be similar to what other agents originally suggested. You need to look around at what similar properties are actually selling at and sold prices can easily be checked online.
On two occasions I enquired to purple bricks about properties they were advertising. On one of the properties I was told to get in touch with the seller direct and on the the other property I didn't receive a reply. There seems to be no incentive for Purple bricks to achieve a sale as you pay up front and get their commission even if the property doesn't sell.
An independant local estate agent who has been in the area for a while will know the local market and should provide a better service.

 

[John Barrett]

My chum used a local agent recently to sell his detached house in Bitterne. They organised a Saturday viewing, with appointments, and Jez received four offers on the day, at or above the asking price, which, by the way, was ten per cent more that he thought he'd get!

 

[34127]

Our neighbour used Purple bricks. He so wished he hadn’t, useless to say the least, his words. After his experience I wouldn’t use them.
Phil

My experience in trying to buy through Purple Bricks has not been good and have heard others complaining about their lack of effort once they have won the business of selling the property. No doubt some will have had a good experience but overall opinion doesn't seem to be good.

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[The Dotties]

We’re just in the process of selling and buying.

The CV jobbie didn’t help us any but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

The one we’re looking to buy needs serious work doing to it.
Unfortunately it was over valued to start with.
This is born out by it being on the market for a long time and only received one Offer even after lots of viewings well below asking price.

Agents look at previous prices and then guess what to ask.

If you have lots of viewings and lots of offers it may raise the price, it’s priced right or a little low.

If you have a couple of viewings and no offers it’s over valued.

Good luck

Where are you sneaking off to??
Dont forget, there is no hiding place

 

[Ernesto]

Worth remembering the housing market is not "normal" right now. With the financial fallout just starting to really getting going, who knows what the "market" price is right now? Whatever it is is, I bet its way lower than most sellers expect .....

 

[Rosemary1]

My experience in trying to buy through Purple Bricks has not been good and have heard others complaining about their lack of effort once they have won the business of selling the property. No doubt some will have had a good experience but overall opinion doesn't seem to be good.

We were looking at a house being sold by Purple Bricks. It was a call centre we spoke to who couldn’t answer any of the questions about the property, anyway we booked a viewing - liked it and tried to book a 2nd viewing. They were unable to get hold of the sellers for a visit twice - fair enough so took my details to contact us when they could to arrange. Nothing - in the meantime we had a 2nd viewing with another property and put an offer in on that.

I wonder if the sellers actually ever knew someone was interested in their house?

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[Tigertom]

Haha, and I thought it was a motorhome forum.

 

[Spriddler]

Worth remembering the housing market is not "normal" right now. With the financial fallout just starting to really getting going, who knows what the "market" price is right now? Whatever it is is, I bet its way lower than most sellers expect .....

However, if one is buying another home the same caution/opportunity applies, unless there is exposure to a negative equity situation.
Selling a rental property would be different if it was the sale of a capital asset without another purchase.

 

[Silver-Fox]

That's the detail we need , surely we already know that you "normally" only get what you pay for, but I dont know having never used them, the difference between online estate agents, and high street ones.
Like many I guess, I see more & more Purple Bricks for sale signs than ever before, but never hear the story of how good or bad they are?
I also know that the online ones require an upfront fee to market having NOT sold, maybe that puts people off, again I dont know.
So if anyone knows, or can give a personal experience, please spill the beans.
Thanks
LES

You have a choice to pay up front or not.
If you don’t pay your tied into their conveyancing.

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[Silver-Fox]

Where are you sneaking off to??
Dont forget, there is no hiding place

Will stay in Cheltenham as it’s far enough from you not to bother me

Theresa is obviously welcome any time

Still be close enough to sort out your diy

 

[TinaLes]

Remember we used to see properties for sale by owner in the local rags?, well I haven't looked at a local rag in years, since they stopped producing free ones every week, and stuffing through our letterbox.
I wonder if they were successful?, or whether it just highlighted to the local estate agents that there was a property to heavily letter drop and get signed up?
How things change eh?
LES

 

[thebriars]

Haha, and I thought it was a motorhome forum.

Whatever gave you that idea?

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