Ask an estate agent anything
Discussion
Mr_J said:
Am I being unreasonable?
We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
I wouldn't blame them at all at the moment, I imagine they'd only be wanting buyers who are in a position to go ahead with the sale immediately. I personally wouldn't even entertain the idea of somebody going to view our house if they weren't even on the market and/or sold yet. We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
cayman-black said:
Red9zero said:
My bad neighbour rant
No idea but for me this would be un-sellable! 
KTF said:
Fast Bug said:
a311 said:
We weren't willing to put our house up for sale until we had a offer accepted on another house.
Having sold our house earlier this year and waiting to exchange comtracts, I can honestly say I wouldn't entertain an offer from someone that doesn't have their house on the market yet. We had an offer from someone that hadn't sold that asked us to take our house off the market and we declined, it could be months before they sold their house which would put us in a weak position for putting an offer in on a property. In fact we didn't submit any offers until we had accepted an offer on our house 
During lockdown 1, agents round here were not even doing viewings unless you had an offer in your pocket. Don't know if that has changed now though but I suspect a lot of the 'timewasters' have been filtered out compared to pre-lockdown times.
I wouldn't have expected the seller to have taken it off the market if they'd excepted the offer we'd made. On the other side ot the coin we could have sold ours still had our best offer declined and have no where else to go as that type of house rarely comes on the local market.
Sorry everyone for slow replies... here we go...!
What you're looking for is what EVERYONE is looking for, and the people who live in those houses often don't have a compelling reason to move. Nearly all of my clients are leaving London to the burbs and looking for a house near to good schools etc.
You just need to be in every local agent's ear until the right thing comes along. I personally don't think that most stuff gets shifted off-market - it's just a rumour. From my position, unless my client especially wants to sell off-market, putting the property on the portals and running a full sales campaign will get the best result. Yes, I might get a hot buyer in early and if they make a compelling offer which my client accepts that's great, but more often than not we'll put the property online to get max exposure to buyers.
You might need to start putting notes through doors on roads you've identified as wanting to live in...
Good luck!
What worries me is of the two-three agents we've spoken to, none have passed on any info about 'forthcoming' houses, which I'd usually expect (given it's what, a week or two between instruction and listing?). Our requirements aren't unusually specific..
On latter point, depends if you're speaking with the negotiator or "valuer". Valuer is the "boss" and will win the new business; the neg speaks primarily with buyers so may not know the upcoming stock (though they should - just poor office management...).
Regarding insurance, this is a question I don't know the answer to, but really should. I actually got asked this on a valuation for the first time ever on Friday! It's organised at a company level. Thanks for bringing it up.
Ultimately reducing the fee is not really a way to build trust back, so I'm not surprised you switched agents!
Re: the garage conversion point - this is what I mean about poor buyer management. Ultimately, if you have taken 5-10 minutes to learn about what the buyer is really looking for, that conversation would never come up on the viewing, and it would instead be talking about access arrangements etc etc.
It's actually quite depressing reading this thread!
It's interesting you mention it being a one way business, as I was always conscious that I was receiving far more referrals than I was giving. Unfortunately it's the nature of the job. People who are selling their house nearly always appoint an agent without any reference to their solicitor, and in most cases we only got to know about the sale when the house was actually sold. We did have the odd probate sale or repo that we could steer to a specific agent, but unfortunately the agent who sent me most of my work only dealt with upmarket properties, and wouldn't have been too keen on selling a two up two down repo!
It was a really good relationship though, and it worked very well. Referral fees were never even mentioned, but it was a different era, when firms were run by local people, and professional relationships were based on mutual liking and trust rather than money. It was a sad day when the principal decided to call it a day and sold to a national firm that insisted on referral fees. I also know that most of the clients that were referred to the firms that paid referral fees would have received a far poorer service than we offered.
The problem with referral fees is that they have to come out of the solicitor's fee income, which means the solicitor is in effect getting a reduced fee for the same work. This has led to some extremely dodgy pricing practices in order to get the fee back up to where they want it. So the headline fee might be £1,000 + VAT, but the small print then kicks in, whereby the solicitors add on charges for all sorts of things that should be included in the basic fee. I even saw one firm that added a charge of £95 as a contribution to their professional indemnity premium!
Licensed conveyancers are even worse, as they appear to be more loosely regulated than solicitors - for example, they are allowed to act for both the buyer and the seller which seems mad to me. I recently had a friend who had been referred by the agents to a national firm of LC's and they showed me an 8 page list of charges for `extras' they'd been sent. The headline fee quoted by the agents ended up being nearly twice as much - it was a complete disgrace.
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to run this thread, it's been really interesting.No, we don't send any referrals to the one who doesn't pay fees. The other solicitors on our margin are very nearly as good (there will be no appreciable level in difference of service with customers, but are sometimes slightly slower to respond to me personally) so I can't justify missing out on £200 per referral. On the flipside, I don't actually refer to make the money primarily - I refer because the solicitors are good!
I do completely appreciate what you're saying about the relationship building and agreed it is a bit sad, but sometimes the commercial decision needs to be taken.
Agreed on LCs and I groan whenever a buyer or seller wants to use them!
Thanks for the engagement on the thread and sharing an interesting viewpoint!
I’ll wager he doesn’t get many referrals.Sorry again to see that - what a state. I don't do much lettings work so difficult for me to advise here.
2gins said:
I'm in the same area as you, OP. We're under offer and looking for the onward move. There's competition as ever, but very little coming on. It should be a hot market for what we want (garden/garage/schools) but there is nothing coming on the portals and when asked directly on the keep in touch phone calls, very little coming through the system generally. We've been advised our expectations are reasonable and what we want exists at our budget, and I think we're doing everything we can to find somewhere but it's very frustrating. There's just nothing out there - it's all £2m+ or £850k with no parking.
Why are people holding back from listing? Is this likely to change? I don't believe it's SDLT as you've said, 15k is small change at this level.
Also would you agree that the best properties never see RM etc, but sell through contact lists / hot buyer's lists, and thus everything on RM (generalising!) is the unsellable dross and the plum stuff goes under the radar?
Congrats on going under offer.Why are people holding back from listing? Is this likely to change? I don't believe it's SDLT as you've said, 15k is small change at this level.
Also would you agree that the best properties never see RM etc, but sell through contact lists / hot buyer's lists, and thus everything on RM (generalising!) is the unsellable dross and the plum stuff goes under the radar?
What you're looking for is what EVERYONE is looking for, and the people who live in those houses often don't have a compelling reason to move. Nearly all of my clients are leaving London to the burbs and looking for a house near to good schools etc.
You just need to be in every local agent's ear until the right thing comes along. I personally don't think that most stuff gets shifted off-market - it's just a rumour. From my position, unless my client especially wants to sell off-market, putting the property on the portals and running a full sales campaign will get the best result. Yes, I might get a hot buyer in early and if they make a compelling offer which my client accepts that's great, but more often than not we'll put the property online to get max exposure to buyers.
You might need to start putting notes through doors on roads you've identified as wanting to live in...
Good luck!
essayer said:
2gins said:
Also would you agree that the best properties never see RM etc, but sell through contact lists / hot buyer's lists, and thus everything on RM (generalising!) is the unsellable dross and the plum stuff goes under the radar?
Watching with interest as we are about to go on for a sideways move with what is a very saleable house but a very limited selection appearing on RMWhat worries me is of the two-three agents we've spoken to, none have passed on any info about 'forthcoming' houses, which I'd usually expect (given it's what, a week or two between instruction and listing?). Our requirements aren't unusually specific..
Timja said:
What sort of insurance cover do you have for theft during viewings and have you ever had problems?
When viewing houses I have been sometimes surprised how many agents after showing you round give you full access to wander round the house unaccompanied. I get that its more comfortable and as a buyer i appreciated the time to have a look around but felt that surely there is an element of society who use viewings to get easy access to peoples homes.
Tied into this insurance question is something we experienced when selling our last place. There was a viewing booked for 10am with agent showing them round, we were out all day and got home in the evening to discover they had not locked our front door when they left so had been unlocked all day!
We were livid, the agent apologised then said they had insurance which would cover if anything happened. We pointed out that not everything is replaceable. They said it was the 1st time it had ever happened but i dont believe them and must happen every so often - but what does your insurance cover.
We were not happy with how the agent reacted despite an offer to reduce fees so dropped them and changed agents as trust was gone.
I echo others comments regarding the lack of photos and dimensions of garages - this is one of my main interests viewing a house! - Even an external photo so you know if its a wide brick built modern insulated garage or narrow concrete and asbestos roof style etc.. When we were last looking agents said they hardly ever get asked about garages as most people just fill with junk! - On several viewings agents said about doing a garage conversion to get additional space as if that was a great idea - No, I want the garage for my car!
I can also echo the frustration of poorly informed agents / staff who do viewings. Majority of the time the people showing us around knew nothing about the house or sellers position. Was very frustrating and we much preferred the home owners showing us round. people doing viewings added little value to the sale, often just stating the obvious like 'this is the kitchen'.
Sorry about your bad experiences.When viewing houses I have been sometimes surprised how many agents after showing you round give you full access to wander round the house unaccompanied. I get that its more comfortable and as a buyer i appreciated the time to have a look around but felt that surely there is an element of society who use viewings to get easy access to peoples homes.
Tied into this insurance question is something we experienced when selling our last place. There was a viewing booked for 10am with agent showing them round, we were out all day and got home in the evening to discover they had not locked our front door when they left so had been unlocked all day!
We were livid, the agent apologised then said they had insurance which would cover if anything happened. We pointed out that not everything is replaceable. They said it was the 1st time it had ever happened but i dont believe them and must happen every so often - but what does your insurance cover.
We were not happy with how the agent reacted despite an offer to reduce fees so dropped them and changed agents as trust was gone.
I echo others comments regarding the lack of photos and dimensions of garages - this is one of my main interests viewing a house! - Even an external photo so you know if its a wide brick built modern insulated garage or narrow concrete and asbestos roof style etc.. When we were last looking agents said they hardly ever get asked about garages as most people just fill with junk! - On several viewings agents said about doing a garage conversion to get additional space as if that was a great idea - No, I want the garage for my car!
I can also echo the frustration of poorly informed agents / staff who do viewings. Majority of the time the people showing us around knew nothing about the house or sellers position. Was very frustrating and we much preferred the home owners showing us round. people doing viewings added little value to the sale, often just stating the obvious like 'this is the kitchen'.
Regarding insurance, this is a question I don't know the answer to, but really should. I actually got asked this on a valuation for the first time ever on Friday! It's organised at a company level. Thanks for bringing it up.
Ultimately reducing the fee is not really a way to build trust back, so I'm not surprised you switched agents!
Re: the garage conversion point - this is what I mean about poor buyer management. Ultimately, if you have taken 5-10 minutes to learn about what the buyer is really looking for, that conversation would never come up on the viewing, and it would instead be talking about access arrangements etc etc.
It's actually quite depressing reading this thread!
Pro Bono said:
22s said:
Very timely you mention conveyancers as we have literally just agreed a referral scheme with the ones I work with (one of which - who annoyingly is my favourite - has refused to pay).
So will you still be sending him any referrals? It's interesting you mention it being a one way business, as I was always conscious that I was receiving far more referrals than I was giving. Unfortunately it's the nature of the job. People who are selling their house nearly always appoint an agent without any reference to their solicitor, and in most cases we only got to know about the sale when the house was actually sold. We did have the odd probate sale or repo that we could steer to a specific agent, but unfortunately the agent who sent me most of my work only dealt with upmarket properties, and wouldn't have been too keen on selling a two up two down repo!
It was a really good relationship though, and it worked very well. Referral fees were never even mentioned, but it was a different era, when firms were run by local people, and professional relationships were based on mutual liking and trust rather than money. It was a sad day when the principal decided to call it a day and sold to a national firm that insisted on referral fees. I also know that most of the clients that were referred to the firms that paid referral fees would have received a far poorer service than we offered.
The problem with referral fees is that they have to come out of the solicitor's fee income, which means the solicitor is in effect getting a reduced fee for the same work. This has led to some extremely dodgy pricing practices in order to get the fee back up to where they want it. So the headline fee might be £1,000 + VAT, but the small print then kicks in, whereby the solicitors add on charges for all sorts of things that should be included in the basic fee. I even saw one firm that added a charge of £95 as a contribution to their professional indemnity premium!
Licensed conveyancers are even worse, as they appear to be more loosely regulated than solicitors - for example, they are allowed to act for both the buyer and the seller which seems mad to me. I recently had a friend who had been referred by the agents to a national firm of LC's and they showed me an 8 page list of charges for `extras' they'd been sent. The headline fee quoted by the agents ended up being nearly twice as much - it was a complete disgrace.
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to run this thread, it's been really interesting.
I do completely appreciate what you're saying about the relationship building and agreed it is a bit sad, but sometimes the commercial decision needs to be taken.
Agreed on LCs and I groan whenever a buyer or seller wants to use them!
Thanks for the engagement on the thread and sharing an interesting viewpoint!
105.4 said:
cayman-black said:
Well, i cant stop laughing!
We’re not quite so amused. This isn’t the worst of the Landlords ‘fixes’. He’s in the building trade himself. If this is what the work is like on his own home, can you imagine what the work is like at customers homes?I’ll wager he doesn’t get many referrals.
67Dino said:
I saw an ad for a new company called “Boomin” on TV the other night. Looks like Zoopla to me. Any insight into what this is and views on whether it will take off?
It's the Bruce Brothers' (PurpleBricks founders) new gig. They want to make an all encompassing new portal to "help agents maximise their income". It has some kind of interesting features, but they have their work cutout to topple Rightmove and Zoopla.They have actually put all of our agency's properties on their portal without asking, which is pretty disappointing.
Ultimately, the most interesting thing is that the Bruce Brothers spent several years trying to put agents out of business through PurpleBricks, and have now done a complete u-turn with Boomin and its messaging. Very ironic.
If I think long and hard about it, it wouldn't surprise me if they're doing a datagrab and then trying to emulate Zillow in the US and try to cut out agents again... Let's see.
Mr_J said:
Am I being unreasonable?
We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
I sympathise with your situation and understand your frustration.We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
However, generally I would not organise a viewing with a buyer if they need to sell to make the purchase and are not on the market. However, it completely depends on the situation...
Is the property empty? What have I agreed with the owner re: non-proceedable buyers? How long has it been on the market? How popular is it?
If a buyer is really insistent they want to view, then I will speak with my client and see if they are open to accommodating a viewing. Equally, if the property is empty and I'm therefore not disrupting my client then I will be more flexible. If it's been on the market for a while without much interest, again it might make sense to accommodate.
a311 said:
Mr_J said:
Am I being unreasonable?
We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
I'd imagine that is on the vendors instruction. I viewed a house a couple of months ago via PB so imagine their initial pre viewing questionnaire is always the same. Our house wasn't up for sale which we were truthful about. You could always bend the truth if you want a viewing.......We live on the South Coast and have found a house of interest to us in Lincolnshire. I've finally spoken to the "local expert" from Purple Bricks who's informed me that they can't arrange a viewing because my property is not on the market.
I can understand that they would advise the vendor not to accept an offer but is it now normal practice to not even entertain a viewing?
To add. I was enquiring about doing the viewing after the next relaxing of Covid restrictions.
Reading around various home buying and selling threads at present it seems universally to be a sellers market across the board at the moment.
We weren't willing to put our house up for sale until we had a offer accepted on another house.
Mr_J said:
You're correct about it being a sellers market. If a property near where we live stays on the market for more than a week, it's generally because the price / condition etc don't align.
In this instance the house we want to view has been on the market since November!
Our plans were / are loosely aligned to yours. Find somewhere we want to offer on and then market our own house. If we missed out, we'd take the pragmatic view that it wasn't meant to be.
I eventually managed to get PB to agree to a virtual viewing. That would either rule it out or confirm an interest.
It all seems like incredibly hard work and wondered if was simply PB.
Okay, now seeing it's on since November... I'd be getting you through the door.In this instance the house we want to view has been on the market since November!
Our plans were / are loosely aligned to yours. Find somewhere we want to offer on and then market our own house. If we missed out, we'd take the pragmatic view that it wasn't meant to be.
I eventually managed to get PB to agree to a virtual viewing. That would either rule it out or confirm an interest.
It all seems like incredibly hard work and wondered if was simply PB.
Red9zero said:
What effect do problem neighbours have on the value of a house (similar are up for £450k) and the ability to sell it ? Also, what actually needs to be declared ?
Quick run down - we live in a semi and the problem neighbour is joined to us. We have had one run in, probably 5 years ago, over them and their friends constantly blocking our car in. Since then we are civil but nothing more. We have never reported them to the Police or council.
However, every few months she has a meltdown, calls fire, police and ambulance threatening to top herself and accuses her on/off boyfriend of stalking etc. No charges ever made, but we get visits (over 100 since we moved in 8 years ago) from the BiB asking if we saw anything. We are always helpful and let them view our cctv too. There are also regular screaming matches with said b/f with the c word regularly used. Intermittent visits from her dealer too.
I assume we would have to declare the problem and take a hit on the value (we have been told £50k) as well as having difficulty finding a buyer.
Do you have any experience or advice, other than wait for her to move ?
Sorry to hear about the situation - sounds like a complete headache.Quick run down - we live in a semi and the problem neighbour is joined to us. We have had one run in, probably 5 years ago, over them and their friends constantly blocking our car in. Since then we are civil but nothing more. We have never reported them to the Police or council.
However, every few months she has a meltdown, calls fire, police and ambulance threatening to top herself and accuses her on/off boyfriend of stalking etc. No charges ever made, but we get visits (over 100 since we moved in 8 years ago) from the BiB asking if we saw anything. We are always helpful and let them view our cctv too. There are also regular screaming matches with said b/f with the c word regularly used. Intermittent visits from her dealer too.
I assume we would have to declare the problem and take a hit on the value (we have been told £50k) as well as having difficulty finding a buyer.
Do you have any experience or advice, other than wait for her to move ?
Grey area, but you legally need to declare any "disputes" with neighbours. If you haven't been to court, then the question is how anyone would know... The problem is if you do not declare any issues with neighbours and the new buyer proceeds on the basis of there being no disputes, and that is comes out later (backed by evidence e.g. emails and texts, sworn witness statements) that there is a dispute, they can sue you.
Whether the above is a "dispute" is what I question... Sounds like she's a weirdo, but doesn't sound like you're actually at war with her...
Sheepshanks said:
When we sold late FIL’s place as soon as EAs opened up after the first lockdown the agent only allowed proceedable buyers to view. We had virtual viewing but it didn’t appear to be used. Still few listings around us have it.
I think now it’s a combination of demand and agents’ interpretation of the rules. I noticed a place advertising an open house last Saturday and they’re not allowed under the rules.
Probably already mentioned but Purple Bricks etc puts me off a house - I always think the owner can’t have any confidence in the place so doesn’t want the cost of a proper agent.
That's an interesting view re: PB!I think now it’s a combination of demand and agents’ interpretation of the rules. I noticed a place advertising an open house last Saturday and they’re not allowed under the rules.
Probably already mentioned but Purple Bricks etc puts me off a house - I always think the owner can’t have any confidence in the place so doesn’t want the cost of a proper agent.
LetsTryAgain said:
Sheepshanks said:
I always think the owner can’t have any confidence in the place so doesn’t want the cost of a proper agent.
Whereas I think they must be sick of shyster EA's (not all, I'm sure) who take too much money for doing not anywhere near enough work and it's nice to find an alternative to throwing away £1000's to someone in a shiny Topman suit and a BMW Mini. RowanF said:
May I ask about financial services offerings.
Are you under obligation to refer clients to your in house or recommend mortgage advisers?
I hear of agents telling buyers their offer will only be put forward if they use their advisers, even if they have their own; or have to be vetted by their advisers, even if they have a broker AIP for example.
Surely the client should be free to use who they like?
No obligation to refer. As with our solicitors, if I think it's appropriate or someone asks for a recommendation, I will refer them to our recommended mortgage broker.Are you under obligation to refer clients to your in house or recommend mortgage advisers?
I hear of agents telling buyers their offer will only be put forward if they use their advisers, even if they have their own; or have to be vetted by their advisers, even if they have a broker AIP for example.
Surely the client should be free to use who they like?
I actually had this when I bought my most recent place with them insisting I "legally" had to come into their office to meet their broker, even though I knew that wasn't actually the case.
No matter what they tell you, there is no obligation to do this assuming you have proof of funds / mortgage AIP from elsewhere). Whether you just go through the process in order to keep the agent sweet (which is what I did much to my chagrin as I really wanted the property) is another question... Took 20 mins to have the chat, then just used my normal mortgage broker anyway. Complete waste of everyone's time!
Crafty_ said:
I believe that an estate agent is legally obliged to put forward any offer to the seller. Its quite acceptable for an estate agent to check that a bidder has the means to back up their offer, but an AIP / bank statement is enough for that really.
The "you need to use our guy" stuff is all about chasing referral fees.
Correct. Though an offer needs to be put forward even if you haven't provided proof of funds. Not advisable to do so from buyer point of view, though, as you look disorganised at best, timewaster at worst.The "you need to use our guy" stuff is all about chasing referral fees.
Fast Bug said:
a311 said:
I'd imagine that is on the vendors instruction. I viewed a house a couple of months ago via PB so imagine their initial pre viewing questionnaire is always the same. Our house wasn't up for sale which we were truthful about. You could always bend the truth if you want a viewing.......
Reading around various home buying and selling threads at present it seems universally to be a sellers market across the board at the moment.
We weren't willing to put our house up for sale until we had a offer accepted on another house.
Having sold our house earlier this year and waiting to exchange comtracts, I can honestly say I wouldn't entertain an offer from someone that doesn't have their house on the market yet. We had an offer from someone that hadn't sold that asked us to take our house off the market and we declined, it could be months before they sold their house which would put us in a weak position for putting an offer in on a property. In fact we didn't submit any offers until we had accepted an offer on our house Reading around various home buying and selling threads at present it seems universally to be a sellers market across the board at the moment.
We weren't willing to put our house up for sale until we had a offer accepted on another house.
2gins said:
Here's another one from me. Do you see the new immigration lure for Hong Kong exiles (supposedly 300k could come over, according to press) contributing to price pressures especially in nice parts of outer London? (I do, and I'm not happy about it!)
Probably, though there's a lot of other drivers of the market at the moment... Vaccine rollout, life returning to normal, super low interest rates, people making big life moves to family houses earlier after a year of saving up, people now certain of work patterns going forward and not needing to go into work so much... Etc.Pit Pony said:
We went to look at a private sale bungalow. Nobody had even washed up the breakfast things. Hand bag was next to the bed. There was washing on a clothes horse in a lounge. We had travelled 110 miles to view it. This was before the interweb and there was just one photo on the details of the outside.
My wife walked out within 45 seconds. Refused to even look beyond the mess. She was incredibly affected by the way it looked like time had stopped.
Luckily we also had 3 other houses to view that day, and her mother lived in the town so we were staying over.
Shame really because it had everything we were looking for.
The 92 year old across the road died in October. Within days 5 skips had been delivered and filled with his whole life, and taken away (one at a time). His only relative was a niece, who I'd met a few times and felt she actually didn't much like her uncle much.
Its been sold, bought by a builder who has filled another skip with the 1966 bathroom and kitchen. Expecting to see it on the market for 45k more than the asking price.
Very sad!My wife walked out within 45 seconds. Refused to even look beyond the mess. She was incredibly affected by the way it looked like time had stopped.
Luckily we also had 3 other houses to view that day, and her mother lived in the town so we were staying over.
Shame really because it had everything we were looking for.
The 92 year old across the road died in October. Within days 5 skips had been delivered and filled with his whole life, and taken away (one at a time). His only relative was a niece, who I'd met a few times and felt she actually didn't much like her uncle much.
Its been sold, bought by a builder who has filled another skip with the 1966 bathroom and kitchen. Expecting to see it on the market for 45k more than the asking price.
105.4 said:
If a landlord is refusing to carry out maintenance work, can the tenant pay for the repairs, provide receipts, then deduct that amount off of the rent?
Thanks in advance.
Not my area of expertise sadly, though I'm pretty sure the answer is no. If that were legally possible, there would be no end of drama.Thanks in advance.
Have you seen the steps here? https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-...
Thank you for the kind words... Just trying to show "the other side" and demonstrate we're not all scumbags (though I admit a lot are).
Happy to help with any other questions!
@FrankAbagnale - I received your PM earlier; thanks for the message. Sorry I can't reply directly. I think you'll be okay with your latest purchase. Re: your KF question, it was definitely Oxfordshire!
Happy to help with any other questions!
@FrankAbagnale - I received your PM earlier; thanks for the message. Sorry I can't reply directly. I think you'll be okay with your latest purchase. Re: your KF question, it was definitely Oxfordshire!
22s said:
Thank you for the kind words... Just trying to show "the other side" and demonstrate we're not all scumbags (though I admit a lot are).
Happy to help with any other questions!
@FrankAbagnale - I received your PM earlier; thanks for the message. Sorry I can't reply directly. I think you'll be okay with your latest purchase. Re: your KF question, it was definitely Oxfordshire!
I retract that... Not "a lot" are scumbags.Happy to help with any other questions!
@FrankAbagnale - I received your PM earlier; thanks for the message. Sorry I can't reply directly. I think you'll be okay with your latest purchase. Re: your KF question, it was definitely Oxfordshire!
A lot of agents are really great and try to do an honest job.
However, there are the following things which mean agents get a bad name:
- There are a lot of lazy agents - they don't try to be deceitful, they just can't be bothered to do a really outstanding job (or even a good job), which is a shame.
- Agents are dealing with a very important transaction for our clients, so when something goes wrong, it tends to go very wrong. Sometimes the agent gets blamed for something that is not their fault, though this is rare if you have properly guided your clients and buyers through the process so they actually understand it instead of being a pompous fool.
- There is no qualification required to become an agent, unlike pretty much any professional services job I can think of, so the barriers to entry are low. Anyone can become an agent which generally leads to a higher % of incompetence than other professions.
- Training is exceptionally poor. This leads to a poor customer experience as the agents don't really understand what their job is and how they should conduct it.
- Rewards are high and (as above) barriers to entry are low. This causes furious competition between firms and can create scenarios where agents will resort to dirty tricks in order to win business (e.g. overvaluing property).
So bar the last point, agents don't tend to be actively acting as scumbags. There are just such a huge number of issues with the industry as it is which need to change for it to be recognised as a profession like it is in the US and other countries. As I mentioned previously, I strongly feel that we are going to see the world of agency shift to a self-employed model over the next few years - your high st agent as you know it will die, the poor performers will exit the profession, and the top individuals in each area will dominate and take all the spoils...
Watch this space.
How is the market now the 5% government backed mortgages have kicked in? Is it back to how it was in 2014 where every house was a block viewing where 20 couples were all looking around the same house? 20 worried couples all looking at each other before the estate agent announces he has already had a full asking price offer from someone who has not even seen the house so it ends up going to sealed bids?
It seems to be that there are very few houses coming to market and everything seems to be going SSTC in days.
Is it all as crazy as I think it is right now?
It seems to be that there are very few houses coming to market and everything seems to be going SSTC in days.
Is it all as crazy as I think it is right now?
Great thread OP and hats off for keeping it going with decent balanced replies. Also credit to posters who haven't down the be deliberately rude to the OP and colleagues like the car salesman thread did which quickly went quite confrontational.
My question is what do you think about this approach to agency. https://freeagent247.com/
My understanding of the approach is that it is completely free to sellers, but their income derives from a buyers fee. I have heard 1% figure mentioned somewhere but it's not that clearly explained.
We won't look at any properties that they are marketing for reasons other than the model.
My question is what do you think about this approach to agency. https://freeagent247.com/
My understanding of the approach is that it is completely free to sellers, but their income derives from a buyers fee. I have heard 1% figure mentioned somewhere but it's not that clearly explained.
We won't look at any properties that they are marketing for reasons other than the model.
We're viewing a property this week, our house isn't on the market.
Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
Edited by B9 on Monday 19th April 11:17
B9 said:
We're viewing a property this week, our house isn't on the market.
Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
I don't wish to be negative, but personally I would not accept an offer from someone in any of those three situations. I wouldn't even want to offer a viewing to someone who didn't at least have their house listed.Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
Edited by B9 on Monday 19th April 11:17
No way would I accept an offer from someone who wasn't able to proceed immediately.
To me, rightly or wrongly I always assume someone viewing a house who hasn't even listed theirs for sale is a time waster.
Joey Deacon said:
How is the market now the 5% government backed mortgages have kicked in? Is it back to how it was in 2014 where every house was a block viewing where 20 couples were all looking around the same house? 20 worried couples all looking at each other before the estate agent announces he has already had a full asking price offer from someone who has not even seen the house so it ends up going to sealed bids?
It seems to be that there are very few houses coming to market and everything seems to be going SSTC in days.
Is it all as crazy as I think it is right now?
It's pretty busy for the right stock (family houses or flats with big gardens/terraces). A colleague in south-east London had an open day at the weekend with 14 back-to-back viewings!It seems to be that there are very few houses coming to market and everything seems to be going SSTC in days.
Is it all as crazy as I think it is right now?
(Note: we cannot do proper "open houses" with multiple parties in the property at once at the moment due to Covid!
FiF said:
Great thread OP and hats off for keeping it going with decent balanced replies. Also credit to posters who haven't down the be deliberately rude to the OP and colleagues like the car salesman thread did which quickly went quite confrontational.
My question is what do you think about this approach to agency. https://freeagent247.com/
My understanding of the approach is that it is completely free to sellers, but their income derives from a buyers fee. I have heard 1% figure mentioned somewhere but it's not that clearly explained.
We won't look at any properties that they are marketing for reasons other than the model.
Thanks!My question is what do you think about this approach to agency. https://freeagent247.com/
My understanding of the approach is that it is completely free to sellers, but their income derives from a buyers fee. I have heard 1% figure mentioned somewhere but it's not that clearly explained.
We won't look at any properties that they are marketing for reasons other than the model.
Not convinced by that model... The seller who is getting "full market value" will actually get whatever the buyer would have offered through a normal agent, less the fee. Plus the fact that you will severely restrict your buyer pool because there will be many who are not willing to pay. And that way you get the best price for the property is by exposing it to as many prospective buyers as possible!
From a seller's point of view, you're also not the one paying the agent so there becomes a weird conflict where you begin to question who the agent is acting for. The counter to that is that technically the buyer is paying a normal agent as the fee comes out of the money they pay for the property, so arguably that conflict already exists in a less blatant manner...
I'm not convinced!
B9 said:
We're viewing a property this week, our house isn't on the market.
Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
None are particularly great positions from a seller/agent point of view. Basically, an agent/seller generally wants the person who will offer the most and complete in the least amount of time.Market is competitive and we're likely to offer over asking. We still might not offer the highest, so which of these scenarios is likely to play to our favour when (if) making an offer
1) Our house has just been put on the market with another agent
2) Our house isn't yet on the market, but we're 'brochure ready' with another agent (photo's done etc, one click upload to rightmove)
3) At the time of making the offer, we ask the selling agent to sell our property. They've already carried out a valuation on our property, but they're 0.3% higher fee than the agent mentioned in 1 & 2.
We're not in a contract with agent A
Cheers
Edited by B9 on Monday 19th April 11:17
With this in mind:
- Definitely not 2, as you are worst of both worlds (not on the market and not going to market with the agent.
- Maybe 3 as it will keep the agent sweet. However, from a professional agency point of view this really shouldn't influence whether you accept an offer or not (unless it really is the best one on the table). It also means the agent has double the pressure of selling your property and in order to sell their existing client's property. If you're anticipating a competitive situation then it's unlikely this route will work and wash with the seller.
- That leaves 1. Probably best in this situation. Shows you are motivated and you will hopefully have interest which you can use to bolster your offer.
Good luck!
I think, speaking from a position I am in now, that regardless of if there is something you would like to move to, if you have committed to moving and don't see a long term future in your current home, you should list it at the earliest opportunity.
I've had two valuations now (third pending on Friday) and off the back of this, it'll be going on the market, despite there currently being nothing we like on the open market in our location and budget. I like to think it will hold us in a stronger position once something does become available in what is a fast-paced market. (If it doesn't the worst that could happen is we could accept an offer but later lose a buyer due to our delays).
We've only physically viewed one property, have been turned down from viewing another based on our own position and have done location drive-by's on loads of houses that are currently on the market. In my location and budget stuff is on RM and 24 hours later is SSTC, even though I am registered with all the local estate agents for early notification, I am simply not able to compete without my house at least being up for sale.
I have also had to accept that even if we sold today and bought tomorrow, we are unlikely to complete before the £500k Stamp Duty Threshold Deadline.
I've had two valuations now (third pending on Friday) and off the back of this, it'll be going on the market, despite there currently being nothing we like on the open market in our location and budget. I like to think it will hold us in a stronger position once something does become available in what is a fast-paced market. (If it doesn't the worst that could happen is we could accept an offer but later lose a buyer due to our delays).
We've only physically viewed one property, have been turned down from viewing another based on our own position and have done location drive-by's on loads of houses that are currently on the market. In my location and budget stuff is on RM and 24 hours later is SSTC, even though I am registered with all the local estate agents for early notification, I am simply not able to compete without my house at least being up for sale.
I have also had to accept that even if we sold today and bought tomorrow, we are unlikely to complete before the £500k Stamp Duty Threshold Deadline.
*Badger* said:
We've only physically viewed one property, have been turned down from viewing another based on our own position and have done location drive-by's on loads of houses that are currently on the market. In my location and budget stuff is on RM and 24 hours later is SSTC, even though I am registered with all the local estate agents for early notification, I am simply not able to compete without my house at least being up for sale.
If you are a seller then there is a lot of effort involved in actual enabling someone to view your property. Personally I would spend hours cleaning to ensure the house is spotless and then having to go out while the viewing is taking place.In the past I have got up extra early on a Saturday, showered, had breakfast then cleaned the bathroom and kitchen ready for the viewing. Only to see the agent pacing outside on his phone trying to get hold of the viewer who couldn't be bothered getting out of bed and is now avoiding the agent.
I know not everybody is like me having viewed houses with the sink full of breakfast dishes, but that is just how I like to do things.
If you are not at least on the market then I personally am not going to bother wasting hours of my time cleaning before a viewing.
Joey Deacon said:
If you are a seller then there is a lot of effort involved in actual enabling someone to view your property. Personally I would spend hours cleaning to ensure the house is spotless and then having to go out while the viewing is taking place.
I completely agree. I do the same when even having EA's around for valuations etc. Yes if it ends up being a drawn out process it does become a minor headache, but I'd want to present my property at it's best possible. Sadly, as you allude, not all sellers are the same.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff