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scorpio
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Location: Old Leake, UK
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16-05-2009, 08:56 AM

Any Suggestions Re House Sale?

I'm absolutely shot of ideas on this one and wondered if any of you had any better ideas.

I've sold my last 3 houses privately but with Clives house, (which we need to sell before we can move on), we can't seem to get it right. I have never had any problems selling a house before, I understand the economic climate isn't helping but we keep seeing ones we fancy and they seem to get snapped up..mind you, they are in Buckinghamshire and we are in Northamptonshire.

We had it valued with 3 agents just over 2 months ago. We marketed it with what we thought was the most dynamic go-getter type chap....big mistake, as soon as it had gone onto their books they didn't return any phone calls, it wasn't advertised on the net and they didn't send us any details to review and sign off. We sacked them after a while and went with another of the ones that had come out originally..they knew why we had sacked the first agent and they were extremely good to start with, got it on the internet, sent us out draft details and advertised it. A month later we still hadn't had any viewings so, on their advice and because we wanted a quick sale, we reduced it by £10k...two weeks later still no viewings and no feedback from the agent. I popped in to see them and the girl we had been dealing with said she would ring the people she'd sent it to and get back to me with some feedback...we waited and waited and heard nothing...Clive was getting very agitated that they were being rude in not returning any of our calls. I phoned them and, in a nice way as always, I advised that Clive wasn't too happy about the lack of communication and could we have a chat about the marketing...I was told they would call me back and still no phone call after 3 days.

Anyway, they agreed to cancel our contract with them as I sent them a long letter explaining that we had lost faith in them, we knew they couldn't just find interested buyers from thin air but that we expected our calls to be returned. I also asked how long we had to keep it on their books. They were very nice about it and sent us a letter back apologising and saying that they would take it back on if we did want to go back with them if the new agents didn't sell it!!

So, 2 weeks ago we marketed it with the 3rd agent...he was very good, didn't stand for any of Clives nonsense when he said he wasn't going to let it go for peanuts ..he can't understand the logic of letting his go cheap and then we put in a low offer for something that we want. They have got it on their website and the brochure is really nice but still no viewings.

I spoke to the agent yesterday to see what he really thought were the reasons for no interest..i.e. is it an ugly house, is it in a dodgy area? etc. He said that is it a lovely place, the ample parking and two garages should make it stand out from the crowd, the price is spot on and the village is a really nice one and he just can't explain why we haven't had any interest. I asked him whether we should reduce the price further to make it more attractive and he said that he doesn't think it will work...he can only summise that people that would be looking at this property at £139,950 would be first time buyers who can't get a mortgage and possibly people that are moving down the ladder but can't get a sale on theirs at the moment.

I've had it on ebay and all the free ads and Daltons Weekly but still no interest.

Can anyone advise where they think we can get some interest?
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MissE
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16-05-2009, 03:22 PM
Looks like you're covering all the bases, Sheree.
I know we had ours on for almost 9 months before we moved - ours was immaculate too. We were having viewings of only one or two a week most weeks, and we were on with three top agents. I know an agent personally and they really are having trouble shifting anything. The person who sold me my house can't get a mortgage and they have £80k deposit - because her hubby doesn't have 3 complete years of books ( he's six months off). So getting a mortgage is getting tougher.

Only thing I can suggest is get the big agents in, (if you haven't already) and ask them to do an "open house" as soon as possible after they start marketing. Perhaps that will help. *hugs* Cos I know how frustrating it is.
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Losos
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16-05-2009, 08:35 PM
Oh Sheree please don't get me started on Estate Agents or I would be here all night

What type of person do you think would be interested If for example the two garages would appeal to a car mad person you could put a small ad in 'Classic cars' or if you thought it might be the garden then 'Amater Gardening' but there's a big 'up front' cost and absolutely no guarantee of any response.

TBH the whole house buying scene has changed so dramatically. In future 1st. time buyers will need 75% deposits and a perfect credit record, and people moving up or down are probably waiting for an improvement in the market.

I know you want to move because you want one more of 'your' dogs back with you but if you can I would advise holding off moving for a while. Sadly things will get worse before they get better.

Azz started a thread recently where someone was offering their house as a prize in a draw. You'd only need to sell 1,390 tickets at 100 pounds to make that work
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Kazz
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17-05-2009, 09:46 AM
Could you not look at another angle and possibly rent ti out for enough to cover the mortgage...rentals are wanted at the moment.....? just a thought.
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Losos
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17-05-2009, 09:57 AM
Originally Posted by Kazz View Post
.rentals are wanted at the moment.....
That's very true, and if rented for say two years the value of the property might even rise a little (Not a lot 'tho)
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scorpio
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17-05-2009, 09:58 AM
Originally Posted by MissE View Post
Looks like you're covering all the bases, Sheree.
I know we had ours on for almost 9 months before we moved - ours was immaculate too. We were having viewings of only one or two a week most weeks, and we were on with three top agents. I know an agent personally and they really are having trouble shifting anything. The person who sold me my house can't get a mortgage and they have £80k deposit - because her hubby doesn't have 3 complete years of books ( he's six months off). So getting a mortgage is getting tougher.

Only thing I can suggest is get the big agents in, (if you haven't already) and ask them to do an "open house" as soon as possible after they start marketing. Perhaps that will help. *hugs* Cos I know how frustrating it is.
Thanks Pat, the first one was the biggest one for this area, then we tried the smallest thinking that they would give it a more personal touch and try that bit harder. The agent asked us to give him another 2 weeks of marketing it and then we'll have a look at what options are available to us...I didn't think of the open house thing..that could be a good idea, at least we might get some people over the door. xx

Originally Posted by Losos View Post
Oh Sheree please don't get me started on Estate Agents or I would be here all night

What type of person do you think would be interested If for example the two garages would appeal to a car mad person you could put a small ad in 'Classic cars' or if you thought it might be the garden then 'Amater Gardening' but there's a big 'up front' cost and absolutely no guarantee of any response.

TBH the whole house buying scene has changed so dramatically. In future 1st. time buyers will need 75% deposits and a perfect credit record, and people moving up or down are probably waiting for an improvement in the market.

I know you want to move because you want one more of 'your' dogs back with you but if you can I would advise holding off moving for a while. Sadly things will get worse before they get better.

Azz started a thread recently where someone was offering their house as a prize in a draw. You'd only need to sell 1,390 tickets at 100 pounds to make that work
Thanks Harvey, thats a really good idea about the motoring magazine...I shall look into that immediately. I just suggested the raffle idea to Clive and he gave me one of his looks

As well as my personal reasons we need to move quickly as he has surrendered the lease on his unit and will be leaving there next March...although we have until then to find somewhere we wanted to get settled in and move his stuff over to the house in stages.

Originally Posted by Kazz View Post
Could you not look at another angle and possibly rent ti out for enough to cover the mortgage...rentals are wanted at the moment.....? just a thought.
We did chat about that but Clive is worried that he wouldn't be able to get someome to commit to renting it long term. I suppose the best thing is to contact a renting agency and let them guide us in that respect.

Thanks very much all, I appreciate you helping x
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