This weekend I have been house hunting
After looking at several houses all described with some of the most splendid estate agency bullshit ever encountered, I find myself wondering how what is tantamount to talking complete bollocks can be construed as accurate description, is there a law against misrepresenting something or does it work on one mans opinion versus another.
Is it me or after 11 months of no one offer , you would think maybe my house is overpriced. The one next door sold for 280k 3 months ago yet you have been trying to sell yours for 400k since erm last July
The most baffling and maybe I'm failing to understand is , how on earth an interior with floorboards nailed to the wall as well as stained and varnished in Dale Winton orange is a "character feature" the interior included 2 pin sockets , yet said sales pimp didn't seem to understand the 60s interior maybe a little tired and might lower the offer somewhat.
You were expecting more of an estate agent?
Housing and people are a complete lack of common sense, business rules and any kind of logic
Pricing badly has worked in our favour as a house we really liked went on over the price we thought it would be worth so didn't bother looking at it.
We spent several more months living with my mum and amassed a more sizeable deposit. The wife still took some persuading to look at it when it was dropped in price after no offers in 4 months.
We ended up getting it for £60k less than the original asking price and much closer to what we thought it would be worth.
TLDR; If you like it, put an offer...worst they'll say is no.
put an offer…worst they’ll say is no.
Not really, we offered 380k for one , offer accepted by seller was the response.
Then asked for 10% deposit of 40k, Which we had cash but , surely 10% is 38k I asked.
To which the reply was, Oh no its a modern auction sale was the reply this will just enable you to be able to bid. It hadn't sold at auction t.he previous 3 times either
No idea what the offer accepted part was, so walked away
Housing and people are a complete lack of common sense, business rules and any kind of logic
This !
You say it's £120k over priced & yet you're still looking at it, maybe it's not overpriced at all.
You say it’s £120k over priced & yet you’re still looking at it,
Quite correct on zoopla, you type in what you max budget and it lists houses within a certain distance.
However it also lists the houses sold nearby and yup I'd say its overpriced.
Let's see the property then - we can then give opinion...
Its still worth looking at the overpriced ones to help learn the 'correct' value of properties when house hunting. The bargains aren't necessarily the ones that have been on for ages and you get £100k off, they are usually the ones that come on the market and get snapped up the same day, often at full asking price. You need to be pretty sure of pricing to do that. You also need a good relationship with the estate agents as these houses won't get as far as zoopla or a picture in the window. As you learnt, they are an annoying bunch to deal with, but a necessary evil for now
As you learnt, they are an annoying bunch to deal with, but a necessary evil for now
More and more places seem to be going with online agents, so I'm not so sure they are. Certainly I couldn't understand what the hell they were doing for their money.
OP why are you letting it get you so wound up?
Rightmove - draw an area that you want to live in, pick values £100k above what you can afford and down £100k than you can afford.
Then go through them 1 by 1 looking at the pictures. After a few months of doing that then you have an idea of what is realistic or not. then seriously start looking.
I cant say I have read one description yet, I just look at the pictures, and then the room sizes after that if it looks nice.
Agree with one of the comments above, the bargains are not necessarily over priced or under, we saw a stunning 3 bed house in an amazing location with 'outbuildings' it said sold the day after it went up on right move. It had been priced as a 3 bed, not a potential massive country home.
You offer what you think is realistic.
I used to read the descriptions when I was looking, but mostly for the humorous value. "Up and coming area", "lively neighbourhood", even "recently refurbished" could be a world of lols in the context.
+1 for getting on the agents books, they will be more than happy to sell before putting houses up on Rightmove/Zoopla.
Also, worth getting hold of properties land registry details & check them with a fine tooth comb before instructing a solicitor - part of garden was owned by highways and no allocated parking meant we had to pull out of a purchase a few years back 🤔
I re-wrote the copy on our sales brochure. The estagentese was horrendous.
Sold in 5 days 😉
they are scum. (estate agents) but not as bad as solicitors.
both are bloody useless in many many ways.
I still want to see this house that the OP thinks is over-priced.
As per FunkyDunc above.
Set up a search on Rightmove with broad parameters, look at pictures, drive by the property/area, ignore the words in the advert.
I recently sold my house for over the asking price very fast but you have got to know how to present it, so many people don't but when you buy a house you are not buying their stuff of taste that you have to see beyond it. Some people are unrealistic about what their house if worth as they are emotionally attached (no surprise there) or are trying to finance a gap to the next house.
Do it like a business deal, do your checks/due diligence and work the system.
You will win some and not others but you are only buying one house. When you find one you want, go for it in every way you can. 42 interested parties looked at the house I bought in October, 7 went to sealed bids, we won. It is a tough market, people get upset, estate agents are useless......
Get Ralph Bending on the job...
https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/the-honest-estate-agent-1725787.html
I bought my flat from a bloke in a pub. It wasn't even converted from the house he wanted to develop.
Beer, eh?
Then asked for 10% deposit of 40k, Which we had cash but , surely 10% is 38k I asked.
Dont understand this bit. No deposit is due until exchange of contracts. Seller can’t ask for a deposit upfront - they can try but your solicitor would never agree to it.
Also, quite often an unrealistic asking price is driven by the seller and not the EA. Something be thinks their house is worth £x and the EA tries to explain its only worth £y but the seller won’t listen.
A house up the road from us is on at £60k more than ours and it’s smaller and with no garden. If it does go for £300k I’ll be delighted as it means ours must be worth £320k plus. Oddly it’s not had much interest.
Dont forget it’s in the EA’s interest to get the house sold so they do try to be realistic with pricing. The description- well you do actually go and look at the house usually so their description is just the hook to get you in.
Actually my experience is that the estate agent is the one overpricing to get the instruction. Then will slowly chip you down. I recently sold my flat and the agent overvalued it. I stressed at the outset that I wanted to price it right/to sell so challenged him on value and he then went back to look and took a colleague and they both agreed the asking price was right. Ended up selling for £70k less than he valued after a year and much aggro.
Please don't lump solicitors and estate agents together. Conveyancing costs are tiny compared to the amount of work and risk of being sued involved. The market has driven the cost down and people expect to pay b*gger all so the conveyancers have to pile it high and sell it cheap. Pay peanuts - get monkeys.