UKC

Could do with some ideas of how to tackle the following situation:

We're about to put pur house on the market. We've been a bit relaxed about getting everything ready, and have still got a few things to finish off, DIY-wise, that will probably take me until the end of the first week in January if I go like a bat out of hell.

And I am going as fast as I can now, because the place we want has just come up. We've had a viewing already. It's been rented out and is now standing empty, so the vendor wants to sell asap.

The agent has just emailed me to ask what we want to do, 'as there's been some other interest' in it. I have no idea if this means many viewings, or an offer, or if she's just trying to push me to get a move on.

I think I need to say something, just to register our continued interest. I could simply say that we are definitely interested, and ask what the vendor requires in a buyer in order to accept an offer - ie would they take an offer from someone once they were simply on the market, or will they only entertain offers from buyers who are themselves under offer.

Or should I strengthen this by asking if the vendor is interested in informally discussing a price right now, on the understanding that they would accept our offer once we were in position?

And if I go for the latter, what's the rule of thumb these days about first offer? When I last bought 12 years ago it seemed to be 'go in 10% under and see what happens' (and indeed we got it for about 5% under the asking price) but do I rightly sense that these days, houses tend to go for their asking price? Or is that just too variable a question? Part of me wants to send an email saying 'we aren't buggering about, we will offer you the asking price with no haggling, as long as you promise to give us a couple of weeks to get our place on the market first' but I don't know how such an approach might be seen...

For what it's worth I'm fairly sure ours will sell very quickly once we get it on the market.

Cheers
Jamie

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

There was probably a lot more properties on the market 12 years ago so its the old supply demand conundrum ... if you're that interested you can do some research via the house price type websites to see what neighbouring properties might have sold for, but thats only going to be off help if the houses are all similar and one has been sold recently.

I would have thought they are hardly likely to accept an offer from you and take it off the market whilst you aren't in a position to proceed, you can but try, it does seem strange for them to be pushing you when (at least I assume) they know you can't move until yours is sold. Is the same agent going to market yours? if so they might be prepared to limit their active marketing of this property for a short while ... unethical perhaps but they might see an easy way to line up two fees. Depends upon the properties and their perception of how easy they are to sell.

At the moment things sell if they are at the right price.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I think serious estate agents won't take an offer from someone who doesn't have their house on the market. Keep your powder dry, get yours on the market. You won't 'lose it' for not getting a tentative offer, but you might gain if they drop the asking price if no other offers.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

All you can do realistically is tell them you're interested, which is nice for them to know, but that's all.

Until you are in a position to proceed any offer you make is meaningless.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

Just be honest.

Let the agent know your position. You like the house but you are not in position in which to make a proceedable offer. You wish to put your house on market ASAP in 2015 and you look forward to being in a position to make an offer. In the meantime you request that the agent keeps you informed of any developments.

You never know what might come out from making a genuine statement. The seller might be interested in doing a deal now with the condition that you either complete or rent it.

The lesson though for the future is never go house hunting unless you at least part proceedable (on the market) as sods law says the 'perfect' house will always emerge when you are not in a position to do anything about it.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:
agree with all the above. All agents are not snakes , just most. If it happened that you thought the sellers agent was not a complete one you could Try to get them on side and be honest (as above) and try to get them onside . Possibly see if the sellers agent agrees with the figure that you think your house will sell quickly for , consider using them to sell your house ( afaik this is ok, but not 100% sure ...ask them ) . You can then use these things to try and persuade the seller to accept an offer from you , which might even be the asking price based on you getting likewise ( as advised by his /her advisor) . If you got a cash offer below your asking price you can then ask the seller to consider taking a reduction to. You ll only know if you ask . If the house is one you really want and see yourself living in for many years then accept that you are happy to pay a bit more for it than someone who wants it less. Think about the "what if " you had sold your house and were in a position to make a procedable offer , is the asking price about right , because if so ,while you are making a series of offers someone else could well offer the asking price. Of course you could be dealing with a bunch of a holes and all of the above will not do you any good , only you can decide that. Good luck !

In reply to TMM:

Note. If you're not yet on the market your leverage might be considerably increased if you told the seller's agent that you were considering using them to sell your house.

Only worth doing if the agent is the right one for your house, fee is appropriate and he/she is not a total ar$e.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:
Understood, and very useful - thank you all.

Their agent seems reasonable enough and is one of the agents who has also told me that our current house will sell quickly and easily for the asking price I have in mind, and also knows I'm considering them as a possible agent for my sale. I think I'm going to email them now and say that we are seriously interested in the house, that we're planning to be ready to go on the market at the end of the first week in Jan, and just ask if the vendor will talk about sums whilst we're on market or if they insist on our being under offer. I *think* this might lead to the agent easing off in their efforts to market the house we want.

Now, next question: online estate agents. Clever way to save £3000 or huge faff? On one hand I've been told this place will sell easily so why should I pay thousands to market it when £600 to get it on Zoopla and Rightmove will do the job. I mostly work from home so I'd rather conduct viewings myself anyway. OTOH I do need a quick sale...

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:


As a chartered surveyor I never understand why anyone would consider employing an agent and at the same time do the viewings themselves, the agent should provide the whole service. Mind this is where choice of agent is important, I wouldn't ever use one where the agent uses others, juniors or Saturday staff, to do the viewings, using such is just lazy and these people won't know your house and hence will be someone to open the door and not actively sell the property to potential purchasers. In my mind this is an important part of the selling process and understanding potential purchasers and when it doesn't sell why not. If you do the viewings yourself I wouldn't expect viewers to tell you to your face the negatives, which then doesn't give you chance to rectify anything if that is possible before the next time.

I've little experience of the £600 online estate agent apart to say someone we knew used this service and never sold their house, in the end they went to a traditional agent who did. In any case the agent should not be considered just the means to advertise (and as above do viewings) but also someone who should be sorting out issues as they crop up in the buying process, if at all possible negotiating a bit off the one your buying and persuading the purchaser of yours to pay a little more, talking to other agents in the chain, pressurising solicitors etc.

As you can tell I'm a demanding sort of person, fortunately we have a good agent in the village who did all the above.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I disagree with the person who said some agents are snakes. They all are. I'm never going to use one again, the sooner the world wakes up and realises that a good solicitor is all you need the better. I for one can't wait for a world with smaller tie knots.

As for the rest it all depends on the area and the market. When we bought our place no one would take an offer unless you were sold as so many chains were falling through. We had to complete first and move in with family. Offer what you think it's worth, to you. Don't get emotionally involved or blackmailed into the silly bugger games that estate agents inevitably play.

Good luck!

In reply to XXXX:


...'a good solicitor is all you need...'
Now you really are joking! Their mistakes have cost me thousands, I kid you not!!!

In reply to XXXX:


Used them all have you?

In reply to Doghouse:

It feels like it

In reply to Sean Kelly:




I agree with this which is why I virtually always do my own conveyancing now. The main benefit being you stay fully in control and informed the whole way.
However trying to avoid estate agents is a false economy - I've tried the DIY route and despite sterling efforts it was a waste of time. Agents are a necessary evil in the house buying/selling malarkey.

In reply to Babika:


I ask this in a genuine sense of inquiry, because I don't know the answer - what do they actually do?

I've only bought once before. From my point of view, all the agent did was provide a shop window in which I spotted this house, unlock the front door, make some racist comments about the neighbours, and add three days to the process of communicating an offer to the vendor.

To my mind, the existence now of Rightmove and Zoopla makes the only useful thing they actually did redundant. But I have never sold, so am I missing something huge here?

I'm aware that there's an argument that they smooth the process and get everything into order for you, and deal with problems as they crop up. But does this mean something more than just communicating the problems from one party to the other?

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

They only exist because everyone seems to think they need to exist. You're quite right, they do nothing. Before any offer is accepted they are a shop window and they use their extensive list of contacts, who are of course the same people who use rightmove. After an offer is accepted all communications now go through solicitor. The agent's role at this point is to be a hindrance