Thetownend.com

Pondering selling up in London and moving out somewhere commutable. Does anyone have any tips for Estate Agents, or even the process of selling a gaff?

Best to use one of the 'bigger boys' or not etc etc?

Any tips or advice (relevant to house selling) welcome :)

Property is theft.

To be honest as long as they advertise through one of the national websites (Rightmove etc) big or small doesn't make a huge amount of difference these days. Take a look at the quality of the sales particulars they prepare (some are dreadfully shit) and invite a few round for a free valuation, however don't necessarily go for the one who offers the highest valuation, there is a company round here that notoriously value high to get the business then invariably sell at a discount which brings it down to the value of all the others.

We recently used Purplebricks  and were less than enamoured. They are probably ok for 'run of the mill's sales (a d are certainly cheaper), but ours needed to be a tively 'sold' a d they just don't provide that kind of service.

Not sure to what extent that its true, but there was an investigative piece on the radio which suggested that if a property doesn't sell quickly they rapidly lose interest and basically just leave you to fend for yourself.

Bushey Boy on here

As mentioned earlier, you are effectively paying for access to Rightmove by using an agent.

My Brother in law is an independent estate agent - get's better results than the big boys because every £ on a sale matters more to him.

Let me know if you want his details.

EDIT: Should have mentioned, he's London based.

You should also generally avoid using the factory type conveyancers that will be recommended by the agents (who get a kicker from this).

Having just sold two houses and attempted to buy three, I'd recommend getting a decent estate agent where they take good pics of the property, do viewings for you, include a floor plan, and give you a personal contact who will deal with your sale.

That said, selling in London might be a different kettle of fish.

Nope, all just as important here. Decent marketing plan, well-researched pricing strategy etc absolutely vital.

We used most recently a small conveyancer who has set up in town single contact and all that, much better and cheaper than the solicitor we used previously who was bloody useless, the sale turned out to be much more hassle than envisaged due to my mums dementia and whilst I sorted it out the conveyancer had to draft more documents than expected and charged us nothing for the unforeseen work.

At the same time, it was blindingly obvious that the sellers solicitor was knocking out 1 line letters running the meter up!  

Pricing is the issue at the moment.

That's probably right although most conveyancers are working on fixed fees.  It is only usually on the higher value properties that the conveyancer will 'get away' with a fee based on hourly rates.

Im selling up.

Had one viewing as estate Agents will only proceed with 'proceedable buyers' so...a letter of a mortgage offer not good enough to view in person. You need a shit load of cash in a suitcase OR a nailed on offer for your place and time constraints to get out. I struggle to see how that encourages the market? Prepared to be educated by you on here.Please.

Previously ive just looked at houses whilst mine was selling..

A bit of BS from the estate Agents there IMO .....lots of staff on furlough and easier to sell online as viewings are a hassle.

New complex built right next to Tree nightclub in Swindon. Great for those looking at a nice, quiet area. Just wait til Tree reopens. There is a banner opposite the complex warning prospective buyers about the noise & disruption caused by the nightlife economy at weekends when we've all got our dancing trousers back on.

Honest estate agents? Or Tree pre-empting complaints from its new neighbours when it reopens?

To me that sounds like an agent who's struggling, and thus haven't taken people off furlough, and who hasn't put the hard yards in on a pricing and marketing strategy. It's not a case of "take some pics, put it on rightmove and sit by the phone...."

My BIL (mumsnet emoji) is still doing open houses, 4-6 viewings in a day etc on a single property. Market our way is very buoyant indeed.

I am currently looking for additional properties and many agents  have been confining viewings to 'proceedable buyers'

Cheers.

I think a lot of Agents are down on staff, albeit all the ones I deal with regularly are back up to full numbers, however they are noting that there is a lot of kite flying going on at the moment with people trying to view with little intention or ability of buying (which is quite normal) but more irritating for them in these times when they are more mindful of the DoC to their staff.

As noted above, bar getting the thing advertised to a decent audience there really isn't a great deal to Estate Agency, valuation, despite what many would have you believe, is based upon a fairly simple comparative method, marketing rarely goes beyond initial database mail shots and web enquiries or open house if the place doesn't shift, the vast majority fo sales come via net searches, the boards you see up are more adverts for the Agents rather than adverts for sale.

TBH if I was selling again, if there was a way of getting the place advertised on Rightmove etc privately I would probably do it myself initially as I am not sure what an agent would offer me that I cannot do myself. The only time I have sold was a house 250odd miles away so I had to use a local agent then.

Thanks all for the advice. Put the feelers out today and had about half a dozen calls already. Like flies around shite! :)

Suspension of stamp duty should reignite the market next month,  assuming it goes ahead.

According to the agents I spoke to yesterday, they were saying that despite reports, the market hasn't suffered as much as would be expected. Most of them had sold properties at market value or above.

Are they just feeding me a line do you think?

Nope, its what I am hearing. It caused a blockage as people couldn't complete and move, however generally the market seems pretty buoyant.

No, I have been told by an estate agent that that is exactly the case,  and also that the majority of enquiries at present are from major cities,  especially London,  where people are looking to get out of over populated areas and move to more rural locations.

Going to see a lot of this - it's been happening for a while but as remote working becomes more accepted, it'll really change the dynamic of commuterville.

Two friends have mine who are field-based for London companies have just bought in Bristol. We live 5 mins from a tube but would love to move a little further out to one of the Essex villages (Theydon, Ongar, Abridge etc). Can't commute from there to town 5 days a week. One day a week, however....

Good stuff, thanks


Yeah the agents I spoke to this week have said that what I told them in that Lockdown has really escalated our desire to move from our flat in London and upscale somewhere further out has been echoed by quite a lot of people.


The company I work with has been very receptive to the working from home and the lady in my team commutes from Lincolnshire but is only in the office Tuesday, Weds, Thursday. I'm hoping to move within a 45 minutes train journey of the office but wouldn't be looking to work in the office 5 days a week, otherwise I'd probably stay where we are.