Estate agent thoughts?

boogieman · August 2019

VimFuego said:

Although I wouldn't spend thousands on it, even as a doer up it still, for most people, needs to be livable. That may mean a basic kitchen, and some description of bathroom. I've been looking at houses on right move to get an idea of what we can afford, and some of them are basically shells, you couldn't just move in.

Unless it has some sort of kitchen most mortgage providers won’t lend on a property.

EricTheWeary · August 2019

VimFuego said:

Although I wouldn't spend thousands on it, even as a doer up it still, for most people, needs to be livable. That may mean a basic kitchen, and some description of bathroom. I've been looking at houses on right move to get an idea of what we can afford, and some of them are basically shells, you couldn't just move in.

My mother and a carer lived in there until a few months ago, it’s currently a fully furnished house. Just a bit of an old person’s house ( the lounge carpet is the original from 1966).

boogieman · August 2019

EricTheWeary said:

VimFuego said:

Although I wouldn't spend thousands on it, even as a doer up it still, for most people, needs to be livable. That may mean a basic kitchen, and some description of bathroom. I've been looking at houses on right move to get an idea of what we can afford, and some of them are basically shells, you couldn't just move in.

My mother and a carer lived in there until a few months ago, it’s currently a fully furnished house. Just a bit of an old person’s house ( the lounge carpet is the original from 1966).

I wouldn’t worry too much, if it’s priced right it’ll still sell. Most people can see past old carpets and a bit of tired paintwork, it’s major structural stuff that’ll put buyers off.

EricTheWeary · August 2019

boogieman said:

VimFuego said:

Although I wouldn't spend thousands on it, even as a doer up it still, for most people, needs to be livable. That may mean a basic kitchen, and some description of bathroom. I've been looking at houses on right move to get an idea of what we can afford, and some of them are basically shells, you couldn't just move in.

Unless it has some sort of kitchen most mortgage providers won’t lend on a property.

Definitely has a kitchen.

It has a large nice garden that my father worked on and my mother paid a gardener to upkeep. If I had any choice in who bought it it’d go to someone who would appreciate the garden. If my mother had any choice it wouldn’t go to anyone who is black so probably just as well these things just go to the highest bidder.

wibble · August 2019

JezWynd said:

Get an Estate Agent who is based in the area and has good local knowledge. Often these agents have a list of people seeking to purchase in the area and even if they don't (as market seems slow atm) they will provide the most realistic valuations and be on hand to do viewings quickly.

I've been house hunting and some estate agents are either overly optimistic or just plain greedy.

This house for example was a case in point if you look at the listing history...

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/50659904

first listed at 350K at the start of March, and finally sold STC last month for 290K after reductions of 25K, 25K, and 10K.

They were agents for another property I was interested in and I put in a good offer as a proceedable buyer (no chain) but they told me it was rejected because they had 'several offers over the asking price' of 300K - the property is still listed with no change to it's status and being actively promoted. So either it's the agents (and/or the vendor) being greedy.

Conversely, several other properties that I thought were highly priced went quickly. Maybe it's the areas I'm looking in but there doesn't seem to be much of a slowdown where I'm looking.

hywelg · August 2019

Whether it's a buyers market or not really depends on the area. Houses around Nottingham, in certain areas, have gone up 15% in a year. My son was gazumped on a house in Sherwood by a cash buyer. It's definitely a sellers market in a rather large portion if Nottingham. Where I live you don't even need an estate agent, word of mouth will sell it, such is the demand.

So do your research, don't waste time doing it up it will take too long and a Brexit crunch might be in play by then.

I'd also recommend getting a proper structural survey so you know there's no nasty surprises coming along when the buyer gets one. If you want to recoup the cost offer it to the potential buyer at reduced cost but in order for that to work it must be truly independent, not done through your agent.

You do know about the rules on lifetime gifts don't you? If the council believe the ownership has been deliberately diluted in order to reduce liability for care costs they will be after you and your siblings. I'm sure there are others more knowledgeable on here, but be sure before dismissing rental inorder to delay the disposal.

VimFuego · August 2019

/\ /\ yup, round here houses seem to be flying off the shelf, including houses that have been on the market for a while. Seen 2 in our tiny village of less than 100 houses go to sale agreed in about a month.

boogieman · August 2019

EricTheWeary said:

boogieman said:

VimFuego said:

Although I wouldn't spend thousands on it, even as a doer up it still, for most people, needs to be livable. That may mean a basic kitchen, and some description of bathroom. I've been looking at houses on right move to get an idea of what we can afford, and some of them are basically shells, you couldn't just move in.

Unless it has some sort of kitchen most mortgage providers won’t lend on a property.

Definitely has a kitchen.

It has a large nice garden that my father worked on and my mother paid a gardener to upkeep. If I had any choice in who bought it it’d go to someone who would appreciate the garden. If my mother had any choice it wouldn’t go to anyone who is black so probably just as well these things just go to the highest bidder.

Ah no, I didn’t mean your mum’s place, I was just responding to Vim’s comment

lmao at your comment too, my mum’s a complete racist as well. Last week when I was over at mum’s place I cut next door’s side of the hedge for them, the neighbour has just had his cataracts done and can’t do much at the mo. My mum’s comment “don’t know why you bothered, they’re only darkies”.

EricTheWeary · August 2019

hywelg said:

Whether it's a buyers market or not really depends on the area. Houses around Nottingham, in certain areas, have gone up 15% in a year. My son was gazumped on a house in Sherwood by a cash buyer. It's definitely a sellers market in a rather large portion if Nottingham. Where I live you don't even need an estate agent, word of mouth will sell it, such is the demand.

So do your research, don't waste time doing it up it will take too long and a Brexit crunch might be in play by then.

I'd also recommend getting a proper structural survey so you know there's no nasty surprises coming along when the buyer gets one. If you want to recoup the cost offer it to the potential buyer at reduced cost but in order for that to work it must be truly independent, not done through your agent.

You do know about the rules on lifetime gifts don't you? If the council believe the ownership has been deliberately diluted in order to reduce liability for care costs they will be after you and your siblings. I'm sure there are others more knowledgeable on here, but be sure before dismissing rental inorder to delay the disposal.

My brother is using his solicitor so that the spread of the money ( my father left his half to the children) is clearly recorded. It will be quite a long time until my mother’s half plus her pension mean that social services will be asked to pay but we would then have evidence of what has happened to the money ( and as a social worker in adult care I’d suggest they don’t do too much digging into all this stuff in practice anyway).

TimmyO · August 2019

For the last year and half I've had a client who is a regional chain of estate agents. Before working with them I thought I understood this stuff - but there really is a lot more to it that a good agent brings and a lot about how the industry works that makes the whole Purple Bricks approach a poor setup.

Ultimately it comes down to who is best incentivised/most likely to be acting in your best interests at any point in time.

Purple Bricks hire people who last week worked on a kebab van to show up and make you believe you're getting the "same" as you wold elsewhere - their interests are best served after that point by putting he 4 houses either side of you on the market too (while they're there) cos that's immediate money and you are now in a war with your neighbours (extreme example but it illustrates what actually drives their behaviours)

In your example Connels are motivated by not having to do much of anything (auction) for their fee

Belvoir are expecting to have to market your property, so they probably will. This may result in more viewings and viewings are what drive offers (volume and size)

All of that ignores whether the individual agent or office are particularly good or not.

EricTheWeary · August 2019

Oddly enough I have been interested been a property I saw on Purple Bricks. Fairly unlikely that we'd move house but it seemed to tick all the boxes but probably £30k more than I think it should be and it hasn't sold for months. I'm getting a clear idea of why that hasn't sold.

Lodious · August 2019

Are there any decent independent Estate Agents in your area? I wouldn't touch any of the national chains unless I had to, and wound definitely not use Purple Bricks.

For checking the valuations, go and view some houses of similar type and see how they compare to your mum's.

TimmyO · August 2019

EricTheWeary said:

Oddly enough I have been interested been a property I saw on Purple Bricks. Fairly unlikely that we'd move house but it seemed to tick all the boxes but probably £30k more than I think it should be and it hasn't sold for months. I'm getting a clear idea of why that hasn't sold.

Quite. The PB "local property expert" probably got the sale ortly based on the vakuation, pocketed the fee, and now is not motivated to actively market the property, to call prospective buyers, to do anything other than get another property listed and their fee pocketed.

HAL9000 · August 2019

I wouldn't touch Connells with a very long bargepole. When my son bought his first flat he was told by Connells that he MUST use a solicitor and mortgage broker nominated by Connells (completely illegal), when he questioned this they told him that this had been stipulated by the seller. Contacting the vendor showed that this wasn't true. When I went to Connells with my son to confront them they admitted they'd lied and couldn't explain why. Also, turned out that they hadn't passed on offers to the sellers after he'd found his own solicitor and mortgage offer. All worked out in the end despite, and not because of Connells.

Google problems with Connells and you'll see that this is typical of them - certainly not an isolated incident.

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