Strange Advice from Estate Agent - Advice Needed

SJPRogue

Hi,

I have been given ongoing strange advice from an estate agent and need some advice on their most recent suggestion. My house went on the market christmas week for 260,000. They told me that if I was lucky and did such work as paint the house, fix the heating, fix a damp wall, I would achieve the guide price. I was very surprised then when I got an offer for exactly the guide price in the second week in January, especially when houses on the same road have been on sale for years. Not trusting the estate agents I refused the offer.

Last week they came to me - 2 weeks from the 1st offer and 1 month since the house went on sale - telling me I should reduce the price of the house to 225,000 to attract more offers. That advice makes no sense to me.

As a background: the house is for sale as part of divorce proceedings and the other side are trying to legally force this change of guide price on me. I never had a large mortgage, paying 75% of the house upfront over 10 years ago, so any losses or undersells are my direct losses.

Does anybody know what is going on here? Any advice would be really welcome.

Thanks

theteal

i'm a little confused. if you were offered the asking price of €260k, why did you reject the offer?

what are the advertised asking prices for the other houses in the area?

i imagine the EA assumes that by dropping the asking price to the lower price (that's a fair bit of a jump down in price, by the way) it will garner more interest and possibly start something of a bidding war

Idbatterim

how many agencies did you get to value the property? and why did you outright refuse an offer, without even investigating its possible legitimacy?

mari2222

Is the "other party" to the divorce aiming to buy it?

you could put it up for auction ?

monkeypants

SJPRogue wrote: »

Not trusting the estate agents I refused the offer.

If you don't trust the estate agent, get another one.

D3PO

the opening post makes no sense. You put it up for a price got offered that price and refused.

erm why .........

baaaa

monkeypants wrote: »

If you don't trust the estate agent, get another one.

does anybody actually trust any agents

Spiritofthekop

baaaa wrote: »

does anybody actually trust any agents

Went to look at a house out of curiosity which need about 100,000 of work done but is overpriced by the 100,000 needed to fix it up.

The guy was telling anyone who was at the house at the time i was there on the day that there was an offer 50,000 under asking price, the next day the estate agents called to see if we were interested and we said not unless its 100,000 under to fix the wreck up...she (different person) said well there has been no offer what so ever so do you want to make an offer. We said but the guy at the house who works for you said different, she said it was wrong information.

Its so hard to trust estate agents, they bring it on themselves.

P. Breathnach

baaaa wrote: »

does anybody actually trust any agents

Yes. As with any occupational category, they are a mixed lot. I trust some; I don't trust others.

MagicMarker

Is this a windup?

ProudDUB

I'm confused too.

Your EA told you that you would have a better chance of selling your house if you fixed the heating and damp problems and gave it a lick of paint. (I imagine that is standard advice that any house seller would be given.) But you got an offer without doing any of the above....so you think what exactly?

Marcanthony

Spiritofthekop wrote: »

Went to look at a house out of curiosity which need about 100,000 of work done but is overpriced by the 100,000 needed to fix it up.

The guy was telling anyone who was at the house at the time i was there on the day that there was an offer 50,000 under asking price, the next day the estate agents called to see if we were interested and we said not unless its 100,000 under to fix the wreck up...she (different person) said well there has been no offer what so ever so do you want to make an offer. We said but the guy at the house who works for you said different, she said it was wrong information.

Its so hard to trust estate agents, they bring it on themselves.

so is now not the right time to buy?:( but just keep your eye on the ball. So some day the rental game will be over and owning a home not a dream no more?

Spiritofthekop

Marcanthony wrote: »

so is now not the right time to buy?:(

Nah its not a good time what so ever for me. No value what so ever out there where im looking. See below.


"Went to look at a house out of curiosity"

"not unless its 100,000 under to fix the wreck up"

amdublin

Sorry?
You got an offer of what you wanted and you didn't accept it

I've no idea what's going on - with you or the EA.

Suggest you change EA or sell house youself.

The_Conductor

OP- perhaps you might like to clarify what you meant/why you refused the offer? It really doesn't seem to make sense to me......?

StillWaters

I imagine your ex is trying to legally force you to accept the EA's recommended guide price as they are very angry you refused the earlier better offer.

It appears that you do not wish to sell the house?

SJPRogue

Apologies for delays in getting back to you all on this.

I've had very little control over the pricing of the house. I have gotten the impression that my ex's solicitor and the estate agent seem to be a bit too close and it has made me very suspicious. 6 months earlier the EA had valued the house at 100,000 more. Now I know that house prices are dropping fast, but that fast??? Approx 25-30% in 6 months for a house in Dalkey?

Also, the same solicitor had claimed that there was an interested buyer prior to it even going on the market at that much reduced guide price, something that the EA neither confirmed or denied. It made me wonder if the price was being driven down for some reason. That there was suddenly an offer at that price 2 weeks after the house going on the market when all other houses nearby were years on the market made me even more suspicious. I could be wrong though.

Either way, I've had very little control over the pricing of the house. A sudden move to again bring down the house's price within 2 weeks of getting the offer has only increased my suspicion. Not sure what to do.

Thanks for your replies.

Park Royal

I was very surprised then when I got an offer for exactly the guide price in the second week in January,



I'd be surprised also.........

as some properties are Fxxxn years up for sale.....

SJPRogue

StillWaters wrote: »

I imagine your ex is trying to legally force you to accept the EA's recommended guide price as they are very angry you refused the earlier better offer.

It appears that you do not wish to sell the house?

You're bang on here about the ex. There are disputes over the distribution of the proceeds still ongoing so I think they want it sold fast instead of looking for the best price. I do want the house sold though. Hate the house and hate all the legal stress. But I'm not going to rush it if I don't trust what is going on.

It has been an exceptionally nasty divorce, especially when it came to access to the child involved. Despite being stopped from seeing the child for 19 months, I've won that one outright at least, which is the more important issue. Now I want to make sure not so much to win on the house, but to limit my losses. I had paid 75% of the house upfront when it was bought (the ex put in nothing), so never had a mad sky-high mortgage or borrowed madly. I've still lost massively, with negative equity wiping over 100,000 off alone. The divorce etc will mean that I'll be lucky to come out with 15-20% of what I put in. So I am just trying to limit my losses.

Stripey Cat

That there was suddenly an offer at that price 2 weeks after the house going on the market when all other houses nearby were years on the market made me even more suspicious. I could be wrong though.

I am still confused. You put a price on the house. You received an offer at that price.

Why didn't you accept it? Or, maybe a better question, why did you put your house on the market at a price you weren't going to accept?

the_syco

SJPRogue wrote: »

6 months earlier the EA had valued the house at 100,000 more. Now I know that house prices are dropping fast, but that fast??? Approx 25-30% in 6 months for a house in Dalkey?

SJPRogue wrote: »

My house went on the market christmas week for 260,000. They told me that if I was lucky and did such work as paint the house, fix the heating, fix a damp wall, I would achieve the guide price. I was very surprised then when I got an offer for exactly the guide price in the second week in January, especially when houses on the same road have been on sale for years. Not trusting the estate agents I refused the offer.

How much are those other houses on your road on sale for? How long have they been on sale for? It seems that wifey wants you to fix the problems in the house, and then move in herself.

Best of luck.

ProudDUB

OP, why are retaining an EA and solicitor that you are clearly unhappy with, or that you suspect of misdoings? What about taking it off the market & firing your current EA? Then get a new EA and solicitor that you trust & that you feel will give you the best advice on what to do & that won't take sides. If you paid 75% of the house price upfront, than surely you should be the one who calls the shots of who handles what when it gets sold. If the other side don't like that, too bad !

If you don't want to go that far, get another EA to get another valuation on the place. That may give you a more realistic idea of what the house should sell for. Most EA's usually will do valuations for free in the hopes of getting your business. But as the house is already up for sale, you may have to pay a fee for a valuation. It could be worth it if saves you thousands on the sale.

Stripey Cat

get another EA to get another valuation on the place

That's an excellent idea.

Ray Palmer

A friend had a similar problem where she had an estate agent friend who she wanted to use. It was a different time so he was buying her out of the property. She got a very high price and wanted him to buy her out based on that he got another valuation and there was 100K difference.

They ended up getting getting two more valuations and averaged then split the value.

You are probably better off using the valuation system rather than an insistance on selling . It would probably cost you less to get a mortgage to pay her the half she wants. Surely you have your own legal council which should be giving you advice on what you should be doing. There is definitely a case for saying she doesn't get half as she didn't contribute half.