Selling a house, what to expect, dealing with estate agents.

eldamo

We are just beginning the process of selling a house.
When I met my wife, we both owned separately, were both in negative equity and just decided to sit on both houses until the market improved.
We have been living in my house and renting out her house.
Market conditions seem to be coming around, we won't make what was paid for the house, but we should clear the remainder of the mortgage and fees (looking at what is for sale and prices paid on the property register) or near enough to just get a personal loan and be done with it.

We arranged with an estate agent to get a valuation, we liaised with our letting agent to alert the tenant that a valuation would be done and that it was our intention to sell.

Our letting agent asked us to get a valuation done with another estate agent who they deal with, great, the more the merrier.

We heard back from the letting agents estate agent yesterday, it seems they are putting a really low value on the property, about 40k short of where we want to be.
We still have to hear back from the estate agent that we contacted ourselves.

Now, I am naive in almost all things in life (read my posting history for evidence, car buying sucks) and this is my first time dealing with an estate agent as a seller, would I be right in believing that estate agents would be well served by a quick sale and that they are better served by getting me and the buyer to agree at any price...

Anyway, worrying before this even comes to anything.

If i am not happy with the price they have suggested to list at, I should ask them to list at the price that I prefer. If it really is economically nonviable they just won't list it.... that would be my rationale..

Am I away with the fairies?

Ayuntamiento

A lot depends on where the property is located. Asking prices in the Dublin market at the moment seem to be an absolute work of fiction in most cases.
I imagine the EA thinks they'll get more interested parties viewing the property if they list it at a lower price. Thus generating more bids and possibly a bidding war. Realistically the only price you'll get is whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay at the end of that.

Obviously the EA is motivated to get the sale through for their commission, however, they're also motivated to get you a good price so they can use this to attract future customers.

Graham

Take a look at the property price register for comparable property sales in your area.
Take a look at Daft/MyHome for comparable properties currently on the market.

Having viewed both the above, if you think the agent is undervaluing your property, ask them to justify the lower valuation.

At the end of the day, you are free to instruct them to list the property at whatever price you choose.

sullivk

We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago after getting 3 different agents to value it (they all came in at the same figure).

Our chosen agent advised putting it on market with an asking price 20k lower than the valuation in order to generate interest and with the hope of a bidding war between 2 or more interested parties.

Of course, the first offer that came in was for 5k BELOW the asking price! Personally, I see the idea behind their strategy and time will tell whether we will get the price that we actually need in order to move on. I would prefer to have listed it at the valuation figure as I feel underpricing it will just attract people who can't quiet afford to offer any higher and can be frustrating for them too. Anyway, we'll roll with the agent's plans for now.

The property price register will give you a good idea and it is up to you what price the agent lists it at.

Best of luck!

sullivk

sullivk wrote: »

Of course, the first offer that came in was for 5k BELOW the asking price!

It can never be any other way...

At least you now have a serious offer which the estate agent can use to walk the price higher, if there is interest from anybody else.