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Estate agent fees

In Scotland we still have home reports. We have sold two houses and bought one on the basis of home reports. The two buyers both English accepted the home reports without any problems.
They’re not worth the paper they’re written on. It’s amazing what they miss. Essentially an overpriced mortgage valuation and our buyer’s lender commissioned their own survey anyway.

I think the market in Edinburgh is cooling. I heard BTL investors were cashing out or not actively buying to the same extent, though we did have a few viewings from people who had flown up from London or sent someone round the place on FaceTime while they watched from west coast US.
We sold then bought at the peak last winter-spring, paying a crazy amount over valuation because of competition and I think the buyer of our house was doing the same. We just sold our work flat recently and it feels like we just got out with a decent offer on it. The question now is, when does the fall in prices come? It has been feeling like the 2008 peak and crash again.
 
900 quid incl VAT, regardless of house price (it sold for 285, so in % terms 3.16% incl VAT) in 2019 at Hive in Hull. It would be plus VAT now, as she was not VAT registered for the first couple of years trading, which is when we sold ours.
you appear to have the decimal point in the wrong place old boy?
 
Hilarious conversation with an EA today. Saw a great house in a great location, on the market for a year. The only reason it’s not sold is price. He said my offer of 89% of asking price was too low. I wished him luck with the sale.
 
Hilarious conversation with an EA today. Saw a great house in a great location, on the market for a year. The only reason it’s not sold is price. He said my offer of 89% of asking price was too low. I wished him luck with the sale.

Did the EA put the offer to the owner, or will the owner only accept full asking price?

Unless the house is mega-money, you can't be that far apart on value?
 
Hilarious conversation with an EA today. Saw a great house in a great location, on the market for a year. The only reason it’s not sold is price. He said my offer of 89% of asking price was too low. I wished him luck with the sale.

When we bought our first house we offered 90%, the buyer accepted our revised offer of 90.09%. We wife bumped into the seller and they agreed the new offer. Phone call to solicitor next day to up the offer and job done.
 
Did the EA put the offer to the owner, or will the owner only accept full asking price?

Unless the house is mega-money, you can't be that far apart on value?

I think the EA is legally obliged to put all offers to the owner, mine certainly did even though some were significantly below the "offers in excess of" price.
 
Did the EA put the offer to the owner, or will the owner only accept full asking price?

Unless the house is mega-money, you can't be that far apart on value?

I offered what I think it’s worth, nothing more, nothing less. The market clearly agrees that after 12 months the asking price is too high. This is a top end EA, if they wish to ignore their legal obligation there’s not much I can do, although I sense they feel the vendor is in denial. I won’t be changing my offer, there’s always another house.
 
Miraculously another offer has appeared (yeah right), extraordinarily it is precisely half way between my offer and the asking price and would I like to counter. I said it was a very strong offer and they should accept it, quickly. He was somewhat surprised by my response! When the offer suddenly disappears, I think mine will also. I can’t work with jesters like that.
 
Miraculously another offer has appeared (yeah right), extraordinarily it is precisely half way between my offer and the asking price and would I like to counter. I said it was a very strong offer and they should accept it, quickly. He was somewhat surprised by my response! When the offer suddenly disappears, I think mine will also. I can’t work with jesters like that.
Do what a potential buyer did to us, offer 95%, then a week before completion, get a structural survey done and use it as a way of justifying knocking another 50 grand off the price.

We did not even respond, no counter offer, just silence and the house reappeared on the market.
 
Do what a potential buyer did to us, offer 95%, then a week before completion, get a structural survey done and use it as a way of justifying knocking another 50 grand off the price.

We did not even respond, no counter offer, just silence and the house reappeared on the market.

That’s pretty poor form. I just can’t operate like that but sadly it seems many can.
 
I've been winding up two estates this year as executor, both of which involved selling houses. There is such a shortage in this neck of the woods that estate agents are chasing harder than usual for business and I thought the estimates of value for probate and sale were hugely over inflated just to get me to put the houses on the market, but both sold for more than 10% over the asking price. Round here that's quite a lot of money. One of my daughter's has just had a similar experience, only her's went for 15% more than the asking price. I'd hate to be a buyer in this market. I see a crash coming and am glad I'm out of it, at least for now.
 
I've been winding up two estates this year as executor, both of which involved selling houses. There is such a shortage in this neck of the woods that estate agents are chasing harder than usual for business and I thought the estimates of value for probate and sale were hugely over inflated just to get me to put the houses on the market, but both sold for more than 10% over the asking price. Round here that's quite a lot of money. One of my daughter's has just had a similar experience, only her's went for 15% more than the asking price. I'd hate to be a buyer in this market. I see a crash coming and am glad I'm out of it, at least for now.

Very similar to my recent experience.
 
I've been winding up two estates this year as executor, both of which involved selling houses. There is such a shortage in this neck of the woods that estate agents are chasing harder than usual for business and I thought the estimates of value for probate and sale were hugely over inflated just to get me to put the houses on the market, but both sold for more than 10% over the asking price. Round here that's quite a lot of money. One of my daughter's has just had a similar experience, only her's went for 15% more than the asking price. I'd hate to be a buyer in this market. I see a crash coming and am glad I'm out of it, at least for now.

Of course, but it’s all relative unless you are selling an additional property. We’re certainly not desperate to move and if the right place doesn’t crop up, won’t. No way I’m selling and renting.
 
Do what a potential buyer did to us, offer 95%, then a week before completion, get a structural survey done and use it as a way of justifying knocking another 50 grand off the price.

We did not even respond, no counter offer, just silence and the house reappeared on the market.
Happened to us one eve of exchange.
Told them to xxxx off and never heard from them again.
 
No way I’m selling and renting.

A lady tennis colleague and her bee-keeping husband went ahead with their sale in the summer despite their purchase's owner whacking up the price by £20K because they hadn't found another to move to. This they refused and it fell apart. They rented local accommodation in a friend's boatyard for a few months but now are having to rent an Airbnb until a new venue goes though, hopefully. This has affected them a fair bit, understandably, but why they, or anyone, would want to move in the unpredictable climate of last and this year, except for pressing circumstances, I really don't know.

Conveyancing (as I know well) has been unusually protracted due to government interference in the housing market (as usual, dire consequences; why don't they learn?). My own straightforward flat disposal took 3 months and it was acknowledged that solicitors/conveyancers were only dealing with 'urgent' cases where large stamp duty amounts were involved. That my exchange happened just into October after the end of the s.d. 'holiday' endorses this.

Our housing market has its own problems without governments interfering. Supply and demand are sufficiently balanced bases for this ancient asset class exchange. Can't believe that my £8,250 first purchase of a thirties semi in a decent area of Canterbury in the lee of the uni was considered a struggle in 1975 and required me to be a saver with the Leek & Moorlands Build. Soc. for 6 months before I was considered eligible, despite having been a teacher for over a year. Times do change !
 


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