Well, yesterday the second estate agent we'd called in came to appraise our house. WHAT a difference. He had done his homework and knew about the history of the house, and as he enjoyed history was asking more questions about that. He LOVED it and was really enthusiastic, and said if it was nearer his office, he would be tempted to buy it himself! He said in 20 years of selling houses there were only two he would say that about, and he was living in one of them! I leavened his comments with a dose of salt but at the end of the day he was straight, and he does really like the house which will make all the difference when it comes to marketing it. We have given him our business and it should be back on the market next week (this of course coincided with him having a long weekend away in Greece, lucky sod!) Anyway, his company, The Smallholding Centre, has always enjoyed a good footfall from would-be Good Lifers and it has additional selling outlet links which other local agents don't. He was very professional from start to finish. It is going back on at the same price as last year, but this time it is looking a lot more positive as both he and the other (useless) agent said that houses were moving again and have been for the past year (hah - probably from the minute we took the house OFF the market last year!!)
I am so very tempted to send an email to the useless agent stating our reasons for not using them, but that would be a little . . . cantankerous? Bitchy?!!
Dear . . ., you will not be getting our instructions to market our property as I could do better if I stuck a postcard in a shop window. You compared our property with a disparate group of much lesser (and cheaper) properties whose only similarities to our house was they had four walls and a roof and were in Carmarthenshire. You clearly equated ""over-60" with "stupid" when you showed me the difference between below £600K and £500K on a Rightmove search. Since I have carried out probably something in the region of 10,000 property searches down the years, it is NOT something I need to be shown how to do! Lastly, we are not prepared to drop the asking price of our house by nearly £100K just to give you a quick risk-free sale and commission.
That feels better now I've got it off my chest!!
Finally, here is Puss in Boots - aka Squeaker, the latest waif and stray we seem to have adopted. He obviously jumped onto what he thought was just mud and found it was slurry!
I'm glad you've got your agent sorted out, but from what you say it was an easy decision. We had three seperate agents with our move from Wales to Devon a couple of years ago and took a long time to sell. It was an experience I don't like thinking about as it makes me angry and I'd rather have positive thoughts than negative. Still, that's all water under the bridge so to speak and we're here now nearer our daughter and grand-daughters.
ReplyDeleteTBH Joan, I think the decision was made when I had spoken to each office. The first place had a somewhat grumpy girl who I had no faith in, whilst when I phoned the other agent, a delightful cheerful girl answered the phone and I just had a gut feeling.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are moved and nearer your family now. Devon (where I have such deep root) calls me, but it isn't practical for us, sadly.
I've spent hours and hours in the past looking at The Smallholding Centre website! (During our 'shall we move to Wales?' phase) They always seemed realistically priced.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it this year - after all your hassles last time
I think there is a huge footfall on their website. They have other links for selling too, apart from the standard Rightmove, Zoopla etc.
DeleteI am so sick of all the work involved in getting the house and garden looking their best. The garden is getting away from me now we've had all that rain and I couldn't work on it last week.
Fingers crossed. It will happen and that is the voice of many experiences.
ReplyDeleteWell, one that's just been on the market for 12 years (next valley across) has just sold, and a smallholding a mile away has also sold, and that has been on for at least 6. So . . .
DeleteAll sounds pretty hopeful so good luck.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to say how beautiful your header is.
That cat is a beaut. Are you going to wash his feet and legs for him?
The new header is a view from a hilltop with the Black Mountains to our back. The Aquilegia one was taken down by mum's patio.
DeleteThe cat (Squeaker)is the latet stray - arrived a few months back. Needs neutering . Still too wild to wash off but he had been walking in the long grass and was clean-but-green the next day!
Great news about the second estate agent :) Good Luck with the sale and I really hope you will find some buyers who will appreciate your lovely house and all the history.
ReplyDeleteThanks RR. The agent certainly appreciated the house, and his enthusiasm should pass on to other interested folk.
Delete