[kathyharley]

[QUOTE=Northside;8853350]Good luck to you Jo and Kathy

yes let's hope we all get some progress with our houses. I am probably going to bite the bullet and go with the high street agent despite the horrific fee.

just out of interest, are your properties in what is perceived to be a 'popular' area (Crookes, Walkley etc..)?[/QUOTE

Hi, my street is split in 2, my half is s2, Heeley and the other half is s8 Meersbrook. this means i could be missing out on some people who search s8 which is a sought after area. Its so frustrating because its prised more towards s8 prices than what people will probably pay at Heeley but thats because its worth it, in my opinion, we've had it 5 years, done loads of work and will still be loosing money because of the market so cant afford to reduce the price

[jomarch]

I also think that people know that they don't want the house so just find something to say- I have done this myself when viewing. It is believed that viewers make up their minds in the first 11 seconds but it would seem rude to just walk out and say 'I've seen enough- don't want it.'
When viewing I always tried to say something positive even though I knew I wasn't going to put an offer in- the house has to be right and I would rather have one viewing from the right person than a thousand from timewasters- trouble is you can't always tell the difference!

[Cyclone]

If it's the vendor showing me around I'm happy to tell them I don't want it and why, it's to their benefit to be given some honest feedback. The only time I've avoided doing this is when I can tell that my wife doesn't agree and I don't want to 'discuss' the reasons there and then.

[Grenoside123]

I think the agent matters massively. We used haybrook and they did bugger all, not a single viewer in the 16 weeks we were tied to them. Switched to blundells and had viewer after viewer. The difference seemed to be down to the marketing. H's pictures for example were taken with a camera no better than my own, B's used a wide lense one and the difference in the pics was amazing. Also, I had to badger H all the time to see what they were doing which seemed to be nothing, where as B kept in touch with me. Same house, two very different results.
Good luck whatever you decide.

[Northside]

Grenoside123, is the house you were selling at Grenoside..? glad Blundells worked for you in the end.

It seems that a lot depends on the area as well, in the sense of which agent to go to. Haybrook's clearly one opinions are divided on, but idifferent branches get different feedback..think I am going to make a change, and will let everyone know how they fare!

Re wide angle lens by the way. I heard that it can't be used now unless the photos have a disclaimer to state that wide angle lens was used. A bit like the advertising for hair products where now you have to have a statement saying that extensions were used to create the effect

It is also possible to tell from the pics where this type of lens is used.

[Grenoside123]

Originally Posted by Northside

Grenoside123, is the house you were selling at Grenoside..? glad Blundells worked for you in the end.

It seems that a lot depends on the area as well, in the sense of which agent to go to. Haybrook's clearly one opinions are divided on, but idifferent branches get different feedback..think I am going to make a change, and will let everyone know how they fare!

Re wide angle lens by the way. I heard that it can't be used now unless the photos have a disclaimer to state that wide angle lens was used. A bit like the advertising for hair products where now you have to have a statement saying that extensions were used to create the effect

It is also possible to tell from the pics where this type of lens is used.

Hi northside.
No, we moved up here. We were selling in High Green.
This was 2009 so not sure whether the camera rules were different then but just little things they did were different such as Haybrook took the pics as things were exactly where as Blundell insisted on coming back up to picture the front view and garden on a sunny day.

[jomarch]

Northside- did you change your agent? Have you had any luck with viewers or offers? Only asking cos I've put my price down again and still no interest, wondering if I should get a more traditional agent now but still not sure who to go with.

[mc55]

You can't underestimate the importance of great photographs - for me when we were looking at properties I made the decision on what to shortlist based on online photos / floor plans / then street view. Then we'd go and see shortlisted properties. What I've noticed with Haybrook photos is that they seem to make a feature of a piece of furniture - which the seller will take with them - or the corner of a room, rather than showing the full room. Saxton Mee are having a crazy phase of using HDR and their photos look a bit odd. We actually did our own photos as we felt it was so important and sent them to the agent to use in the brochures.

I'd also echo what others have said about the 'request contact / viewing' with the agent button on Rightmove not being very effective - some agents called back with a day, others took months and some never did call ... thus losing out on a viewing.

Personally I wouldn't touch Haybrook (from my experience as a buyer and my friends experience as a seller). Blundells are incredibly expensive, but I think would probably get a sale. We eventually bought from Spencers and they have been excellent - very open and honest during all of our contact / negotiations. We chose Crucible when we were thinking of selling - they were fantastic (we had a lot of buyers through the door and several offers with asking price achieved)

[spider1]

I think what gets people to come and view your propety is price simple as that

[jomarch]

Maybe it is a combination of the two- would the estate agent re-take photos? Mine were taken in winter and I sometimes wonder if that puts people off, knowing it has been on the market for a while- but I can't see them taking more pics without charging.
I can see why people might want to take their own photos- but I'm sure the EA wouldn't give you disount for this and let's face it, what else do you really pay them for?
mc55- what is it about Blundells that makes you think they might get a sale? It can't just be the money surely, and yes, Spider 1, I have reduced the price twice- wish I hadn't listened to the agents and put it on at a lower price in the first place!

[mc55]

mmmm hard to put my finger on it, but they inspired me with confidence when they came to value the property - I believe they are also the largest agent / no. 1 in Sheffield ? The agent assured me that they have a rolling list of potential clients who are wanting to view houses (as have most other EAs I guess, but not all of them seem to use this to their advantage). The fees put me off though - they wanted some tremendous marketing fee - £800 from memory, on top of the commission - 1.5% ?? can't remember exactly now. I asked what the additional £800 covered compared to other EAs who had similar commission rates - got a bit of a vague answer - they wouldn't negotiate so it sealed my decision when Crucible came to value our property that they were the right EA for me (we actually signed up with them when they came round to value the house).

I do believe it's a bit of a lottery though, you need the right person to walk through the door - we were put off properties due to some fairly minor things, but when you think of the investment you are making you have to have your head on and not be led by your heart.

Ref the photos, you are right, no discount, but if you have cr*p photos it'll take longer to sell in my opinion, so its about weighing up what matters most to you (but whoever takes your photos needs to be better than the EA of course !)

Did you post a link to your house ?

[jomarch]

Funnily enough I didn't get a valuation from Blundells- but after four different ones (Saxton Mee, Winkworth, Haybrooks and Reeds Rains) all came up with the same price I didn't see the point.
I've looked at Crucible's web-site and they don't seem to have many properties- also I don't want masses of viewers, I want viewers who are genuinely interested in the house, and it has been on the market since January- so anyone who was interested would have viewed by now, I would have thought. I'm coming round more and more to the fresh photos idea, especially now the house has very little furniture in it.
There is a link to the house on another thread- maybe I should put one on here?

[mc55]

have you done a search on your area on rightmove to check out your competition and see how your house compares with the rest of the market and see what choices vendors have ?

[mc55]

Originally Posted by jomarch

There is a link to the house on another thread- maybe I should put one on here?

It's OK I found it - and realised I'd even commented LOL. I would echo what others said about the garden, especially as it's now summer - it's probably your best asset for selling at this time of year. Definitely get them back to redo photos (sunny day or put the lights on inside the rooms).

It looks as though there is a lot of competition in your area - 20 semi-detached 3 bedroom houses returned up to £170k. The ones that are SSTC were much much cheaper - around the £110 mark. So it's not necessarily that your house is priced wrong, it's that the vendors are not looking at that area.

[jezzyjj]

If you want to sell your house, make it look nice and get professional photos done. It's the most expensive and most important thing you will ever sell, so why skimp on making it look good. Good photos will make it stand out from the dross on the market.
As MC55 said we had plenty of viewings and got asking price no problem for our property as I did the photography [it's my job after all]. In fact the MD of Crucible wanted to know why all their photos didn't look that good, not realising I did the work. I would highly recommend Crucible, very good prices and excellent service. Trying to buy from Blundells made us realise what an utter waste of money they are. We ended up not buying property as a result of Blundell's incompetence. Just as well really as we got a much nicer place in the end.

We actually turned down the offer and decided to rent it out and again had no problem doing that either as again striking photos and a well presented house meant we were inundated with people wanting to view property, despite doing so at a bad time of year for getting students. In fact I was told by student landlords agencies that I would struggle to let property and they looked very surprised when I told them I did so in only three days.

What struck me whilst looking at property to buy over the last year of so was the sheer awfulness of nearly all the photography and also the lack of bothering to even tidy up for photos or viewings when visiting.

Photos of our old place in case you are interested....
House photos

[jezzyjj]

Originally Posted by Northside

Re wide angle lens by the way. I heard that it can't be used now unless the photos have a disclaimer to state that wide angle lens was used. A bit like the advertising for hair products where now you have to have a statement saying that extensions were used to create the effect

If that indeed the case, it is a rule made by very, very stupid people. The measurements are in the brouchure/on floorplan anyway and using a non-wideangle lens will simply only show a small part of a room and thus be far more misleading than showing a room more fully.

[jomarch]

Well we are not all professional photographers with fancy cameras, some of us pay estate agents to take the photographs that will get people interested, and that is part of the problem because estate agents don't always seem to be providing a good level of service, which is why I'm still undecided about whether to change to one or not.
In the old days it was all so much simpler...
my partners house was on the market for two years and we prepared well (even obsessively) for every viewing. The one time we weren't ready and the house looked a mess was when the offer was made and the house sold!

[jezzyjj]

Originally Posted by jomarch

Well we are not all professional photographers with fancy cameras, some of us pay estate agents to take the photographs that will get people interested, and that is part of the problem because estate agents don't always seem to be providing a good level of service, which is why I'm still undecided about whether to change to one or not.

So what you do is pay a good photographer to get that service, which was my point. This is the biggest and most important sale of your life, so why skimp on something that makes such a big difference. It's false economy. And to get say me to do it and also use an Estate agent that provides a good service [like Crucible] will possibly cost less than using a useless agent. And more importantly sell faster.
BTW, cameras fancy or otherwise do not make good photos, that's what the photographer does. I'd be rubbish at plastering, no matter how fancy or expensive my trowel and is why we pay someone else to do that job.

In the old days it was all so much simpler...
my partners house was on the market for two years and we prepared well (even obsessively) for every viewing. The one time we weren't ready and the house looked a mess was when the offer was made and the house sold!

Things are much better since the 'good old days' as now it is much easier to sell/find/look for property. What does change is the demand for property and currently the market is very slow. Not to mention, some estate agents are simply not very good.
Your partner's house was probably overpriced if it took that long to sell and just by coincidence someone who was prepared to buy it at that price turned up on that occasion. We nearly did just that ourselves, i.e. bought a house that was way overpriced as it appeared days after we'd lost out on another better house. But thankfully, we came to our senses on subsequent viewings after we'd put offer in.
Decluttering and cleaning will make a big difference with most viewers as they are quite literal and only see house as it is, not what it could be.

[jomarch]

So how much would you charge to take some photos of my place? If I have some taken the EA won't charge to re-post pictures and in fact would recommend me doing so, trouble is the garden is looking a bit wild so need to get it looking tip-top over the next couple of weeks. I'd really appreciate some advice as I'm not a great photographer and want to get it right this time!
BTW my partners house was not overpriced, it sold for £30 000 less than similar properties many of which were taken off the market. I still think it's so unpredictable.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Yes- but, again, anything is worth no more and no less than what someone's prepared to pay for it.