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First-time Buyer

Sell in two weeks or your estate agent ‘will lose interest’

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
24/11/2015

Estate agents lose interest in a property if it hasn’t received any offers after just two weeks, a survey suggests.

A poll of 2,000 UK house sellers found 50% felt their estate agent’s commitment to sell their property dropped off considerably after the initial couple of weeks of marketing. By the second week they felt they were already having to chase the estate agent for updates.

More than half (51%) said their estate agent suggested they drop the asking price soon after marketing their property.

Online agent HouseSimple.com, which carried out the research, said it is not uncommon for high street estate agents to promise an unrealistic sale price to get sellers signed up, only to recommend a price drop once the property is marketed.

Sellers also questioned the quality of viewings lined up by agents, with more than a fifth (21%) saying that at least half of the people that came round to see their property were time wasters with no intention of ever making an offer.

Alex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com said: “It will be a concern to home sellers how quickly agents lose interest in their property. The problem is that agents only receive their commission once a property is sold, so they need to secure an offer quickly. Once they have you signed up, their interest in your property can wane rapidly if an offer doesn’t materialize.”

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