My employer Richard put his house up for sale in August. It is a Victorian terraced cottage in a nice village near Canterbury, and the agent suggested a price of £180,000.

After a month there had been no interest at all, so he dropped the price to £170,000.

There were a couple of viewings, then nothing but after two months, a viewer made an offer- £150,000.

Richard rejected the offer so the prospective buyer just walked away- no improved offer at all.

Another two months went by before anyone else viewed. The new viewers put in an offer- £140,000.

Richard rejected this, and explained that he wasn't looking for a quick sale, but a reasonable price.



He then received a shitty letter from the EA, telling him that as he had received and rejected two offers on the property which the EA felt were reasonable, they were no longer prepared to market the property and had taken it off of their books.



So there you have it. A property worth £180,000 last August is now worth £140,000.

I don't know how many times that on HPC that I have said- "beware of chasing the market down"

Oh look- I just did AGAIN

and this is why HIPS are a good thing.

Well done! that Estate Agent. They probably have enough stuff on their books that they might just sell. Seems to make sense to me.

I wonder if he'll find it difficult to find another agent.

I read recently that EAs have on average 48% more properties on their books now compared to just last November. It seems that properties are still coming onto their books but just not selling.

I certainly agree with you that EAs are likely to favour clients who are prepared to view the current market situation realistically and that if they need to thin down their portfolios, the first vendors to fall by the wayside will be those who expect to sell a house for the same money as you could this time last year.







Given the current situation, he is no longer trying to sell it and has rented it out.