House on the market in a few weeks. Not sold our main house in 20yrs... ie pre-internet last time.
As I look round potential buys on Rightmove it dawns on me how massively exposed you are after a listing that shows ever single aspect of your property and posessions... plus location, streetview etc.
I guess everyone's got to accept it but I'm feeling uncomfortable considering the first day I see it online so will every other person with less than honourable intentions.
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The vast majority of the info is already publically available, only a few photos of the inside are news to anyone, but they arent usually very high resolution, so picking out details isnt really possible - your overeacting big time.
Streetview is just that - its the same thing people can see when they stop outside of a house with a board up.
Chill out for goodness sake. If there is anything big or obvious you dont want seen, dont approve the particular photo or remove the object before its taken.
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>> the inside are news to anyone, but they arent usually very high resolution, so picking
>> out details isnt really possible - your overeacting big time.
>>
Check out the resolution on the Thomas Morris web site. You can even pick out the smile on the face of the Buddha statuette next to the fireplace.
p.s.
If that house has been "dressed" for this sale, it has been done awful taste.
Why do so many people have a Buddha in their homes nowadays?
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>> Why do so many people have a Buddha in their homes nowadays?
>>
I'm sorry, I thought my diet was working.
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I have looked at a few houses that have not been occupied and the agent's tend to not post an exterior shot of the front of them, to avoid making it easy for a casual observer to know which house it is. Likewise, the position on the map has tended to not be exactly where the house is either.
When you call the agent, they generally say that they will call you back you before the viewing and give you the number then (unless they know you already).
Nothing is guaranteed of course, but I think that those safeguards probably help a lot.
EDIT: I've never really noticed, but I would expect that they often make sure that expensive stuff is not shown in the photos too (I would just hide everything valuable before they came to take the pictures).
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Wed 9 Mar 11 at 10:45
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>>> only a few photos of the inside are news to anyone, but they arent usually very high resolution, so picking out details isnt really possible - your overeacting big time.
I don't think you've looked at Rightmove lately. Check out this place as an example. You can get a very good idea of the potential for stuff to nick... even the floorplan to assist doing the place over.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17617164.html?premiumA=true
>>> looked at a few houses that have not been occupied and the agent's tend to not post an exterior shot of the front of them, to avoid making it easy for a casual observer to know which house it is.
By chance about 30% of the places we are casually looking at are empty repos and fully photographed online.... you don't need to go into the agents at all to do 75% of the groundwork so the safeguards (of 20 yrs ago) do not exist in reality.
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>> By chance about 30% of the places we are casually looking at are empty repos
>> and fully photographed online....
I'm sure that many are, probably depends how professional the agents are. They are perhaps less bothered when the place is empty (although squatters could still be an issue).
The point is that you should be able to ask the agent to not post exterior front shots, not put the exact location on the map (just somewhere on the street), and not give the address until just before the viewing, and hide valuables from the the shots - if you want that level of security.
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>> I don't think you've looked at Rightmove lately. Check out this place as an example.
>> You can get a very good idea of the potential for stuff to nick... even
>> the floorplan to assist doing the place over.
>>
>> www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17617164.html?premiumA=true
>>
Who is responsible for that: Rightmove or Thomas Morris?
www.thomasmorris.co.uk/search/detail-view?pid=113312
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Well I guess Rightmove will list whatever agents upload. We must have looked at about 100 places online over the past few weeks and only found one with no interior shots. The other 99 were fully shown and easy to locate with the plans/streetview links which appeared on every listing. Many places had photos that showed expensive TVs, hi-fi's, paintings, antiques, boats, caravans horse trailers and other stuff that would be otherwise tucked away from sight.
It seems to properly present our place any restriction could damage it's marketing/sale prospects so I'll just have to grit my teeth and put up with the stress.
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>> It seems to properly present our place any restriction could damage it's marketing/sale prospects so
>> I'll just have to grit my teeth and put up with the stress.
Up to you of course. I think that not having interior shots at all, probably would some impact on marketing, but all you have to do is hide the valuables.
Not having external shots shouldn't have a huge impact, although I am based in London and nothing seems to slow the market down here, maybe it is different where you are.
You can ask to not have the exact location shown on the map, but if you do post an exterior front shot, that is pretty pointless thanks to Streetview.
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>> Who is responsible for that: Rightmove or Thomas Morris?
>> www.thomasmorris.co.uk/search/detail-view?pid=113312
Exactly...
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>>>Exactly...
Ahh... are you assuming I'm attaching some blame to Rightmove? Not at all... just that as I'm doing some mails regarding marketing our place realisation dawns of the level of exposure due to the accepted way houses are marketed these days... by the whole system.
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>> Ahh... are you assuming I'm attaching some blame to Rightmove? Not at all... just that
>> as I'm doing some mails regarding marketing our place realisation dawns of the level of
>> exposure due to the accepted way houses are marketed these days... by the whole system.
I wouldn't read too much into how most of them are marketed. I have seen houses that have been posted with just a couple of interior shots go under offer in a couple of days, and seen ones with all the stops pulled out not move for over 18 months.
If the price is right, people will go for a viewing.
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>>>seen ones with all the stops pulled out not move for over 18 months.
Yes some seem to be trying too hard and strangely that can put me off. You can almost guess that viewing will be conducted be by the owner with every detail *lovingly* explained. I'd rather look round a tatty empty place than go through that.
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>> You can almost guess that viewing will be conducted be by the owner with every
>> detail *lovingly* explained. I'd rather look round a tatty empty place than go through that.
>>
The best viewing I had ( and I bought the house) was where the couple said to me "Go and wander around the house, open any built-in wardrobes/cupboards/drawers as you wish, turn on/off any switches etc. you wish, and take as much time as you like. Then sit down and have a cup of tea and we can discuss any questions you have or show you anything you want to see again." There was no nonsense about this is the kitchen, this is the bedroom, this is the bathroom, etc.
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As for security issues, well so far as most houses are concerned, a casual glance through the window will tell you if there's much worth nicking. I don't see how a few pictures on the interent makes that situation much worse.
More depressing though, looking at that link, is why people in this country are hell bent on trying to make an obviously brand new house look like it's some kind of museum piece. The awful flase street lamp in the garden, the fake, period style fire surrounds. Dreadful. Why do we all seem to want to live in a Dickens novel?
Modern architecture and living spaces are wonderful, why is the mass construction market so stuck in this time warp, and why do so many people seem so happy to buy into it? Tiny windows, narrow corridors, multiple small rooms, horrid. Fine in a genuine country cottage, a genuine Georgian townhouse, but in a newly constructed house? Leave it out.
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The majority of burglaries are spur-of-the-moment offences carried out by addicts wanting drugs money.
Typically, they will steal your £500 telly and flog it for £30 (no remote).
Estate agents' particulars tell nothing to others about our possessions.
The majority of us have a telly, hi-fi, computer, and very little else of value.
Burglars know what to expect.
Not worth worrying about a picture of your lounge on the internet, unless you spend your evenings sitting on Chippendale while staring at old masters.
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>>>The majority of burglaries are spur-of-the-moment offences carried out by addicts wanting drugs money.
Yep there are the regular ones of this type... but the organised gangs do target areas where they expect to find larger pickings.
Back in the family home area last month I was chatting to a guy about just this issue. He said the petty local stuff was a nuisance mainly as the damage they did was excessive for what they actually took. He commented the *gangs* had been into the village a few times over the past year for larger hauls.
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I was checking a customers house out yesterday, does that count as recent? ( I was being nosey, its a nice place )
A floorplan isnt much of a secret, most houses have a fairly standard layout and you can usually guess whats where without a plan.
Like I said, the seller approves all the details inc pictures, so its down to the seller to make the judgement.
Nobody is trawling Rightmove in the hope of spotting your Wedgewood pot.
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>> A floorplan isnt much of a secret, most houses have a fairly standard layout and
>> you can usually guess whats where without a plan.
Unless Fenlander lives in a country mansion...or a bank :)
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>>>Nobody is trawling Rightmove in the hope of spotting your Wedgewood pot.
You really think not? If I was the type of gang that target areas of upmarket housing perhaps 100mls from home I'd be over the moon with this resource.
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Yes I really think not. If you were going to break into upmarket houses, id be far more concerned with alarms, CCTV and whether they were in or not.
If the house is empty, that could be a draw to squatters, but thats about it.
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The only thing worth nicking in that house linked to above is the gravel. And you don't need to get into the house to pinch it.
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My experience of Rightmove is that they only give room sizes and photographs. They don't give any details of fixtures and fittings, which is not very helpful if the property you want to view is some distance away. The same thing now applies to a lot of estate agents' brochures. When I consider a property, to avoid a wasted journey I want to know as much about it as possible before I book a viewing.
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I expect like me you are remembering back to the old days when they listed every elec socket, telephone point and TV socket in a room. I'd noticed this seems to have stopped and understand this is a result of the regs some years back (80s?) when agents became more responsible for any details... so they stopped giving much of it.
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>> I expect like me you are remembering back to the old days ............
I'm remembering back about 5 years. I just want to know basic details. For example, our bungalow has wall-length wardrobes built into the structure in all bedrooms; built-in cooker, hob, extractor, fridge, freezer, dish washer, extractor in bathroom and en suite; an 8 foot wide electrically operated garage door; and many more features which make it superior to an average mass-produced property. None of this is given in the brochure or on the Rightmove website. Including these details would make it more likely to attract viewings from people living some distance away. However, our estate agent disagrees. They say that potential viewers just want room sizes and photographs. I beg to differ. And giving the details I want to see wouldn't compromise security.
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As mentioned, the most important factor is location followed by rooms and property potential. That alone should get the buyers interested. Mentioning things like an extractor in the bathroom just makes the property ad look fussy and almost desperate.
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>> As mentioned, the most important factor is location followed by rooms and property potential.
Not everyone has the money to turn pre-purchase potential into post-purchase perfection. They want a property which is already as close to their requirements as they can get.
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>> As mentioned, the most important factor is location followed by rooms and property potential. That
>> alone should get the buyers interested. Mentioning things like an extractor in the bathroom just
>> makes the property ad look fussy and almost desperate.
>>
OK, forget I said extractor in the bathroom.
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>>>OK, forget I said extractor in the bathroom.
No... very important. You'd be very pleased with the detail I could give you of our roof void mounted turbines with an extract rate that will have the free end of your loo roll fluttering upwards!
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Your estate agent is right L'es. People put houses on their shortlist because of location and size of the property. What they want to see are pictures and room sizes. Nobody every decided to view a property because it had electric garage doors or extractor fans.
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>> Your estate agent is right L'es. People put houses on their shortlist because of location
>> and size of the property. What they want to see are pictures and room sizes.
As I said, it depends on how far you have to travel to view the property. Although we would consider a property which is 200 miles away we'd be loath to ask for a viewing unless we knew that the property was already close to our requirements in terms of fixtures and fittings and garage size. We just don't have the money to carry out extensive improvements.
Also, for example, because of our current built-in wardrobes one dimension of each bedroom is in reality 2 feet longer than is stated in the brochure. That's the sort of detail we like to know about before we view.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 9 Mar 11 at 17:33
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I'm happy to view a house on the basis of its location, L'Es - fixtures, fittings and all the rest of it can be changed after all.
The house I bought two years ago is in a wonderful location. The decor and fittings, however, were dreadful, which mattered not a single solitary jot to me.
I now have a house in a perfect location, which is comin round to being very much to my own tastes internally.
Last edited by: Alanović on Wed 9 Mar 11 at 14:20
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Our house is for sale at the moment. The pictures not only show the plasma TV but also two very large Bang & Olufsen tower speakers. I was a bit concerned but live in a very affluent area where I would have thought interior shots showing things like mine is to be expected.
The room they are in is very large and contemporary so I was hoping they wouldn't show up too much but if I was a tea-leaf I'd certainly case the joint from the comfort of my desk.
Incidentally, I'm showing potential purchasers around myself. I don't like the thought of letting unknowns rummaging through my stuff or me potentially calling a someone a thief because I can't find something. Had an offer 9K minus the asking price which we have set 30k more than the estate agents top valuation. We succeeded in getting more for our previous property than the estate agents said we would. I don't hold them in high esteem!
Last edited by: Enoughalready on Wed 9 Mar 11 at 14:34
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>>We succeeded in getting more for our previous property than the estate agents said we
>>would. I don't hold them in high esteem!
I think you're missing the point. Nobody knows what something is worth/will make until it has actually sold. e.g. two identical houses, next door to each other. One goes on market at 500k, two buyers fight over it and it makes 750k. Next door neighbour thinks, "I'll get a bit of that, thanks" and puts his on at 750. Eventually the underbidder from next door is the only potential buyer and offers 400 which he has to accept as it's the only bid on the table.
That said, I'm glad I didn't use the agent who wanted to put my previous place on for nearly 40% less than it actually made...
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>>> didn't use the agent who wanted to put my previous place on for nearly 40% less than it actually made...
The combination of an odd market and our place being very unusual means the variation in price ideas has the top one 50% greater than the lowest. We are being guided by our own gut feeling added to where we want to be with the likely price of the replacement house. I'm sure this is the start of a long haul!
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>>The combination of an odd market and our place being very unusual means the variation in price ideas has the top one 50% greater than the lowest.
That's an incredible variation, even for an unusual property. If I was in your position, Fenlander, I would be looking for quite a number of 'valuations' before making my decision.
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Yes I will. The truth is it could fly with two interested buyers or bump along the lower end if no-one needs its specific attributes during the period we're selling.
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Basically Fenlander, as I've found out, your house (like all the others on the market) is only worth what people will pay - what you need to figure is what your new place will cost (i.e. what will the seller actually accept) and then figure out how you go about funding the difference. What we've found of late is that people are generally pitching in at around 15% less than the sticker price....
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If an agent doesn't put any pictures of the interior of a property it is, 99% of the time, because the interior is, in some way, utterly VILE!
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>> If an agent doesn't put any pictures of the interior of a property it is,
>> 99% of the time, because the interior is, in some way, utterly VILE!
>>
I've no objection to the pictures, just the lack of written descriptions.
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>>> what you need to figure is what your new place will cost.
We'll have to take a guestimate on that as I'm not bothering with any interior viewings or offering until we have a sale started on this place. We have modest needs so should find something within the guestimate.
However our feeling is the market is all over the place such that we'd happily go into rented for 6mths if we didn't happen to find anything... as opposed to losing a sale.
Lots of stuff on the market that's been stuck for a while and not much new appearing as far as I can see.
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>>Lots of stuff on the market that's been stuck for a while<<
Which means asking price is wrong - took me 6 months to find a buyer, had to reduce the price by forty thousand pounds, quite happy about that though as the place we're buying has also been reduced (and some!) and our purchasers have reduced their asking by £40k.
I've bought & sold many props via Rightmove and Primelocation - a godsend!
No probs with security issues, tea-leaves are mostly opportunist quick in and out merchants,
the real pro is like any pro who knows his work, and yes he probably uses the ww to case a joint via satellite images checking out ya boundaries for easy entry/exit etc.,
as for viewing your Ming vases and Van Dyck's etc., I doubt if y'all have much to worry about on that score.
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>> However our feeling is the market is all over the place such that we'd happily
>> go into rented for 6mths if we didn't happen to find anything... as opposed to
>> losing a sale.
Selling yours, is as you say, the priority. Once sold you are well postitioned to take advantage of the ups and downs of the market, and if you go rented for 6 months, have the time to find the place that really suits.
>> Lots of stuff on the market that's been stuck for a while and not much
>> new appearing as far as I can see.
The only people selling are those that have to. Given that you can be ruthless and screw them down on price. There are areas where price is holding, always the best areas with access to good schools.
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>>>There are areas where price is holding, always the best areas
Yes... sadly our anticipated next move after this (for retirement) will likely be to just such an area where the prices are eyewatering compared with these parts.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 10 Mar 11 at 13:49
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>> Yes... sadly our anticipated next move after this (for retirement) will likely be to just
>> such an area where the prices are eyewatering compared with these parts.
Might that be The Cotswolds by any chance?
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Hello Paul... yes indeed. We are starting on part 1 of a 2 part 10yr plan ending with a creep back to the home area. Problem is demonstrated by the Rightmove listings within 3mls of our current house showing the most expensive place is £540,000. The same search for the proposed retirement area shows the current high priced house to be £2.8million. It's going to make the pension cough a bit!
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 10 Mar 11 at 14:47
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The advice given to us by a surveyor when we were looking in The Cotswolds was:
The 'Cotswold dream' is
A character property
built of cotswold stone
quite village location
good sized gardens
If you can compromise on a property doesn't tick all the boxes, then prices are more reasonable. Our place was built in 1980, so hardly a character property!
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>> the top one 50% greater than the lowest.
That's nothing. I had the top one 80% greater than the lowest. This for a bog-standard 1840s London terrace. It was interesting that the sleepy local agents bunched around the bottom figure and the national firms bunched around the achieved price, with one oik suggesting an extra 20%. In retrospect he might have been right, but hey.
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Sensibly priced houses in my area are selling quite well, but one or two are sticking because their asking prices are way too high. One such has been on the market for well over a year, and when the asking price was reduced a few months ago, it was by less than 2%!
I take the view that if a property hasn't sold within three months, it's overpriced.
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>>One such has been on the market for well over a year, and when the asking price was reduced a few months ago, it was by less than 2%!<<
A property in 'my' road has been 'on the market' for nigh-on 4 flippin years :(
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>> A property in 'my' road has been 'on the market' for nigh-on 4 flippin years
>> :(
Known in the trade as Stale, I think.
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>>Known in the trade as Stale, I think<<
Gorn orf more like it :-D
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>> Sensibly priced houses in my area are selling quite well, but one or two are
>> sticking because their asking prices are way too high.
Usually people who bought at the top of the market, and cant grasp the current reality.
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>> I'm happy to view a house on the basis of its location, L'Es - fixtures,
>> fittings and all the rest of it can be changed after all.
Only if you have the money ~ which we (and no doubt others) don't.
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Selling house - Rightmove security issues? - Stuu
