How long did it take your house to sell/do you think we’ve gone wrong somewhere? Feeling stressed..

[User374859]

We’ve put our house on the market for 325, it was valued at 310. We wanted some leeway for negotiations...but have had two viewings so far. No comment on price but just on the layout of the kitchen strangely, which is just a standard open plan kitchen! So nothing unusual about it. The other viewer went for a house across the road which had a bit of a longer garden, 10k more expensive.

We listed it on 10th of August. So it’s been on for a month.

Wait it out or reduce the price? Not sure what to do!

Can you PM me a link and I’ll have a look at the advert

bluebells that’s really kind thank you, but I don’t want to disclose the property. I know that’s not exactly helpful for people to comment though.

Can you put up a link to the house?

I would hazard a guess that the sticking point is price even if that's not what they are saying to you, it is valued at £15k below what you are advertising it for and usually the estate agent over values a bit to allow for reduction so you are probably way outside the parameters for most of your potential buyers.

We would be ok reducing it but need to sell for 310 for us to move comfortably. I wonder if dropping it to 315 would make much difference though?

Yes reduce to it the valuation price, I don't know why you would put it on for higher?

You don't have to accept under asking price if you don't want to and you are probably putting people off viewing it in the first place.

Many people will view, thinking they might offer 295 or something. You say no, they decide they have fallen in love with it and don't want to lose out and they offer higher. Good gardens are very sought after at the moment due to people moving after lockdown.

The asking price is putting people off viewing.
Put it on for what it’s valued at and tell the agents you want the full asking price.

The houses across the road from mine sell at several £1000s less because their gardens are north facing and they don’t have views of the woodland directly behind our side of the street.
Reduce the price to the valuation, or maybe 2K more.

Surely your estate agent advised you against that bizarre pricing decision?! The market has been strong, people will be expecting to pay around asking price so won’t view stuff they can’t afford. And overpriced houses put viewers off.

Why would you inflate the price so much? People will immediately discourage it as overpriced.

Estate agents almost always over value in my experience.

Now I always presume I’ll get 10k less than what they say!

You put it on for more than it was valued at? Erm, I think there's your issue.

And honestly, reducing it to 315k might not even make much of a difference because it'll still be in the same right move search brackets

Your agent it rubbish if they agreed to market the house at over valuation. Honestly, that’s your problem. You are trying to sell for more than it’s worth. Also £310 may be a problem. Your lose anyone only looking up to £300K. Your agent should have talked you though all of that.

Overpriced houses don’t sell. It’s simple you need to drop price.

Estate agents almost always over value in my experience.

Weirdly, I've found the opposite. On a number of occasions (selling my own house, selling a house on behalf of my parents) I found three or four local agents valued at one price and the other valued 25-30k higher. Put it on at the higher price and got asking price on both occasions. Also happens a lot on property programmes. People was 350k. Agents say it's worth 325. They put it on for 350 anyway and sell.

OP, it's not been on the market very long, especially during Covid. Just check the usual: that it has excellent kerb appeal and the hallway looks great as first impressions count. That the photos are bright and the floorplans accurate. Give it until October at least.

If you've only had two viewings it sounds as though the price is putting people off. If there's more than one house for sale on the same street and they are broadly similarly priced, people will view both. If you are up against something with a bigger garden, more floor space, better kitchen, etc yours will seem even more overpriced in comparison. Drop the asking price and don't negotiate below what you need. If it's worth it, you'll get it.

We have just put our house on the market for £10,000 less than the EA advised. We did this because we want a quick sale and comparing with other recently sold houses in our area. It is still priced fairly and way above what we paid 5 years ago.

It rarely pays to try and sell over price, people will just look and think you're having a laugh and then view a more realistically priced house.

People with £310k to spend won’t even see your house if they set search parameters on eg Rightmove. There’s your problem. It’s madness to overprice especially as surveys for mortgage purposes will value accurately or even keenly and your prospective purchasers will get into trouble on that score alone. Price it to sell, and people with relevant budget will see it.