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Original poster

If your house just wasn't selling, how long would you leave it on the market?

25 replies

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 13:50

Hi,

Just interested in your thoughts about this.

There's a house on Righmove which is 5 minutes up the road from me which has been on the market for almost 2 years! It sold once, but fell through at the last hurdle I think. It's a beautiful house, reasonably priced in a good location, but it just won't sell.

Anyway, I'm constantly on rightmove 😬😂 slight exaggeration and every time I see this house I hope it says sold, as I know how awful it is when your house won't sell, although admittedly not for this long!

It just got me thinking, when do you actually give in? It obviously doesn't look good to have been on the market for this long, so suspect a lot of the issue now is simply the length of time it's been on the market, so they're probably just stuck.

Anyone personally been in this position? When did you decide to withdraw it? Or maybe you didn't....

OP posts:

Ponderingwindow · 27/02/2023 13:53

It depends on how desperate someone is to sell. I have a family member selling a place right now and it hasn’t been very long, but I can guarantee it won’t be taken off the market under any circumstances.

RomansForSaleSign · 27/02/2023 14:04

My friend says her first one took four years.

Original poster

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 14:08

@RomansForSaleSign but was that constant or did they have any breaks?

OP posts:

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 27/02/2023 14:11

Let's have a look

Original poster

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 14:26

@neverknowinglyunreasonable actually I was going to say in my OP that I wasn't going to post a link, as I'd be mortified if someone did the same 😳

OP posts:

musicforthesoul · 27/02/2023 14:31

They'd be better off pulling it then relisting again.

Honestly I'd assume anything showing as on the market that long had either sold ages ago and something had gone wrong with the computer systems to remove the listing OR the house had major issues that made it a no go. Either way would probably immediately overlook it unless it's dream house territory.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 27/02/2023 14:39

They are either unrealistic on the price or when people go and view something is putting them off. It can look immaculate in photos and a shit hole and stink when people get there.

Original poster

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 14:40

@musicforthesoul yes, I'm surprised they haven't done that actually. I see lots of other houses doing this and it certainly makes more sense than leaving it to go stale. I know some buyers who have been searching for a while will know the game, but new ones won't.

OP posts:

LimeCheesecake · 27/02/2023 14:43

Oh come on, post a link!!

I am another rightmove regular - noticed this week several properties that came off rightmove back before Christmas have gone back on - presume they decided to take a break from selling for Christmas and it’s long enough that it looks like a new listing. Or it could be sales have fallen through.

4 years though- have they dropped it a lot?!

Original poster

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 14:48

@LimeCheesecake haha sorry! I would feel terrible if people started slagging it off.

This one's 2 years. They gave dropped it quite a bit. That road is definitely a higher than average flood risk, but there are other house on that road which have sold very quickly. It really is beautiful, but I haven't viewed it myself. Must be something that the pictures just don't show. That or it really is just the length of time it's been up for sale.

OP posts:

CupEmpty · 27/02/2023 14:51

This isnt completely relevant but we have just pulled out of a house sale that has been going on nearly 2 years (we were the buyer). My dream house but the vendor was just an arsehole and after nearly 2 years of being messed around we’ve said no more. I think we are about the 5th buyer in nearly a decade so the house has been on and off since then.

Original poster

Tulips365 · 27/02/2023 15:44

@CupEmpty why does this happen so often? I can't believe the amount of nightmare moving stories there are! Far more than the easy, smooth ones. I can't remember the last time I heard a positive one actually 😕

OP posts:

LimeCheesecake · 27/02/2023 20:17

I reckon some people don’t really want to move/sell.

they’ll sell if they get the right price and if they find a dream home they must move to, but generally the long time sellers don’t really feel the urgency to drop price / market better / fix problems putting buyers off as they aren’t all that fussed.

Spinxsta · 27/02/2023 20:26

We had ours on for 2 years. We had to rent it out as we'd moved and I think having tenants in situ didn't help.

TheNoodlesIncident · 27/02/2023 20:56

One of mine took about 17 months. We weren't living in it, we'd moved out to another house and the EA did the viewings. I think it took so long because there was no private parking and a restriction outside which really narrowed down the pool of potential buyers. Was glad to sell it in the end, buyer was a young woman buying her first house and I hope she's happy there.

One person made a really low offer that was the usual price of a titchy two up two down terrace house, I was annoyed about that as mine was a proper three bed with two big reception rooms. The EA advised me of the offer ("We told them you would say no but we have to tell you anyway") and I recognised the name as a bloke with dozens of rental properties, so glad I sold to my FTB instead

IntentionalError · 27/02/2023 21:01

A property is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. In the overwhelming majority of cases, houses which ‘won’t sell’ are simply overpriced, and vendors will not accept that the real market value of their property is lower than they think it should be worth.

MrsTWH · 27/02/2023 21:02

The house we bought a couple of years ago had been on the market for 18 months/2 years. First it was overpriced, then as it came down in price I assume the amount of work it needed doing put people off. Then Covid hit and the owner refused to let people in for viewings for months but left it on the market. The photos were nice but when we went in, it was clear there were underlying issues (foul stench in both bathrooms with windows open, for example!). The owner also didn’t really want to move I don’t think so I believe had turned down a few lower offers. Luckily we saw the potential and had the savings for a project. We’ve basically ripped it apart and put it back together again and it’s fabulous now.

AllWorkYoPlait · 27/02/2023 21:05

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/59232629/

This house has been on my list for ages and was first listed in mid 2021. I don't know the area so have no idea why it isn't selling. There's nothing glaringly obvious. Is it hugely overpriced? Flood plain? Ancient burial ground? I'm intrigued but live nowhere near so can't do a drive by.

RedToothBrush · 27/02/2023 21:05

We left ours on the market for nearly twelve months. We knew the square footage price was very good. We also knew the layout of the property meant that it had limited groups it would appeal to. It sold eventually at the price we were happy with. We simply couldn't afford to drop lower anyway.

Tupster · 25/04/2023 16:50

I was watching a lovely house with stunning sea views recently. Sat on the market for about 18 months, dropped just once in that time from 500k down to offers over 475k. Looked like it was being used as a holiday let or air B&B or similar rather than being lived in as a family home. When they dropped to 475 the listing added in that they'd be willing to sell the furniture with it! Finally I think they gave up about Easter and it disappeared from Rightmove.

My feeling was it was massively over-priced for the area it was in, the more I looked at it and other prices in the area, the more I thought it simply wasn't worth more than 400k, if that. I can't believe nobody wanted this house, but I'm imagining the vendors just endlessly turning down very reasonable offers. I was tempted to view but the price was so far afield from what the house was really worth it felt like a waste of everyone's time. I think it's all very well people saying they can't afford to drop any lower, but no buyer is going to pay more than a property is worth.

Stettafire · 25/04/2023 16:53

I've thought about this. I'm selling in a few years and my current plan if this doesn't sell is to take it off the market after about ten months then renovate the conservatory and put it back on in another two years time.

Chewbecca · 25/04/2023 16:54

I guess it depends why it is up for sale. If I moved it would probably be to downsize to a bungalow and would be because I had found something I really wanted. Either I would sell and get the house I wanted, or come back off the market again. I wouldn’t speculatively put my house up for sale because I like it too much and wouldn’t risk not moving to somewhere better.

IglesiasPiggl · 25/04/2023 16:57

There's a house on my road that's been on and off the market for about five years. Sometimes it goes under offer and falls through, sometimes the owner seems to have withdrawn it. I think they don't really want to sell it. Also, though, it's a small house on a big plot, ripe for being replaced with a five or six bed detached property. I wonder if there is some issue with the planning for that, as I imagine that's where most of the interest would come from.

AshRJ · 11/08/2023 01:48

Our house has been on the market for 2 years. The problem is sales that fall through, we’ve had 5 fall throughs. 1 property developer who apparently overspent in another house.. 2 families who came back saying that the process took too long.. one who said their was issues with flooding, told us he’d accept this at an 80k reduction but wouldn’t share the survey that told him this.. (the house is in East Acton, London - the Thames is far away.. )and another that got spooked with the Truss thing.. unfortunately these all took months to fail and by the time it’s stopped you’ve lost another 3-4months .. you could take it off the market but those who are looking in the area will know it’s been on before anyway.

It’s frustrating as heck, as we moved to rent in Kent and the house is empty. But renting it out will bring its own challenges and with rent laws changing it will be a drama and half getting people out. As it’s a 3 bed so most likely have a family in, we’ve also got to factor in potential damage to property.

The price is reasonable for the area, I just think we’ve been extremely unlucky to hit every single pothole of mortgages rising, financial uncertainty and buyers not really invested in buying it in the first place wasting time.

It’s extremely stressful. The day we sell the house, I will finally breath without the weight of maintaining that mortgage and rent.

Luke1054 · 11/08/2023 06:45

It really is this simple. If a house is priced correctly it will sell. A lot of agents will come round stating an optimistic price to compliment you and give you high expectations to get you to go with them. 4-6 weeks later they start talking about dropping the price…to what they actually believe it’s worth.

when we were looking last time and saw a property that was clearly over priced we wouldn’t even bother because it would make us think the buyer is just a dreamer and it won’t be an easy process.

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