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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To just want to have a massive moan (House not selling )

71 replies

CoCoPopswithCruncyNut · 12/10/2018 18:08

So sorry but I have to write it out! House went on the market in February with first estate agent. They were rubbish. Loads of viewings, 1 offer. They were very bad at giving feedback, turned up an hour early/late for viewings, not telling us viewings were cancelled etc...

New EA from July. She is lovely. We get on, good communication loads of viewing, one ridiculously low offer.

It's October. Me and my boyfriend are tired... all in we must have had 30-40 viewings. We dropped the price once by 5k.
First asking price was 315k. Now it's on 310... house is detached with a small garden. Completely refurbished apart from kitchen. If anyone came in 5-7.5-10 k under the asking price and said its cause of the kitchen of totally understand. I'm tired now... my boyfriend works away a lot so it's me prepping the house for viewings all the time. I just want someone to buy it and so we can move on (literally) it's been dragging for so long . Up till about 2 weeks ago we had constant viewing ... nothing the last 2 weeks. EA says in the current market we probably need to drop it to 300k but then people will come in and offer 280-290?! What do I do? I can't go on any longer

OP posts:
Ariclock · 14/10/2018 10:50

Good luck op.

HowToBeBetter · 14/10/2018 10:51

Oh dear wee bit of a name change fail here (before anyone points out) 😳😂

Oh well... I do a lot of name change as I think my 'Sil' is obsessed with mumsnet and I wouldn't want her to work out or know about things about my personal life. But heyhoo 🙄

SoyDora · 14/10/2018 10:54

Agree with Bluelady on the kitchen, one of the reasons we bought our house was because it needed new kitchen and bathrooms and had been priced accordingly. I would much rather replace them ourselves with a design of my choice than buy a house with brand new kitchens/bathrooms that weren’t entirely to my choice but that I wouldn’t be able to justify replacing.

RayRayBidet · 14/10/2018 10:57

If you don't have any joy this time I would take it off the market for now. Then put it on again the week before Christmas. Apparently boxing day is the busiest day of the year for estate agents websites.
Find a new, local agent and get a few valuations to get a realistic price.
Empty out your clutter (I put stuff in the car and a friend's garage while selling). Get new pictures taken.
Hold an open house day rather than odd viewings here and there. My old house sold in one day with an open house.
Our estate agent told the viewers that the house would sell that day so make their best offer.
Good luck

BonnieF · 14/10/2018 11:01

Your house is not worth what an estate agent says it’s worth. It is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

One buyer offered to purchase your house. You rejected that offer. You have had no further offers, despite many viewings. The only sensible conclusion is that your house is overpriced so you need to drop the price to a realistic level if you want to sell it.

HowToBeBetter · 14/10/2018 11:04

Thanks again for the comments. It's quite interesting isn't ... my boyfriend and I would never buy a new or renovated house. We always have been looking at houses that need a lot of work to make it our own. I guess everyone is different. @RayRayBidet you mention all the trick we have done. We did have an open house , we did declutter out home ( well I have a bit of an OCD thing going on so there was never any real clutter)
I don't believe in the 'busiest ' times of the year to sell the house. In February we were told it's going to pick up in March/April. In the summer we were told it will be September and so on...

HowToBeBetter · 14/10/2018 11:08

@BonnieF we had 2 offers and looking back now we probably should have sold it to the person who offered the higher money.

I will talk to my boyfriend about reducing it cause it would make sense but there are houses near us almost identical (some need more work than others, ours is probably the most modern apart from kitchen ) in the region of 250-325k and nothing sells... I mean 250k is cheap as chips here yes it does need at least 20-30 grand spend on it so why does that one not sell?
I think I'll have a proper chat with my partner. Pros and cons of what to do and go from there 😊

RayRayBidet · 14/10/2018 11:18

But there are busy times. Lots of people move on from Christmas and either book a holiday or plan a house move.
Personally I think the key is the estate agent knowing the area well and what your target buyer is and then pitching the price and look of the house to that audience.
This is more important than anything else.
If it isn't selling then the price is wrong and you might need to do something to the look/arrangement of the house.
Having an older kitchen is fine but the price must reflect that and what is there must be presented to best advantage. New kitchens are expensive and getting one and the people to fit it is a massive hassle.
I still think both of your agents are either not very good or haven't been honest.

cloudtree · 14/10/2018 11:21

OP the country is in a period of massive uncertainty at the moment. Many people will be sitting tight and waiting to see what is going to happen with Brexit and the economy.

That doesn't mean to say that you have no chance of selling. It simply means that you will have a reduced audience and that people are going to want to feel like they've made a sensible move given the uncertainty. As such the price will need to drop. its irrelevant what your neighbours sold for previously.

RayRayBidet · 14/10/2018 11:22

One other thing is stop looking at the similar ones that haven't sold and look at the ones that have sold. What is it about them that is different.
Good luck OP, fingers crossed for you

TinySalmon · 14/10/2018 11:22

Doesn't matter if the house next door sold for £300k in May. Maybe it was a different market back then or they had an overeager buyer.

Why are you reluctant to drop the asking price to £300k for offers of £290k?

You either want to sell or you don't and it's usually price that's the driving factor.

For reference we wanted a quick sale, originally priced at £1.075m and we sold for £1.020m, quite a big drop but needs were a must.

Oopupsideyourhead · 14/10/2018 11:28

Maybe, just maybe there is a shift happening in the housing market. Houses are extraordinarily overpriced and we have just lived through a decade of historically low and unsustainable interest rates. The tide is turning- most of the country is priced out of housing (if they don’t already own)- where I live, prices are dropping by 25k plus at the advice of estate agents but I don’t think sentiment has caught up yet. Oh, and there is brexit too!

Bluelady · 14/10/2018 11:38

£55k on a house selling for over £1 million is fuck all - less than 5%. There's absolutely no comparison.

cheesymashandbeans · 14/10/2018 11:43

I'd consider taking it off the market for a couple of months. During that time get some honest feedback on what changes can be made cheaply to make it mor attractive to buyers. Then reduce the price by a couple of grand , then put it back on market with new photos.

Many people will have seen it's been on the market for a long time and so will automatically think "there must be something wrong with it if it's not selling".

Putting it back on in a few months , freshened up a bit, will make it a 'new to market ' house again.

wonderandwander · 14/10/2018 12:06

@Bluelady

Maths not your strong suit?
£55k is slightly more than 5%

And in the OP’s scenario of £315k asking price, a 5% drop would be £15,750. Not insignificant

Bluelady · 14/10/2018 12:12

You're right, maths never was my strong point, I stand corrected. I was saying exactly that, wonder - a drop of slightly over 5% is a drop in the ocean on £1 million+ which is why the two aren't comparable.

HowToBeBetter · 14/10/2018 12:23

So we had the viewing and they liked the house ✅ locationwise is ✅ for them. They actually liked that the kitchen is not updated so they can make it their own so -yay! ✅ They are also first time buyers whop whop. This was their first one to view so viewing more next week but it's a good start so fingers crossed. Price wise they asked the EA if it's negotiable and they agreed that the house probably worth what it is up for but cause of their position the EA suggested we would be open to negotiating the price. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us please xxx

wonderandwander · 14/10/2018 12:24

@Bluelady

Do you think a drop of £15,750 is insignificant with a £315,000 house?

Bluelady · 14/10/2018 12:32

No, I'm AGREEING with you!! Beats head on table!

Bluelady · 14/10/2018 12:33

Fingers crossed, OP.

KittyVonCatsworth · 14/10/2018 12:39

Good luck OP! I’m currently looking to buy but I’m holding off until Brexit. I must admit, I don’t even remotely have my finger on the pulse with the entire subject but my ears pricked up when it was said that house prices could drop by 30%. Maybe that’s putting off people at the moment too. Scaremongering maybe but I’m not going to buy the biggest purchase of my life to maybe lose 75k potentially.

I’ll have my fingers crossed for you x

wonderandwander · 14/10/2018 12:55

You have misunderstood me @Bluelady!!

That figure is exactly The same percentage as the £55k in the >£1 million property.

Both 5%

wonderandwander · 14/10/2018 12:56

So how can one be a drop in the the ocean and the other not? They both represent the same position of the asking price

Head. Wall.

juneau · 14/10/2018 13:05

So if 30-40 potential buyers aren't put off by the price (which I don't believe - if it was priced right I think it would sell), what is the problem? Your EA may be very nice, but her job is to sell your house and getting constructive feedback for you is an essential part of her job. If she is not providing this and you are genuinely confused as to what exactly is wrong with your house, then you should change EA again. It's not like the house hasn't generated interest - 30-40 viewings is a lot (even over 8 months), but if you want to shift it then you need to be brutal - both in terms of demanding feeback from your EA and cutting the price. There are psychological barriers around round numbers, so if you're desperate to sell I'd price it at 299,950 and see if that makes a difference. It will then come up in people's searches for anything under £300k.

Buteo · 14/10/2018 13:10

my ears pricked up when it was said that house prices could drop by 30%.

That was part of the BoE worst case stress testing for UK banks, ie if the economy completely tanks (and bearing in mind significant house price falls don’t occur in a vacuum) can UK banks remain solvent. It’s not a prediction, although a correction in house prices is long overdue.

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