Urgent Property Query in London

[Bugsy]

We have been on the market for 5 weeks with a "very well presented" 3 bedroom house in a desirable area of South West London. We have had limited interest, which has in fact tailed off rather than picked up as January has progressed.
We are now being advised by our Estate Agent to drop the price, too many properties - not enough buyers etc. etc.
Is anyone else in a similar situation? Any mumsnet Estate Agents with advice? We are nervous about dropping the price as there seems to be no comeback from that. Ahhhhh, help!

Where in SW London - some areas are doing pretty well by all accounts.

5 weeks doesn't sound very long to me, particularly with Christmas etc. I would be reluctant to drop the price at this stage as it might send a sign of desperation. January is a notoriously quiet month isn't it?. Can you afford to hold on until Spring?

Drop the agent before you drop the price, Bugsy - and Bells is right, the market really picks up in Feb/March.
I would definitely look into a second opinion or valuation.

I have noticed lots of houses round my way (SE london) sticking on the market at the mo (my neighbours have been trying to sell for several months now). I think things are getting tougher in London. If you don't need to move in a hurry you have the luxury of keeping the property on the market for the spring season or change to multiple agency. But I think things are starting to change in London at least.

Hmmm, we are in the Wimbledon area and we are on with one of the most agressive estate agents in the area. Apparently, they have had 114 registrations this Jan as opposed to 304 this time last year. They are advising ALL their clients to drop their prices. Some of their other offices in Putney and Battersea have sold NO properties at all so far this year.
We are not in a massive panic but all the economic indicators seem to suggest a further downturn rather than a stabilisation or upturn and we do not want to see an even bigger drop in price.

Bugsy, just curious, where are you moving to? are there many houses on the market there?

Bugsy - sounds strange. As a buyer in London(unfortunately not in the Wimbledon area, so no luck for either of us there!) we are still being told that prices are holding and have not really seen any price reductions advertised, though we have definitely seen lots of properties overvalued and consequently not selling. Don't you just love estate agents! (sorry to any mumsnetters) I would give it a bit longer - like us, I am sure most buyers will be nervous about the market and will probably be seeing things over their price range. This way, you may have to take a price redution, but this will avoid the "no comeback" situation you refer to. It's still early in the new year, and if you're not desperate to sell, I'd hold tight. I would imagine that property in Wimbledon will not fall as far as other areas if the market does drop - though I guess the impact really depends on where you are moving to. HTH

Lil, we are staying in the area and there is very, very little available. I check constantly on the internet and we are registered with a number of local agents and there is very little coming through.
Since my first post, I've done some phoning around of other local agents and I think that in the short term we are going to keep our house on at the price we are currently asking and just try and get the Estate Agent to get more viewers through the door.

KS makes a good point - your agents may well be in desperate need of a sale to a) reach targets and b)get a sold sign up somewhere to entice new sellers. Reducing the price can make a big difference to you, but won't make a huge dent in their commission. I'd sit tight for a few weeks and review the situation then.

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Agree, stick it out for a bit longer, then change agents and review the situation again. We sold a 3 bed terrace in the Wimbledon area the first day of changing to a new agent at the same price, after 3 months with another agent who told us repeatedly to drop the price (admittedly, this was some time ago, so may not be very relevant). Can we name agents here as I've got strong opinions on some of these in that area?!

Bugsy, have you thought of cutting the estate agent out of the equation? My brother sold his house (in London - Sydenham) that way, and saved himself loads of money without too much hassle. I posted about it here .

Bugsy we are just in the process of probably putting our house up for sale. We have registered with one agent at 1% sole agency for 8 weeks and if they haven't done the job by then we'll switch to another agent. The area where we live is a little extortionate in price so we don't plan on dropping our price. Luckily we are not in a hurry to move so can hold out. It is true that this is a bad time of year. People normally put their houses in the market in spring for summer as everything looks better then. This is the time of year most people are getting valuations and thinking about moving but not actually doing it.

It is also true that house prices have dropped every month the last few months. This is another reason we are not too sure of moving just yet because the market seems to still be dropping. Then again there is never a great time to buy.

I would say that perhaps you should give them another couple of weeks but tell them that you are planning on changing agents by a certain date if they haven't increased viewings. At the end of the day if the agent doesn't have the people registered it won't be possible for them to sell it. It's luck as to what agent has the right people for your house registered.

DH & I talk about this a lot...

It's often best to sell & buy when the market is in a dip. If one is trying to buy the same or a bigger house, it's more economical to buy at the bottom of the market; ie, you sell for less, but you also buy for less. The amount of new borrowings will be lower. So personally, I think it's probably better to sell during the slow time of year than the busy spring/summer when you would sell for more, but also have to pay more. So, I would say it's better to sell now.

Exceptions are if

You're downsizing -- going to a smaller property
You are moving to a very much cheaper part of the country, or somewhere not affected by the same seasonal fluctuations in house prices
If you think houseprices will go down much in the near future, even allowing for seasonal adjustments.
Something about your house makes it very much more appealing in spring/summer -- we have a stunning clematis on the back wall that only flowers for 2 weeks in May.

BUGSY: are other properties in your area stalling? I would walk around and just knock on doors where you see For Sale signs and ask the other local sellers if they are finding it very hard to sell, too. If they aren't finding it difficult, you know it's your Estate Agent not doing a good job for you.

Bugsy - we are looking in Wimbledon at the mo and can't find anything. We want 5 beds, and there are about 3 suitable (but not really) houses in the area we want that have been with estate agents for about 4 months now - and very little new stuff coming ion to the market. An estate agent friend did tell me that family houses in areas like Wimbledon only really move quickly in late spring, as everybody wants to move during the summer holidays so as not to disrupt the kids education.
From the buyers side we are being told that prices are stable but then they would say that to us wouldn't they!

Bugsy - just to add to the thread, I spoke to a friend who is an agent in London (though admittedly not yoru area). He said it's common for agents to pitch very high to get the sale (ie guarantee their commission) and then when the house doesn't sell at that price, tell you to drop the price which doesn't really cost them anything in terms of commission(as ks pointed out). If you are confident the price is right (and you can easily check as others have suggested) I'd wait and/ or change agents

There's a figure that DH has read, which is that houses are currently going for c. 93% of the asking price but that is an AVERAGE and doesn't take individual markets into account. But, since we're going through this as well, I would echo the view that it's remarkable how estate agents will first tell you your property is so well-presented and so valuable and then a couple of weeks in, it becomes stunningly overpriced and the market is falling fast ... Whatever they tell you, just look for the pound signs in their eyes.

Caroline5, tell me the names of those agents NOW!!!! I want naming and shaming right now! Sorry for the long silence on this, I've been out with tonsillitus. Really hacked off with our agents at the moment. Sum total of one viewing this weekend and lots and lots of pushing to drop the price. We do not feel that our price is wrong (having done as much local research as possible) and we do not think that they are marketing it as aggressively as they should be.
Prufrock, totally with you on the lack of 5 bed properties available. The market in this area is really split, lots of two bed flats, 3 bed houses and mansions with very little in between!

Bugsy, have you sold yet??????

Only in my dreams Concorde. The situation is dreadful. We have dropped our price and although we are getting plenty of viewings and lots of really positive feedback - no offers! Not even silly offers. The agents said that of the xx number of properties on their books, they had one offer last week!
We have given them 2 weeks notice and will change to another agent soon, just in case we are being told stories, but I don't think so. The roads near us are full of For Sale boards and very few Sold signs!