trying to sell house - why isn't anyone buying ?

[binker]

Am becoming increasingly despondent about ever moving ! Our house has been on the market for about 8-9 weeks,which I know isn't really very long, but I was assured by the agents that it would go fairly quickly as it is,though I say it myself,a very desirable property with bags of features and charm, very well presented (I 've watched the programmes !) and on one of the nicest roads in our area,which I am also assured is up and coming...so where are the viewers and when they come why are they being so hesitant in making offers ? Am I too impatient ? We've seen several houses that we'd love to put an offer on, but we can't proceed as we haven't a buyer - grrr ! We're in West London by the way - any mumsnetters got any ideas ?

My sister is also trying to sell in central London and has had no offers (in 6 months), despite dropping the price by £40k, so I don't think it's your house, I think it's the market. Sorry, that's not very helpful! 8/9 weeks isn't a long time though in house selling terms though. If it's any consolation, I suppose if the market has/is dropped/dropping then you'll be buying in a cheaper market too.

sorry to hijack your thread binker, but www, I've been meaning to ask you for ages, what went wrong with life in the country? Don't know if I missed something, but one minute you seemed really happy in Devon, although I know you had to move at short notice, but the next I read, you were looking to move back to a city. Hope you don't mind me asking. oxo xxx

Oh and best of luck to binker and ks with house sales.

totally agree about the market, down in Brighton it's quiet. We are struggling to sell a 3 bed house down here. Stressful and depressing eh? Its looking like we may also lose the house we want too.

who shows them around?

In my case its the agent who shows them , I just sit quietly downstairs if i'm here, but she really does seem to be saying the 'right' things I think.

Don't think it'd suit you KS it's in Portslade and local school isn't great - hence the need for private education for my 2. Thought you had your eye on Henley now anyway? We are often there as good friends live there, if we could afford it , i'd be there like a shot !

Ooohhh, I'm glad someone started this thread. I'm fed up with the housing market at the moment. Our place has been on since September, did have one buyer but they pulled out because we couldn't find a property. Our property is still on the market and we've had very few viewings. There's been very little property to look at as well. The estate agents confirmed that it's much quieter than they were expecting. We feel very trapped at the moment, it's very depressing.

ks - I'm pretty sure it's the current market which is affecting things- trouble is,things where we are looking are moving along a bit quicker than here(Dorchester,Dorset). We have dropped the price by £10k (I felt it was too high to start with - when we look for properties we search within a certain limit and don't bother to look at ones just over our budget, so maybe others do the same and have discounted ours before ). I'm not altogether happy with the agents - they're v nice and friendly, but there is rarely any feedback (I usually have to ring to see what's going on) and I'm not happy with the pictures they're using,particularly as we've done a lot more tarting up in the past few weeks. We can't drop the price too much more otherwise we'll struggle with buying the house we want !
I try not to get too excited by properties I've seen in Dorset in case they get snapped up before we can do anything - it's so disheartening. It is a faff keeping everything tidy and clean (lav seat down, toys tidied, coffee perking etc) in case anyone comes. Will review my agent this week ! Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone and my sympathies to others in the same boat.

Sorry to hijack too binker but oxocube, just wanted to answer your question. We can't survive on Devon wages basically, so I need to get a proper job and for that we need to be in a city. I can earn more than dp and the idea is that he'll be a SAHD when this one is born in November. Also, ex Dh and I drive 1,000 miles each a month just to drop off ds as he sees his dad every other weekend. Moving will get us nearer to ex dh, saving us all lots of driving every month. Poor ds will then only have to spend 2 hours in the car getting there as opposed to the 4 it takes now (Devon to London atm AND back again, so 8 hours per weekend), although because he's used to it he's very tolerant and well behaved.

Also, I want to be able to see a film without driving 20 miles, want decent bookshops (and the money to buy books again), want to order my shopping on the internet and have it delivered (supermarkets don't deliver here), want take aways delivered sometimes (they don't here) and I want ds to go to a school and live in an area where not everyone's white, especially since he's half Indian. I also want to buy a house having been a SAHM and rented for 3 years. My job should get us a mortgage (if I can get a job). Sorry to have gone on so long! I suppose it all came to a head when we realised that we can't imagine how we're going to feed and clothe the new baby on the money we have coming in. I do have the ability to earn enough to change our lifestyle so I think I have to. Let's hope I'm not here moaning about it in six months time! Sorry if this bored the pants off you, but you did ask!

The couple across the road had the same problem, house on the market for months etc. This Saturday their agent did an 'Open House' where people just pop round to view, sold that afternoon for the asking price. Maybe you could do similar to 'drum up' a bit of enthusiasm with your agents, I always feel they bite your hand off to put it on their books, saying everyone who comes through their door is asking for exactly what you have. Reality seems to be you get a few viewings in the first week, then you get left in the bottom of the filing cabinet!

Apparently we have a viewing at 6pm today (cr*P time eh) but i won't hold my breath.

Open Houses are great. The house we rented in Australia was sold by Open House (very common over there, at least in Melbourne). It meant we only had to tidy the place up once, make it look nice - I laid the table, put out flowers, etc even though it wasn't ours to sell but it gave me an excuse! - and we disappeared out for lunch for a couple of hours whilst it was on.

If I was ever going to sell over here, I'd want to do the same. It's also a great opportunity to rent out a storage area and remove all the excess rubbish from your house, rent/borrow furniture if necessary and make it look like the House Doctor has paid a visit!

We've got the opposite problem. We put our flat on the market the day we went on holiday (the only way we could keep it tidy) and it sold in 5 days (we accepted an offer 6% below a rather inflated asking price). We are now frantically looking for somewhere to buy. I notice Binker and KS are selling in West London - we're looking for a 4/5 bed house in Chiswick or Richmond with a 50+ foot garden, if that's what you've got.

Binker - if you're not happy with the photos your agent is using, I would insist on them being changed / updated. After all, you are the one paying their fee. Also, does your agent have a decent website? In looking for properties I've almost ignored the agents with a poor internet site, as I've done most of my searching over the web.

Big groan from another SW Londoner. House has been on the market now since just before Christmas. We've dropped our price by 40k and changed estate agents - still no serious bites. We've had quite a few 2nd viewings and one offer (fell through 3 days later). Buyers seem very twitchy. A number of the 2nd viewings have "really" liked the house but just weren't sure if they were in a position to make an offer - aaaahhhh!
Agents have told us that so many people are pulling properties off the market now and very little new is coming on that this may help generate interest because so little is available - now how's that for optimism!!!!

As someone who has been looking to buy recently I have to wonder whether estate agents want to sell their properties. We have been left waiting on doorsteps having not been informed of viewings being cancelled. Difficulties in getting a viewing at all if out of office hours has been the norm & I have met so many rude, arrogant and unhelpful estate agents I was beginning to think they are a definate breed apart. It has put me off certain estate agents in our area. So, my advice would be make sure your estate agent is doing his/her job.

There is one local agent here in Notts/Derby who is brilliant - they know all their clients and what they are looking for and seem to put together chains all by themselves!

The big names are awful.

And another independent relies on lower prices and high pressure hassling of buyers.

According to people I know who have moved in the past 18months, anyway.

Azure - our house would be too small for you I fear - only 3 bedrooms and a bijou (but pretty and south facing) garden. Have phoned agent today,main bloke not in,so took myself and small son round there to get things sorted - they're going to redo the pictures (I shall insist on being the stylist !)and we might discuss dropping the price again. The open house thing sounds like a great idea. By the way, does anyone know whether planted christmas trees are likely to grow huge ? I ask because my neighbour has expressed anxiety about a nice tree planted in my garden about 6 or 7 years ago- it doesn't appear to have grown rapidly,though at this time of year it sprouts new bright green frondy bits -which is probably what she's noticed (she's a fretful type)- I assured her it wouldn't grow to disturb her foundations etc, but does anyone have any ideas ? I have to admit to being a bit snappy with her... hope your viewing turned up/went ok MABS !

Thanks for asking Binker - yeah they turned up 20 mins late. Reckon she liked it and he didn't -though they asked to see inside the garage. Is that a good sign? Sounds like you're making progress with your agent. BTW we redid the photos for ours as we didn't like the ones the agent did. Good luck

Another SW london nightmare story! Sold our house in Putney in January, couldn't find anything to buy because the chains were all such a nightmare. Offered on a couple of places but had to pull out as nothing was moving and we didn't want to lose our buyer.

Finally found somewhere where they agreed to move out to rented accommodation, so thought it would be a breeze.

Now they have found somewhere and want us to wait, just found today that they want us to delay completion till end of July. They have been pretty good so far though so have agreed reluctantly. We are supposed to be exchanging this week, believe it when I see it.

To add to it all our buyer suddenly decided that as prices have dropped he wants £5k off so everyone down the chain had to re-negotiate.

This country really is the pits for buying and selling houses. Makes me want to build a mud hut on the central reservation of the M3 and move in there.