We have had 28 viewings in two weeks but not offers yet, should be lower the price?

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We have been on the market for two weeks and have had 28 viewings, 5 of them second viewings. All the feedback has been pretty positive, although many note our small garden that is the norm for our part of London. Anyway, we have not had an offer yet. I was once told that Estate Agents expect an offer out of every other second viewing.

We have found a house we love but in order to offer on it we need to get near our asking price. We could drop 15k though and we need to make an offer soon as there have been loads of second viewings on the house we hope to buy.

So should we drop our asking price by £10k or wait it out? This is London house so its asking price is high and I fear £10k is neither here nor there. Is there any other way of speeding up an offer? We are only on with one agent but in this day and age I figure the number of agents makes little difference as everyone uses Prime Location etc to search.

Can you link to your house on your agent's website so we can see?

The thing about dropping now is that you have then dropped and have no room for negotiation. You need people to express a strong interest in offering and then you say you will negotiate. What does your agent say, have they got any views on the people who came back for second offers and whether they are properly interested.

The garden thing is frustrating, that's just how London gardens are, sometimes you get big spaces but then you have to pay!

Do you rate your agent? Can you negotiate their commission fees - ie if they get you asking price they get an extra 0.x%, or if they get it sold within x weeks etc.

What about the agent that the house you want to buy is on with, you could switch to them as your selling agent as they get added incentive then.

Generally lots of viewings and no offers means the price is right but the presentation is wrong. Maybe ask the estate agent what you should focus on if you had a spare couple of grand to tart the place up. Then see how far you can make a couple of hundred (or what ever your budget is) go..

Depends what your asking price is really, eg a drop from 200k to 185k is much more meaningful than 400k to 385k iyswim. What reasons have people given for not offering after 2nd viewings?

Also, 28 viewings in two weeks is pretty goid going imo. We have been on for 5 weeks and only had about 10 viewings (also in London), it's very slow here atm. We have just dropped our price for the same reasons as you, here's hoping it works, but there just don't seem to be many buyers around and the ones in a good position to buy (cash buyers/ftbs) are being very picky.

I think that people are aware that the market has started to slow down again - even in London where I also live - and they are just taking their time, seeing lots of places and, possibly, playing them off against each other. A lot of the viewers may also be in your position (if your home isn't a FTB property) in that they are waiting for a firm offer before they can progress. The market is getting sticky again but it sounds as if your agency is working very hard and the house must be nice to attract that many viewers. I'd sit tight on price for a little while longer.

I am reluctant to do a link as I prefer to stay anonymous. Our asking price is £750,00 so it has to be said that dropping £10k is unlikely to make much impact at all.

I have asked the agent whether I should so anything to the house. Our kitchen units and bathroom are slightly tired but replacing them would be costly and the agent doesn't reckon it would make much difference. Negotiating on teh agent's fees is a good idea. That might allow us to drop a little more.

We can't switch to the agent that is selling the house we want as they are Savills and around us Savills only markets really big houses. Our house would look out of place on their website!

Crikey, then you might need to drop much more than 10K for a quick sale. What are similar properties nearby selling for (nb I mean the actual price they're getting, not what they're being marketed at!)? The trouble is that you are going to be near the top of a chain so until you have a complete chain below you, you're not going to be in a position to make offers.

Tbh in your position I would not even bother viewing houses, let alone getting your heart set on a particular one. Get your house sold and that end of the chain complete, then see what's on the market.

I doubt dropped by 10k will make any difference to be honest - it's only 1.5%. I had offers between 20% and 5% below my asking price.

Did you get a couple of quotes from different agents - is £750k good value?

We had loads of viewings in the first 2 weeks and no offers. we were worried as we had gone with the estate agent who valued it the lowest with a view to getting over asking price (what tends to happen in our area) Then an offer came in at 15K under asking, we sold 3-4 weeks after we put it on the market for 20k over asking price, after 3 or so interested parties had a bidding war.
I am not sure if my experience is relevant to you but I would have thought you just have to wait it out, especially if the 10k drop in price is a drop in the ocean, it's probably not worth doing. Are all the 2nd viewings definite nos? Is there a chance some of them are interested but just mulling it over? I would say that the number of viewings you've had and also 2nd viewings is very positive and you just need to hold out for an offer. Obviously this is massively frustrating when you have somewhere you want to put an offer in on - but 2 weeks is not very long to have had your house on the market.

Also I would worry dropping the price by 10k so quickly would make it obvious you are keen to sell quickly and may encourage cheeky offers.
For what it's worth we had loads of obvious feedback about "We don't like the main road it's on", when it's a very well known road in Cambridge, they should know what it's like before they even get there. I guess that sometimes you don't know that something will put you off until you get there, so it's probably the case with your garden.

Houses on our street have sold for more in the last few months. But some of them do have slightly bigger gardens. I think we are asking a fair price. All the agents valued it between £730 and £775 but obviously if the market drops we will have to take that into account.

I know £750k sounds a lot and makes it seem like we will be at the top of a long chain. But this is a three bed victorian terrace with a tiny garden. Prices in London are really, really distorted. I doubt we will be at the top of a really long chain.

Do you know what they have actually sold for or what the asking price was? Have a look on Zoopla or Nethouseprices. There have been similar flats near me which have been on the market at more than 30k more and 70k less but the more expensive ones have sold for a lot less.

I'm in London too so I know what you mean!

I wouldn't bother dropping £10k then - that's your fallback for when people say that the bathroom or kitchen are a bit tired. Just a waiting game, and agree that you shouldn't get your heart set on other properties - if potential buyers know that you are desperate to sell so you don't miss out they have you over a barrel.

I'm in London too and as far as I can see things are moving v slowly to the point of stagnation - buyers expect big reductions, sellers want to ensure they make money on their house in line with expectations from a couple of years ago. Meeting in the middle is difficult. More people are spending the cash on extending their properties - the building companies round here are having a whale of a time.

I have checked Zoopla and the Land Registry so I know they have actually sold for more.

I think its true that people are just holding off, waiting to see if there will be another dip. Most of the feedback from our second viewings was positive but followed by phrases such as "we are just going to look at a few more houses before we make any decisions".

Oh ok - if you've done your research, I think they probably are just waiting. My buyer came to see it three times and I had 5 second viewings too.

If you can, forget about the other house and just bide your time. I sold mine in three weeks. It only takes one person :)

Also the house that I liked was sold but the one I'm buying now is much nicer so perhaps that wasn't the one for you?

Snap ladyBiscuit we missed out on a couple of houses we were interested in. I like the one we got in the end much more (and it was cheaper)!

Two weeks isn't very long, so I would sit tight, especially if you are only considering a drop of £10k or so.

We had an offer after about 2 weeks and many fewer viewings than that, but we rejected their best and final offer. (Also London, asking price of between £650-£700k.) I think the offer wasn't totally unreasonable, but we are trying to achieve more. We've been on for nearly 6 weeks.

The market is very slow, with not a lot on in that price range and many people taking their time with viewings and offers. We've had a few second viewings in the last week and most of the feedback has been that they're still thinking about it. So, I don't think buyers are worried that properties will be snapped up if they don't act quickly.

I agree with you on re-doing the kitchen, not worth the hassle or the expense.

Wait for the cheeky offers, they will probably start coming in. Then you can decide how much you're willing to move on the price. If you've already picked a figure that you need to buy your next house, then you might be disappointed. It may be worth changing your own search criteria a bit in case you just can't afford the house you want. That's what we're doing now.

I think you have done really well to have had so many viewings and I would imagine that you would be getting an offer soon. I wouldn't drop the price by £15k as it means nothing on a property of this price bracket.

We are on the London Surrey borders and have a fairly large 5 bed house which is on the market for just under £700k. We have had one viewing in 3 weeks. I think its overpriced - but so are all the other similar sized houses in the area. I would like to drop the price now, by £30-40k, but DH isn't
having any of it. The houses we are interested in moving up to are even more overpriced, so if we can't achieve a certain amount, we won't be moving. The houses at the very top of the ladder need to come down and then we can all filter the savings downwards. Then houses will be affordable again, to the benefit of all.

If you are getting lots of viewings then your price is fine - don't drop the price yet.

If you are getting lots of viewings but no offers then there is something that is putting people off when they have seen your house. You need to get some more honest feedback from viewers and/or your agent as to what this might be.

How good / accurate is the description and pictures etc on the agent's website? Is there something they don't know about until they get there?

don't underestimate the garden thing. In my part of SE London, houses with smallish gardens are going for around 10% less than a similar property with a "normal" (still small) garden, and I've noticed a lot of them just languishing on the market.

As a potential buyer, I would have to agree that a lot of people are probably just waiting to see if sellers will sweat and drop their prices lower in current conditions.

but it's good you've gotten so much interest and i agree the 15k is unlikely to attract anyone who wouldn't have in mind to make a cheeky offer anyway on the higher price.