No viewings - is it overpriced?

[Zeeky]

Our 4-bed detached house has been on Market for a few weeks & other than 3 viewings in the first week (one of which wasn't a serious buyer as house was way out of their budget so I think EA had persuaded them view anyway!) we've had no other interest. Had EA back earlier this week to take better photos as first lot didn't do house justice, but still no interest. House is in excellent condition - spent approx £100k on it in last 5 years doing everything to it - windows, kitchen, bathrooms, garden, driveway paving, garage doors, etc etc. It's in a good location - quiet cul de sac, good schools. So other than the price can't see why we're not getting more interest!

N'bour just put theirs on Market for £70k less than ours but theirs is a smaller house, single rather than double garage & needs some updating (kitchen, flooring, decor etc).

When we look at what is on the market in our area, our house looks so much nicer & in much better location & doesn't appear overpriced. BUT, we don't know how long all those have been hanging about on the Market!

Generally speaking, if a house is nice with nothing wrong with it yet getting no interest, is it the price?

If we were to drop the price, what sort of % should we think about?

Also, I'm not sure this is the best time to try to sell. October is normally OK, but from late Jan through to June is best. So try not to panic if it's quiet for now. Everyone is back to school etc. Once things settle down people will be looking.

Good luck with it :)

Could you offer to pay your buyer's stamp duty? I'm not sure if that's legal but I was just thinking if you could get say £530k for yours and pay out the extra £7k you are still getting £523, which would clearly be better than £499k. I think it must be the stamp duty putting people off. Your house does look much better than your neighbours', but I assume they haven't sold theirs yet either, so may end up accepting a lower offer. Your garden looks beautiful. Good luck.

There's two sorts of buyers, isn't there. Ones who want a house to do up themselves, and ones that want to just put their ornaments on the shelf and live in it.
The trouble is, both want a bargain.
I can't see anything wrong with your house at all, or the listing - and I am moany and picky, putting it mildly. It's a lovely house - not my taste but it is lovely.

I reckon the problem is that your neighbour's house is cheaper and has a bit more scope for putting your stamp on it. Plus, as people have already said, it's only worth what someone will pay, not what you want/need etc.
This is not really much help, I know, but I think it's the price.

Do you think it would sell if you halved the price? Of course it would - therefore the correct 'value' is somewhere between what you're asking now and that price. ANY estate agent can sell ANY house in markets such as this one providing the price is right (unfortunately many EAs overvalue to win the instruction, hoping they can talk you down after a few weeks). The key thing is to make sure you get a similar discount on the property you move to.

The thing to bear in mind is that the actual figure achieved is pretty irrelevant.

The only thing that matter sis that you can buy what you want to buy . Your vendors will also have to be flexible.

Offering to pay stamp duty is a winner. It's legal and works. People can often get mortgages but are tight on cash and deposits.

Thankyou everyone for your feedback & compliments. We LOVE our house & are only selling as DH (the arse!) got a new job & so we have to relocate :(

I think we will definitely have to lower the price. I'm just so disappointed that we haven't even had many viewings. I could understand it if people came to view & then said it was too expensive, but we're nor even getting interest! We bought the house originally because of the size of the kitchen - way, way bigger than any we saw in any 4-bed house we looked at (and we looked at 30-odd). The house needed a lot of work which we didn't really want, but the kitchen size swung it. So I was kind if thinking the kitchen would attract viewers, just for it's size let alone the granite worktops & top-end appliances we put in.

The stamp duty paying is a great idea which I will talk to DH and EAs about. If we could get some interest from the people looking to pay around 500 then we could maybe do a deal.

Did the EA get detailed feedback from the 2 (genuine?) viewers in the first week? I think that as it's not decor, location or blight, it is likely to be the price - as someone else said you are asking the buyer to find over £75 GRAND more for your house than one in the same location - you can do an awful lot of home improvement for that much money.

I follow lots of property people on twitter (professional interest!) and have had one this morning saying : "House in Wincanton. Bought ten years ago for £186k. Peak valuation £300k. Sold at auction yesterday for £190k. No house price crash?" (@MerrynSW). I know it's not the same part of the country, but it's symptomatic of the market generally - the Telegraph at the weekend had examples of several houses in the £900-£1.4million bracket where they were dropping their prices by 200k odd, or throwing in cars, antiques etc. There just aren't enough buyers able to get mortgages, or willing to get them in the current uncertain times.

Where are you looking to move to? Are you looking to spend the same amount?

Problem with offering to pay stamp duty is that the buyers know they are then left with a house 'worth' 400k they wqant to get '500' for and little chance of doing so

Whoever buys the neighbours will also be looking to knock some off remember because of the condition of it

I think suggesting you would get 335 was unrealistic the 500k barrrier is a big one

Put it at 500k fixed price

Also think that when people search Rightmove etc there are probably lots putting in £500k as their top limit so therefore not even seeing yours. Would it be worth thinking about marketing it as offers over £500k so you appear in their searches?

Meant to say that neighbour's only went on Market today.

Don't think they really need the money TBH as they have been living abroad for the last few years & didn't bother to rent it out, just left it empty for them to use when they popped back once a year for a holiday! He's also just driven up in a brand new convertible BMW!! I guess they are looking for a quick sale & aren't too bothered about what price they get.

We are moving to Northants. Looking to upsize or at least get same size house with much bigger garden (got 2 DS's).

I'm p'd off now that we didn't go with the first EA who said it would sell for £499 due to stamp duty, as we had used him to sell our last house & I really liked him, but DH met the other EA & preferred him & of course was flattered by the higher valuation.

Just stick it on at £500K and sell it.

Runoutofideas - this is definitely what is happening. When we started to look at rightmove for our own house search, we put in our upper budget and that's that, so anything just outside our budget, but who may be willing to sell for less, was getting missed. We now look at stuff out of budget just in case.

what carpet cleaner do you use? Cos' my cream carpet in our living area is not looking as good as yours with my 2 kids.

I am another one who thinks it is the stamp duty issue. There is nothing wrong with the house. it's beautiful and move-in-able and there is a strong market of people looking for that.. And if in a good area it should be selling.

The problem you may also have is that the people buying your neighbours house have scope to extend quite far out in to their garden for £40-50,000...still less than what you are asking.

Your neighbours also have a study, which you don't. That will be important for some people.

We've all been flattered by that higher valuation thing havent we, dont be hard on yourself. My DH was trying to sell a house that was wildly overpriced by one EA and stupidly we went with them. Needless to say we had hardly any viewings and ended up moving to a nicer EA and putting it on at a much more sensible price.

How long are you tied into this EA for? Is it worth reducing the price now even if you cant move EAs so you can maximise viewings and perhaps catch someone who wants to be in before Christmas?

Your house is gorgeous. But in all honesty i would buy your neighbours, an do it up. The £75k difference is too much and they have an extra room with the stucy. Although you're may be bigger in reality, I prefer their layout and the double garage appears to take up alot of your ground floor.

We bought a cheaper house than our real first love house (same style, a few streets apart)- the decor wasn't as nice at all but had more rooms that we needed so we've uses the 'diffference' to do this place up.

Sorry

Will you get more for your money in the location that you are moving too? If so I'd take a hit on the price an just get going....

It depends on how much people need the 4th bedroom too - your bedrooms are a much better size than theirs.....

OMG - that Property Bee app is AMAZING!!! Tells you all the changes made to a property listing - basically all the info you are dying to know, but EAs won't tell you!! It is scary just how many in our town have dropped the price!

Scaryteacher we do have a small study downstairs. On the floorplan it does not have a description.

Follyfoot we are tied in with EA for 12 weeks - got about 8 weeks left. EA did tell me this week that once we get to mid-October, the buyers dry up until after Christmas. They kept telling up that things would pick up once kids went back to school, but that doesn't seem to have happened for us.

Pancakeflipper - got a Bissell pro-heat carpet shampooer, but have only actually used it twice in the 7 yrs we've been here, and carpet was already down when we got here! And that is despite having a 4 yr old and a 17mth old! We are very strict with them having drinks/food/pens etc in the living room!

You'll sell it at £500K or achieve close to the asking price. What's important is that you will sell quickly. If you have made a modest profit, take it and run! Prices are coming down to 2005/6 levels even in prime areas outside of London.

Your house is lovely and beautifully decorated, but for the money (and dh and I are currently looking to buy a house at around that price) if I'm honest I'd be looking for another reception room, possibly even another bedroom.

Well I can see why your neighbours is 70k less. That kitchen! FFS!
Seriously though, your house is lovely and decorated in a tasteful way so a buyer could move straight in. Also, I think the extra garage is a big feature but not sure what it is worth in terms of £.

Zeeky - your house is beautiful, and regardless of decor/garage has more floor space and better sized bedrooms, from what I can gather. Next door seems to have a bigger garden? I would have thought the price differential was about right. I don't know about level though - not acquainted with your area - know Berkshire is gorgeous generally though. Not too near a river?
What else is on the market where you are? I guess buyers looking in that area will consider most of what's available? How does your house compare? What is selling at the moment?
You have Property Bee now, which is useful.
I can't really advise you any more than just to say:

• decide what your time frame is, then look at what's available in your target area - using Property Bee to see what's happening under the surface and if price reductions and length of time on the market are issues there also (likely, I would have thought), then you can better gauge what price you will need to sell at to get what you want, where you want, when you want - then go for it.

Your house is beautiful, you have put your heart & soul (and cash) into it, but your next house will be just as good, maybe even better. Best of luck.