Only 3 viewers in 1st week [sadface]

[mumblechum1]

I keep reading that houses are being snapped up so maybe my expectations were too high.

So it went on the market on 7th June. The agents have taken 3 people round, the first wanted to do too much work (extending kitchen) for it to be affordable, the second is new to the area and wants to explore a bit more first, the second didn't respond to the agent's voicemail asking for feedback.

So yesterday we dropped the price by £100k and according to Zoopla the number of page views is still dropping.

Am I being too impatient or should I be panicking? We can afford to drop another £75k but no more.

What are you thinking of doing then, in seriousness - tarting up the front of the house and then just replacing the photo, but not taking it off the market? I really wouldn't take it off the market. I also wouldn't bother tarmacking the drive - I think the front of the house can be sold a lot better just by taking a differently framed photo - at the moment the drive takes up more of the photo than the house and so your eyes are drawn to it (I still wouldn't be put off by the condition of it, it looks fine to me).

I am a period house person and so the style of this house isn't to my taste - BUT - I think it looks like a very well-built and sturdy house of its type, eg. the parquet flooring. I think you need to be careful about the shot of the front and I have a feeling it can be shown off a lot better than it is here - maybe go outside with your phone camera and take a variety of shots and see what you think.

Thx VoD
Yes, not taking off market, just no viewings for the 2 days it takes to do the drive (which really is a disgrace IRL). Then getting new photo of front when it's all cream/white plus the red tiles so not too busy colour wise.

Your estate agent should have told you that in this price bracket it takes a much longer time to sell, typically, as the vast majority of people cannot afford this price range.

In our village (lovely Hants commuter village, so probably comparable price wise) 3 bed houses around 500k and 4 beds around 700k sell like hot cakes. Anything above 800k and you are fishing in a much smaller pond, customer wise, and houses are on the market for months.

That is normal.

Mumblechum I really think you are panicking. Keep everything as it is and reassess in 6 weeks. I think lots of people think there house will sell in the first week but often it's closer to a couple of months and obviously things slow down a bit as we head towards holiday season.

What are you doing to do to the drive, when you say Tarmac...

Tread, they dig out all the soft bits and fill them in then do a top dressing. Most of it is fine, just worn out where we tend to turn etc.

Just had visions of a gleaming sweep of smooth brand new black tarmac ....... I don't think the M25 would look very good in your front garden

Hope you have a nice weekend - stop stressing, it's a beautiful house, it will sell.

If it helps, it took us 5 weeks to get a sensible offer on our central London flat - I had also assumed it would just fly off the shelf! Got asking price 5 weeks to day after we put it on.

Thanks all

Don't get the drive done!! You've been on the market for what, 2 weeks? It's not the drive that's putting people off. A buyer will come!

I've looked again at the photos. Please don't get the drive done. The photo of the front of the house needs to be first. Also, it doesn't look as though the house is detached. The photo needs to pan out a bit.

Too late! They;re coming on Monday to do drive, and decorators booked for Wed onwards to revamp the front a bit (just a paint job & a few interior paint jobs like ceilings etc).

tbh if we weren't moving we were going to do the drive anyway, it does scream "neglected" at the moment. So if we never find a buyer at least it won't bug us any more

No flies on you mumblechum!

Any better? www.ballards-uk.com/Property/Residential/for-sale/Buckinghamshire/Nr-Marlow/Frieth/MLW140162.aspx

I've completely reworded both the web and brochure in accordance with the MN Hive Mind. The drive is done, the outside window and doorframes all painted, and the coloured garage drive and roof over the porch repainted as some pple felt there were too many colours.

The photo of the front still doesn't show the extent of the (long) drive as there's a tree which would otherwise cover most of the right hand side.

since I started this thread we have had a big fat 0 viewers, so 3 in the first week and none in the last 3 weeks

Oh I so want your house...

Buy it BB

It was nice to start with, the only problem you've got is that it's a lot of money and far from a station so potential buyers are limited. Just keep waiting.

If I had that kind of money, I would mumble - it's gorgeous. You'd need to knock about 80% off though sadly ;)

thanks BB. and Aga. Patience is not one of my things.

Just called Knight Frank in Henley as am thinking of changing horses after the 12 week contract is up, they were saying that the market is definitely cool at the moment but stuff is shifting slowly.

How come there are only pics of two bedrooms out of 5, and no bathroom, study or utility pics?

Driveway looks great.

For some reason Ballards only ever do 12 pics online. That seems to be common here . The bedrooms are all freshly decorated, one of the bathrooms has just been revamped and the other two are fine (tho' not wall to wall travertine or anything, just inoffensive plain white suites).

Thanks re driveway, it is a lot smarter looking.

Charley, unfortunately I've signed a 12 week exclusive contract which expires on 23rd August.

I do think the front of the house is a big improvement, but I think now you just have to practice patience, it is a lovely house and there will be a buyer out there for you.