Am I doing something wrong or is it the estate agent?

[KCT88]

I've been on the market for over 4 months now and had 1 viewing in that first month and nothing since. Before putting it on the market we repainted the whole house with a fresh coat of magnolia and glossed all doors, radiators etc. I only had one estate agent round and put it on at the price they suggested which was less than some houses exactly the same in the same estate. We left alone the bathroom (pink) and a red wall in the living room and a blue wall in the bedroom but other than that the house was very neutral.

As we have had no interest we have tried to improve the house and in case these colours put anyone off we are now repainting all the coloured walls magnolia and have dropped the price. Once this is finished I'm going to ask the estate agent to take new photos to reflect the changes we have made. I'm also not living in the house so it isn't cluttered or untidy and only very basic furniture has been left there, (bed, sofa, table, tv stand, white goods etc).

Other things that may be putting people off;

1. It is shared ownership, I own 80% the council owns 20%. There is no rent to pay on the part I don't own, but maybe some people are just put off by the idea of shared ownership.
2. There is a railway line directly behind the garden. This causes no problem to me, the trains are very quiet and the train station is handy only about a 5 minute walk away if that!

So I guess my question is should I have had more interest by now or is this just the current market? Should I be doing anything else? Is my estate agent not marketing my house well enough? Opinions welcome!!

Estate agent should be doing more. Thats what you are paying for, and they should be offering advice too.

I think buyers sometimes struggle to visualise themselves living in a property if it is empty so is there any way you could furnish it, more than just the bare minimum, until you sell?

I do think shared ownership puts alot of people off. I would be getting the estate agent to explain in the particulars that no rent is payable (and whether that can be changed) and whether there is any possibility of a buyer purchasing the remaining 20%.

It depends where you are. Some people seem to say houses are going as soon as they are on the market, but my parents have just sold after 18 months. The country seems very divided on quick and slow sales.

That said, I would expect to pay less for a house near a railway line, and would think the shared ownership would put a lot of people off.

Can you try a different estate agent?

Mandy The living room is furnished with a three seater settee, a cabinet with TV on top and a coffee table. I think I will get some cushions for the settee and maybe a rug, to make it look a little more homely. The living room has a bed which is dressed nicely. The kitchen has all the normal kitchen stuff in it, microwave, kettle, toaster etc. The other bedroom is completely empty though. In the particulars it states that there is no rent to pay for the £20 you don't own in the second sentence. It doesn't state if the buyer can purchase the remaining 20% or not but they can't.

addictedtosugar The house is in Chorley, Lancashire. I chose the estate agent as they had just sold two houses very near to me that were also 80% ownership ones, and they seemed to know all about the scheme. I think I need to at least speak to some other ones though and get some more quotes. Don't know whether I should just switch agents once I've finished the decorating or get my current agent to take more pics and wait and see if there is any interest in another month??

Just check your contract if you are considering changing agents to see if you are tied in for any period.

I lived in Chorley for 6 months .