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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

3 weeks, no offers - lower price?

94 replies

mudpiesfortea · 08/02/2016 17:20

Our house has been listed for approx 3 weeks and we've only had 6 viewings and no offers. Our estate agent thinks we should lower house. Thoughts?

OP posts:

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RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 11/02/2016 19:11

Yy to rewriting the blurb and getting new pics done, OP!

I would have expected any EA these days to get the vendor to check through the details before they go live online though. That way any errors/omissions are spotted before the ad hits RM etc. I know ours did this in 2014. They weren't happy till we were.

IMHO it would still be preferable to move the dresser and any extraneous clutter into storage - iirc we paid about £120 pm for a huge unit - but if you don't want to do that at least your plan to shift some stuff into the garage is better than nothing.

GL with the viewing!

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mudpiesfortea · 11/02/2016 18:13

Jeez - moving the dresser to study would be awful. Talk about overwhelming a room. You probably wouldn't be able to get in! . We have a viewing on Sat so I'm going to do a massive declutter. I'll move loads of stuff to the garage.

What it boils down to for me is bad marketing. This is what I'm paying the EA for. Between the bad photos and floor plan I'm definitely irritated.

However, because of the fee if we sold it at our absolute bottom we'd net the same as selling for more with a different agent. Only risk is that the house doesn't sell at all.

So I've told them I'm not happy with the marketing and together we're going to fix it. I'm rewriting the particulars in order to big up the location and want the small 4th bed to say Bed 4/dressing room. I'm going to get a professional photographer and I want the EA to pay for it as I'm having to be WAY to involved. I'm only a few steps removed from selling the thing myself!!

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mudpiesfortea · 11/02/2016 18:05

Lottie - as other posters have said, the other ones you link to aren't really comparable. The one at £550 is literally backing the A3. Normandy is way far out and isn't one of the 'premium' villages so you'll get a lot for your money out there but there's a reason for that. Location is our number 1 selling point. We're a 20 minute walk to town and an easy 10 minute (usually less than that) drive to university, hospital & research park. Plus we have a lot of local amenities in very short walking distance.

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ElsieMc · 11/02/2016 17:45

Your house is the nicest op, but I am absolutely flabbergasted by the market down there.

Three years back, I sold a house in a market town in Cumbria valued at £144,000 (three bed town house) for £124,000 to a cash buyer and it was my first and only viewing in five months! Three agents valued at the same price so I took it to be a realistic figure. I did sack the agent and sold in three days with the new one but took a hit.

I have gone off topic there sorry, but I would sit tight and hold your nerve. Its the nicest of the bunch and you want a proceedable offer not just any old offer. I bet you sell within the next month or so. Good luck.

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Jeezimacasalinga · 11/02/2016 14:20

19lottie82 - doesn't matter that they are within a mile. Look at the first one - only way in and out of the street is to join the horrendously busy A3 (look at streetview!) There's no way you could walk to town and the noise must be considerable. Your second link appears to be a village outside Guildford. There's also the school catchment question....

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bilbodog · 11/02/2016 13:54

I agree with some of the other comments - can you move the dresser/bookcase into the study and also it might help when you have viewings to completely pull up the blinds so the front room is as bright as possible and in any other rooms if you have them. Get some pots planted up and put at the front - can be evergreens and you can take them with you. Otherwise it looks a good house. Be patient as I think the market is only picking up slowly and just keep an eye on your direct competition as you are before lowering your price. Good luck.

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tilder · 11/02/2016 13:35

I think you've had some good advice op.

When I view a house (we have a young family) first thing I check is schools, which isn't something you can change but does affect the price. Secondary schools are key.

Second thing I look at is the floor plan. You paid for this so it needs to be right. I would ask the agent for a refund on that as it may has lost you viewings.

Third yes I agree, decluttering and storage costs far less than a reduction in your sale price.

Finally I looked at a lot of 4 beds that were actually 3 beds plus something else. If you are selling a room as a bedroom it needs to have a bed. I am perfectly capable of visualising a room differently but often things like access are not straight forward so it leaves a feeling of misrepresentation which can bd offputting.

Good luck

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19lottie82 · 11/02/2016 13:09

Jeez they both appeared within 1 mile of the OPs property on Rightmove.......

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QOD · 11/02/2016 12:50

Ah i see it now as a photo. But first thing I do, as a buyer, is click on floor plan

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QOD · 11/02/2016 12:46

The link to.your floor plan isn't right.
I'm looking to sell.shortly and been looking 9n right move, I wouldn't bother to view without a floor plan

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springscoming · 11/02/2016 12:36

I'd have picked the first one with the idea of making the garden far more private

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FatherReboolaConundrum · 11/02/2016 12:23

The photos are not at all good - make the rooms look small and dark, and have been taken at really odd angles. The EA seems to have a ceiling fixation. It looks as though the person who took them was drunk and having trouble standing up!

I would move the pictures in the living room - they're in an odd (to me) place - it was the first thing I noticed, even before the enormo-dresser. Agree with others that it would be better to put the dresser into storage, it overwhelms the living room.

It's by far the nicest of all those houses though, and I really like your kitchen/diner.

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Jeezimacasalinga · 11/02/2016 11:44

19lottie82 - you're missing the point, the properties you've linked to are in completely different locations and so are priced accordingly. OP - I think your house compares really favourably with the others you linked to, and will sell if you take better pics and perhaps declutter a bit. Your kitchen is lovely. Good luck!

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19lottie82 · 11/02/2016 07:43

Or this for £540k

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52932325.html

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19lottie82 · 11/02/2016 07:40

I'm afraid I'd prefer this for £50k less.....

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38358792.html

And for 50k more you can have this

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39813414.html

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mudpiesfortea · 10/02/2016 21:59

I know what you mean re: the front garden. It's such a shame because in spring/summer all the plants bloom and it looks amazing. So much colour.

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Longdistance · 10/02/2016 21:25

I can only suggest taking the photos down in the living room, and tidying the front garden a bit.
Looks a bit patchy out front ie with the plants.

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iMatter · 10/02/2016 21:24

I agree. The photos are crap.

Don't drop the price. Tell the agent to up their game with new photos (and a proper floor plan ffs)

Hang on in there.

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mudpiesfortea · 10/02/2016 21:15

Orangina - treatment was made bespoke using Nina Campbell 'orchard blossom' fabric (same as wallpaper).

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mudpiesfortea · 10/02/2016 21:14

Snowy - would be interested to hear a bit more. I honestly take no offence. I want to get this right so we're not on the market for ages

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orangina01 · 10/02/2016 19:27

Completely unrelated to your original post but where is the lovely window treatment from in the "pink" room? I have a similar coloured room and I love the introduction of the blue...

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snowypenguin · 10/02/2016 19:06

As an estate agent I could say a lot but the main thing is your photos are shit, house is really cluttered and take down the photos on the wall in your lounge.

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mudpiesfortea · 09/02/2016 17:44

Mollie - it actually makes me feel a bit sick. I remember thinking last year that a big 'win' for us with regards to equity would be to sell our house in 2-3 years for £475k . Never thought we could list it for this much and keep a straight face. I don't know how people are buying property. We got lucky with this house.

Bought after market crash. Vendors purchased as an investment and spent a lot of cash doing the extension, etc. You remember what it was like then? All the uncertainty & speculation about how bad the market would get, etc. They had to cut their losses and basically gave it away. Had they been able to hold out another year they would have made their money back and then some.

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mudpiesfortea · 09/02/2016 17:38

Update:
Met with a new agent today. They have good coverage in south east and spend a lot in local media (eg homes supplement which is REALLY popular, radio ads plus they're on high street so get all that footfall). They also take awesome photos and present their houses really well. I am, however, going to speak to one more agent based on advice down thread re: working with EA's that have sold most/fastest in the area.

We're going to trim the overgrowth at front of house which will allow photog a better angle. We'll also stage the house properly for photos (fresh flowers in the right places, no clutter, etc). For viewings we're going to start with Open house,' which I would prefer. That way I can remove clutter from all rooms, etc at one time. It's been difficult doing them at the drop of the hat (you know what it's like with small kids).

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Hillingdon · 09/02/2016 17:09

We have been on the market for just over a week. A few viewings but we are using a local EA who sells most of the houses around here. Most EA's apparently over value to get the business and most people over value their own house. So you get an overpriced house launched onto the market that no one will buy, you blame the EA or the people who came around twice and didn't put an offer in...

Price is the thing that will sell a house IMHO not the fact that you need xx for your new place, or xx to pay off your debts or Aunt Jenny 20 years ago had people queuing out the door to see her house so surely it will be the same for you!

A friend of ours is just about to sell a town house but it doesn't have a garage and there is just a bit of land at the back for one car. Its also on a main road. That has not stopped her and her DH from overvaluing and insisting that people will fall in love with it (if it was that great they wouldn't be moving!) They are dismissing the lack of parking and the road noise even though every time we see them they moan about those two things! They are even thinking about doing it themselves as EA's don't do anything much do they... I did say you will get all sorts turning up. You could be alone showing a strange man around, you could be messed around because to be frank buying a house is full of issues.

Our EA says the big thing at present is that people assume they wont have any issues getting a mortgage. In the SE you need every penny you can so we are not talking about small sums of money. They apply for a mortgage and are turned down..