Should we drop asking price after 2 weeks?!

[Saffy110]

Hi everyone, our house has only been on the market for 2 weeks, but we've had 7 viewings and no offers, they all said they didn't like the garden backing on to a busy road that runs through our village, it is noisy and the reason we want to move away! Though we have already priced our house 10k and 20k less than 2 others that are identical up the road, but without the road behind their gardens. We thought this was a fair price in comparison (all 3 bed semis).

6 viewings were people already on EA's books and looking at several different areas, only 1 couple wanted to specifically live in our village (commuter village with excellent school so prices inflated, the others will most likely want to go elsewhere where they can get more for their money).

We have had an offer accepted on a house we don't want to lose and the EA is now putting pressure on us to drop our asking price to hurry a sale along. We've offered 420k for the new house, our place is on for 380k and we're at the maximum end of our budget and what we can borrow from the mortgage lender, so we'd have to try and beg and borrow from my parents to make up the shortfall f we dropped, or persuade the vendor to drop the price we're paying them which they are v unlikely to want to do!

Should we drop our price or is it too soon? If we drop to 375 it puts us in the same category as a v similar house that is the unextended version of ours (we have a back extension with an extra room used for play room / office and also a conservatory). That would make our house 15-25k less than the almost identical houses up the road that don't have the busy road behind their gardens, and the same price as one that has 2 less rooms than ours and is also literally right next to the railway line, would you drop even further than we already have??

I would expect a house on a busy road to be about 10% less expensive than one that isn't anywhere near. So 360 vs 400k. However your garden backs on to it which is a slightly different situation and these other houses aren't a million miles away from it either, so 375k might be about rigjt. Can you hear the noise in the house? That will rule it out for a lot of people unless it suddenly means a size or quality of house they wouldn't be able to afford elsewhere. So yes, it's likely yours will go for the same price as one that e.g. doesn't have an extension but doesn't have the same level of noise.

I wouldn't drop the price after only 2 weeks, are you sure your estate agent isn't just trying to get it cheaper for one of their existing clients who is on their books already, eg a regular client/buy to let person?
How did other estate agents value it? Could you try another agent instead?

No I wouldn't drop after just two weeks. Bearing in mind that buyers will likely offer around 10% less than the asking price, if you drop to £375k you will likely only be offered £345/350k

It's obviously not over priced or you wouldn't be getting viewings, but people will reserve judgement on the road until they actually view the property. A road running around the back of the garden would be a deal-breaker for me regardless of the asking price, if it wasn't I would offer what I thought it was worth and negotiate from there.

Presumably agent gave you the original price to market it at and now he's backing down? I'd suggest he's had a slow month and needs a couple of quick sales to hit his targets

If you're only thinking of dropping the price from £380k to £375k I wouldn't bother, it's too small a drop to have any impact and just makes you look too eager to sell.

if you are at the top of your budget based on getting £380k for yours you may well need to rethink your plans as the fact that every viewer has raised the same concern and it's the reason you want to sell would suggest that you are potentially going to have to take a much bigger hit in order to sell.

I wouldn't entertain a house on a noisy road so couldn't put a price on it and I would have thought many people would feel the same.

Compromising on rooms/ decor etc initially is a better option as these can be changed in the future- the road can't be moved.

A drop of £5 is neither here nor there. To make any difference to attract a different set of buyers it needs to drop much lower into a different price band.

I'd leave it for now as it's such early days, for a bit.

But you need to be realistic in that it won't be in huge demand with an issue such as s busy road. It will take the one buyer who doesn't mind the road to offer, and i think you need patience to wait for that buyer.

I agree that dropping by by 5k won't make any difference. Most people would offer at least 5k below the asking price anyway.

Personally I would wait for another 2 weeks before thinking about reducing the asking price, it is very early days.

I don't have a lot of experience in buying/selling but when we were selling our property we had approximately 20 viewings and we sold within a month. It was very stressful but you will find a buyer.

We dropped our flat from OIRO £350k to £345k after 3weeks and it brought in two more viewings who both made offers, one £335 and another £342k.
We pushed the price drop as other flats the same as ours were on for the same price but they had allocated parking and we didn't.

What does the back garden look like. You can erect fences that help with sound proofing and maybe hide the road behind a bit?

You're probably getting viewings I would guess because its not apparent from the rightmove details / estate agent's brochure that you have the road at the end of your garden.

I agree that it would be a dealbreaker for me, are you able to have your bedroom windows open in the summer? Can you hear it from the garden? if you can, you're effectively losing the benefit of a garden which I'd guess at the kind of price you're asking would easily knock off £40-50k.

I think if its an expensive area because of the schools, you're in a quandary because the loss of the garden / noise potentially disturbing small children means its unlikely to appeal to families and as you say, other people can go elsewhere to get more for their money. I think if you're wanting a quick sale, you're going to have to drop the price by quite a chunk. Otherwise you'll have to wait it out for a buyer than isn't as bothered about the road but that may mean losing your onward purchase.

I was brought up in a house very close to a busy road, traffic noise doesn't bother me at all and would not be a factor for me if I liked the house, I'm sure I can't be the only person in the world who feels like this, so hopefully another one will come along and buy your house soon.