Is the property market really slow right now..?

[ChalkyC]

Or is it just that my house is rubbish/overpriced or my estate agents are not doing their job?!?

On the market nearly 4 weeks. 2 viewings (not very serious ones I don't think). It's a great house - quite a big semi and in a village right on the edge of London, so slightly unusual location I suppose. If it's overpriced then fair enough, but if we don't sell it for around the asking price we can't afford any of the properties we are considering.

What should the agents be doing? I feel like they're just sat there waiting for a calls. It went out in a mail shot when it first went on the market but had very little response.

Is it not a good time of year? I thought autumn was good?

I'm getting a bit depressed!

It's a lovely house. No idea about London prices though.
Agree with pp's about clearing the conservatory for a better photo. I would also change the description of 'family room' to ' sitting room' to promote the idea of an adult space IYSWIM. The Pratts Bottom address would make me smile, but I could imagine it might put some people off, not that you can do anything about it.

I think maybe your pricing is slightly high. Doing a search for 5 beds within 1 mile of your location shows 3 other 5 bed homes that are cheaper and they're detached.

I think if you buy detached you expect to pay more than with a semi. Your semi is higher priced than the detached properties nearby so I would want to see something special that's worth me paying the extra for in your home. For the record I love your home and absolutely would buy it but it's the other end of the country for me My point is those detached homes can be extended/changed and for less money in total than the cost of purchasing yours. Your beautiful home has already been extended so there's a possibility that no further work will be permitted.

I believe houses tend to sell better in the spring/summer months although I like to go against the grain and feel if you love a house in winter when it's dull and grey you can only love it more in the summer when it's bright and warm.

Good luck

In my area (Suffolk costal) houses have really slowed down, hardly anything on market and those aren't moving.. BUT bungalows are on market for a day and sold. We have a lot of people moving here to retire and buying up places.
Saying that two lovely houses came up and were sold that first week of being on, The house I liked there were two couples and myself looking round at same time, the other two couples were from Essex and asking about the area and looking to buy to rent it out 😡, which is happening a lot here. The person who brought mine (before it fell though) was from London.
One of the couples looking at the house I wanted offered above asking price to get it!
So I think the market is dependant on the area and peoples budgets.
what you can get near me for £800k

Yes the market is slow. And the top and bottom of the market stalls and slows much more readily than the middle. As it's a gorgeous house I imagine you're near the top of it's / the area's value. In the current market it's only really fixer uppers that are still selling well in a lot of places.

It's a lovely house. If you need to sell you'll have to drop the price because there's always someone looking for a bargain. But if you don't need to sit tight.

Regarding autumn being a good time - personally I think it's a terrible time to sell a family home. School places have been awarded, Christmas on the horizon, after work viewings happening at dusk / night so the house looks smaller.

Spring and early summer is the best time IMO.

Although Christmas Day and Boxing Day are Rightmove's two busiest days for traffic - people fantasising! So there is a benefit to having your house on then, although debatable how many of those surfers translate into actual house buyers.

No advice but it's a gorgeous house. Your kitchen is amazing and would sell me the house
I think it's the time of year.

I think the market is slow. We are selling and in a normal market I think our house would have sold on the 1st open weekend we had. We are both similar in that we will unlikely be selling to first time buyers. We have a person interested in ours, they are not under offer, and 2 viewings tomorrow to people on the market and not sold. I have an eye on something on rightmove I will not view till I am under offer with a proceedable chain. I think there is an element of sitting tight and holding your nerve at the moment if you are not in a hurry. London property is more affected by Brexit than the North as we feel more threatened as we did not want it to happen. Stuff is shifting, just slowly. Realistically 1 pic of a cluttered conservatory is not going to put someone off viewing a house that otherwise looks great.

Your house is lovely, I agree about conservatory picture maybe being retook.
If I was looking for 4/5 beds and looked at the other house and yours, I'd pick yours!
I'm not sure on pricing, as I'm up north and have never considered London, but two weeks on the market really isn't a lot so don't get too eager to reduce, without good reason, just yet.
Good luck!

I know the the area quite well, even had a drink in the Bulls Head. It's the sort of place people upsizing in town would be looking for. The commute is slightly awkward, either walking to Knockholt/Chelsfield station or driving and paying to park. As others have said, there are cheaper 5 beds in the area, but then yours is on a village green and handy for local services. I would think about getting another agent, at least for a valuation, maybe one with a wider agents network like Acorn?

It is a lovely house. The one thing which might put me off viewing it is that some of the bedrooms are a smallish, not that you can do anything about that. It is much nicer in every way than the opposition.

That does look pretty rural for zone 6 :)

I live in zone 5 and would say that from my perspective:
-the house looks lovely and the layout is what families want these days. The immediate location looks cute too.
-what I think might work against you is that it seems quite a long way from the nearest station - appears to be a 20min walk(?) - I know in my area that would make the house cheaper and sit on the market longer.
I also think that a lot of people might prefer a detached property in this sort of location even if means paying a little extra (is that why agents found it difficult to price?)
Are there any shops/cafes etc within walking distance? Having to drive everywhere could be off-putting to many people.

In my corner of London (Zone 2, SE) it seems very slow. Lots of reductions.

Op I'll take it

Lovely house.

It may be slightly overpriced. The detached house you gave a link for looked like it should cost a lot more than yours but it doesn't.

Definitely slowing down. We've been on the market before and sold within a couple of days, so I know our house is at the right price. Previously we've had at least one viewing a week, usually two. But since we came back onto the market 3 weeks ago (long story....) We've had just two viewings and nothing booked at all right now!

DH is a geeky type and when he's checked he said searches for Rightmove start dipping now, and just keep dropping off until Christmas. Pah.

Where l live they've risen 8% in the last few months.

Thanks for the reassurance that the house itself is cool. I'm going to do some research on the price - they vary so widely around here. And will get into the EA - I'm pretty pissed off with them - not so much as a catch up call this week....

I agree that your house is beautiful, really beautiful but I think the detached house, although it's not as lovely inside as yours, is better value for money. I would expect your house to be 100K less than it is.

have no real constructive comments as im in the east midlands but on presentation alone, you have no issues at all. its stunning and would appeal to a broad range of tastes. the conservatory is fine and i dont think you need to re-take that room with a new photo.

I know Pratts (and Locks) Bottom very well . It's a lovely lovely area.

We're not far from you and we're also on the market. It's been a chuffing nightmare. We've had loads of people viewing but the feedback has been very diverse - not enough work needed vs too much work. Too big vs too small. What are you supposed to do with that???

Our EAs have been great but they say it's been a very odd year first with Brexit and now with a sudden rush of people wanting to sell in our area so basically it's a buyer's market.

If we don't have a good offer in the next couple of weeks then we're going to pull it and remarket next spring.

Where are you planning on moving to?

Not helpful, but that's a gorgeous house. I can't comment on price as it's nothing like what we're looking at and we're in the NE but I can't see anything wrong with it. It's done up well too, imo.
It's probably just the time of year as people are unlikely to be in before Christmas now. Good luck though, it only takes one!

Lovely! I actually thought that was a really good price considering so close to London.

Hey BellMc - not planning on moving far away actually - up to Petts wood/chislehurst - where we will def get less for our money!

I'm torn between just leaving it and hoping the spring brings a better climate, or really hassling the EA to drum up some viewings. The move would make things like the school run much easier, but we don't have to move right now, and I do actually love our house and the space.

We're local to you and our experience is that market has been slow for some time, particularly for properties like yours. You've done everything you can in terms of presentation and photos but I think you're missing out on your prime market which is probably upto £800k.

Hounding the agent to target purchasers with a budget of £800k that have specifically asked for detached houses may yield some viewings, but in our case we didn't get any genuine interest. Lowering the price and the notifications that rightmove sends out almost certainly will.

Ultimately if you're in no rush there's no harm in biding your time. It's a lovely house. Best of luck.

It is a lovely house, the garage is a great asset, but knowing some of the areas nearby you (perhaps even near wheee you plan to move - good choice ), you are competing with properties that are walking distance to stations as well as properties that are in catchment for outstanding schools. Ones I know in my area are £850k (or less) for five bed detached all near an Ofsted outstanding school, ten mins walk to station and still close to nice open spaces. Properties in our area in the £500k (do-er- upper) to £650k 3 bed semi-bracket seem to be shifting fairly quickly, those over £700k seem to be taking longer to shift, people seem to be preferring to expand their own properties than pay the stamp duty for a larger home but that is more my general observation rather than a scientific analysis. We've had three loft conversations in our street within the past two years, one major extension and two more loft chairs conversions (including our own!) next year and there are only 23 houses in the street.