Sellers roll call! How many viewings are you gettingin this stagnant market?

[Pixiedust1973]

I thought it would be nice to update each other with our progress as I seem to of lost the other sellers thread!

My house has been on the market on & off since April last year. We found a house we liked, got a buyer before putting in an offer. Had a low offer but managed to negotiate them up & the house we want down to an acceptable level, just! Turns out after many months that their buyer can't proceed so we decide to cut off from our old agents & start afresh with a 25k reduction for quick sale, making us without question the best house in the area for the price! Comparables being 40-50k higher! Im in an expensive part of Surrey btw, hence silly money for very little!

Been on 55 days now & had 11 viewings, 2 cheeky try their luck offers we can't accept because they're 30k below our asking price already reduced by 25k. Id say that given how stagnant the market is we're getting a reasonable amount of interest. Getting lots more hits online since the new year & hopefully its only a matter of time. The viewers we are getting are proceedable viewers, mainly chain free. Probably explains the low offers! Had a second viewing on Friday & awaiting their feedback today. Thought they were keen but the later in the day it gets the more nervous im getting!

Thanks - we are FTB and all fingers are crossed. The house we are buying has had at least 50-60k spent on it at least - that's one of the reasons I was happy to accept the massive price hike and offer the asking price. We know a lot about our area though and literally everyone else looking is moving out of London.

I have kept my mouth well and truly shut when others with babies have been asking about schools and the estate agents have been giving it the full blather about all the schools being 'the same' when I know they're not or the particular house is not in catchment for any of them.

Mine just gone live today
SW London.
2 viewings already and one tomorrow.
I only bought it 3 years ago (relocating) when it sold within a week, and I've done a lot to it, so I have high hopes, but nervous!

Good luck with Fridays viewing Helen! Everything crossed for you!

Sounds like you got a good one there omnishambles! The school catchment area thing is such a nightmare. Im so glad my kids are past school age now. A lot of extra value on houses around here is because of the schools being so good. If we could afford it we'd stay here. As it is we're moving slightly out of catchment to a house that would cost at least 100k more if it were here.

That sounds like an incredibly positive start veuveo! Have you checked out any houses in the area you are relocating to yet? It can all happen incredibly fast sometimes!

We have a viewing booked tomorrow & another on Saturday, plus an interested party who hasn't quite made up their mind because its a new location for them. We also have at least 2 people interested in buying, but not in a position to proceed as yet. Surely its only a matter of time? Found out today that if we don't get a buyer by end of February then the house we want to buy is going to be remarketed. Our agent is confident that we will sell before then. I hope so!

We sold our property end Nov after 4 days for the home report valuation. We had 3 viewers and had another 4 in the pipeline when we got the offer. We are in Scotland and houses in our area are moving quickly

That's a good point, lilmiss, thanks. I might ask the EA to tweak the blurb a bit. They've written 'lovingly restored' and 'surprisingly spacious' but that doesn't really cover it! We put in entirely new boiler, rads, plumbing, electrics, flooring, completely replastered, integrated fire and intruder alarm system, bathrooms and kitchen, mix of new and restored windows etc. I'm feeling tired just thinking about it!

100% make it clear in the blurb how much work you have done "Modernized, fully renovated and lovingly restored - the current owners have undertaken extensive works (new boiler [etc]) whilst retaining the original character of the property with restored sash windows and [x]. " Or something like that anyway.

fluffy would you like to take over as my agent?
Embarrassingly I'd been so focused on the photos I hadn't really noticed how rubbish the blurb is. Will get on it tomorrow! It doesn't even say refurbished now I've checked, just 'maintained'
Thanks for the well wishes about Friday, ill keep you all posted!!

I had to go backwards and forwards with the EA about the blurb.
I do have my eye on a house, don't think they've had much interest, market a lot slower there, so they're very interested that I'm interested! Their estate agent asked what sort of an offer I would be likely to put in!

Just about to put ours on the market. We had three valuations done and each of them gave a price range rather than one figure. We are going on bang in the middle. That is also the figure we get if we do an online valuation based on our purchase 14 years ago.

Just waiting for the agent to send me a draft with the words and photos.

Really hope we get some viewings - and a quick offer! Nervous about the time of year but new year, new start is how I feel so hoping others do too.

Would feel very nervous about showing people round too. Last house we sold was 14 years ago to first viewer for asking price so I’ve not had any practise at it.

Good luck to others on the thread. Usually hang out in Chat and nice to find some other house sellers to catch up with.

I'm not a seller but would trade up if we saw something at the right price. There is a lot of overpriced stock where people can't accept the market has changed and I'm not going to waste anyone's time by viewing at a price that we'd never offer at.
The activity is being driven by divorces, deaths and new babies around here as a result - i.e. people who have to move.. Everyone else is sitting still for fear of catching a falling knife.

Agree about the micro markets. The cheaper areas of London are performing well. I’m in SW London & 4 neighbours have had their sales fall through. Buyers are jittery, also some sellers are excepting much lower offers as they bought earlier, have more equity etc & this is then deterring other buyers as the properties are essentially very similar. I’ve alsp noticed sellers are not realistic with their prices, for example you have 2 houses pretty much identical & priced the same. However 1 is in the catchment of an outstanding school & 1 is not.

Blimey
I just got an offer!!

Now I'm panicking, I didn't want to move until the Summer!! This is a cash buyer who wants to move quickly.

Congratulations veuveo - it's ok you have a house you have your eye on, packing up is no trouble.

Be in and settled for summer instead of thinking of moving 😉

Now I'm panicking, I didn't want to move until the Summer!! This is a cash buyer who wants to move quickly.

I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye yet.

But the house I'm looking at, they haven't got anywhere yet

Yes but things can happen in an instant.

Congratulations veuveo!
It's just not possible to plan these things as much as you would like! When we got our first buyer it was a bit soon and we were worried we would need to go into rental. Now we are desperately hoping for a quick offer!

We were persuaded to put our house on the market by the agents for the great Rightmove Christmas / New Year rush. Since then we've had four viewings in the first week or so with no offers, but nothing for the past ten days - good job we're not in a hurry ... dead, dead, dead

I haven't accepted the offer yet, it's 30k below the asking price, I shouldn't quibble, but there's a few others booked in and it's only day 2.
I need to go and see the house I want again, but I can't get there this weekend!

So unless my buyer specifically says they want to move by XDATE ( and I agree) the usual process is that everyone waits until the chain finds somewhere? So that could be a while?

I've asked them to increase10k and then we're in business.

Nice one veuveo! Now thats the way to do things. We await with baited breath the outcome of your counter offer!

Not had a great day here. Our viewers seemed interested & stayed here almost half an hour, then we get the feedback via the website & its really offensive! They gave me 2 out of 5 for presentation! My house is always IMMACULATE for viewings. Ok, the garden isn't 100%, but whose garden is during January? They gave a 2 for suitability.. Then why view if its that unsuitable? And a 3 for price.. It is entirely priced to sell & cheap in comparison with everything else in the area! These people actually live in a neighbouring town which, lets just say isn't as nice as here. They should be fully aware of the price differences between the 2 towns & what you don't get for your money here.

Unfortunately, it is expensive to live in an area within catchment of certain schools in a nice town with great transport links to London. Im wondering if perhaps a bit of jealousy is at play here? They decided to look at the only house anywhere near their budget & its not what they were hoping for so they're pissed off! Im pissed off too. We paid a premium to live here in this fucking shoebox for 6 years to get into catchment. Its what you do if its all budget allows. Otherwise you just buy a big house in current locality & stop screaming like a bitch when your kids don't get into the schools you want! Its all about priorites! If school catchment isn't a necessity then why look here & expect more than the details describe?

Apologies! Im beginning to wish we'd just pulled the house off & waited until the market levels out so everyone knows where they are with pricing etc!

Oh Pixie, that's just mean about the presentation score. And I totally get your point about the garden, mine is small and it's very hard to spruce up with hanging baskets etc in bloody January.

Lostlily I'm really sorry for your situation, you must be finding it really tough.

Well I've had frustrating and disappointing week. Tuesdays viewers came and I spent the entire day cleaning and tidying. It was absolutely immaculate. I had to take the kids out for their tea whilst the agent showed the viewers round and my poor daughter was feeling full of cold and just wanted to go home.

Next day agent says the couple liked it a lot, the bloke was talking about making an offer about 15k under asking ( which we most likely would have accepted) but the missus wasn't so convinced. Agent said the chap was going to try and talk the woman round, that he thought it was the best they'd seen at price etc.

And today, the woman has reviewed their finances and thinks they can't afford it, that they should try and find more of a do up for less money. Grrrrrr.

So no more viewings on the horizon. I despair. It feels like each viewing is a waste of my energy and time.

Sounds familiar Easily. Why on earth people view houses they haven't a hope in hell of ever being able to afford to buy is beyond me! Total timewasters! Ive been so tempted to respond to the offensive unfair feedback people, but at the end of the day they're not worth my time. They won't find what they want because it simply doesn't exist in their budget here!

I have one more viewing booked in for Saturday. No doubt another timewaster!

We've just gone back on the market this evening. We had our house on this time last year but had little interest and no offers. The houses we wanted were sold so we came off the market intending to look into adding a much needed extra bedroom to our house. Then our absolute favourite came back to the market so we're back on in the hope of a miracle as it's already under offer but they are still booking viewings. We're in a cheap London suburb and are on lower than most houses of the same size and style in the area. Keeping everything crossed.