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!

As long as it takes to sell I guess. Am considering an open day or something because honestly it's horrendous keeping the house immaculate with a 2yo and a 13yo. It is exhausting. It's frustrating as well because you're saying the same things often answering the same questions I feel like I've got a sales pitch! The agent has done some viewings too but obviously because they've got keys it means someone could be in the house any time so it has to be spotless!

We put or house on the market in feb. 3 EAs said put it on at 425k so we put it on at that. In retrospect my gut feel was right that it was only worth 390ish. We got a few viewings - 1 or 2 per week for a few months. But they all said the same thing - too small. We dropped to 410, then 400, then 385, now have an offer about 5% under asking. Think we would have sold higher if we’ve put on at 390 early doors - but we had no way of knowing just how bad this year was on last year (~10% down). It’s a bit gutting that we’d have got maybe 20k more if we’d sold last year as a couple of houses similar to ours on our road sold around the 400k mark back then. Waa. It’s a really tough year. The 4 beds round us are shifting even more slowly. There’s some of them that are on at really great prices and they just aren’t moving. We are in an apparently very desirable SE town so it’s a bit shocking it’s so bad to be honest. They are doing a lot of developing/new home building around here through.

Ah moving, thanks for the update 😊. I'm keeping a keen eye. We currently rent on the outskirts of Lingfield and would love to stay here but I'm debating where to go as it's a bit of a toss up between price and house size/schools/commute.

Do your agents not ring before doing viewings Flamingo? That sounds horrendous! I do try to keep the house reasonable, which is a bit of a nightmare, but I couldn't live in a viewer ready state. I have at least 20 minutes of moving stuff out to the garage & car, putting washing away, bed making etc if someone suddenly wanted to view & thats if theres no cleaning to do lol.

A lot of what you said I could have written myself JustLurking. Its so hard to know what to do for the best isn't it? Do you have much to look at that you could negotiate a reduction on?

Ahh, Lingfield is nice Nichelette, I'd consider it, but its too far out for hubby & work unfortunately. I'm in Reigate, which I do love & has been amazing for schooling, I just don't love the prices.. Of course at the moment nobody else does either. We are very open to any offer that would allow us to buy something bigger & we're not stuck on the area as long as we can get to college & work within a reasonable time. Trouble is theres very little available now & a lot of what is is overpriced to the point we won't even look or consider offering on..

Hopefully this coming week brings some good news for us all.

Ouch you too Moving? We found the house we loved when we had our first offer (buyers were time wasters and pulled out) and only went 5% under asking. It was hard to know how low to go in because it was priced to sell and in a location where houses very rarely come up. When we lost our buyers and took 2 months to find another we didn’t lose the dream house though due to things being standstill. So not all bad. Could maybe have got more off if we waited/bargained higher... but didn’t want to take the p*ss when it’s a dream house. Fingers crossed things don’t fall through again!

Had a quick look at Reigate as I'm less familiar with that direction and can see what you mean about prices which seem slightly higher than here. I do wonder if HPI and low wage growth are finally impacting as it's very difficult in SE if you haven't made a lot from equity so I can see how buyers may be drying up. Husband and I are on decent salaries with a relatively large deposit (saved not gifted so don't mean 100k+ or anything silly like that) but it will still be hard for us and I am concerned about the huge mortgage we will taking on, but don't have many options as I desperately crave housing stability! I hope you get your buyer soon

moving yeah they do tell me but quite a lot are at short notice and we both work full time so have to keep it tidy all the time and pristine every morning before work. Weekends slightly more relaxed as if we've nothing booked by Friday evening we generally know we won't have anyone over!

We decluttered loads before moving so it's generally making beds, making sure no shampoo / conditioner on side of bath, fluffing sofa cushions and putting toys away. And tidying up breakfast stuff on a morning. Still a pita though!

flamingofridays I don't know how you do it. I would get sick and tired of it after a few weeks!

I am sick and tired of it believe me I cannot wait until we have an offer accepted and I can somewhat lower my standards again!!

God this is depressing! Just about to put mine on the market (divorce) and am dreading trying to keep the place viewer-ready!

Hope you manage to keep hold of your dream house Lurking. We sale agreed on our house almost a year ago, had offer accepted on a lovely place, all set for exchange & complete end of November, then our buyers lost their buyer in October. 9 months on they still don't have a new buyer. We lost the dream house in February!

Reigate is great Nichelette. Its not a case of lack of equity, savings or buyers drying up. We are still getting about 2 viewings a week & are fortunate enough to have decent equity & savings. Trouble is when you're looking in ridiculously priced areas & want to take that step further up the ladder it is going to be significantly more than a similar property elsewhere. Quite a few of our neighbours have sold up & moved up north, so haven't been so fussed on pricing. This hasn't done those of us stuck with Surrey prices any favours tbh. I'd love to relocate to a cheaper area! I feel the same way about taking on a huge mortgage too. I was mortgage free before moving here. Its terrifying! Hope all works out for you too.

Must be a pain doing all that before work every day Flamingo. I kind of do the opposite at weekends. Probably because I used to be on with Purplebricks where you need to be ready at the drop of a hat lol. Regardless of whether anyone has booked by Friday night or not I will always ensure that the house has had an extra thorough going over for the weekend. I've had times where the EA has contacted us first thing on a Saturday, or even lunchtime, wanting someone to view. Saturday is the only day where its 100% ready if they want to bring anyone along at short notice! After 12 months of putting up with doing this from April 17-July 18 (15 months with a 3-month break when under offer), I have well & truly HAD ENOUGH!

I do have sympathy for you Arum51. Been through that myself. Am hoping that you have one of the stunning houses that if priced correctly will sell quickly, so you can be on your way.

it really is a pain,

this morning I have

made the beds
tidied up ds' toys
made my lunch & ds breakfast
washed up after that and given kitchen a quick wipe down
swept round the cat litter tray
vacced the living room

and then dropped ds to nursery and got myself to work

I cant WAIT until its sold.

estate agent not got me any feedback yet, they are usually super quick and do it first thing the next working morning after the viewing. However the main one isn't in so maybe they haven't had time yet.

will be messaging around 10am if I hear nothing! I feel like I have to push them a bit sometimes!

I think we are in a bit of a bubble with the market here at the moment.
We put our house on the market midday Monday, had our first viewing that evening and offer the next morning. A week later we accepted the second offer we had after 7 or 8 more viewings and now going through the motions of selling.
The house we are buying didn't even hit the market as we got there first, but until we've exchanged contracts I'm not counting my chickens just yet! So fingers crossed this all happens now...

Where in the country are you, HopefullyMoving?

that's excellent hopefullymoving - to be honest we had loads of viewings in the first week, just no offers.

we've had one offer from a non proceedable buyer..

Saturdays couple have booked in to view again tonight.. I am hoping their family will like it too and they have looked at mortgages and what not!

wish me luck!!!!!

Good luck flaming

I'm in Devon.

thank you!

Good luck Flaming. No word here yet from weekends viewing or the ones apparently seeing their broker with a view to putting in an offer!

ah thanks moving I hope you hear from them soon!!

I hate it when they get your hopes up and then disappear!
one of our first viewers did this, viewed twice, said all the right things and then radio silence, estate agent couldn't get hold of them at all wankers

So our hastily rustled up cash buyers came, they actually seemed to like the house but ours was the first they have viewed and agent can't get hold of them for feedback... they came from across the city and knew nothing about our area so I am assuming our agent talked them into viewing to keep us sweet. No other viewings on the horizon - nothing around here is going sstc (including the ones we are looking at), but you can guarantee our 'dream house' will before we manage to sell. If it doe we are taking ours off the market and reassessing next year, already fed up of the process and we don't neeeeed to move.

Our viewing went really well. They loved it their parents loved it BUT they said they were going to the bank Saturday and I assume this is to get a mortgage in principle which makes me question why they haven't already done that.

The thing is the bank may or may not lend to them they'd be so much better off seeing a mortgage adviser but I don't know how to put this too them without seeming really rude. Might give the EA a heads up when she rings about feedback.

The thing is if they offer we can accept and then take off market when they get it in principle. And It would mean we could offer. Going to chat to the EA. If they're only going the bank Saturday it's already another week if not two or more if the bank turn them down.

What would you all do?

jgm Yes, it sounds like you need to stay put. Perhaps keep monitoring the market, which could improve, deteriorate, or just stay the same.

flamingofridays Perhaps put in an offer to secure the one you want, on the basis of your buyers' eagerness to buy yours?

@flamingofridays I would just leave it for now - EA may just be using 'going to the bank' as a turn of phrase. The are probably shopping around as rates are all over right now. Many people don't apply for a mortgage in principle till they find a home so they know how much they are asking for. Try and be patient - tough I know.

Thanks moving - keeping all my fingers and toes crossed... but after things have already fallen through once you try to get tour hopes up.

Hate to say it flaming but you won't get an offer until you get an offer. I have got my hopes up too many times with people being 'excited' or 'keen' and they just need to get an offer confirmed on their place/talk to their parents/talk to the bank etc etc. It may be they have a mortgage in principle already - they haven't categorically said they haven't. Just try not to get your hopes up until you get a non-insulting offer from people who are actually in a position to buy. But you know this already I'm sure - it's really sh*t isn't it? I got so sick of getting my hopes up that I got a bit numb in the end will keep fingers crossed for you