To reduce or not?

[Katurah]

Our 3 bed end of terrace has been on the market for 6 weeks. 20 viewings, no offers. Feedback is that the house is immaculate, stunning, beautiful but the garden is too small and so is the third bedroom - same as most terraced houses where we live. It was valued by the agents, we chose the agent we felt happiest with who suggested a lower price than the other two to get more interest.

They now want to change the listing to a guide price of £220-230 to remarket and attract new viewers. We're feeling a bit unsure (and our pride is hurt that no one wants our lovely house!) Not sure wether to try and see what offers we get or whether to take it off and remarket in the summer. Similar but bigger houses have sold in the area that weren't is as good condition but were similarly priced🤔

Any advice? Never sold before so not sure what to do!

20 viewings and no offer, then if you can, I’d reduce it. You may encourage offers from viewers who are in the next lower price bracket and perhaps get offers in competition with each other.

I would have a bottom line figure in mind that allows you to move on and stick to it, so you’re not tempted to undersell.

Whereabouts in the country are you? Some areas are quite slow at the moment.

Have a look at the sold prices (not asking prices) for your street and compare honestly with your asking price. That's exactly what buyers will be doing.

January/February tend to be a bit slow usually and I'd expect things to pick up in March and April.

It's a quiet time for the housing market anyway, will pick up from Easter onwards, but that also means more houses on the market so more choice for buyers. Depends how quickly you need to move/need the money ... I would reduce as I think selling a house is a horrible stressful time, so the shorter the better!

In my area, reductions seem to fit two patterns: either a house is put on at an overly ambitious price, and is reduced after 4-6 weeks (and generally sells quite quickly), or the price remains the same for months and months, and when the reduction finally happens it looks a bit desperate.

I'm trying to buy right now and on viewings I'm noticing that the quickly-reduced houses are, on the whole, pretty decent, whereas the ones which have hung on for ages before reducing tend to have some significant issue (recent example: beautiful big period property... opposite an industrial estate).

If you can afford to reduce, I'd do it now. Buyers notice (and can easily track) a property's online history. I wouldn't think anything about a fairly quick reduction, but from experience I'm now more wary of properties which have lingered for a long time, or come on and off the market.

All good advice - thank you. We're in South Yorkshire.

For what it's worth, I do think it was a bit over priced (not by us!) It's an expensive first time buyers house at the moment and lots of the viewings have been young families that want more space (as do we!) It's a beautiful house and would suit a professional couple perhaps planning a baby at some point - we have two children and my husband works from home so we're tripping over each other.

We've reduced it this morning - whatever we sell for will affect what we can buy some have a bottom figure in mind. If we don't get that then we'll take it off and try again in the summer - this is a really sunny house so this rubbish weather isn't helping!

Where do you find sold prices? I have seen some on Rightmove but nothing very recent🤔

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

There may not be many sold in your street recently. Look at surrounding streets to compare.

How’s the 3rd bedroom presented? Make sure it’s shown as a proper bedroom (not a cramped study or junk room) and lower the price a little to account for a smaller garden.

The whole house is beautifully presented. Newly decorated, modern kitchen and new bathroom with gorgeous Victorian floor tiles. Two gas fires that look like wood burners in living and dining room. All 3 bedrooms presents as bedrooms. The garden is presented really well, fences freshly painted a warm stone colour with a table and chairs and lots of potted plants/shrubs. It's a nice private place to sit and have a drink in the sun! All viewers have said its immaculate. Can't work it out!

Overpriced unfortunately. It's starting to become a buyers market and personally I think the longer you leave it, the worse the market will become as interest rates are set to rise and there is the uncertainty of Brexit. First time buyers in particular will be holding out for a bargain.

When you mentioned larger but less done up houses sold for similar money, are we talking 10m2 bigger or more than that?

I'd the latter, then you need to drop the price - families won't pay through the nose for presentation if the house is 1 size down from others in the price bracket.

If you've had 20 viewings, and it's presented as well as you say, which I'm sure is the case, then I'm afraid it's almost certain that the price you are asking is too high.

If there's no feedback about something tangible and you've had no offers I think it could well be price.

As previous posters, I think interest rate increases are making people a bit nervous of large commitments. Where I am sub 130k properties in the right area are moving quick anything higher seems to be sticking on with lots of reductions filtering through

Thanks everyone. I found the sold prices - we're not far off I don't think. I'm just surprised no one has even made a cheeky offer. We'll see how the reduction goes, if it hasn't sold by easter we'll take it off and reevaluate!

I'm in South Yorkshire. £220k - £230k for a 3 bed end terrace with the third bedroom being the size of a boxroom, and a tiny garden is pretty expensive, unless you live in a posh part of Sheffield.

It's bonkers, but I think a lot of people, especially first time buyers, don't like doing the 'cheeky offer' thing.

Definitely reduce. That many viewings and no offers means it is over priced.

And £220k - £230k is not first time buyers pricing in South Yorkshire

Have you got a very distinctive taste in interiors perhaps? I have viewed houses that were immaculate but equally I'd want to rip everything out and start again as it was very much someone else's distinctive taste.

I think 20 viewings in 6 weeks is good - and if anyone really wanted the house but thought it was overpriced, they'd have made an offer.

Is there a photo of every room and the garden? Is there anything at all that could put off potential viewers when they come to the house which isn't visible from the sales particulars (no parking, scruffy neighbours, next door to pub / warehouse / car park etc). If you're the end terrace, what's at the side of the house? Do your neighbours have access over your garden to the back of their house for instance?

If you want to sell, then I think reduce the price and/or indicate to your EA if you are open to offers...

I viewed a lovely house in the first week of January, but it was significantly overpriced, so I dismissed it. Last week, a new EA sent me the same property details (listed at the same high price), so today I thought I would contact the original EA (he’s still got the joint listing) to ask him to let me know if there would be any movement in price. He told me that they’re just about to accept a low offer!! Lower than I would have offered in January. At that time it seemed too big a drop, so I didn’t offer. I wish I’d known then that they were open to offers.

Good luck with your sale OP!

Isn't everyone open to offers? I thought that went without saying.

Yes, I think every vendor expects offers, but this is 15% below asking price, so a big drop that I wouldn’t have expected them to agree to. Worth letting your EA know if you have a acceptable “floor” price

The house was described as a Pinterest house at the weekend by a viewer, it's pretty neutral but not bland. We have feature walls wallpapered but if it wasn't to someone's taste they could easily change that. Kitchen and bathroom are neutral and modern. We have good parking, we have shared access in our garden with one neighbour (not many terraced houses in this area that don't!) but the garden has solid fencing and is private. Pub nearby but it's a nice one and not close enough to cause any issues. Plenty of 3 bed terraces sell for £200-300k in my area to all sorts of people depending what road they are on.

We'll see how the reduction goes. We've never sold a house before and are being guided by the agents. If we don't get a price we're happy with, we'll stay.

There’s a very small slice of SW Sheffield where you can sell a 3 bed terrace for a price like that, and you will be competing with less polished but much bigger 3 bed semi’s with private gardens. I think dropping the price was a good idea.

Give it a couple of weeks with the reduction and see.

I wouldn't expect a lot of people over the door while this cold spell continues, but when it warms up and heads towards Easter then you should get a lot more viewers. March/April are busy house-hunting times.