Not getting viewings

[Needtofeelsomething]

Hi all. I’m getting very frustrated with the whole selling (or not) malarkey. My house has been on the market since last November with various local estate agents. I know in hindsight it was an awful time to put it on the market but I’m an impatient bugger! I only had 1 viewing before Christmas & was with an online agent. So in January I decided to put it on with a local agent & was getting a viewing a week but no offers. At the end of February I took it off for a couple of weeks & then signed up with a different agent on a sole agency contract. It went back on the market a month ago & since then I have not had a single viewing. They arranged an open house on 24th March & only managed to get 1 person booked in & then they didn’t turn up!!

The agent thinks the photos may be an issue as they were taken on a rainy day so I had some more done yesterday when the sun was shining. They tell me that they are marketing it & sending emails & texts etc.

I live in a little village in Kent that has no public transport, shop or pub but we are only 3 miles from the nearest town. Feedback has been that people don’t like the village. I’ve lived here for 14 years & it was exactly what I was looking for when we moved here.

If the new photos don’t attract people then I’m going to have to consider reducing the price but I really don’t want to do that. Unfortunately there are no similar houses in the village to compare the price with. The house next door sold last year & that hasn’t done me any favours because they sold it at a massively reduced price because they were splitting up & just wanted rid.

It’s so frustrating because I’ve seen beautiful houses o would buy in a flash but I can’t make an offer & then they sell.

Price I think. Agents tell me that there is a general trend (possibly Eco/petrol price motivated) for people to want to live within walking distance of amenities. And as a buyer I always check the price of neighbouring properties. Seeing it come on and off may also appear like you are flying a kite on price or just dabbling with selling.
Good luck and I hope your buyer comes along soon.

Thank you for the feedback. I have to stick with this agent for a while so hopefully there will be some interest soon. I’ll also have to think about the price. I just don’t understand why there were regular viewings in January at the same price but nothing now.

Seeing it come on and off may also appear like you are flying a kite on price or just dabbling with selling.

YY to this.

It's easy now for buyers to find out exactly when you've previously put your house on the market, with whom, and for how much.

It's also simple to see what was paid for nearby property. Buyers don't know the circumstances of the sale: they just see that a mutually-acceptable price was reached between vendor and buyer, and that it was £££ less than yours. So if you do want to sell quickly, you'll probably have to accept that the neighbouring property's price has set a precedent and you'll either have to a) lower your price, or b) make every effort to distinguish your property from that one - but if you're not even getting viewings, this is difficult.

It does sound like you live in the kind of area which is really a specific taste, though. I grew up in a village but even I wouldn't like to live somewhere with zero amenities. Someone will like the peace and quiet, though; who is your potential buyer? Is there a local school, or a nearby large employer, or is this the kind of place which attracts retired people? You might want to try some targeted marketing.

Re. the January/April thing, there are just so many more properties on the market now (in general). So people who may have viewed your house as a long-shot in January have much wider options now, and are less willing to spend time visiting a property which seems too expensive/unsuitable/etc.

I put my house on the market in a little village in Kent in January. Admittedly it is a village with a pub but no shop or public transport. We have 4 viewings the first weekend and 3 offers. I’m sorry but the price must be too high. Houses are definitely still selling.

I just don’t understand why there were regular viewings in January at the same price but nothing now.

Some agents are buggers for shovelling anyone they can drag off the street through a house for viewings, regardless of suitability. Was it this flurry of viewings that the 'not liking the village' feedback came from? Because that indicates to me that the EA showed people round who weren't 100% committed to the location. Not entirely the EA's fault, of course - I'm a firm believer in people not asking to view houses in areas they don't actually want to live in.

I would imagine the truth of it is that the lack of amenities make it ideal for people in a specific set of circumstances and unideal for everyone else. Cloudy-day photos won't have helped, so I hopefully you'll get renewed interest if it now looks all idyllic and Garden-of-England-y.

Price could well be a factor too. The fact that next door - presumably a similar/identical house? - sold for X means that people researching prices online will expect yours to be on for around the same price, as they won't know the personal circumstances of the sale and will assume that sale value sets the benchmark for the area and type of house.

My fiance and I are planning to move out more rurally in the next few years.

Our plan is either middle of nowhere - no shops, few other houses etc OR village with amenities. For us, there's no point moving somewhere which has nothing but people. We'd rather have fields & views.

Link please!

It could be the price putting people off, I can see past poor photos if the price is right tbh

Would a relatively small drop mean that it changes the search band within RM? So it would end up as a high priced house in the next band down? Then it becomes a 'premium' house for that band and people who would not have seen it in their searches now would? They might be prepared to stretch to achieve it, whereas if it is bottom of its current band, it might be less appealing, IYSWIM.

I think pps have covered everything I was thinking, but no viewings is a sure fire sign that your house is perceived as over priced now.

I live in a similar type village, but we have a pub and primary school. No bus/shop does reduce interest. You really have to consider price in this, people usually only sell in my village if the property is perceived as cheap/bargain - because to live with no amenities means buyers will need to have keep two well maintained cars. Although, occasionally you get someone who moves here looking for the rural life (me). But we are a rarer type of buyer, mainly It's because being so rural allows people to afford a better house. It takes a long time to sell though.

We're having a similar struggle not helped by two semi detached versions of our detached bungalow being on at £25k less than ours in the past few weeks. One's gone within a week and the other is on the market. Can't really drop the price, as we will struggle to buy what we need next if we do. Had steady 1.5 viewings a week until start of April, then nothing since. It's so frustrating. You have my sympathies, OP.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I’ll post a link when the new pictures are up.

The village is a mix of older retired people & young families. When kids become teenagers, as mine are, they need taxiing about. It is definitely a niche market.

The viewings in January were a waste of time, people coming from miles away who didn’t know the area but you still feel like you’re getting somewhere with people viewing.

The house is on at £300k. I need every penny from the sale to buy something when we move because there isn’t a huge amount of equity in the property. I’ll have to consider changing it to ‘offers in the region of’ & bring the price down a bit.

Well, here's a wee ray of sunshine. 3pm today, estate agent rings to say someone who we know wants our house but had something to sell has an offer and wants to come back tomorrow. Ten minutes later, another previous viewer is on the phone saying she also has an offer and wants to view again on Sunday. It's made my week. Like buses. Nothing for ages then two proceedable second viewings on the same weekend. It does happen...