House not selling (quickly enough for my liking)

[Justbloodysellwhydontyou]

Is it worth adding an agent? We've not been on for ages - very end March. We've had a sale fall through, reduced the price, but the market is definitely hard round here (St Albans).

I'm being inundated with 'we see your house hasn't sold' 'we have clients ready to view'. Surely to goodness anyone looking is on Rightmove etc and it makes little difference. The agent seems engaged and active, but viewings have dwindled since coming back on a week ago after our sale failed.

OP - It is a lovely house with potential to personalise/style well. It looks underdressed and a bit sterile at the moment.

In particular, I think you need to make more of the kitchen sitting area (family room with rug and coffee table, lamps etc).

Whilst a buyer doesn’t want their senses overwhelmed with clutter, you could definitely dress the property (add warmth) to sell a lifestyle. The patterned bed linen doesn’t show an aspirational house and some plant pots at the front/back will soften the exterior.

If you spend £1k dressing the house, it will all be things you take with you to your next home.

Good luck!

When the agent retakes the photos, make sure he/she is not overdoing it with the fish eye lens. The proportions on something photos look really wrong, eg the wall above the piano appears to be curving in at the top.

Also the photos should be in some semblance of order, eg outside shot, 3 downstairs photos, 3 upstairs photos, a garden photo.

Go those saying the house is overpriced it really really isn't. That's just right for the area, we live in Harpenden in my parents in laws house.....they paid £30k in the early 70's it's now in excess of a million. It's insane but that's the way it is in this corner of Hertfordshire. My mums Council house is just that a Council house the other half of her semi sold for over £500k! That's in WGC

STICK WITH YOUR PRICING OP

Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
BUT
If people are willing to pay a million pounds for tulip bulbs, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to buy them for that.

did you buy your house for £815k 3 years ago?
Can you justify the £125K uplift even allowing for increasing prices.
I think house prices in the SE and London are insane - for nearl;y a million I would expect much more
Unfortunately the London/SE bubble has pushed up prices outside the area (in the rest of the UK) because buyers are moving out with megabucks to spend.

apologies I see you bought your house in 2002 for £335K

I think house prices in the SE and London are insane - for nearl;y a million I would expect much more

Then you'd struggle and be sorely disappointed . And you'd appear to have no clue about house prices down here.

Op, good luck with the second viewing, hopefully it's leads to another offer.

I would never ever consider buying a house in London or anywhere near it - so I would neither struggle or be disappointed. Yes I do understand the stupid prices you are happy to pay down there which is why I consider the prices 'insane'
My point bluntness before you accuse me of being clueless is thast I expect much more for a million pounds because outside the London bubble there are very nice houses, in very nice crime free areas, which can be bought for that amount of money.
Clear enough.

like this charming house in the Cotswolds
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53342520.html

tbf of my friends who have moved to other cities 2 of them had 1m budgets but they just didn’t want to pay that for a terrace with no off street parking.

I will never understand why people don't "get" London prices.

It's simple economics, supply and demand. There are more jobs in London that pay more. Some people think it's worth paying "silly money" for a reasonable commute.

Location location location, surely? If you hate London then fair enough but it's rude to say that it's "insane" to pay £1m for a small terraced house...it's all about priorities and we are all different.

And actually on the basis of supply and demand, it would seem that those who buy "reasonably priced" houses are the ones with which the majority disagrees.

I think it is the market in the price bracket that you are in. We live about 20mins from Albans and houses that are in the price range over £750k seem to be sitting in the market for quite some time.

I understand jobs normally pay higher in London but I still don't get the prices being so high.
Working in London I get the grand sum of 5k more a year for doing so. For the same price I paid for my house now in an ok area I could be in one of the nicest areas up north and that is why we're moving to Leeds

I'm really not sure why you're on this thread Deirdre, fine you'd never buy in London and you'd like to buy a million pound house in the Cotswolds.

I'm sure rhe op is feeling much more informed on how to sell her house faster and is grateful for your input

Well my second post went missing OP I suggest less photos but part from that I think it is lovely.

Its a beautiful home and looks priced about right to me.
I’m sure you’ll sell eventually

Lovely house, entrance hall let's it down imo. But if I was a buyer I know a lick of paint would sort that, although doors and windows more expensive to replace.

It must be the market I'd say as if the price is right it should sell.

Op your house is lovely. I agree there’s too much pictures but that won’t put me off as a buyer. When I see guide price though, I always scroll through because I’m always of the impression that it’s going on auction, I didn’t know it’s a literal term as well. Really lovely house though

St Albans has always been extremely popular and is a short commute to London and has good schools and everything you could want. If the op is in St Albans it’s not much point speculating on house prices elsewhere. We all should know there is a massive difference by now. Of course if you are a Dr in Sheffield you will be far better off than a similar Dr in London or St Albans when it comes to housing costs.

I think this house is fairly small for the money at just over 1600 sq ft but, having looked on RM it seems it might need to go down a bit to sell because it looks a bit small so it will be interesting to see what price the second viewers are willing to pay.

I notice this EA does loads of photos for everything they try and sell. I wouldn’t have used them. I think the dressing of the rooms look rather uninspiring in comparison to the kitchen. I think a buyer will need to love the kitchen in order to pay the asking price. I would rather pay less and have my own kitchen.

Agreed the house is stunning. Also agree way too many pictures! I live a couple of miles from you and the market is very quiet! We have been selling since last August, we have unfortunately had a bumpy ride and are now on our 3rd buyer, and the market is the quietest it has been throughout our journey. We had 3 viewings in 3 weeks coming on the market this time. Last August we had 27 viewings in just over a month. Saying that it only takes 1!

My advice would be, look on RM for who is selling the most houses in your area. Give your current agent notice, either 2 weeks or until the end of contract, then switch agents. This will give your current agent a kick up the ass, but if he doesn't sell in that time it will make you a fresh listing for the summer months.

Multi-agent, in my personal experience, does nothing but make you look desperate. Chances are both agents will have similar client lists and everyone looks on RM/Zoopla anyway.

The key is to find a proactive agent. I wish you the best of luck.xx

If your house was marked as "sold" on rightmove and then came back on, I think it doesn't appear in the newly listed properties as it's listed under the original date. It might be missed for anyone looking. I just look for houses listed in the last 3 days on the app.

If you ask your EA to take it off and put it back on "fresh" you might get more interest.

Having looked on the see similar properties tab- there is a lot in the price bracket for buyers to choose from. So be clear about what is the one unique selling point of your house versus all the others. And then tilt the marketing that way.

Also please don't take offence but a lawn and a trampoline doesn't equal a mature garden....

Lovely house, entrance hall let's it down imo. I love the hall and the stained glass. Personally I’d prefer it if the rest of the house had retained its period features, but that said it looks beautifully maintained and presented - a buyer could move straight in and have a blank canvas. There are too many photos in the sense that it is hard to work out how many rooms there are, but I don’t think I that is what stopping you getting a quick sale. I think in your case it has to be price - there is nothing wrong with your house (I can’t imagine why you were hesitating to post a link). Knock a bit off so it looks like a bargain to be snapped up (put it on for what you are prepared to accept for it rather than expecting to negotiate) and someone’s will do just that otherwise hang on while people carefully weigh up the pros and cons before making an offer.

@cloudchaos on RM you have to have been sold or off the market for 14 weeks to appear as a fresh listing. The only way around this is to change EA. Believe me, we have learnt this the hard way!

@cloudchaos on RM you have to have been sold or off the market for 14 weeks to appear as a fresh listing. The only way around this is to change EA. Believe me, we have learnt this the hard way!
Or change the price by more than 3%