Your experiences of demand in the current property market - help needed please.

[Hasthemarketsplit]

Regular poster who has name changed to prevent outing.

I should also say I have taken my property off the market today, after 12 weeks of listing and only 1 viewing.

I have to admit to being very, very, confused about what is going on in the market and would welcome opinions from elsewhere.

My property is rural, but in a pretty location and close to a beautiful city often cited as one of the top 10 in the country. So hopefully 'location' is not the issue.

My immediate neighbour sold her 3 bed a week after 11 viewings and another neighbour has now chalked up 7 + viewings on her 3 bed after three weeks. Both are quite a bit smaller in terms of sq footage and outside space. Both crept in under the £400k mark.

My 4 bed with more outside space is more expensive, but has a similar £ per sq ft valuation.

In the absence of viewings I had two other agents out last week asking them for an honest opinion of why my property is not selling. Both think my valuation is fine, but have criticised my current marketing.

I have enormous respect for my Agent and the team that wotk with him, but am struggling with their feedback. Since week 3 of my listing their response to my lack of viewings has been to pressure me to drop my price by £50k (10%) to get it into the next Rightmove group. We have discussed Marketing and they have suggested I pay for new photographs, but they seem much more focussed on a large price reduction.

I am at a loss to know what to do.

Does anyone have any advice about what is going on in the market? One agent has told me that under £400k demand is manic and supply very constrained, but over that price there is a serious over supply situation.

I know prices will differ accross the country but is anyone else seeing that sort of split in the market?

Are the Rightmove price groups really that important? When searching do you search above your target price with a view to making an offer, or do you stick strictly to your target price?

Does anyone pay asking price at present? If not, what sort of offers are being made?

If necessary I would take a 10% hit, although it will impact on what I can afford. However, I am concerned that could turn into a 10-15% hit if I start getting offers below my new asking price.

Can the combined wisdom of MN help me work out what to do next please !!

I am sorry, but no matter the respect you have towards your current agent, drop them. Obviously they are not doing something right.
Two others told you problem is marketing. Go with them and see how it goes. Better than losing 50k + whatever else buyer will want to negotiate off.

Have a look at the 'stagnant market' thread. Everyone is having to reduce. If your neighbours had interest at £400k then that tells you that might be the ceiling price for your road at the moment.

You can't really apply same ceiling price to 3 bed and 4 bed if the size is really significant.

Obviously it's though after area since houses are getting snapped in there. So why not try different marketing before dropping a significant amount off the price.

You would get viewings and offers at the right price.

4 beds in this part of London go for 900k - 1.5m we had ours on this summer at 1.2m, in the end accepted offer of 1,04000 so 160k lower. At 1.2m we had no viewings so we relisted at 1.1m, got some viewings and our low offer.

Your house is worth what people are prepared to pay for it. In a rising market you'll get lots of viewings and some offers far more easily. In this pre-Brexit market and during the summer hols it's a cautious quiet market, which will be very price sensitive. At the right price in ANY market you'll get viewings and sell though.

I disagree with changing your marketing - ALL agents do exactly the same thing - as long as your house is on rightmove and they have a reasonable database of buyers who they will send your property out to anyone looking in your area should get your house details.

If your agent has suggested lowering the price they are probably right. The other agents are trying to lure you to them by suggesting they will market your house differently - exactly what have they suggested?

Just make sure the photos are good, house is presented as well as possible, there is a good floorplan with dimensions, and good selling points like school catchment areas, local facilities are mentioned.

I would also wait until second week of september before putting it back on the market - everyone is on holiday at the moment.

There are a lot of people who won't look over their top budget so if you are just above a rightmove price point - such as £565 i would drop to £550. You could reach a larger group of buyers who aren't brave enough to look over £550 and then get 2-3 potential buyers interested which would help you to get closer to what you want - but you may have to lower your own expectations too.

It's a quiet time, but only one viewing seems odd. Is there something in the actual listing that's putting people off? No parking, a typo on the floor plan, missing photos? When the other agents criticised the marketing, did they specify what was wrong with it?

I think the market is in a slow motion tumble, what with prices having raced ahead of themselves over the last couple of decades and interest rates now going up again. London has already been experiencing it, but it now seems to be setting in elsewhere.

Thanks for all the advice.

I have also spent the afternoon searching the local market. I think I probably need to take a double pronged approach, dropping my price by £25k (5%) and getting some new photos taken.

The feedback from both the other agents CalonGlas was that the photos didn't represent the property. I have high ceilings, period features etc and none of those features come across in the photos. One agent said the photos make it look dated whereas in her view that was about poor photography, not the actual property.

I am not happy to drop by £50k as suggested by my current agent. Looking at Zoopla that would result in a price £68k below the Zoopla valuation. My neighbour sold at £5k above the Zoopla figure. Both houses were renovated at the same time by the same builder, so I would assume the Zoopla differential should be similar.

Zoopla estimate is total bollocks.

What is happening is everyone is nervous.

Buyers are worried that they are buying too high, so are waiting for prices to drop.

Sellers are worried that they will sell low, then prices will ping back up and they will have 'lost' money.

I have bought recently(offer put in end of Jan), at the top of the market and I am worried that I paid too much. Should I have offered lower, but I wanted the house... and so it goes on, everyone anxious.

I 'sold' my house twice (both times chain collapsed) for full asking.

When I went to put it back on the estate agent said it would go for 12% less than before! I couldn't afford to move with those figures, so I took it off the market and ended up remortgaging to buy.

I think a lot of people, like me, just wont accept their house is worth 'less' than it was. Which makes no sense because intellectually I know a house is only worth what someone will pay!

Have you previously posted the link to the listing, OP? It’s strange to get only 1 viewing. I wonder if there’s something awry with how the agent has marketed it.

Also, I get a lot of calls from EAs when new houses come on. Sometimes I view based solely on the EA’s pitch (in cases when I didn’t like the listing or missed it coming onto RightMove). Hopefully you can find a more proactive EA!

Drop your current agent. Photos should be outstanding.

In my opinion with a couple of local estate agent -one is shocking, Purple Bricks is also horredous.

I tried to book an appointment to view a local property than a friend based 6 hours away is interested in. Purple bricks -wanted my details on line. Unwilling to give them -I phoned them. They were useless and gave me the mobile of a local agent. She told me to register on-line. FFS I just wanted to look at it. My friend booked on-line and then rang me. I turned up at the viewing time. The lady didn't know anything about the appointment. She has had it on since March -we were the first viewing -no Fing way my friend is buying a property through them.

Another local agent when buying this -we phoned repeatedly asking to view it - the agent NEVER got back to us, we were cash buyers. Eventually we managed to track down the seller -they took it off the market and we brought privately as their local agent was as useless as a chocolate teapot.

Some estate agent will put your property on and then advise you to slash the price -they just wanted it in the first and had no intention of marketing it at that price. Ditch your agent.

I hate fixed fee- they need to work for their money. A local agent wanted £6,000 to market my last house! and then wanted me to pay £1K for photos on top. They were shown the door fairly quickly.

No I haven't posted a link Meme and took my property off the market this week, so I don't now have a link.

However, I suspect you have pinpointed an important issue. I have been searching for a property for 6 months and have never once had my agent phone with a prospective house.

I do question what the EA Commission covers. I paid up front for the photos, brochure and Rightmove listing. I also had to correct numerous errors on the brochure and during the listing badger them to change photos, put them on Rightmove in the correct order (i.e. All the inside shots together and in logical order, followed by garden, followed by wider grounds) etc. I also did the only viewing.

They obviously listed my property on their website and introduced one viewer, but over and above that I wonder what my £7k fee was covering.

I live in a very sought after town - close to London, great schools etc. There is a glut of 4 bed housing at £700 - £900k - things have to be really special to sell so most things are hanging around, and a lot of things are being reduced. It's summer, there's Brexit uncertainty, currency uncertainty, mortgages are harder to get, and most people are struggling to understand that their properties are only worth what someone is willing to pay, not what owners think they are worth!

(Don't pay attention to Zoopla estimates - they are utter rubbish (I just checked mine). I live in a street with very similar houses - my next door neighbour is valued at over £100k more than mine, and the one opposite £50k less (when it's bigger as they have extended downstairs). ) The only measure is what things have actually sold for, and what people are willing to pay - in your case, I'd get the photos redone, and drop the price.

Did you pay a fee upfront? I've always worked with EAs on a percentage of the sale, so no sale = no fee. The agents provide all the photos etc as part of the deal, no additional costs. It may well vary in your area but that's not usual IME.

If you are not getting any viewers then it could well be price putting them off tbh. It's not the location if your neighbours are being successful.

Ignore Zoopla values! They are just desktop figures, not based on seeing the property.

I also doubt what other agents will do differently in regard to marketing - perhaps take better photos but they are not going to be using different media to market it or to a different audience!

I'm sorry to say but no viewings and it's the price. Your agent is likely correct and it's the price.

It could be rhe pictures are shocking, but the reality is As long as you're on right move and the price is right you will get viewings.

By all means redo the pics, get a new agent, but if it's over priced it will still get no viewings.

You can still post a link, it should just say this property has been removed by the agent, but we will still br able to see it, if you wish honest feedback.

Another way to look at it.

Since we offered on the house we bought nothing else has sold in our search area. I had a look today and 2 of the houses have just reduced by 10 and 15%. This is the South West.

I 'sold' my house at 475. Three houses almost identical in the same road are languishing at 450 (reduced from 485 in late May) and 475 (not a chance I would say) and 450 (started at 550 in April)

This is leafy Surrey, the posh part of a popular commuter town.

Personally I think prices will stabalise in the next 5 years. If not, I am fucked because I bought high.

Thanks all. Your comments have been very helpful.

It has been easy to be suspicious of an agent pestering me to reduce my price by 10% from three weeks in. However, I do suspect there is a price issue.

I am certain there is also a photo issue. Numerous friends have criticised the marketing and I listened to a girlfriend giving me a 1/2 hour room by room review of what is wrong last night. I probably need to improve my staging, I definitely need a different photographer.

However, what I also need to consider is how wierd this market is. I am looking for a sideward move and if I have got my price wrong, so has everyone selling similar properties in this area. If I drop my price by 10% and buy locally, I won't be getting what I have here.

Perhaps I just need to stay and focus on other areas of my life