House on the market 2 weeks with only 1 viewing

[ClaireLizzie90]

As the title says - our house has been on the market two weeks with only one viewing. We thought we'd have more viewings by now and are looking for some insight as to why we may be being overlooked. Any help/advice will be much appreciated! We've got our eye on another house that we don't want to miss out on and are keen to be moved in time to apply for primary school (our son will be 3 in July and therefore we have to apply for him to start school by January as he'll be 4 by next school year - scary!)

Here's the ad

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62639805.html

There are loads of helpful suggestions for making the house look better in photos and also getting a better estate agent. They won’t change the pricing though, your house looks overpriced in comparison to other recent sales. It looks like you need to reduce by £20k.

Price isn’t too ambitious, we live on quite an odd street with houses ranging from bungalows to large 4 bed house so it’s hard to judge by comparisons on the street. Ours has also been extended where many haven’t. We might be a bit ambitious but certainly not 20k worth. All valuations were in the region of 150k

I wouldn’t be about to get past the yellow, look for to your house being on the ‘most viewed house’ Rightmove email next week, happens a lot with MN house reviews it’s early days OP don’t worry too much just yet but some great advice.

I like the yellow!

I think some decluttering and nicer photos will do for now, it's only been 2 weeks. Look at advise on staging your house for sale.

Also heard bad things about PB though haven't used them myself so I'd start looking at agents so you're ready if you need to switch.

I'd change the offers over too as that's outputting.

Good luck!

Photos are terrible. The advice you’ve been given is good.

I work in the industry and I know plenty buyers who won’t view with purplebricks. Plenty solicitors won’t act either.

PB have zero incentive to sell your house. You’ve paid them upfront. They’ve got your money.

It is overpriced if a good buyer wants to repaint it. That’s time and money. This cancels out the price you want. EAs want business so they say an ambitious price and then you have to reduce it. Are houses selling quickly near you? Many people are not finding this and your house isn’t wonderful or presented very well. Perceptions count. Hope you’ve had a deluge of viewings this weekend!

Thing about repainting would take a handy man a day or two and cost at most £500 so not enough to seriously knock the price down. It is something we’re looking to do ourselves if the property doesn’t sell but I think majority of the advice is right - clutter making it look small. We’ve done a mass declutter since posting and the difference isn’t incredible. Ypu can see how much space we have now. So thank you everyone for your advice! We’re feeling really confident now our property will sell. There’s demand in our are all with houses selling relatively quickly so we should be onto a winner now!

Fab, are you getting new photos done?

Yes - well, we will do we’re just making the decision on estate agent, looking at switching.

Thanks everyone for such great feedback! Everyone has been so lovely and constructive - it’s kicked us up the bum and got us going!

If you switch you will have to pay the £899 PB fee even tho it hasn't sold, on top of the commission if you go with another estate agents, you're just causing yourself more fees.

@RedWineAllMine not if they change their terms after OP instructed which they are with their new central property expert team opening hours and closing their sellers concierge department.

OP even if you end up having to pay them or can't be bothered to argue it - if you have deferred do not withdraw your property from the market until 10 months is up or you'll have to pay them there and then, you can keep it on a 'marketing break' until the 10 months is up and pay it then.

If you switch get the fees from the agents in £ terms and then go back and renegotiate them minus the PB fee - most will do that to get your sole business instead of marketing it alongside PB.

Thanks for such great advice BruceyBogtrotter. We’re in talks with a local estate agent who is prepared to cover a good chunk of the Purplebricks fee!

I agree the photo's do your home no justice. The clutter has to go - people want to see space and clutter free surfaces. In terms of kerb appeal I would get rid of the big planter and cut a neat border, plant a few shrubs (or hedging) and infill with woodchip. I like the yellow!

Going against the grain here, but we had a very positive experience selling with Purple Bricks 18 months ago. It's very much down to the individual PB agent you deal with however, and ours was really pro-active, professional and helpful. I would use them again. Our house sold for 460K which would have meant a big bill from a high street agent. We've bought and sold 6 times in 35 years and have encountered some really useless high street agents. PB use Premier Property Lawyers for conveyancing (same as many high street agents), so not sure why a previous poster said people don't like their conveyancing.

Anyway, I would get the place spruced up, get some new photos and maybe relaunch at 148K which will prompt an automatic email to anyone on Rightmove who has a saved search that includes your area/price etc. If you don't reprice, people who have already looked at it on Rightmove and discounted it, won't receive an email alert to bring it to their attention.