Huge red flag- house has been listed multiple times before, but not sold?

[squeekywheel]

Just that really.

We've found a house we like and are thinking of making an offer.

However, a bit of googling has revealed that it has been listed for sale multiple times in the past five years, but didn't sell. I suspect that it's being 'sold' as a result of a divorce.

Am I wasting my time making an offer?

Difficult to tell but I had this last time we moved. Made 2 offers on a house then over the weekend found out it had been listed twice in the last 18 months. They sold it a year after we moved

Why don't you ask the Estate Agent why the house is being sold?

Get a survey done if you’re worried about a problem, you can drop out without penalty before exchange in most jurisdictions. There could be lots of reasons for things being listed multiple times, the market has been fairly stagnant in places over the last few years. I wouldn’t automatically assume it’s because there’s a problem with the house.

I did ask the viewer- they didn't know.

My concern is, that it's a messy divorce and they're not serious about selling or even want to sell.

Don't want to fork out for a survey for no reason.

It could also be that there is a problem which keeps coming up in surveys. Have you met the seller?

No, just the EA viewer. He didn't know anything, unsurprisingly.

It's also been listed to rent a couple of times.

Very strange!

Our house was like that. The vendors needed to sell but it seems they couldn’t quite bring themselves to it. The house had been listed and then taken off the market a few times.

However, we did buy it in the end. The process took longer than it should have as they struggled to find somewhere they liked but it was pretty smooth otherwise. And the house has been amazing for us for a few years now.

We had a house listed multiple times for a few years. My DH wouldn’t accept it wouldn’t sell for what he wanted (there was a large mortgage on it) nothing wrong with the house itself though

Nice to hear some positive stories.

We've been part of three chains that have collapsed over the last year- so understandably cautious about dealing with more potential time wasters.

The EA who showed you round might not know but there will be someone more senior in the office who should know the history of the property. Speak to them.

Yes keep talking to the EA until you get an answer. It could still be a big issue that keeps coming up at survey. It is a bit riskier than buying another house, definitely, but not impossible.

I would ask the EA directly if anything has shown up on previous surveys and why is has/is up for sale.

Having said that, the sales on one of our houses fell through a few times. Only the third buyer actually bought it, the first buyer pulled out and the second buyer had their own chain fail twice! We did put it up for rent between the second and third buyers.

I almost bought a flat that had been listed with over five agents over a couple years. I pulled out because the seller didn’t have listed building consent for changing a one bed into a two bed flat and wouldn’t apply for retrospective consent and just kept saying she had the managing agents consent plus had used a reputable builder. She was the issue, not the flat. At one point she gave me 48 hours to exchange or else she was relisting it (with yet another agent). As the issue hadn’t been resolved I pulled out at that point. She had lots of demands written down when you walked in for viewings. I think she was one tricky lady and one estate agent told me he wouldn’t ever deal with her again.
If you like the house go for it. But the agents should know why it has been in and off, especially if they have been the ones listing it. I think it’s so unprofessional for the viewing agent not to know anything about the product they are selling!

The purchase of our house was a bit like this. The terms of the divorce settlement had allowed our vendor to remain there with the DC until the youngest left school. She had briefly put it on the market a few times, I think to show willing to her ex-H, but by the time we came to buy it her youngest was doing A Levels and she was out of time. She messed us about quite spectacularly but we REALLY wanted the house and as we were in rented accommodation we were prepared and able to hang on. Rather like a cowardly boyfriend who messes you around so much that you dump him, she was trying to push us to pull out, but I don’t think she expected us to be quite so tenacious. I felt for her, as she really didn’t want to sell and obviously couldn’t afford to buy out her ex-H.

It might not really have been for sale each time. About 15 months ago I started getting lots of unsolicited mail and calls from removal firms and estate agents. We were not thinking of moving. When I looked on rightmove though our house was listed for sale with the same details and EA from when we bought it a few years ago. I phoned the agent and got it taken down, but annoyingly on RM and Zoopla the most recent previous listing is now March 2018 rather than April 2014, so it looks as though we've recently tried unsuccessfully to sell. Doesn't bother me at the moment but would if I was actually thinking of selling.

the house we are buying went on sale and sold then came back on the market four weeks later nothing to do with the house it was the previous buyer couldnt get a mortgage so we have gone for it instead we only didnt look at it the first time because we were trying to buy another house from a vendor who messed us around so we dropped out of first one, and 18 months after putting it on the market and dropping the price she has now lost three potential buyers

Perhaps they had been unrealistic with their asking price before, the house next door to me has just gone up for sale again for the third time, but this time they have dropped the price by over 25% so it’s more in line with the true market value. It might actually sell this time.

The sale of my house has fallen through twice.

The first time because the couples son and his girlfriend were moving in then they split up and their son didn't want to move away from him mates.
The second time the guy said he was a cash buyer and the money was available but it turned out it wasn't and he couldn't proceed.
So I have been totally messed about and now people look at the house with suspicion.

Over 40% of house sales fall through between offer and completion, OP. There are legitimate reasons why house sales fall through - buyer's been telling porkies about whether they can afford it, chain collapses through no fault of the vendor you're buying from, as PP have said, in a divorce possibly because one half of the couple won't budge on price, etc.

Press the agent on the reasons why previous sales fell through, and if they sound legit, get recommendations for a really good surveyor in the area.

@Thecazelets You can have the listings removed from Zoopla and Rightmove - just email their customer service email. We put our house on the market a while ago, then the chain collapsed and we decided to stay put, but I didn’t like having so many pictures online — with 48 hours both sites had taken down all the images and just left price data on when it last sold, nothing about when we listed it and didn’t sell.

Is there a facebook community page for he area?

I viewed a house like this and lots of people had confirmed that it had been up multiple times. I then had someone message me who used to rent it and found it the landlady had sold to a new build company as a part exchange and they had been struggling to sell since and there was lost definitely structure issues and damp! Viewed a second time and saw quite clearly what the old tenant described

We nearly bought (or tried to) a house like this. The lady put it up for sale, we offered, she said we needed to wait a month to start proceedings as she had another property to sell for the funds. That sold. She then kept us hanging on for MONTHS with excuses like she had a cough, she couldn’t find a house she liked, her husband was ill, her daughter was ill, they couldn’t find a school they liked, they needed to keep horses, they wanted 5 bedrooms.

We pulled out after 9 months. It went on sale again in January and sold within a month. She’s still in the house. I don’t believe she will ever leave that house.

We almost bought a place that had an illegal attic conversion that was structurally unsound, blocked drains, damp.. It was so bad the surveyor said he'd give us a discount if we had a verbal report instead of a written one, as he knew we'd never proceed once we heard the full details.
Afterwards we found out we were not the first to pull out and it went back on with a different agent a week later.

It did eventually sell - I guess it takes one buyer who doesn't pay for a full survey and the sale proceeds.

^ This reminded me about it so I had a quick look just now and it’s back up for sale again. I last checked at the end of May so maybe the new buyers also got fed up of waiting.

Thanks Jimmyjazz - I'll do that!