Is it worth staying on the market or better to come off then relist?

[ThePug]

Long story short:
28th March put our flat on the market, lots of viewings with generally good feedback
10th May - accepted an offer from chain free buyer
Early June - paid reservation fee for a newbuild due for imminent completion as couldn’t find anything else we liked and had been looking for many months before even listing ours
Late June - our buyers pull out as they had “miscalculated stamp duty” and could no longer afford it. Builders of our new home said to put back on market for two weeks which we did, no enquiries, then said they’d part exchange it and spent two weeks negotiating a price which we finally agreed on last weekend. Yesterday they called and said actually they’d changed their minds and won’t PX it as it’s Listed (which they knew before offering to but were going to make an exception).

In the last month we’ve had no enquiries let alone viewings and agents have said they’re very quiet across the board. We’ve pretty much written off the newbuild now as can’t expect them to keep holding it for us and it was never our dream home anyway, just something that ticked boxes when we didn’t want to lose our original buyer. We’ll lose £500 reservation fee though which I’m really peed off about.

My question is would you now keep our flat on the market or take it off until the Autumn when hopefully political uncertainty will have passed and market may be reignited by stamp duty reforms etc? Part of me thinks we can’t sell unless we’re on the market but the other thinks we don’t want to look like that property that has been hanging around for months so must be something wrong with it, and we’d be better to go live as a new listing in the autumn (I’m aware it has to be off rightmove for 14 weeks)

We were desperate to move this summer as I’m about to return to work at the end of maternity leave (but can’t now move before then) and we have to start applying for schools for my 3.5 year old from September so we need to know which part of the city/surrounding villages we’ll be living in. Oh and we’re in a totally unsuitable for a family (but lovely) 2 bed city centre flat with not enough space for us.

As you say in your post, you can't sell unless you're on the market! I'd keep it on.

Good luck!

Sadly, political uncertainty will continue. If we crash out of Europe, we shall have more economic problems too. Therefore I would take a very cold hard look at sold prices and go the same or under. I would also think you could critique the flat from a buyers point of view. If you are going to relaunch, is there anything that needs improvement? Be honest. And be realistic.

If you go with a new agent does the 14 week rule on RM still apply?

I'd relist (since your flat isn't aimed at families who will be busy in the school holidays), maybe with a price reduction or "offers over" especially if it would help put your flat in a new search bracket. Does your building look nicer now in the summer than when your agents photos were done? If so and you stay with the same agent get them to do new photos. Never underestimate how much great photos will generate viewings from hits online. A new agent might bring new energy to getting the place sold. What about an appointment based "open "day?

Ask your agent about their plan for marketing yourflat and what they would suggest if the flat doesn't fly? some agents will make your house "featured" at the top of the page on RM to generate more interest.

Do you have a particular school in mind for your DC? If so, a more radical plan would be to rent out your flat and rent yourselves in the cachement area (within the right time constraints for application) and then (if your economic circumstances permit) buy when you see what you want. House prices seem pretty moribund at present

I also agree with Bubbles really critique your flat. You say you haven't enough space, but make sure you don't show it looking as if that is the case. Ruthlessly throw out and declutter, even rent a storage space for overflow so that the place looks spacious or you could pack your car from floor to ceiling on viewing days as my neighbour did. It is a hard market at the moment so you may need to work harder at presenting your flat than when the market was more buoyant.

Thanks for your thoughts!

The pictures were taken in Spring when the garden was looking its very best, and the internal pictures all look good (a lot better than others I’ve seen and was very pleased when I saw them).

We rented a storage space before putting on market and have any bulky, non essential stuff in there. The lack of space is where to put my 10 month old as he’s currently still squeezed into a bedside crib next to my bed! We were planning to convert toddlers cotbed back to a cot for him and buy toddler a bigger bed when we moved, but now I don’t know what to do!

We could redecorate the stairs/hall and utility room but agent told us these wouldn’t be deal breakers and none are on the pictures so won’t affect getting viewings in the first place. We put new stair carpet down just before listing,kitchen and both bathrooms are under two years old and everyone complements them.

So I guess it will be price, but with so little coming into the market now I’m not sure it’s worth slashing it to get a buyer when there’s nothing we want to buy