House sale right now - hold off or reduce price?

[Flutterby63]

Our home has been on the market (SE London) for 4 weeks. A few viewings but this week's political shenanigans has meant all interest has dropped off a cliff.

The estate agent said other nearby houses have dropped their price and £15k seems to be about right.

Trying to work out what to do:

Drop the price and hope for the best

Pull out of the market completely (not ideal by any means but just about doable)

Keep the price and hold our nerve in the hope that Brexit will be either soft or not happen? (And if that doesn't happen, pull out of market).

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Thank you. Update from me: it was still quiet last week after we dropped the price but we have two viewings lined up this week so perhaps these are new buyers on the market. And as you say, I think things are slowing down but now No Deal looks less likely, perhaps people are less reticent - for now.

If no one bites in the next month or so we'll move over to Nested as we just want to get on with it. Anyone used them before?

I’m not sure what the best thing to do is. If you wait and sell after Brexit, you could be in a worse position, especially if it’s a no deal Brexi.

www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/16/brexit-uncertainty-triggers-first-september-fall-in-house-prices-since-2010?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It’s an odd market at the moment. There doesn’t seem to be much coming on the market (in comparison with a year ago) but even decent houses seem to be sitting on the market for a while. So less people selling and less people buying from what I can see.

I’ve seen a lovely house on Rightmove over the weekend. It’s priced at 35k more than the almost identical house across the road sold for in January though. The house I like went SSTC in May and is suddenly back on the market but with no asking price drop. The first sale has fallen through for some reason. Wondering what level of offer would be classed as cheeky.

Definitely a lot of uncertainty and people who are in a position to hold off for a couple of months are.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-7460165/Property-asking-prices-fall-September-time-2010-says-Rightmove.html#comments-7460165

Crikey flutterby it all sounds awful.
We're in a very similar position, 2 bed garden flat on market in August, one offer straightaway under asking price - we said no (could kick myself now tbh, but we were hopeful that we would make the asking price) then more viewings, then another offer even lower, so said no again, Viewings are now drying up, and to be honest if we had seen a suitable place we liked we would have taken the most recent offer, but nothing on the market for us to buy. We have been advised to lower price now but does that mean we'll get even lower offers! It's all very stressful!
Good luck to all of us!

Fingers crossed it helps. I've had one viewing in the past week, but buyers are still hesitant. I've noticed on just my estate there are a lot more for sale signs going up the past few months, but not many sold signs. So any buyer is getting a good range of properties to look at, which wasn't so much when I originally listed it. I could lower the price, but I'm already at the cheaper end of similar properties to mine; and I'm not sure it would necessarily bring loads of people through the door anyway!

If it's not sold within the next month I'm taking it off and try again in the spring. It really is all very strange at the moment.

We had an offer today! Hoorah! Bit their hands off, so am now feeling happier. Hope everyone else gets their heart's desire.

It's weird seeing how different the market is in different places - our flat sold in 21 hours this week, we had 8 viewings booked and only one took place. Our market is still on fire - but we're not in London, and house price might come into it...

It's still stressful. Fingers tightly crossed for everyone buying/selling at the moment!

Yes, we sold a flat 12 months ago. Central Manchester (over supply of flats). Glad we did now, even though our forward purchase fell through. On the market for a month, 3 offers and final one was 2 per cent over asking price. They aren’t selling that well now, loads on the market and all very similar 2 beds - I wonder if it’s bottom falling out of the buy to let market. Also, first time buyers tend to save longer and go straight for a house rather than buying a flat then moving to a house. No idea who is going to buy all those city centre flats.

It really is a very odd market... After all that worrying, we ended up with not one but two offers over the weekend! We've gone with the one that was £3k over asking price, they are pretty much chain free too.

Estate agent is surprised as us and said that with the way the market is at the moment this is an unusual situation!

So for those of you still waiting, maybe hold tight. You just never know what might happen. Good luck everyone.

Pls cross your fingers that this offer doesn't fall through!

Congratulations @Flutterby63

I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I thought that having a buyer would be the end of our problems, now we can't actually find anywhere to buy! According to EA's none of the valuations they have done recently are going live as sellers want to wait until new year. I don't want our lovely buyers to drop out, they want to be in by December!

I sympathise with you there!

I haven't sold mine yet but I'm concerned that there isn't much coming onto the market that I like where I want to buy. Anything really good is getting snapped up quick, and there are lots of 'okay' properties but nothing amazing. I'm going to take off market in a couple of weeks anyway if nothing changes and hope it changes when I relist in spring!

Is going into rental an option for you? I know it's an absolute and utter pain in the backside and I wouldn't want to personally, but it may be a good option to keep the buyers onside?

Yes we're going to have a similar challenge re finding somewhere to live. Just planning to rent but still relies on the right place being available at the right time.

Renting could definitely be an option, and some removal firms let you store furniture etc with them so you wouldn't necessarily need to 'move' twice as such?

We have put in an offer for a house we saw today but I am now midnight fretting. House next door is two flats ground floor has sun shade - now worrying about noisy neighbours. Can you ever tell???
Also garden is a weird skewed shape, so am now also worried that it will look odd!
God I hate the pressure. You only get a 10 minute viewing to make such an important decision!

I can't offer much advice about the buying process but I wouldn't worry about a wonky garden. Ours is a strange shape, it really bugged me when we were getting it landscaped but now that the garden furniture and other things are in I forget it was even an issue. Placement and design can hide a multitude of sins!

As for noisy neighbours, the reality is you could get dream neighbours when you move in but they might change over time. Not meant to freak you out, but there are ways to get around those kinds of things too (raise an issue with council if necessary etc). Good luck.

Most things freak me out now Flutterby it's a menopause thing! I will attempt to relax and be zen about it.
Hope all is going well with you?

Thank you, yes seems to be OK. Buyer's mortgage survey done so hoping it'll be straightforward but keep waiting for bad news. Whether you're buying or selling, it's so stressful!