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Original poster

Property on the market for FOUR years..

47 replies

GidgetGirl · 02/01/2020 22:04

Not mine, but one my partner is interested in. It's a quaint but deceptively large 4 bed property on the best street in a picturesque market town. It looks lovely and the price is good, but it's been on the market for at least four years. It's been with the current agent since early 2017, and according to Streetview has been for sale since at least early 2016. Very possibly for some time before that too..

The agents are being tight-lipped and saying it's not sold because it 'hasn't found the right buyer', which seems like very suspicious shite to me. They're being shifty. It's a very attractive property and is very reasonably priced. In early 2017 it was on for £300k, and it's been down to £235k since July 19.

Understandably my partner is reluctant to put an offer in and start spending money on surveys, etc, if there's some obvious issue. Can anyone think of searches we can do ourselves? I'm good at this stuff but I can't think where else to look. There don't seem to be any outstanding planning issues and it's not in an area prone to flooding, etc..

OP posts:

Robs20 · 03/01/2020 10:14

Has it actually been on for all of that time or listed/ relisted? Our flat might have looked similar to this - we put in on the market in July 2017, Sept 2018 and Aug 2019 so might have looked desperate to sell. In fact, we had asking price offers the first and third time within days (and no interest second time) but personal circumstances first time meant we had to pull out.

Rainbowshine · 03/01/2020 10:19

If it’s listed and needs work then that will put a lot of people off. Harder to get the right tradespeople to do the work, more expensive, etc. Imagine if it needs rewiring throughout or new plumbing. £££££...

WombatChocolate · 03/01/2020 11:39

Everything sells if it's at the right price to reflect it's characteristics and state of the market.......unless the seller simply doesn't really want to sell for whatever reason.

Either it's priced appropriately and the seller just finds obstacles to prevent sale, or there are unknown problems which mean it is still over-priced given those issues it has.

I would go for another visit and ask the EA a long list of questions and ask them to pass them to the vendor for answers. Say you are very serious but notice the lengthy time us has been on so can't proceed and invest money in proceeding a sale unless you have the full picture - ask about planning permission, listed status, neighbours, what has prevented others completing, how serious they are about moving.

Be very clear that if something later emerges you will not proceed so they should save themselves time and reveal everything now. If you feel satisfied with a answers, (and expect something significant to be revealed) but if you feel they won't tell you the significant unknown factor, or they do and you do t like it, walk away fast.

SunshineAngel · 03/01/2020 12:04

I think there's something wrong with me, because my first thought was "Probably haunted."

UnfamousPoster · 03/01/2020 13:41

We had this with a house that we viewed and it turned out it was a very unrealistic vendor. Listed first in 2009, we viewed in 2012 even though it was listed above our top price (the agent said he wouldn't show us what we couldn't afford, i.e. he thought it was listed too high). We offered what we thought was reasonable and discussed the offer price with another agent first as we were concerned it was so far under the listed price.

Vendor got in to a right strop about our offer being insulting and told us, via his agent, that it was list price or nothing. Agent wasn't happy and we said fine, we'll find something else. We did. Lived in the new house 7 years now, which cost £100k less than this guy wanted and I love it much more. In the meantime, the original house was removed from the market within a few months and has never gone back on. Don't think he ever really wanted to sell. It was all a bit odd really.

TulipCat · 03/01/2020 13:47

Someone was murdered there? Neighbour is a gangster?

ShirleyPhallus · 03/01/2020 14:06

This happened to a friend of mine and it turned out a very prolific murderer had lived there and even disposed of some bodies in that flat.

FlamingoAndJohn · 03/01/2020 14:10

The listing won’t mean much. My parents house is grade II listed as almost is every house in the village and most houses in the next town. In some places it’s normal.

Bluntness100 · 03/01/2020 14:15

Could simply be awkward sellers. Irrelevant of what a survey shows, everything sells for the right price. Unless the sellers are so bloody awkward the offers fall through,

Has there been offers?

Lemond1fficult · 03/01/2020 14:22

I reckon it's to do with work done without the permission of the local heritage officer, and/or planning permission.

I almost bought an amazing 400 year old house. Turned out two original staircases had been replaced on the sly, and were affecting the structural integrity of the house. The local heritage officer was impossible to get hold of, so I could never confirm the status of the replacements, and whether he was going to hit me with a restoration order at some point on the future. That would have cost £60k + to have done by registered heritage workmen so wasn't worth the risk.

Maydayredalert · 03/01/2020 14:28

Can you ask the agents outright if there have been any surveys done?

You can check planning applications online, that would be a good start to see if any work has been done.

My house was on the market for 2 years before we bought it. We did ask and were waiting to find something wrong with it, but never have. At least one sale fell through but we've never worked out why. Sometimes it just is a case of right buyer, right time.

Classychickster · 03/01/2020 21:49

Can you ask the neighbours....or at least try and get chatting to them?

LuluJakey1 · 04/01/2020 00:58

Which part of the country is it? Just being nosey. Not the town, just the area.

longearedbat · 04/01/2020 08:40

A house near me was on the market for nearly 3 years. In that case it was simply because the price they wanted was far too high for the road, plus it had night storage heaters. I could never understand why they had spent a fortune on doing up and extending the house, but failed to put in central heating.
It could be down to rights of way, structural problems, neighbours, not freehold etc. I am nosey and would be having a viewing and quizzing the agent! (If I was thinking of buying, of course, not otherwise.)

rwalker · 04/01/2020 08:44

There is obs a reason think i would approach the vendor direct see what they say or walk away .

BarchesterTowers · 04/01/2020 08:49

One down the road from us like this....eventually built up a good enough relationship with one of the local EA to ask, bad divorce going on so seller was being entirely unreasonable as didn’t really want to sell.

LongstantonSpiceMuseum · 04/01/2020 09:12

Ask the agent specifically. Has it had any offers, did any potential buyer have a survey carried out, etc.

One of the owners in a building I lived in I can't see ever selling purely because they are too disorganised, hate making decisions involving money and get offended at having to do anything like fill in forms so go off-radar for weeks at a time. Also got suspicious everyone was trying to pull a fast one (for no reason). Some people are frustrating to deal with particularly when there is quite a bit of work and uncertainty involved like selling a house.

FriedasCarLoad · 04/01/2020 09:13

I knew one property like this. Very desirable for the right person, but the ground floor opened directly onto the river, plus it was next door to a pub.

Went for a fortune to a young, sporty, sociable couple but would have been unthinkable for anyone who ever wanted children near the house.

So it could be a genuine reason like that!

CMOTDibbler · 04/01/2020 09:25

I live in a picturesque market town where the main street is all listed georgian houses (and are proper gorgeous). Some sell very fast, others take much longer - mainly as there is a lot of variation in what has happened with back gardens with some peoples huge gardens being massively overlooked, Also parking issues, badly renovated (esp those which have been split into flats then reinstated).
Other beautiful houses locally have been on the market for ages because they are an odd bedroom to garden ratio, or the vendors are downsizing and are just PITA because they have no real incentive to get on with it

lastqueenofscotland · 04/01/2020 21:36

Survey or something tricky keeps coming up on searches

ritatherockfairy · 05/01/2020 16:31

As someone who owns a house that has been on and off the market for a lot longer than that (and about to go back on), I would say it's the listing. It has taken us a while to come to terms with the fact that we probably paid around 30% too much when we bought our place - given the work that needed doing and the planning restrictions. I would say go along and view it with an open mind. If the owner is genuine then they will be happy to discuss the issues and costs involved, and negotiate on that basis. It sounds as though they have moved on price already. If you get to the stage of putting in an offer then please find a surveyor that specialises in listed buildings and can give you a detailed break down of possible costs ("worst case scenario"). For what it's worth I would never buy a listed building again.

jimmyjammy001 · 05/01/2020 19:47

It is a really bad house buying process in the UK, all houses when put on the market should have one survey paid for by the seller and viewable by all potential buyers, not someone buying it paying out £500 for a survey and then withdrawing and then the next 10 buyers coming along and doing the same thing such a waste of money

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