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Original poster

Should i be worried about these stats for my property sale

24 replies

Dumdidums · 01/02/2020 16:40

Hello My house has been on the market for 7 days and my online estate agent provided me with a report today saying that the advert has appeared in over 9032 search hits, and the advert has had 632 viewings . My issue is that so far nobody has asked to view my property. Given the number of advert views online should i be worried about these stats ? The price is lower than similar properties in the area and i was hoping that have had at least one person coming round to look this week ,

OP posts:

lastqueenofscotland · 01/02/2020 17:11

Are you willing to post a link?

You do often get tyre kickers early on as it will flag up on people who have emails for all new listings in a 5 mile radius or similar.

MummyGoingItAlone · 01/02/2020 17:16

I wouldn’t worry. I love a bit of pretend house shopping so often view adverts, sometimes more than once. The stats will just be clicks, so somebody clicks the link rather than maybe having a proper look at it. Please don’t worry.

catndogslife · 01/02/2020 17:51

EAs tend to send out "new on the market" emails to everyone on their mailing list regardless as to whether yours is the type of property they are looking for.
So try not to worry after all 7 days isn't that long and we aren't really hitting the time of year when most people are thinking about moving.

JoJoSM2 · 01/02/2020 18:17

I’d be worried. People looking for a property have email alerts to see properties coming onto the market straight away.

Is your advert on all the major websites? Are the photos and floor plan of excellent quality with a good description of the property and the area?

BubblesBuddy · 01/02/2020 21:33

A lot of viewers swerve on line agents. They know you have gone for a cut price service and if there are difficulties it might not be well handled. We looked at one flat for DD posted by an on line agent and the owner showed us the flat. He could bullshit for England so he preferred the sound of his own voice rather than part with money but it really put us off.

Original poster

Dumdidums · 01/02/2020 23:08

Thanks for all the replies, im in no hurry really as i can only accept an offer which is enough for me to buy a property i want to move to and there is currently only one property i am interested in moving to at the moment. So yes even i have been looking online at lots of properties which probably records my visit to the advert.

@BubblesBuddy i dont really understand your point, you should have a solicitor to investigate what you dont feel is correct and in my experience estate agents lack flexibility in times of appointment bookings and are unable to tell me important things like council tax bands or what the neighbours are like

@JoJoSM2 Yes its on the major portals and i personally am very happy with the standard of the pictures, description and floorplan .

OP posts:

squee123 · 01/02/2020 23:19

We're on our third house purchase in six years. I've given up viewing ones with online agents. I'm sure you're lovely and this doesn't apply to you, but in our experience all the ones we've viewed with online agents have been a pain because the sellers often have unrealistic expectations and you don't have a professional that knows the area to deal with. I wouldn't trust what the owner says about things like the neighbours anyway, and factual stuff like council tax bands are easily looked up online. I actually prefer to have as little to do with the owners as possible to keep things strictly business.

Dinosauraddict · 02/02/2020 04:01

I completely agree with PP. As a buyer I avoid online agents where possible, and would only view with them if I'd used up all my other options of houses I might like in the area. This is for a number of reasons based on experience. You've had a good number of viewings on the listing in the first week, so something isn't translating into a desire to view in person. It could be the price, the photos, something specific about the house, or it could be the agent. Without a link, we cannot really advise much further.

HelgaHere1 · 02/02/2020 05:01

What do they mean by search hits - if I was looking for something in Edinburgh and put that in the search and every property came up I would be interested in about 19 of the 932. So are these stats relevant.

sall74 · 02/02/2020 07:07

7 days might not seem a long time but in today's market anything that is realistically priced would have at least attracted inquiries and viewings from genuine buyers in that time.

You've already stated you're ''in no hurry''... which is vendor speak for ''I'm kite flying with an aspirational asking price''

If you're genuinely ''in no hurry'' then I don't see why you've even made this thread, otherwise you need to get a bit more realistic with your price and stop wasting your own and every one else's time.

wowfudge · 02/02/2020 08:47

I actually think the fact you have priced the house lower than similar properties in the area could be the issue. People looking online will wonder what's wrong with it to make it cheaper or make a value judgement that it's not worth what the higher priced ones are. There may be something which isn't as well-presented as you think which is putting people off. People are also strange when it comes to buying houses - lots of buyers want to bag a bargain or to feel that they got a good deal. That equates to agreeing a purchase price lower than the asking price, unless it's a red hot area where buyers are competing to buy, and if it's already priced low they won't be able to do that. Weird, but true!

MangoesAreMyFavourite · 02/02/2020 08:56

We are thinking of buying next year so constantly window shopping for now.

I wouldn't worry.

AlmaMartyr · 02/02/2020 10:51

We avoid online estate agents too, sorry. I want as little to do with the seller as possible to help keep things professional. If something was on with an online estate agent and priced lower than other properties in the area it would ring some alarm bells with me.

Original poster

Dumdidums · 02/02/2020 11:55

@AlmaMartyr To be honest one of my thoughts is that i should increase the price in the hope that someone would offer the lower price i am currently requesting as it seems from the valuation report that included similar properties that all the similar properties sold for less than the asking price. The house i am interested in buying has been reduced by £75000 from its original asking price in December by the high street agent. I remember viewing it in December and saying its lovely but way too overpriced. Maybe its the norm for people to advertise at a price more than what they want or is realistic but i just thought that this is a waste of time

@MangoesAreMyFavourite @HelgaHere1 Yes this is what the search hits figures mean so its perhaps a meaningless statistic as even i have looked at the advert at least 10 times but have no intention to buy it . I also search for properties in the local council area and get over 100 search hits but probably only look at ten of the results . I also look at some of the million pound + homes which i have absolutely no intention of buying but i guess my visit shows up in their performance report

OP posts:

2020newme · 02/02/2020 12:05

It's either the online EA that is putting people off - they don't have a great reputation for buyers, or the photos.

squee123 · 02/02/2020 14:37

my estate agent says he can't remember the last time he had an at asking offer. The market is very different to a few years go

squee123 · 02/02/2020 14:37

*ago

Dinosauraddict · 02/02/2020 17:25

As a buyer I never have (and probably never would) offer at asking price.

Sunshineand · 02/02/2020 17:29

As a buyer I never have (and probably never would) offer at asking price.

You can't just have that as a rule. It depends on if the house is worth the asking price or not

BubblesBuddy · 02/02/2020 23:38

I don’t think you appreciate on line agents from a buyers point of view. They don’t show buyers the house. You do. So appointments are down to when you are in. Not when I’m available as a buyer. They feel remote and lots of people think they might give vendors a service but are not great with buyers. It takes both to effect a sale. I don’t see where solicitors come into the discussion about agents!

If you don’t really want to sell, perhaps that’s the reason you are not getting viewings. People just sense it’s “wrong”.

Dinosauraddict · 03/02/2020 03:38

Sunshine - that's the great thing about buyers. They're human and work off random rules and psychological influences just like anyone else! My rules have never seen me wrong so far, and I've never lost a house I wanted to buy. I'm a tough negotiator but a vendor always has a right to say 'no thanks'. I've always found there's a point though where they accept my offer (maybe not 'happily') but that point is never at asking price, as neither are my offers. It's all about how happy you are to walk away I guess. I would be amazed at any friend/colleague who actually paid asking price for a house - the vast, vast majority of houses are deliberately marketed at more than they are worth to ensure there is wiggle room with negotiation, and most vendors and buyers are all fully aware of this.

cloudchaos · 03/02/2020 08:17

I believe most properties sold for around 96% of their asking price last year. Even if I really loved a property I would go in under asking price and be talked up if there were others interested.

We are actively looking to buy and as soon as a new property meets my minimum requirements I check the floor plan to see the size and number of rooms as well as the square footage to make sure it's not actually smaller than it sounds.

Then I check the map and street view to make sure it's not near to any busy roads or anything else that would put me off.

I try to minimise houses I view by making sure I am only looking around the ones that make sense on paper first.

An online agent wouldn't stop me viewing a house that met the criteria as there aren't many that I'm finding that do - but I do prefer dealing with an estate agent and hate viewings with vendors. It always feels very awkward.

squee123 · 03/02/2020 09:25

it all depends on the market. You can be the best negotiator in the world but if you're buying in a market where everything is going over asking a blanket " never pay asking" rule won't get you very far. For a long time in parts of London properties were typically going 5 to 10% over market.

Sunshineand · 04/02/2020 19:43

Exactly. When I sold in 2018 there was a bidding war and I got above asking price. Somebody offering below would have had me like

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