House Sale-How long before you get viewings?

[Hmmph]

Just wondering from time a house goes on the market (which I would class as going on Rightmove etc) how long before you realistically can expect viewings? Is there an average time?
How long would a house be on the market without viewings for you to start to worry there was something wrong (price too high, pictures and descriptions not appealing, estate agent rubbish)?
Thanks

Tbh the first week on Rightmove is normally the busiest for viewings as anyone regularly looking for a house will want to view anything new that comes up. Although I’m looking at the moment and have viewed a few before they even get to Rightmove. It also depends on the local market though.

Oh ok. That’s not great news!

We put our house on the market on saturday, we've had 9 viewings booked so far! I agree the first couple of weeks is probably where youd expect most interest as people looking to buy will be keeping an eye out.

DP and I have both just sold our respective flats to buy a house. Viewings were booked in the day they both went to market and started the day after and were pretty much back to back until they sold. We viewed the house we bought on the day it went to market. As PP have said, depends on the local market but the first week would probably be busiest. If people are anything like we were checking rightmove constantly they'll want to move quickly to view.

We had 7 viewings the same day it went on right move and then it sold the next day... but we were in the ideal first time buyers house in commuter belt between 2 cities and had done it up nicely...

@Hmmph

Oh ok. That’s not great news!

Have you had no viewings booked in the first few days? Maybe the pricing is off? Or the local market extremely quiet?

We had 7 in the first weeks, 3 offers and just sold.

It depends on your local area though. Have you asked the estate agents why? The area we're looking in seems very quiet compared to where we currently live. I'm looking at houses that have been on 2 or 3 months there, whereas they disappear in a week or two where we live now.

We sold in 2018 and went on at the end of July, our EA warned us that it was usually a slow time to go on the market. We had 1 viewing booked after a week, then had about 1 or 2 a week - i did some of the viewings and got the feeling the people were more serial house viewers than actually interested. Suddenly september hit and we started getting 4 or 5 viewings a week and by the end of September we had 3 offers on the table.

For some reason July is a really crap time to go on the market.

Ours went on yesterday but no viewings booked yet. Worth keeping in mind that estate agents may be filtering prospective buyers - the agents I had to value our house all said they only let people view if they have a mortgage decision in principle / have sold their house / can prove their deposit etc. in order to limit viewings (due to Covid) and avoid time wasters. I think I'll panic if there's no viewings within a week or so!

Yes, I have heard Autumn is usually better. However, this is a year like no other, and different rules might apply! People selling houses on MN don’t seem to be affected by it being the summer...

We’ve only just gone on, so seems a bit soon to call the estate agent. I was thinking of calling on Monday if we’d heard nothing over the weekend.

House is nice, nice garden and in a nice area- village, but with train station to London (obviously the need for that is different...). It should be pretty desirable- standard neutral house.

Not really sure how you know what the market is like in the area. Do we look at other houses that go on for sale the same as ours and watch how long they are on the market for?

I am getting depressed about it already- especially all the 9 views in first weekend stories. Please view and buy my house someone!!

@Froggie13

Ours went on yesterday but no viewings booked yet. Worth keeping in mind that estate agents may be filtering prospective buyers - the agents I had to value our house all said they only let people view if they have a mortgage decision in principle / have sold their house / can prove their deposit etc. in order to limit viewings (due to Covid) and avoid time wasters. I think I'll panic if there's no viewings within a week or so!

Thank you for your post- at least ours isn’t the only house which hasn’t got immediate viewings.

Good luck!

We just put a flat on the market, had 5 viewings and 2 offers in first 2 days. The stamp duty drop has had the desired effect.

That’s sounds like a solid house.

In terms of seeing how quickly things are selling, I like to order properties by newest listed and see how far back you need to go before most decent ones are under offer. Also, if you see any ‘open days’ that’s a sign of a hot market.

Ours were lined up the moment the board went up. Our agents actively called round the people on their books to sort appointments as soon as we signed the contract.

We also priced the house exactly the same as the two others on the street so that anyone who booked to see the others would also book to see ours as comparison.

Make sure you are just under a price on Rightmove (so if the amounts you can set are 115, 125 etc It's better to set at 114 950 or 124 950 so you come up on the search)

Pre covid....next day.

Ours went up just as covid was starting to get serious. We went up on the Thursday and didn't get viewings until the following Tuesday houses in my estate were selling in days......not mine though.

Lock down then happened and I assumed we wouldn't get anything but low and behold when lock down lifted, there were 20 viewers to get through! We only had to do 3 before an acceptable offer was made so don't lose hope just yet.

I think it might also depend on when your property goes live on rightmove. I imagine Thursday/Friday get more online hits than Mondays. I think as it heads towards the weekend people begin winding down and think about making plans etc for viewing on days off. I know some days in work I can't think about anything other than what's on my desk until late in the week. I imagine rightmove is also a common distraction on a Friday afternoon at work. Some people just don't plan ahead more than a couple of days so will wait til nearer the time before doing anything about viewing.

We also found the estate agent was really busy and had skeleton staff at the weekend. We spent time worrying about silence at the beginning when actually she'd spent the morning responding to enquiries about the property so hadn't had time to lift the phone to us until lunch, at which point she came to us about several viewings at once.

I've definitely got a tendency to think the worst when there's no news but it's not always the case and maybe just needs some time to play out. I'm sure for every person that has a house sell in days there's another who had to wait a few weeks.

Thanks all. I’ve had a look at similar houses for sale in immediate vicinity. There are 7 others currently. Oldest listed has been on for 2 months, newest listed bar ours has been on for 2 weeks. Ours is about 4% higher than the average for the 7, but the same price as 2 of them and also the same price as an identical house nearby that sold this year so price is fair (nicer house and location than cheaper ones).

I have kept a record of them and will keep an eye on them to see if they sell, along with others that might come onto the market...

Sorry to bump my own thread-

How long before we should chase the estate agent having not heard anything since we went on? And what do we say when we do chase?

I am feeling quite despondent now with no viewings in the first weekend.

We chose the agent based on them having an active list of buyers. We did the photos and approved the brochure etc. 5 viewers, 1 offer at asking which we accepted. It never went on Rightmove until after it was SSTC.

If your agent isn't ringing round their buyers list they're either shit or taking the piss.

How are the photos compared to other similar houses on rightmove? The layout? Do the others have anything yours don't, like an extra toilet or anything?

When we were looking so many houses had awful photos. They were at the very tippy top of our budget and the photos genuinely put us off. Felt like the places weren't good enough to stretch our budget. They very well could have been had we seen them. But we didn't realise how misleading photos could be and I'm sure so many other buyers won't either.

I'd also say chase! Keep yourselves at forefront of their minds. Isn't house selling and buying just 90% chasing other people?

I’d contact the agent tomorrow. Just say what you said here, it’s perfectly normal to be concerned about no viewings over the first weekend!

Are the seven listings near you all still on the market? Are there any houses near you which are actually under offer? From what you’ve said it sounds like it could be a slow market there.

We are currently looking to buy and a lovely property came on the market 12 days ago, we have alerts through rightmove so I immediately requested a viewing and followed up three times with agents. The agent is an online only type so leave details and call back... we have heard nothing. The house has just been reduced and not sstc. I'm concerned that the agents arent passing on requests for viewings, we have spoken about putting a note through the door to request a viewing but worried the vendor will think we are being pushy. Thoughts?