House sale really getting me down

[Rick83]

Hello all,

Just wanted to post on here as I think my wife is sick of me sulking about everything, but genuinely am feeling pretty down, bordering on depressed....

Basically we have been in our house now for nearly 8 years. Its a nice house, but I've been wanting to move for the last few years. My wife has ssid no to moving until our youngest got in at the local school which happened this year.

Anyway, put the house on the market back in March 2020. Only had 4 viewings in 2 weeks, but got an offer 5% below asking price. It was a little less than I wanted, but we fo live in a little village so not a huge demand. Anyway, the day we accepted the offer.... lockdown! During that time, alot of the paper work got done, surveys etc. Lockdown lifted, housing market re-opened, srraight away we got a call from our buyers thtough EA asking if we had found anything. 2 weeks later, there was still nowt on the matket, so we agreed to rent, put down a deposit on a rental... then they pulled out!!! So annoyed.

Anyway, I thought never mind, house sold in 2 weeks, so should sell again. 6 weeks later all we had were a few more viewings, and 1 other offer which was insulting. We have now changed ea to freshen things up, but still hardly any viewings.

I really am getting down about it all. Its hard not to take personally, we've spent so much time/money on the house over the years and it just seems that no one wants it. Other houses in surrounding area are getting snapped up within a week or 2 of going on. Can anyone else relate to this? It might sound silly, but I'm losing sleep over it, and struggling to concentrate on work, plus my wife says I'm walking around with a face on me all the time, but really cannot help it.

Sorry for thevlong post

It’s very stressful indeed. The English house selling process is grim. If you’re not getting any viewings after switching estate agents you almost certainly need to reduce the price. Possibly go back to the offer you were insulted by, which might actually be the market value.

Carrot - he accepted that offer and then they pulled out.

Are you brave enough to post the link to your house for "honest" opinions as to why it might not be selling?

I can totally relate, I’m in almost identical situation. We out our house on the market a few weeks before lockdown and had loads of viewings. Just after lockdown lifted, we got a great offer from first time buyers, at a much higher figure than we’d expected.

Then they couldn’t get a mortgage offer.
This was back in July.
We’ve reduced the price by 25k since then,
Again, loads of viewings but no offers.
Now considering dropping the price again.
At this rate, I’ll prob get offers at not much more than I paid for it, 3.5 years ago.

It’s especially annoying that our neighbours put theirs on just after lockdown and have sold!

No they got a 2nd offer which they didn't accept which they found insulting.

Unfortunately I think that offers long gone, plus it was nearly 15% under listed price, so think they were trying there luck, even the estate agent was embarrassed to even put the offer to us. We've had 5 estate agents value the house and they all came back at the same price point, plus it's alot of house for the money, but I think we need to find a family who want to live in a small village. But yes, something is going to have to change soon.

Ha, yeah, I don't know if I'm brave enough to post the link, but its a 4 bed detached with an extension. We first list for £400k which was all the ea's came back with. Our new agent has put it on for "offers in excess of £375k" (thats how he lists all his properties), but does charge 2.15% fee so its a bit of a premium agent. Just not sure what else can be done.

Thanks to tigerbear anyway to know we aren't alone. Its just a rubbish year really

It’s horrendous isn’t it. There is just no security and a huge potential to lose a lot of time as well as money.

We have sold ours, but so worried it will fall through and we’ll be back to square one.

The other houses that have sold in the village- how similar are they to yours? What are the negatives about your house?

Our issue is that we have no garage and no storage, and our garden is overlooked. For our viewings we basically got everything out of the house or packed away (toddler toys were taking over). Then for the garden we grew some tall plants, and had the parasol up because it was the summer.

Our estate agent was really good. A few things they did that I think helped, was to put the house on a bit higher, plus take out any floor plans. I wasn’t on board with this at first but it means people are less likely to dismiss it, and call the agent asking for a floor plan. Our pricing probably got us about 8k over what we would have accepted, and it means you can reduce to get to the top on rightmove. I know it may be a little late for you to do much about that though!

Also be open to viewing from buyers who haven’t sold their house yet if you’re not already. Not the type of people who waste your time but you never know when they might get an offer, plus viewing your house helps them understand what they can accept.

Our agent has said that the market has def slowed in the last few weeks, and I can also see that it has. I’m ‘saving’ stuff on Rightmove all the time, and a few weeks ago things were flying off in a matter of days, now not so much.
EA also said that so many people are struggling to get mortgage offers now too, so even if people like the house, they might not get a mortgage unless they’ve got 15% deposit.
In my case, FTB’s will need a deposit of nearly £100k, which is total madness!!!

Our area has definitely slowed but its nothing coming on and nothing going off now.

Hi Daisy and Roses, Unfortunately there are no comparable houses for sale in our village. One has recently sold for 700k, but that's nothing like ours. There's about 20 houses in our part of the village. We bought ours 8 years ago, and since then no one else has sold. Cant really think what would be putting people off apart from Rural location. Gardens completely private, large drive, double garage, kitchen/diner, log burner, ensuite, study... bargain for the price. We are on oil though for heating instead of gas. Hope yours doesnt fsll through, such a horrible feeling.

Tigerbear, yes I do fear things are slowing. Nothing new has really come to the market, and a couple have recently come "back on" meaning sales have fallen through.

We went on the market a week before lockdown. We took it off during lockdown as no viewers. Had two silly offers and one we accepted but fell through.
Completely get how you’re feeling, it’s would destroying getting ready for viewings all the time, trying to keep house/garden pristine.
I feel like I need a break from it so considering taking it off to recharge my batteries and try again in new year.

Agent said needs to be off for 14 weeks before it appears as a new listing again.

Yes, JellyBelly. Even if there arent any viewings its still keeping the garden tidy, garage door clean, leaves swept etc. I mean its only been back on the market 12 days, so might give it another month or so and then maybe pull it off... again. I've even been considering one of those "webuyanyhouse.com" websites. No idea what they'd offer, but it'll just be done.

Your house sounds lovely.

The house we actually bought is in a small village around the same price as yours, it sounds very similar! We found the village because we are relocating. It was on the market for a while, not because it’s not an amazing house but just the price point and a previous house sell fell through. You tend to get the home movers at that price, and I know where we bought there are few people on the kind of income to afford those houses.

I know it’s easier said than done but try not to think about it. I’m sure it will fall into place and you will end up in your perfect home eventually. It sounds like you’ve done everything you can and that the right buyer just needs to come along.

Not a fan of the ‘offers over’. I think it’s better to just do an asking price. It’s hard to let your house go for less than you think it’s worth. Maybe you could reduce it by the stamp duty amount which you won’t have to pay? It feels a bit less painful that way!

Personally, if an advert is OIEO I find it really off putting.

I actually agree with "oieo" being off putting. But our agent lists all his properties that way, and he's paid for a top photographer, videographer out of his own pocket, so we do have faith in him. Our previous ea, we had to pay them £300 to list/photos.

I do try to keep telling myself, things happen for a reason. I do really like the house were in, but want to move closer to train stations/shops etc for when kids are older. And if I'm going to do it, just want to get it done now, rather than living in limbo for another few years. Lets hope this 2nd waive of covid calms down and things pick up a bit

Rick83

Really understand this.

We put ours up in July as we were coming out of lockdown.

We have no end of viewers but no offers.
It is depressing.

I have mentally moved out of the house and just want to get on with our lives.

We even looked at webuyanyhouse Type places and found our property is only on for 10% more than they say they would give us

Had an independent EA look at the property and he couldn’t find anything wrong.
Especially for the price.
Said we just needed to wait for the right buyer

Hi Oliversmumsarmy,

I think when you say:
I have mentally moved out of the house and just want to get on with our lives.
Thats speaks volumes and is probably what I'm feeling now. We had sold back in March, and its October now, and while there's nothing wrong with our house, I too just want to start the next chapter of our families lives. Its really mentally exhausting, losing sleep, and getting more stressed out at work thsn I need to. It does help talking about this stuff though, so am grateful for all the replies. My wife is very blazay about the whole thing, so she can't understand why I'm down in the dumps.

I really think you should post a link! It’s already on Rightmove etc..?
Sometimes you don’t see what it is that is stopping that excitement.
We’ve recently “sold” (subject to contract) in a very desirable village, Victorian semi but has its issues.. when I bought it 8 years ago it was bland and meh!. I had to work hard to get it to what should be enticing about a Victorian house (with modern bathroom, underfloor heating etc) and listed it for a lot less than I wanted (we had to sell to buy a bungalow- the don’t come up often in our area).
General questions (if you cannot post a link) - is it decorated “quirkily”/lots of children’s stuff about/clutter/bad Estate Agent photos? Empty looking?

Would you post a link for some MN suggestions to help sell?

Is 15% under awful? I'd say that was probably acceptable in the current climate.

@Oliversmumsarmy why don't you go with webuyanyhouse?

Post a link - we can help. Always good to get unbiased views and point things out that maybe you can't see? If other houses are getting snapped up around you, there must be something that needs improving - and it could be a super quick fix!

whoopma

Because it is just too low.

We put it on for a really low price and have a base price we will take.
Compared to what is on around us it is very competitively priced. Cheapest 4 bed detached in a 1 mile radius.
It is already on for £100,000 less than the agents said we would have got pre Covid. And we will take an offer on that but the house buying site is about £50,000 less and would probably beat us down from that price.

We just can’t afford to go any lower.

It really is soul destroying.

Be brave & post a link - you’ll get feedback that will likely get you to offer.