I need proactive estate agents - no viewings yet

[Icantfindausername]

My house has been on the market 2 weeks and we've had no interest (sorry not comfortable posting link!)

What should estate agents be doing to get me a viewing? They have apparently rang potential customers who are looking in the area, put on social media - any other things you would expect as everyone says my house is lovely and I expected it be have interest straight away. There is no clutter it's clean and tidy, beds made, sides clear, etc.

We thought it was maybe the price eo dropped it 10k (to 200k) on wednesday.

Before I think of changing estate agents just wondered what else they should be doing.

Thanks

Is it on rightmove? Zoopla? Inthemsrket? Is it in their window? Will it be in the local paper?

Does the listing have good photos and floor plan? Photos of front, back, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, reception rooms? These are all important.

Did you have more than one estate agent value the house (and avoid going with the top valuation if it was out by a good amount)?

Have you fixed anything pointed out by the EA? How does the house appear - curb appeal?

These are all things you can help address and would need to be addressed before changing estate agents.

It's a very odd time to sell. Don't take it personally as it may be that the people who are most likely to buy your house are not in the position to move forwards, ie because they can't sell. They should have info of how many views they've had on rightmove etc to gauge whether anyone's interested at all.

Is there a floor plan? It's really difficult to decide if a house would work for you, if no floor plan.

So your house needs to be on the usual property portals with good photos and a strong description. Vast majority of people just look on Rightmove or similar.

How’s the market in your area? Are other properties selling? If so, then it’s the price.

I'm in a similar price bracket. Sold twice previously within a week (sales both fell through later for various reasons).

This time around I've been on the market 2 months with only one off that was too low.

I think the issue at the moment is that our price range is mostly for first time buyers who are finding it nigh on impossible to get a mortgage as the deposit required is insane. 20% and 25% in some cases.

You basically need to find one half of a divorcing couple who already has the equity for a deposit because any FTB who had a 10% deposit will now be unable to buy.

Thanks for your replies. Yes it's on rightmove, zoopla and on the market. EA said it looked fab and didnt need to change or do anything. We did put it up at the higher end of the valuations but have now dropped it so hopefully that will get us interest soon.

It does have a floor plan and 30 pictures.

Hopefully this weekend will bring news

I would wait 4 weeks before considering a price drop

It will be the price.

If its a ftb property then its probably because their deposit requirements have gone from 10-20k to 30k+

What’s the outside like? Does it have a garden? With people stuck at home more it does seem those with no or limited outside space are harder to sell.

If the EA can’t even get people through the door I’d be wanting them to switch the pictures around a bit to freshen it up and I’d also be asking them to fund a promoted placement on Rightmove etc. If all that fails I’d hold tight on the price until you find another agent.

If it makes you feel better we spent 10 weeks with an awful agent that had us convinced the house they told us to list at £525k was probably worth closer to £450k based on “feedback” they’d been given. We’d already dropped to £500k in that time with the promise they’d “have it sold in a week”. 2 weeks later they came back again insisting the lack of interest was down to price, and another price drop would definitely have it sold.

We held tight, found another agent and were under offer 3 days after listing with them for our asking price. We’ve since exchanged and still can’t believe we were nearly pushed down on the price all because of an incompetent EA.

Oh my god that is so bad Pointy!

How does one sell it that quick and the other nothing??? Awful, glad you sorted it tho! Thanks for your advice

@Icantfindausername we still don’t get it tbh. I think the first lot were just lazy in hindsight but at the time it was bloody depressing.

The second EA had sold a couple of similar houses to ours in the local area before they took ours on so I think a lot of our viewings came from them following up with the ones who had missed out on those houses.

I would look on Rightmove at what similar properties have sold at in the past few months or so adjusting for differences. That should give you an idea of whether current price is reasonable. If you've just dropped price I would wait another 2 weeks and see if you get viewings. Normally no viewings is the price but if you've reduced that should rectify if its now reasonably priced.

The market is odd at the moment by us and very quiet. We went on a month ago and some houses were selling very quickly with a stampede for them (garden size seemed to be key) and some selling after a few months and others just sticking until reduced a lot. We had 10 viewings in first month but no second viewings so cut price by nearly 10% and expected a flurry of viewings but only got 2 in 2 weeks. Having said that both were interested and one has made an offer which we are negotiating but likely to accept. Several houses stuck on market by us have just sold so it appears few viewers now and very few going on but very serious ones. Hope you can get a sale soon. You can name change and post a link if that helps.

Sounds like far too many photos. You want enough good ones to get people interested but no so many that it’s shows off everything and allows people to find things to put them off.

I suggest fewer photos and give it a couple of weeks then switch EA. We have been on since Monday and have had 11 viewings with 6 more booked... Not a single offer which is also incredibly frustrating! The market is moving really fast here but definitely starting to slow, are many selling that are similar in your area?

Yes comparing to other houses I think mine has more to offer so I think price is good, once people are in we have a lot like brand new windows and doors decking, toilet etc.

The garden isnt too big but not horrendous.

It's only been 2 days since price drop so hopefully hear by monday, fingers crossed.

Its annoying getting no viewings but then I imagine equally so getting loads of views and no offers! Argh

If you aren't getting viewers it will be the price. It will sell for the right price.

We held tight, found another agent and were under offer 3 days after listing with them for our asking price.

Pointy so what do you think they other agents did differetly? Quite unusual that for the same price they had such a quick result.

ah ok just saw your reply to a similar post - yes, it helps if they had a lot of unsuccessful buyers in waiting! Still surely samne buyers could see your house online...

We had this. No viewings at all. Then lots of viewings but no offers even after a price drop. Then all of a sudden a buyer. It only takes one but getting the one is so hard. If you can drop the price again

Honestly posting the link would probably make a difference I've seen loads of great advice that has improved the prospects of selling. (not getting viewings is a concern, are the pictures bad)
We are strangers, everyone that knows you had already had a look round.

Is the EA a "pay on sale" one or a fixed fee regardless?

I find a few really good photos and a floor plan is key on rightmove etc. A local agent puts 40+ photos for 2/3 bed houses.....too many and I get bored looking at them! Another agent never puts a floorplan. So unhelpful.

@CatAndHisKit the first EA seemed to get quite hung up on the fact there was another house on our road that was listed for £25k less than ours. It didn’t matter that our house was the biggest plot on the road so had twice the garden space, or that it had a garage with planning whilst the other had none. They just seemed to keep coming back to that other house as a reason why they couldn’t sell ours. It wasn’t we didn’t get viewings with them, we had quite a few, it just never felt they were showing it to the right type of buyer.

The second EA seemed a lot more invested in selling our house. They sent the whole team to meet us and view the house so they knew the layout and the details of the house in advance of any viewings. The new EA also worked with a marketing company to create the brochures and online listing so we had much better photos too. It also probably helped that we relisted with them just after the stamp duty holiday was announced so perhaps more people had started to look.

We were honestly just as surprised as you when we got an offer within days, let alone for asking price and genuinely felt it was too good to be true until we exchanged.

The EA is pay upon completion...

I have tried to share a link previously but it wouldnt work