Can I just have a cry on here about my house situation please?

[Cherms]

Suitable houses rarely come up in my search area (once every 5 years) and one came on. We immediately put our house up for sale (literally within one day). Two weeks later we have not had a single viewing. Not one. The forever house is having its last viewing day on Friday and then by Monday all offers need to be in. We can't offer without being sold.

I'm genuinely unbelievably upset. We spent lockdown doing our house up to be in perfect condition and yet absolutely nobody wants to buy it. And that means we will never get a house in our search area (please don't suggest changing the search area. It's not possible. We'd need to stay in our current house rather than ever move outside it)

Which means if another house comes up ever again we won't get that either and I'm absolutely miserable about that. We can't sell and rent because rental houses never come up and also it could be a decade before another house comes up. We really really want this one.

It sounds like I'm feeling melodramatic and sorry for myself but I'm completely gutted. Gutted no-one wants our lovely house and gutted we'll never be able to move. I keep getting weird rises of panic/anxiety about it all.

We're on with the agent that's selling but the forever house will sell whether to us or anyone else. They haven't given actionable feedback as it's just that one room is small. Which it is but the rest is great. And it's a lot of house for the money. No viewings. No interest. Utterly devastated at the hopeless future.

a friend of mine was trying to buy a bungalow by the sea. The seller screwed them over by putting the price up a lot at the last minute. My friend was like you, crying that these never come up and she’d never get another chance. But sure as eggs is eggs, another one came up, within three months….

I do believe that one sale tends to beget another. If something goes for a good price in a particular area, other owners sometimes start wondering if they should sell up too.

Don't look at houses until you can move otherwise it's bound to be depressing. Even when you sell there only a few available that you may like, but it's what you can get at the time.
But if other houses are being sold then yours needs to be in line with size-cost etc , no point selling a 3 bed semi for 300 grand when down the roan you can get a 5 bed detached for the same price 😐

How bad is the bad curb appeal?

How bland is the neutral decor?

How shoddy are the photos?

How spiteful!

Could a bridging loan be a possibility? Risky, given the fact that your house would definitely need to sell within 12 months (otherwise you would need to re-bridge the bridging loan at a higher interest rate) - and expensive, given the high interest rate but it does look as though it is the only option.

Do you have enough cash for a let-to-buy? Your house goes onto a buy-to-let mortgage, releasing equity from your current property which goes straight into the new property, purchased on a residential mortgage.

Have you checked whether it shows up on Rightmove under the expected search parameters? Have you asked the agent if it’s getting views (the listing itself). Have they got prospective buyers in your desirable area that they’re offering viewings to? If so, what’s their feedback on why there are none taking them up? Your agent is working for you, ask them for the intelligence they should have access to.

A bridging loan is utter madness if the OP hasn't even go a viewing through the door!

You don't want to be saddled with a bridging loan in those circumstances in the current economic crisis, when the OP sounds like they are on very limited income. The cost of moving will sap them of a chunk of whatever savings they have, and for what? Because the OP is fixated on a property and putting themselves under pressure by Monday , the worst conditions under which to buy a property.

in fact this whole scenario is bonkers, the OP falling in love with a property that's unattainable for them, its a nice to have not a must-have. Best advice is come off Right Move, stop hankering after something you can't have, and shore up your finances before October's next energy hike, not add more debt to your woes.

Here's a poster who was also struggling to sell her house, and put the details up on here, if you want to see whether previous sellers have been ripped to shreds and what reaction they got.

She was even brave enough to risk posting on AIBU.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3543797-to-ask-for-your-opinions-on-my-house

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3556417-to-ask-for-second-opinions-on-my-house

This was my thought (bar the pylon lol )

Everyone, literally everyone is telling you it's the price. But you just aren't listening.

Try going fixed price. In Scotland this was a way to get a quick sale. You say this is the price, first person to agree to pay that gets it. It saves buyers the phaff of endless bidding and getting outbid.

Really odd not to have any viewings, what are the EA advising about that? Sometimes EA will overvalue to get the instruction, how many valuations did you have? Did you go with the highest? Can you reduce the price slightly to stimulate interest? Could you ask some friends to look at the RM listing and give you some pointers to what could be putting potential viewers off. I would agree with PP that have said price, unless there is something else that we don’t know.

Link Link Link!!!!

Or we can't tell you how to sell your house!!!!!

Is it always price? I bought my dream house in an area I was yearning to move to, the price was way under market value and valuation.
Homes in this area are snapped up and usually sold within a week.
The house we looked at - and later bought- had not had a viewing for a year.
The photos in the schedule were really dreadful, highlighting the ugliest bits of the house- pink flock wallpaper in the kitchen, large sofa shaped like a stiletto shoe, tiled bedroom floor, juke box and disco ball in the dining room. It was hideous.
We snapped it up, and with the awful furniture gone it only took a few weeks to redecorate and replace some flooring.
Houses nearby and in my street are still being snapped up like hot cakes.
My home is now valued at 60% more than I paid for it 5 years ago.
I really think photos are key.

I empathise, OP, the property market is a nightmare at the moment. My advice is to reduce the price sufficiently to take it into a lower price search bracket. Plus it will also go back to the top of the Rightmove listing. Best of luck!

It really is. Anything, absolutely anything will seek at the right price.

If it really is your dream house and you're as confident you've got the pricing right on your current house as you say then get creative with your offer. E.g offer at the top, but put £30k on top of that to buy 8 weeks to get your sale proceedable: £15k outright payment and £15k deposit you lose if you don't get a firm offer in that period. And you pay both parties' legal costs.

You are selling with an agent. Who knows that you are serious about selling.

And you have had no viewings.

Agents normally have lists of people who are buying that they can show round immediately. And people on the list don't even get to see the details. Instead it will be ots a 3 bed in this road, details to be produced.

If you have no viewings at all then it has to be the price for people not even willing to put a foot through door

Can you change agents? The agent for my first place was useless - said 18 people were coming to the open house viewing, five turned up and I got one low offer, and this was a manic market. Next agent got lots more people in and 5 really good offers, I got 30k more than the offer from the first agent. It really can make a difference.

You mentioned that the agent who is selling the dream house also has your listing?

Get someone (other than whoever's met the estate agent) to go in to ask for particulars of houses that match yours on as many points as possible - don't give them the street or say you've seen a for sale board. You want to have the person saying 'I want a three bedroom house with a drive, preferably near the high street, must have two bathrooms and, if possible, in x school catchment area'. They should be given your house details, if not call the estate agent out.

A person we bought off of years ago did this. Popped in to ask for details, basically, of her own house as she'd not got many visitors at all and wasn't given them. She, a very mild mannered woman, gave them such a tongue lashing that she had multiple views over the next two days - us included. My sister did the same thing as they weren't getting sales and I advised her to do that - same thing happened, her husband wasn't given their details. Neither case was the same as yours - they weren't chasing a dream property. But the estate agent had just become a bit lazy and was giving out new listings instead of ploughing through everything. Both of them got multiple visits within a day or so.

The reason I say that in your case is, it's often great to use the same estate agent, there's a vested interest in getting a double sale so they work harder. However it's also not unknown for an estate agent to 'protect' either a friend or family member who has a stake in the new property. Either trying to get more cash for someone who's selling or, potentially in this case, limiting the numbers of people chasing a dream property so a friend gets it. It's an easy thing to not give out details for a couple of weeks isn't it? And how do you prove the person who got the house is a friend of the estate agent if no-one tells?

They are supposed to express an interest in those situations but, honestly, how would anyone know an estate agent friend managed to secure my dream home for me by doing that? How would you prove manipulation unless you deliberately asked for house details matching yours and they weren't provided?

Being on with the same estate agent works very well in certain circumstances but it does leave you open to manipulation. Just eliminate that as a possibility before you start changing prices etc.,

twigs in a vase wont save you. lower the price will. what things sold for 6 months ago is irrelevant. market has changed. credit is tight

If you’re not getting viewings it’s the price. You can try and convince yourself otherwise but with that attitude you’ll never sell it so…

It's either:

• The price


• The quality of the listing, and in particular how well it's coming up in relevant searches on Rightmove, etc. Before sharing the link to Mumsnet and skewing the results, you should ask your EA for the Property Performance Report from Rightmove. Is it getting views? Is it appearing as a result in the right searches?

If people are finding the property in the searches then it's always the price. But you can't assume it's being found.

PS
One person's neutral decor is another persons soul-less and uninspiring. Combined with admitted poor kerb appeal this can dramatically lower what someone is prepared to pay. But... poor kerb appeal should not be an issue for the listing and viewings if you've got decent photos that minimise kerb appeal problems, and most importantly if the lead photo on the listing is a good one. A lead photo that highlights the "ugly house" aspect combined with a high asking price will have viewers clicking away before they even look at the interior photos.

The market is manic at the moment
There is a huge shortage of stock
( I am in the business)
Of you are not getting interest it is purely price
Simple as that

Maybe it's a great house but if they want "proceedable offers" they want people committed to getting the chain moving, not someone who slung the house up on Rightmove just so they could make an offer. You're way behind applicants who've had viewings, feedback, acted on feedback, accepted offers etc ... You're less attractive than them.

Houses sell fast. Ours went up, one day of viewings only, 5 visits, 4 offers. It was ridiculously fast and I thought the house was shit.

You can't expect the sellers of the other house to sit around waiting for you to start the process.