Second viewing - a good sign?

[Chanel05]

We've had 4 viewings since going on the market 2 weeks ago.

Our first viewer's feedback was that he liked it the best of the ones he'd seen at the time. Hadn't heard anything more from him. Today he's now asking for a second viewing this weekend. Is this a good sign? What do people look for/ ask at second viewings? We talked through the boiler last time as it's only a year old. I did the first viewing and will be doing this one myself too. He is in rented and is purchasing through cash which comes from an inheritance, so understand that he'd have wanted time to weigh up his options.

Perhaps it was a starting point - they may increase but if you've had no other offers I guess they may not...

I would look at that as a starting point for negotiation. It isn’t an awful offer given he is a cash buyer and the market isn’t great. Assuming you are doing an onwards purchase the name of the game is getting moved. You don’t need to offer asking price on properties amd a cash buyer behind you will help on a new house as end of chain. I’d see if you can get a bit more out of him and what you can get.

It isn't urgent that we move so at this point, we really don't need to accept below asking price. We're priced very realistically in the area, comparable to other properties.

I haven't counter offered at all as this is a very low offer for the area in general. That's a 2 bed flat sort of price, not a 3 bed semi-detached at 2 weeks in. Will see what happens in due course!

Further update: (potential) buyer has increased their offer by 2.5%. If I go back with a counter offer of the asking price, does this give the message that we are happy to negotiate but their offer is still way out? We wouldn't accept lower than 97.5% of asking price.

If that's your bottom line, just tell them. Imho there's little point in going back with a counter offer of the asking price if you are prepared to accept less and do want to sell. The risk of countering with the asking price is that they just say they can't do it and walk away.

Most buyers don't expect to pay asking unless it's a very hot market in an area where multiple bids over asking are common. Doesn't sound as though it is in this case?

Btw there's a school of thought on buying that says you always offer 10% under asking. We've never done that, we've always offered a figure that reflects what we think a house is worth and is going to be acceptable to the seller.

I sold last summer and received offers lower than I was looking for. A couple of potential buyers came back with improved offers, but still a bit lower than I was looking for. I told the estate agent what I was looking for - one dropped out at that point and the other came back with the price I was looking for.

Aaargh! Could I have said, “I was looking for” any more?!

Thanks for the advice all. I rang the EA as I just want to wrap this up either way. EA said that buyer had asked what price I was ideally looking for but EA never got back to me about this, which I find odd and have had to ring myself to have this discussion. Buyer doesn't really want to go higher because of "what they'd like to do to the house", which I found interesting in terms of not what needs doing to the house. As an example, the property we would like to buy has an internal garage that we'd like to convert though I certainly don't think it's the current owner's job to fund this for me .

I said that we would likely accept 2.5% less than the asking price at this moment, only on the basis that we could get the house we want to drop the equivalent price (or there abouts) for our purchase, which they may well as we are porting our mortgage, actually paying about 75% of it off at the same time and my potential buyer is completely cash.

My potential buyer lives in the same town and is in rented but has received an inheritance, which will fund their purchase. I explained that we wouldn't be going any lower at this time and it could be taken or left. They are welcome to go to their next choice house, though I'm pretty confident they don't have one because the next very similar one(s) in my town are all priced at 25k more than mine (which are now overpriced), leaving the buyer staying in rented for longer or having to lay out even more money.

This is a good approach don't be too offended/ act insulted. Buyers are much more thin on the ground expect much more offers under /bartering compared to summer 2022. The market has drastically changed.

Update on the thread.

Just before Christmas, viewer made noises that he'd offer 2.5% below asking and we told EA that we'd accept this on the understanding that we would not be reducing the price at any point along the line. Viewer then told EA that they'd intended on bartering down after the survey so we asked EA to call it quits with them as we didn't want our time wasted.

Fast forward to now, a house a few doors down from mine that had sold over summer fell through (both with same EA). Theirs was up for 25k more but very similar to mine EA have clarified. They managed to find a new buyer within 2 weeks and have sold for asking price, so we're glad not to have taken a huge reduction. We are pretty sure though that the couple that have bought that one wanted to see ours originally, were directed towards the other one by the EA which we're annoyed about but anywho.

This weekend we have a couple who are first time buyers coming for a second viewing and they originally viewed mid December. Back to square one basically!!

Interested OP to hear what happened with your house sale.

@BG2015 I just came to post on the property thread and saw that this had been updated!

The increased offer never came to fruition in the end. We had the second viewing from the December couple and they decided not to go for the house because they "couldn't see where to put a table". That was very, very frustrating feedback to do a full tidy and clean for alongside having a 2yo and newborn at the time.

We ended up binning off that estate agents as we felt they were arranging viewings with people who weren't actually in a position to buy and signing up with another, who managed to sell the property only 5k under asking price in only 4 weeks.

We were in a complete chain of 5 and the property we were buying that vacant and end of chain. They pulled out with no explanation in October 2023. Our buyers said they wanted to continue to purchase our home but they then lost their buyers. They are still on the market now and have had to reduce significantly, meaning they're unable to afford our asking price now. We didn't see the need to rush into anything so decided to get Christmas and new year out the way with and listed this week. Had 4 viewings today and hoping for a decent offer next week. Fingers crossed that it's our year to move 🫠🫠.

I've just put my house up for sale and been for a few viewings myself.

It really does take over your life.

Hope you get a sale soon.

Same to you! Hopefully this year will be a bit more prosperous since mortgage rates have dropped slightly.

Hello, just wondering how you got on - did you manage to sell in the end?
In a similar position with our property and it’s so frustrating!

@sunnylife2we did indeed sell it after we received an offer from one of the buyers. They offered 10% under and we ended up agreeing on 5% under. We then agreed a sale on an onward purchase about a week or two later. It was a chain of 5 and we eventually moved in July last year.

Yay! Congratulations, I hope you’re happy in your new home. This gives me hope - we had a second viewing on Thursday (first time buyers) but still not heard anything….its such a frustrating process!

@sunnylife2fingers crossed that you hear today or tomorrow! Let us know what the outcome was.

We were messed about by a number of ftb and ended up selling to a developer.