No views on House

[Fimilo]

First time poster long time lurker, sorry if not in the right place. We have put our house on the market, in Scotland the home report determines the market value. We have put it as offers over but £5000 under the market value.

House has been on the market for just over 2 weeks with not one viewing, last house in the street sold for £10,000 over ours current market value. They are very rarely available, ours is a blank canvas for someone to walk into and make their own.

At a loss as to why, unsure if we should reduce the price, change estate agents, take it off the market completely just now. So disheartening.

Any advice welcome

Agree with this. I would take it off and put it back on in September.

If it isn't generating interest its the price.

We sold in Scotland end of last year. House looks fine to me, you have done a good job. Whatever people call the rooms any potential buyers will look beyond that. £250k is a point at which LBTT (stamp duty) rates change so can be a bit of a ceiling for some people. Our estate agent advised us to market at offers over a figure below that threshold (and £10K below home report value) and we received offers over it from people keen to purchase.
But the main factor I think you are facing is that it is a family home and families have children who are on school holidays and likely to be away at the moment not thinking of moving. So don't panic just yet, wait for a while when holidays are almost over.
Can't comment on area as it is nowhere near me

I really liked the cover with the blue pattern
Terribly nosey, I know!
I wish you every success in selling your house. Someone is going to buy it and love it.

I think it might be blue grey and yellow? 😀

We sold (in Scotland) last year. Our estate agent advised us really badly and was slow to put it on the market so we ended up going on just before the school holidays started. Every other town was hopping in terms of viewings, not ours.

It was the holidays plus EA put it on for offers over the home report (which we didn't want them to do). Ended up dropping it by offers over £5k under home report and got home report, but that was just after schools went back.

You can either sit it out at price it is until end of holidays then drop or drop now but you might not get viewings because of holidays.

We thought about changing EA but we would have had to be off the market for 14 days due to a clause in the contract and we couldn't face that. We just pushed them really, really hard to drum up interest - they weren't that proactive or trying that hard really.

Have a good chat with them, see what they think would be the best approach. maybe phone other EA and ask if they are having a lull in interest to see what is going on in general.

Good luck!

OP, this is my area of work although East Coast.

If you were a client of mine, id never have advised listing in July. Its peak holiday time. Id have advised you to wait until mid to late August.

Not really 🙄

The surveyor obviously believes it is a 3 bedroom and has priced it according and will have stated so in the home report. People are making out that OP is just pretending.

@Espanaes81 thanks for that insight, I will travel back in time and give myself that advice.

I know nothing about Cumbernauld but having property hunted in three very different areas and price bands of Scotland, calling any spare downstairs room a bedroom is absolutely typical in Scotland and is not why the OP isn't getting viewings.

We can all sit and nit pick incessantly, but there's nothing screaming out why you're not getting viewings. So ultimately it comes down to price, as it always does, and an awful time of year to be trying to sell a house aimed at young families. Which really sucks, and I really feel for you. I hope things change for you very soon.

I thought the same thing as @Espanaes81 tbh.

You are still using the same excuse about the school holidays while acknowledging that other towns were "hopping" so that makes no sense.

Most people aren't away for 6 weeks over the school holidays but lucky if they get a week or two away on holiday.

While most people are not away for 6 weeks at summer, households are out of normal routine, kids are at home, days are different. Families for the most are not thinking about moving house. It definitely is a thing.

It's a lazy excuse for why a property hasn't had a single viewing. The market may be slightly slower over the summer holidays but would still get viewings if the price was right.

You hear so much of that on Mumsnet - according to some people on this site people shouldn't expect to sell from November - March (winter) or July - August (school holidays). Just because the market is slower in some months doesn't mean people completely stop viewing properties valued right, so I think some other explanation must be found.

@happywotsit even said, "other towns were hopping" while STILL blaming the school holidays.

I didn't say that.

oops apologies, it was @Hiddendoor who said that

I would change your agents in the end of July. I had to change agents before to sell and it worked magic.

your house looks nice!

I don't think being summer means you can't sell but this property went on at the start of the school holidays and I think included the local trades fortnight which is a very busy time for holidays.

I sold almost exactly the same house in Fife last year. Home report was £240k, was on the market for four weeks, had 15 viewers, 5 offers and sold for £260k.

The downstairs bedroom was most definitely a bedroom - it had a recess for fitted wardrobes. The lounge was L-shaped for the dining area. Our house had the main bathroom downstairs and only a toilet upstairs to serve the two larger bedrooms. A common house design in the area and one we lived happily in for 16 years.

My old town, where I was selling, gets really quiet in the summer.

The towns we were looking to buy have always had (and did have last year) an incredibly frantic market and last summer, it was hopping. Houses went on the market on a Tuesday and had sold by the Thursday. In the towns we were looking to move to.

In our old town, as I've said, it was slow. Quiet. Other estate agents in the town concurred it was down to the holidays. Other properties that went on at the start of the holidays also sat, not moving.

Different housing markets.

In terms of the estate agent, we told him to put on at offers over £5k less than home report value. He out it on at offers over home report. Claimed it was best. If we wanted him to put it to what we had originally asked for, it would have shown as a reduction and could have meant dropping more than we were able to later on.

The estate agents we used were lazy, I think previous years successes had meant they hadn't had to work hard in a slowing market. We pushed and pushed for basic things, they did drop their commission because they admitted to dropping the ball and not trying hard enough.