Anyone else trying to sell their house?

[Permanentlyfrazzled]

How many viewings are you getting?

Fourth time on the market in 9 months due to multiple chains falling through and feeling very disheartened. This time we've gone on at a 50K reduction from our previous asking price (which we achieved multiple times) but we recognise that the market has changed.

Despite a massive reduction viewings seem really slow. We've had 4 viewings in just under four weeks and one second viewing, but no offers.

How is everyone else getting on? Is it just the market at the moment? I'm trying to tell myself that it's the mortgage rate rises and the summer holidays.

We can't afford to reduce again as we won't be able to buy. House prices in our area aren't coming down as quickly as we've reduced.

We are in Surrey. Thank you!

If I could give a couple of tips that helped us to sell -

Put as much as you can into storage. It really does make the house feel bigger and helps buyers imagine themselves in your space.

Use a local service-wash for laundry (this was a life saver and meant I never had washing hanging around).

Invest in a really nice room spray or couple of candles that you don't light and smell amazing. I got a Jo Malone room spray and it made the house smell like a really expensive hotel!

Get the window cleaner in regularly as sparking windows really makes a huge difference to the feel of the house.

Thanks @DeeplyMovingExperience. We've done all of these things already, except the laundrette! Really hoping for a proceedable offer soon 🙏

We had a chat yesterday and decided if we don't sell by September we will just pull it. That will be a year on the market even though we've sold 3 times...

@Permanentlyfrazzled We definitely got into a much wider audience, have a viewing this evening and just had another call with someone wanting to view at the same time! We had to tell them to come tomorrow.
Our EA only lets proceedable people view which I am ok with, as we get lots of first time buyers. At least no time wasters.

@noodles20 I tend to set the laundry as soon as they leave, but now I have two viewings in two days so have to use the dryer. Launderette is a great idea too!

We have rented a storage container and it's full, but our garage is still packed. We really need a bigger place 🙄

@Potaytoe5 oh wow that sounds really positive! Crossing all my fingers for you! We would have to reduce by another £30K to get into the next bracket, we've just reduced by £50K 😕 Not sure we could afford to move if we reduced again.

Hi I'm in Surrey. Went on the market 1st of June. Had 4-5 viewings and got asking price offer within 6 days ... but it was all too good to be true and the buyer pulled out after 6 weeks just as we were about to exchange contracts.
So back to square one :(
Back on the market 3 weeks ago and have only had 2 viewings in that time. It's definitely slowed down A LOT. EA says it's holidays but interest rates and COL must have a knock-on effect too.
I'm not hopeful that we'll get another offer quickly. We're considering taking £25k off the guide price but every £ we take off affects our future plans as.
And keeping a family house spotless is bloody hard work. I got everything pristine a couple of times only for the viewer to cancel on the day. So annoying and dispiriting.
Going to hang on til September and see if it picks up. Might change EA if viewings drop off a cliff.
Good luck with your sale x

Midlands here, been in the market a week with only one viewing.

the problem we have is that the seller of the one we want to buy is holding out for full asking (been on the market since Jan) but we might have to reduce our already reasonable price to get things moving.

Our whole sell/buy/move transaction took 13 months. It was a nightmare. The system in England and Wales is brutal and definitely not for the faint-hearted. It's also expensive.

We stuck it out and saw it through even though there were times when we almost changed our minds and threw in the towel. Nightmare buyers. Nightmare vendor.

Very glad it's all over and we learned a hell of a lot through the process.

Just got a call from our EA, the couple that viewed on Saturday put in an offer, but at £180k, so we refused it.
Considering we are getting lots of viewings I feel like we could get close to £200k.
Houses around still sell for about £210k so I remain positive.
Nice that someone at least tried! They were lovely tbh.

That's awesome! Are they FTB? Maybe they will improve their offer?

They are FTB, but they were very young so I wonder if they had the time to save enough money. I have a feeling they might be trying their luck!
I am in a semi, the other part of the semi sold for £230k in peak market. I reckon it would go for about £220-215 now.
Our house is only a tiny bit less nice, in my opinion not £180k 'less nice' 🙏

@FloydPepper wow, any ideas why they are holding out for full asking price? We offered on a property in a similar position, on since January, only 3 viewings no offers, they were also holding on for asking price. We could have improved our offer but we were worried they weren't motivated to move. A week later they took their house off the market 🤷🏼‍♀️

It could be that they need full asking price for their onward purchase though.

@Potaytoe5 what did your EA say? Was that their best and final? As you say they may not have the deposit to go higher. It feels like you're very close now. And it's helpful to have had a low offer so the EA can let any other interested parties know there's another offer on the table...

This. The system is so brutal. Our first chain was so stressful. As you say, nightmare buyer below us, nice but fed up vendor above us who was at their wit's end with our buyer. Spent months as piggy in the middle trying to keep it from falling apart! Thousands of pounds sunk into it just gone...all our savings. The English system is so unfair :(

Glad it worked out for you in the end. It gives me hope!

Argh I'm so sorry that's horrendous. What reason did your buyer give for pulling out before exchange?

We are going to hang on until September too and hope it picks up. Like you we can't really afford to reduce any more and it's frustrating when we've had much higher offers relatively recently.

we think it’s a combination of emotional attachment to a big old family house meaning they genuinely believe it’s worth that whatever the market does or the agent says, and not really being in a rush to move.

Pretty sure they’re downsizing so it’s driven by their beliefs of value rather than a need to hit a price.

OK - some background on our flakey buyer. She was a CASH buyer for £950k. She viewed three times, each time for over an hour. We undertook a few bits of minor maintenance and minor re-decoration for her at her request. She was actually measuring up on her last viewing FFS ... then the solicitor's email 11 days (!) later was brutal 'Notice that your buyer has withdrawn from the purchase.'
Our EA managed to get hold of her to ask her reasons and she said she didn't like the road ... I mean FFS. She's obviously allowed to change her mind, but she'd been to the house THREE times and started measuring up and making plans. She even asked if she could have the Google doorbell as she was leaving on her last visit. Mad.
Such a time waster. I wouldn't be so peeved if she'd pulled out after the first or second visit -- or even the third time if she'd told us straight away.
But we went on to have an offer accepted on a property based on her buying ours. This has affected 3 people ahead of us, and some are in their 80s. It seems very cruel. Plus the waste of ££ on solicitors.
I feel she also robbed us of the prime 'selling time' in Surrey which is May-end of July.
Thanks for letting me vent 😥x

@FloydPepper ah that's tricky. If they have no motivation to move they will just hold out. Very risky strategy though in a falling market. They house won't be worth what it was at the beginning of the year! Frustrating for you though. Maybe when you're proceedable you'll be on a position to negotiate?

@Permanentlyfrazzled EA didn't say it was their best and final offer but I got a feeling they might not be able to afford more.
I feel like our house is already a bargain so fingers crossed we can get the £200k! Otherwise no point in selling as we won't be able to buy a much nicer house anyway....

Exactly. I don’t feel in a strong enough position to start forcing the issue as the bit of extra time might help ours sell. I’d just feel happier getting a sensible price agreed so I know what we can drop ours to and still make it work.

why is it when you’re a buyer then houses hold their value but when you’re a seller they don’t!

You never know, they may have a little bit more in the tank. Common to start low and negotiate up! Either way it puts you in a good position. Really hoping you get £200K, it sounds like it would be a bargain even at that price.

That’s really positive @Potaytoe5 - very encouraging to get an offer even if it was too low for you to accept. You never know, they may be able to find more money when they realise that you are serious about not accepting under 200k, people tend to keep their maximum budget tightly hidden.

Even if they genuinely can’t go any higher, your EA will now be able to tell Viewers that you have had an offer but turned it down. They won’t tell people the exact amount but it will make your house seem more desirable that it has had an offer. Also they will realise you won’t be accepting very low offers.

We've been on the market since last November. We're hoping to downsize and have already reduced our price by 50K since we first went on. Sold once but they pulled out after 2 months, so we lost a lot of 'prime' selling time. Since going back on we've hardly had any interest. We had found somewhere to buy which I'm expecting we'll lose now - also, if we have to reduce our price again and they don't we can't afford it anyway!

@Permanentlyfrazzled sorry forgot to @ you. Still getting the hang of the site x

We put our very average 2 bedroom flat in London on the market about a week ago. 4 viewings so far! There's not much for sale in our area hence why it's getting a lot of interest.

We almost had an offer (10th viewer)
but buyer couldn't afford to buy plus make the changes he wanted (conversion/extension).
Another 4 viewings this Fri/Sat.