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!

We reduced a couple weeks ago on the advice of the EA as the viewings came to a bit of a standstill. Weve had another 3 plus 2 tomorrow since then. I can't reduce again as we simply can't afford to. A fixed price might be better but at this point I've no idea. Our issue is we're relocating with 2 primary aged kids so I just want to get on with it, get them settled in their new school etc.

Hopefully something will happen soon 🙏

Good luck @noodles20 . It's very frustrating. We also don't want to put it off for years as DC1 started primary school and we'd rather her change schools early on.
I'm wondering if we made a mistake by setting ours as offers over, if it means nothing? The EA said to basically set it to lowest we are willing to accept, which we have. We've not been on for so long for the buyers think we are desperate.
I just want to stop having to tidy up the house really!! It's going to rain all day tomorrow so we'll probably end up crafting!!

Heard back from my agents today, the viewers decided it was a No due to the size of the living room as they didn’t want to lose the lovely period fireplaces by knocking through. I am glad in a way as I loved the period features and wouldn’t like to think of the character being removed.

It is just awful not knowing how much longer I might have to wait for a sale.

Keeping fingers crossed for you @Evenstar and joining in the frustration 😫

A lot of EA's are next to useless. If they tell you your home isn't getting the interest or offers because of interest rate rises, or school holidays, or inadequate twigs in vases, or whatever...... fire them. It is always the price!

Argh @Evenstar I'm sorry, that sucks. We haven't heard back from our second viewing either so assuming they are a no too.

100% what @XVGN said!

this is @Potaytoe5 the interest rates do massively effect things. Your first time buyers could have bought your house last year for 200k and their repayments would be £750ish a month, now they will be more like £1200 a month on 6%. So reducing down to £180k still is around £1000 a month in repayments. So obviously that significantly affects affordability. Are you able to negotiate a discount on your onward purchase?

I know you're looking at this as a buyer. But that works both ways. An extra £20K makes a big difference when selling for onwards affordability. Many people on this thread have already a significantly reduced to account for the market and can't afford to go any lower.

@Omgwtafisthat my house was valued last month at 215 and we are now marketing at 'over 200' to be competitive. I'm not going to consider an offer of 180 just yet. Maybe if we were on the market for 6 months with no viewings. For now we have several viewings a week still so hoping for better offers.

The danger here is that this is the typical "catching a falling knife" scenario. In six months time, £180K may turn out to be the best offer you could have had and that the value is now £160K (values made up!).

The best approach is to price attractively now in order to get a bidding war in the hope of pushing the price back up. But if you have no confidence of an onward purchase then you're caught.

@Potaytoe5 totally fair. Likewise we were valued £50K over what we went back on the market for 4 weeks ago.

Are your FTBs still coming back for another viewing?

@Permanentlyfrazzled im also a seller too. Also ‘valuations’ are not an exact science, they’re just numbers plucked out the air by estate agents, who mostly have a motivation to win your business.

I am not saying you should accept but as pointed out you really don’t want to be chasing the market down. Could you try and nudge them up to 190? It really is a buyers market, and as chain free buyers they’ve got the pick of what they want to buy, but you of course don’t need to sell to them if it doesn’t work for you. It’s difficult.

Sorry I tagged @Permanentlyfrazzled but meant @Potaytoe5

Yes they are coming for second viewing and yes, I know we don't want to be chasing the market down.
Hence we put it on for extremely good price.
180k around us still gets you a two bed terrace not a 3 bed semi detached.
We want to move to a bigger property, but we simply won't if we don't get an acceptable offer The EA didn't think we'd accept it at all either. I've spent half a day today, checking what sells for what price in my area, offering 180 for our house is extremely low.

@Potaytoe5 this is it. A lot of buyers are complaining as there isn't a lot of decent stock (me included) especially when it comes to family homes whilst also wanting 10% off asking. But families are doing exactly what you are, and what we are. At the end of the day there's a minimum price that enables someone to move.

Like you if we don't achieve our minimum price we simply won't be able to move and we will sit tight until prices come down across the board.

To be honest, we've been struggling to find on onward purchase as much as we are struggling to sell. Lots of families just sitting tight as it's a horrible market out there.

@Potaytoe5 it sounds like you are very reasonably priced.

This is good practice, but what mechanism do you use to do that? Personally, I sort Rightmove by Newest Listed, include properties SSTC or Under Offer, and see which properties (similar to mine) have sold in the last 4 weeks. I then look at the listed price and assume the deal was negotiated at 10% off. That is perhaps what my house is "worth".

@XVGN we are about 10% cheaper than similar properties recently sold. It's already a steal, I've done my research 😁

That's good. Then you'll sell without any difficulty I hope.

the more I hear from ppl on these threads the market really is a stalemate at the moment!

Thank you. It is very frustrating and I'm fed up of all the cleaning etc too. Yeah definitely better to do it sooner rather than later when kids have to settle in a new school. Its raining here too but on the plus side I had a look at the laundry machines at the petrol station down the road. They have a dryer so I'll be able to get a couple loads tomorrow and get them dry while the viewers are here lol

And all over the UK it seems!

In my minds eye I picture the market as deluded buyer (expects 20% crash immediately) meeting deluded seller (doesn't realise "crash" has started and needs to get ahead of it).

@Permanentlyfrazzled I really wish that I did have a magic wand for everyone ( I’d be very rich if I did). I definitely feel that schools hols are a bigger reason for lack of viewings as opposed to interest rates because it happens every year - there are very few people who will browse Rightmove while sunning themselves abroad on holidays.
If the stress of trying to sell is getting too much, take a step back and yes, take the house off the market for a few weeks, you don’t have to cancel the contract if you’re happy with the agent, just ask them to ‘tick it off the internet’ until you’re ready to go back on at which point you can ask them to ‘tick it back on’ it’s just easier all round. While you’re taking a break, your agent will still have people phoning to enquire about types of properties such as yours, and as yours is still being marketed by them, they will match your house to prospective buyers. If you cancel the contract, the agent will have no reason to contact you and you could lose a potential buyer. Also make sure you keep the For Sale board up, it’s still one of the best ways to advertise, in my opinion.

I understand that a lot of vendors are very reluctant to reduce asking price stating “We’ve already dropped the price by £50k” or whatever, but there has been no loss of money at all, you’ve simply changed the number…..£50k has not been taken away, it’s just a number.

I know a lot of people say “the sellers of the onward house want the asking price, so we need our asking price too”, but until the onward vendor has been approached with a firm offer from a qualified buyer, as opposed to an offer of interest where you’ve asked if they will take less once you’re in a position to buy, you don’t know just how much they will negotiate down in price when it’s put to them.

Another idea if you’ve been on the market for a while, have your agent come out to take a front main photo from a different angle, (maybe take some new internal ones too) so instead of people scrolling through Rightmove thinking “seen it”, they will think it’s one they’ve not seen, and may click to see more. At the company I work, we’ve done it in the past for a lot of our properties, especially if the orig photo was taken in a different season. It’s not a definite answer but your agent should be willing to do it for free and it has proved successful in some cases.

Give yourself a break for a couple of weeks, keep it on the market but off the internet, your agent will still be working hard for you, and once school holidays are over, go back online and wait for the (hoped for) boom 😊

The boot is on the other foot now unfortunately. It will be a buyers market for the next few years. Gains yet uncrystalised will disappear x