Taking our house off the market. It’s too annoying.

[sellotape12]

I’m fed up of having to leave the house every Friday and Saturday, or estate agents turning up early. Or then being super loud and waking the baby from his nap. I’m fed up of having to frantically tidy with five mins notice. This whole process has made me re-fall in love with our existing house.

FYI we live in a pretty popular neighbourhood of London and have a modernised mid terrace. We’ve had 41 viewings, no offers, all feedback has been “we’re thinking about it”. Everything we look at to buy as onwards is being price-pumped to try offset the falling market. Or it looks ok then you realise it needs some renovation work and with 2 year waitlists and spiralling costs, it’s no longer a good deal to renovate.

The reason we wanted to move was a busy street but tbh the volatility of this market and lack of options has made us realise our current place has more of good thing about it. So solidarity with anyone else who’s thinking of coming off the market!

I wouldn’t be buying a doer upper atm

The pre brexshit/pre covid landscape has altered utterly

Unless you're planning to do a lot of it yourself, don't!

Also I don’t think people are typically ‘heating’ their home with a log burner in the sense that they rely on it, more often it’s a nice feature for the room and something that gets lit if miserable days for extra cosy-ness I think.

Not sure I agree, many many people rely on log burners, I don’t think it’s typical at all for it to just be a nice feature. Yes it’s become fashionable to have one, but that doesn’t change the fact many rely on it.

I would agree for people in more rural locations but in mid terrace houses in central london, with no-where to store wood and no access to very cheap sources of wood, I would imagine they are very much more aesthetic

well given that any form of extensions is 200k+ and loft conversion 100k onward in London, the aged house has to be discounted sufficiently to make it worth the immense stress it is likely to cause with kids and busy jobs. Unfortunately, reading through this thread:

Buyers = picky time wasters
Sellers = delusional sitting on a gold mine people

41 one viewings means price is too high, clear as day regardless of what owner thing. Houses are going within days when priced correctly in zone 2/3 London. A lot gets stuck for months due to the 10-15% delusional premium. But it’s ok, interest rate are coming down back to 0 to another great British housing boom in 2024.

I’d just look at it not being the right time.
We put our house on the market as we saw a fixer up house we really wanted. Lots of viewings but no offers, totally exhausting with two young kids. The thing that annoyed me was the most was the comments about things they could clearly see from the brochure ( small garden/ small third bedroom ) but coming to look knowing it didn’t suit anyway.. wasting so much time.
The house we wanted was purchased by someone else and we’d had enough and took it off the market then covid came.
A year later we put it back on the market with nowhere in mind to buy ( thought we would rent for a while ) we got two offers within a couple of weeks and the day we accepted one a perfect house came on the market.
We live in that perfect house now.
Just take a break for a while.

I didn’t say they were wrong to be picky, I said that with rows and rows of identical houses (some with wood stoves and some not) they are picky.

Because you’re not a forced seller, in this market it’s pointless trying to sell.

At 41 viewings and no offers it means your house is priced way over what people think is currently good value.

They’ll be taking notes and just mentally saying ‘no’.

The wood burning stove comment may have been a joke/excuse but it’s passed you by.

I can promise you, there’s a price for everything.

I had 42 viewings on our flat in the early 2000s. No offers.

I dropped the price and it sold within a week.

As a Londoner it’s interesting to hear how soft the
market is. Doesn’t bode well for the economy and life generally in the U.K.

Recession expected pretty soon too. Things are going to get grim 💩

I think one thing that helps a lot is floor plans or room sizes at least - photos can be made to look really deceptive- it's no good showing me a picture of what looks like a really good bedroom and then realising it has no wardrobes built in , so you are going to need wardrobes or use another bedroom with rails etc- same with showing what looks like a decent lounge but I can see on a floor plan it's 11 by 12 .

I do think people should ask for these things before viewings and at least know the area/street or had a look at street view to judge parking situation if it hasn't got a drive etc

There are though other things you can't always tell from pictures. Radiators in spots that make it hard to think where you would put your stuff. Neighbours gardens full of shit , weird musty smells, damp patches. Some people want it absolutely mint from the off.
As someone else said in many places like London where you have streets of identical houses, sometimes a 4 bedder with a loft conversion is priced only £70k above a 3 bedder. If someone wants/needs that extra room then they will factor in the cost of doing that work- especially these days. a lot of people want 4 bedders these days partly because of home working- being around more tends to mean you notice more if there is a big lack of space or storeage- and prices often don't reflect this.
The fact people say I need xxxx to be able to move onwards is immaterial - someone buying doesn't care what anyone needs, just whether the buying price fits 'their' budget.

Not that any of this applies to you OP . I think you are doing the right thing if you don't need to move

I don’t think that’s absolutely true. With no viewers I’d be looking at price. With no offers at any level, I’d say the EA weren’t doing a good job at the sales end.

I really doubt many would agree with you. This isn’t down to the agent, people make offers on viewing because they want the property, not because the agent had a spiel. 41viewings and the agent is doing great.

Yep, I’ll say it again:

“There’s a price for everything”

nothing to do with the EA. With that presumption you’re saying a house could sell for any price.. if there’s enough good sales patter.

Complete rubbish.

Wood burning stoves are a top cause of air pollution in cities - govt won't do anything about them for fear of annoying the middle class!

41 viewings and no offers means your house is over priced.

I don't think the potential buyers are the issue.

We’re in exactly the same situation! 6 months now, reduced it, loads of viewings still, two silly offers, all ‘absolutely love it’ no negative feedback, then nothing - our dream house is now on the market and miraculously hadn’t been sold yet but just can’t see any way it will happen. I’m absolutely sick of it.

Everything we look at to buy as onwards is being price-pumped to try offset the falling market

I'd imagine many of the 41 viewers of your home are having similar conversations tbh.

Sounds right pain tbh OP - I've never had this - my (batchelor) house was empty when I sold it....Maybe push your EA to do an open house event so all viewers come en masse ?

You could ask agent about just having an open house - just get out of the way for one full day and they show people round. No more ad hoc viewings - they all have to come to the open house, make sure it's busy (could even send some undercover friends to also wander round making interesting sounding noises, make it look like there's lots of interest and people need to make decisions fast). If there's no offers after that, this may not be the right moment for this house, or you may need to drop the price, unfortunately...

Sounds like you have enough space and live in a nice area. We too have enough space and love our location, which to buy more space in during an onward purchase we’d need a minimum of 250k (and renovation costs on top). In previous market conditions we’d have been sufficiently financially motivated to make the move, but with interest rates so high, this isn’t as profitable as it once was. I totally get where you’re coming from. Winter isn’t a great time to be on the market, I’d come off and if you feel of the mind for a move, go back on in Spring 2024. Good luck, OP.

@wishingiwas20something "In previous market conditions we’d have been sufficiently financially motivated to make the move, but with interest rates so high, this isn’t as profitable as it once was."

This is also a very good point. I think a lot of sellers have are overestimating how "desirable" their property actually is. Certainly during the Covid boom pretty much every house was desirable, but even before that people were maybe more willing to compromise because between low interest rates and rising prices they could build equity quickly and move into something better in a few years. It was more about getting on the ladder/getting to the next rung.

Now a lot more of your monthly payments will be going towards paying interest rather than building equity and the days of climbing the ladder through price increases are gone. If you think you might be staying in a house for 10 years you are going to be looking at every detail carefully and also looking for more space.

Sounds like you are wasting the EA and viewers time then.

Are sellers able to ask for EA to just do open houses nowadays?

So that lots of viewers in space of 3 hours on a Saturday rather than same number in dribs and drabs over Saturday and Sunday every weekend?

We had and went to open houses when we sold our old house and found our new house but this was back in the dark ages so are they not fashionable any more?

Us and the viewers were all checked out beforehand to check they were actually looking for the type of house that was being sold

So not sending people who "must have" a wood burner to a house in a smoke free zone or who want a flat to view a house or who want parking for 3 cars in their own driveway to a house where parking is only allowed on the street (no driveways) etc

its really bad out there-dont know whats worse 41 viewings or three(my sister not me)

shes cut the price before anyone suggests that

Having moved recently I would say if you're not absolutely sure you want to, then don't do it! Ours has worked out ok in the end, and had to happen (work relocation of 200 miles) but it has been horrendously stressful selling and then buying.

Not only managing the viewings (we didn't sell in the end until after we'd already moved into rented but the weeks of viewings before that were stressful), but then the solicitor dealings, even tiny chains were stressful. The amount of upheaval and making the new house work for us. Costs seem to have risen a lot, removals were a lot more expensive than we've paid in the past.

There’s a price for everything sure enough, but people view houses within price bands. They do not, or are not permitted by the estate agent, to view something they cannot afford. If someone has a budget of £500k, say, they will view houses within the area of that figure. If they like it enough they will offer the price they are prepared to pay. It may be lower, it may not be accepted by the seller, but no one is going to be put off offering on a house they want by the stated asking price. People are offering 10, 20% below in the current market!

The asking price in combination with marketing activity gets the viewer. After that it’s up to the house and the selling agent. If all they’ve got is patter they won’t convert. But that’s their fault and reducing the asking price isn’t going to make a difference.