Anyone else had viewings today?

[Chanel05]

I had 4 viewings today.

First time buyer, couple that have sold to a first time buyer, a first time buyer and a couple that aren't yet back on the market but they had sold and their sale had fallen through.

Anyone else had viewings today? How did they go?

You appreciate my opinion Crashy? That bought a tear to my eye

Tears of happiness, don’t worry!

You keep refuting people who say that buyers don’t exist by saying “buyers do exist but they can’t afford current house prices”. That’s a very pedantic and weird rebuttal when you clearly know that we are defining buyers as “people who can afford to buy a house that meets their expectations”. People who want to buy my house and lack the money to do so aren’t of any interest to me and clearly aren’t what I mean by buyers.

You are absolutely insistent that what buyers want is the only thing influencing the market. That sellers must drop drop drop their prices to suit the buyers. But that’s a stupid thing to say.

There aren’t any houses on the market near me that are equivalent to my house and cheaper. There are plenty that are within 2% and selling within a month or two. So why am I considered to be in denial about what the house is worth, rather than the buyer being in denial to think that it’s worth dramatically less?

Anyway, I'm not going to debate market forces any more. It's dull and no one is going to change their mind. Just going to stick to discussing people's individual selling/buyer as the topic originally intended.

@cloppyklip can you call them and ask? It sounds likely it's a no, but at least if you know that for sure you can move on or increase your offer.

I had a second viewing. She clearly wants to buy the house but has moved from a five bed detached and is downsizing so looking at my modest terrace, and is really focussing on things like storage (there isn’t any! You kinda have to get over it) and not having a place to dry laundry (yeah that’s where those extra bedrooms come in handy, and the utility room, that small terraces don’t have). Her friends live on the next road and she is in love with the village, they viewed too and are trying to work through her qualms. I think she would love it here if she can get through the mental blocks. Anyway, some positive action at least.

@cloppyklip kind of gutted for you, I’d call the office - maybe the EA is off sick or something and hasn’t provided them feedback? It’s very odd to not have a response of any kind. Esp if they are looking to sell.

@Twiglets1 lol
@BarbaricPeach totally agree, I’d love to know if those that bandy it’s all about the property being ‘overpriced’ actually have a property on the market .. quite honestly it’s best to ignore it, I’m open to different options and opinions on here, but when it’s the default overpriced I just switch off. The latter is an easy statement to make and requires no thought process.

Thank you for the good luck. I'm perfectly happy with an echo chamber where the echoes are "people discussing the topic at hand- people currently selling a house sharing their updates" rather than "doooom doooom dooooom" from people not selling a house at the moment.

Crossing everything for you!

I can sympathise with your downsizer, we're kind of her mirror image. We don't really need a 4 bedroom for our next house, but those are the only properties that have the additional downstairs living space and storage that we do need.

But she does just need to bite the bullet and get over it! Hopefully her friends can reassure her.

I put mine on the market at 5k below market value because there was an affordable house I fell in love with however that house has now sold and there is nothing I can afford available.
I have four viewings booked for Friday, so the estate agent said stick with them and see what the feedback is, then maybe take it off for a few months till more becomes available.

I am confused because there's unlikely to be a bidding war to raise the price enough for me to move on.
Also, please can someone explain why everyone says this is a buyer's market? How can it be when there is nowhere to buy? (Unless that's just where i am).

Putting yours on at 5k below market value may turn out to be good tactics if more than one buyer becomes interested in your property after viewing it. Because that becomes a competitive situation where someone could end up offering 5k or more over the listed price. Anyway, you’ll know more after the 4 viewings so yes, definitely let them go ahead.

People say it’s a buyers market because at the moment buyers can very often generate a discount on the listed price because the market is stagnant. Whereas when the market moves quickly such as during the stamp duty holiday, buyers don’t have much time to think. They have to act quickly to secure a property and normally have to pay very close to the asking price or maybe even above it to secure the property. But I do agree that a stagnant market can be frustrating for buyers & sellers alike if there’s not much new coming to market in your area.

@BarbaricPeach yes we want more communal space too, this is why we have to leave our village (which is all stone terraces build in the mill working era) and go to a neighbouring village where we’ve found a 1980s bungalow for twice the price we’re selling. If she wants to move to our village she has little option (and her friends live in small terraces too). I’m trying to buy now something that I will live out my days in. She is too, I think, but is in her 70s so finding it quite stressful. I feel for her but I think she’s focussing on the wrong things. I’d be more worried about not having a downstairs loo, having lots of stairs, and potential future mobility issues over where to store the ironing board!

@Flensburg not much for sale around our way either. If we don’t secure the property we have our eye on we’re taking ours off the market.

@79andnotout I definitely agree she's focused on the wrong things. My dad was the same when he moved (at 73) but unfortunately he never did listen to reason and ended up with a large three bed house that I can see him struggling with in future.

@Flensburg same here, nothing on the market to buy! I really do agree with other posters that "stagnant" is the best word for it, rather than buyers/sellers market. Usually FTBs might have had an advantage getting properties with no chain but now rates mean they can't even do that easily.

We're downsizers too and it's definitely a mental process you have to come to terms with. We're hoping to downsize from a large 4 bed town house to a 3 bed semi.

Not sold yet, but we've started to declutter and get rid of stuff.

That £5k below market value sounds like a good idea, I wish I'd read that 2 weeks ago! If I do that now surely it would just look odd? I mean I wouldn't do it this minute because it's only been on 2 weeks, but I don't think its a tactic you can use in retrospect? Basically that's just a reduction then and I think if you are reducing you need more than £5k off. Feel I've missed a "trick" there! (just coining a phrase before anyone gets excited, not intending to trick any buyers)

Thanks everyone, this is so stressful and horrible.
@Twiglets1 thanks for explaining. I guess i live in the wrong place for it to benefit me.
@BarbaricPeach yeah, definitely stagnant here.
@GoingDownLikeBHS I did it because I wanted to sell quickly, and it's getting viewings booked. But now the one I want has gone, I'm regretting it...
I'm hoping maybe more will come on this or next month. But having been up half the night crying due to this and other life stresses, I'm not sure how long I should leave it on the market. I guess I will talk to my estate agent, as I trust him and his judgement. He's not going to charge exit fees if I take it off, which is kind of him.

@Flensburg Think it depends on the area, mine’s going back up in a week or so with two agents and from what I’m hearing from EAs, friends looking to sell, etc the market is starting to pick up around here (W3, London).

I took mine off so often, that now it’s going to stay on until it goes, can’t take it anymore both financially and emotionally. Sometimes the biggest frustration is that the decision to move has been made and now it’s just darn well getting it done.

We've just instructed the agent to drop the price. Had a second viewing who the agent thinks are keen and who have accepted an offer on theirs but not yet exchanged. Another potential viewer cancelled today which is gutting so we're crossing fingers that dropping the price generates more interest.

@AshRJ , that's the biggest frustration I have now! I feel like I'm constantly thinking about moving but there's nothing we can actively be doing to make it happen!

We had our house up in 2022 and over two months we only had about six or seven viewings so I have to remember that. Our village is a great commute to Manchester, but people just won't have heard of it to come and look unless they're already fairly local.

House prices falling is the best thing to happen to UK society for decades, obviously tricky if you are trying to sell especially if you bought the house in the last few years, but cheaper property is not "doom" it is just reality now.

Are you selling a house right now @CrashyTime ? It seems most of us who are sellers want to keep on topic from now on rather than rehashing the pricing debate with people who aren’t🙂

Fair point, the thread is moving off topic, but if people actually had any viewings they would be able to shut down the "doomsayers" quite quickly? The advice about pricing and using tools like PropertyLog is the best advice for anyone hoping to sell IMO.

Agreed. There is no standard house that's a three bedder with an average sized garden worth £3000+ per month in mortgage repayments (not even inc bills, council tax, insurance, maintenance for friggs sake). That's stupid money to pay. And it's mostly on the interest too.

Just agreed with the estate agent to drop £10k. We're now at the next Rightmove bracket so hopefully that will get some more eyes on us. Unfortunately it's not a nice round hundred or fifty bracket so I imagine the impact won't be as much as if it was.

Yes, it is absurd, but will be reality more and more for people coming off fixes? I am starting to think that there could be a wave of defaults as people just see how pointless the cost for a basic shelter with debt is?