No viewings/offers since failed open day - What would you do?

[rosemarycait96]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144690626#/?channel=RES_BUY

Here's our listing ^^

A fairly normal house for our village which has a lot of cottages of a similar size or bigger. The ones that are on the market all are priced £385-£450k ish.

We started on £425k with an open day as per recommendation by our EA. 3 viewings. 2 of the parties were extremely interested and gave good feedback saying it was well presented and lovely etc. But no offers.

Thought the price may be the issue, so we reduced to £415k. No offers and not even a single viewing since then.

Other houses in our village seem to sit on the market for weeks too, and our house had been on the market for a month when we bought it in early 2022 when homes were flying off the shelves in days! So I wasn't expecting a miracle. I was, however, expecting at least some viewings.

Anything we can do to help speed things along? I'm getting a little impatient now - we're viewing a lovely house tomorrow that, if we had sold already, I'd be very confident putting an offer in on. I'm thinking we could reduce to 399k to open up a new band of buyers on rightmove, but it would feel so demoralising as we'd barely make any profit then!

It's such a difficult market, I do feel for you op 🌷

In fairness, it’s only a difficult market if sellers are hoping to make a profit on something they’ve lived in for less than two years and bought right at the top of the market. Ultimately those who are being reasonable and acknowledging that a) the market has dropped and b) even in a fairly good market it’s totally normal to barely break even or lose a bit of money when you move so soon after buying are going to sell. OP has had lots of good feedback but the upshot is that she wants pre-interest rate rise money for a - albeit very nice - property with niche features which wasn’t going to be an easy sell in any market, and it’s totally about price in this case.

This. There is no general right to make a profit on a property in less than two years.

I think unfortunately you paid a bit too much when you bought it given that it is terraced. I wanted to view a 3 bed detached in Bleadon a couple of years ago but didn’t get sold in time to view that went for about 375k. There’s currently a 3 bed detached on for about that at the moment. Saw a 2 bed detached which sold for 350k in 2021 also there was a 3 bed detached in private road 2022 which went for about 435k, it had a kitchen diner, living room, extra reception, great garden and big garage.

Bleadon struggles a little sometimes as doesn’t have the beach as Uphill does and isn’t in the Cheddar schools catchment as Lympsham is and I don’t think the quarry development is helping at the moment .

Also fair few people from Bristol who might have done the surrounding villages in the past are moving into Weston (I know of 5 in last few years) because of proximity to station and motorway and value for money after being priced out of Bristol plus also some moving in from London . I was watching a house there that came on at 595k and went in less than 2 weeks pretty recently , the market has picked up a bit though houses that need work are sticking unless they are cheap or big.

Hopefully a new agent, new pictures of rearranged living room and handrail might help but often when feedback is pretty decent it often means nice house but too expensive. Really difficult for you if you are going back to a more expensive area. It does only need one person though, fingers crossed for you.

I'm afraid that after this length of time you do need to accept that the price is the issue OP.

Just a thought in the photos though - could you update the pictures of the garden now that it's summer? Presumably the originals were taken in winter so it looks chilly and shady!
Perhaps show the garden furniture etc.

I see that you're installing banister - that is the single thing that would have put me off ... I think it's a lovely house and wish you luck.

@rosemarycait96 any luck selling? I have found your thread interesting as we are in a similar position and with a similar type house to yours. No interest and no viewings. Although its early days for us I have a horrible feeling we are priced too high but things round here seem so slow! I am in Mid West Wales and not many properties seem to be selling, unless they drastically reduce their prices. But properties like mine (terraced period cottages) seem to be stagnant!

@Sniffywhippymum

We were literally about to switch agents when we had a buyer who made a verbal offer, then decided to wait until a 2nd viewing before putting their offer in writing/committing fully. They then backed out of the 2nd viewing and as of today, have ghosted us completely. It's cost us 2 weeks and lost us a house we wanted to offer on! We do have another 2nd viewing today with a different buyer so we are hoping, but not hopeful.

I'm sorry you've had little interest in your house too. It seems the market for this kind of place is struggling a bit - a few houses are for sale in our village and most have been on the market for the best part of 6 months. I'm only aware of 2 or 3 houses which have sold this year, and all have been bungalows or ex-council houses. The cottages are staying put.

This buying and selling lark is brutal isn't it? People making all the right noises then letting you down. Its so disheartening. We ended up having a guy knock at the door on Sunday afternoon after seeing the for sale sign. We let him view. He loved the house and was raving about how it was just what he was looking for. He said he would be contacting the agents first thing Monday (yesterday) to arrange a second viewing. He is a cash buyer and was talking about making an offer. We were ecstatic! We have literally heard nothing!!! He has not contacted the agent as expected and we are left here wondering what went wrong when everything was so positive. So frustrating so I feel your pain.
I look at the market here and similar properties to ours (2/3 bed cottages) are just not shifting and it makes me wonder if we are ALL just priced too high for today's market? We have set ourselves a date of end of August and if viewings and interest continues to be slow we will reduce the price and just see what happens. If we don't sell by end of October we will take it off the market and put it on again after Christmas.
Best of luck with your viewing today. Your buyer is out there somewhere and these ones may just be it! Fingers crossed for you. x

I think there is widespread belief that interest rates will go back to (what the believers hope is) normal, so that the overinflated prices will become affordable again.

A neighbour of mine put their house up for sale in June it went sstc very quickly but now they've put it back on the market and dropped the price slightly. I'm guessing the buyer looked at the figures and realized the mortgage was unaffordable or that the property was overpriced.
My neighbour clearing isn't willing to drop to a realistic price so they've just shaved a tiny bit off in the hope that someone will pay it.
I think they're on a hiding to nothing, they should have shaved a big chunk off for a quick sale, now they'll be sitting there for ages .... chasing the market down.

You've probably nailed it then it's the price.

Any luck with your 2nd viewing? x

@rosemarycait96 any luck with your 2nd viewing?

I hope today has gone positively for you @rosemarycait96 . It saw this one in Bleadon fell through on the 2nd July, came back on and is under offer again so I think even the cottages are going if priced correctly. I totally get that you are moving to an expensive area but I think sadly you have been unlucky and paid a premium at a time when lots of people wanted to be out of a town so were happy to pay more and the market has changed now.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144261638#/?channel=RES_BUY

Well they've asked some follow up questions today about whether we have damp proofing so I'm taking it as a good sign that they're so invested. They had another 2nd viewing at another house though. Fingers crossed.

Fingers firmly crossed for you.

Definitely a good sign that they are asking more questions. Keeping everything crossed that these are the ones!!! Its hard to not get too excited though isn't it? Keep us posted on what happens x

It would be about the right size for us but there are quite a number of smallish jobs that need doing and that would put me off viewing. It is a potentially nice house but just slightly bleak looking. My main worries would be the astro turf and lack of a downstairs toilet and all those stone floors, I want an extra jumper just looking at them. It's early days yet though, it just needs one person to love it. When we sold in 1990 it took 3 years to sell our house and that wasn't uncommon in our area at the time.

You have a lovely house. The wide opening and stairs to the kitchen will probably put off those soon to start a family and those that have recently. I am sure that somebody will want the house although the asking price might be a little on the steep side.

The other off putting feature for myself is the astroturf. I would seriously consider getting quotes for a proper lawn. A lovely cottage in a village is unlikely to attract many people who prefer fake over real lawns.

One further point to make is something I have only now realised. The grass on the garden by the garden office is a lot higher and has a drop off which is not ideal. Can that be levelled or fenced off?

You might need to try and work out who your target buyer is and then invite a friend around who is in that group. Ask them to be honest about what puts them off and if there are any quick alterations that you can make?

Your house is lovely, unfortunately the market has stalled. Had my neighbour sold their house during the madness with the market during covid and people wanting a larger home to work from they would have sold it easily. They marketed it in September 2023 for £499,950, it’s now reduced to £410,000 and still no offers. They’ve had open days and no one has turned up.

To be fair the estate agent was totally off the mark in the first instance, it massively needs bringing up to date and there’s better out there competitively priced. They purchased it 30 years ago and no longer have a mortgage. They have another open house tomorrow, see if anyone turns up this time 🤷‍♀️

I am pretty nearby ( looked at some in the village OP is selling around the time she bought hers) and the market absolutely hasn’t completely stalled, things are still selling - some much faster than others . I was watching 4 a couple of months ago and all now under offer. Above is a link above to a 3 bed detached cottage near the OP’s house which was on earlier this year, went under offer but fell through. It went back on on July 2nd and is now under offer again . I have been watching RM regularly and loads have sold in the surrounding few miles in the time the OP started this thread.

The problem the OP is having is that she has a terraced cottage in an area where people moving there as a rule prefer detached places , paid top whack for it in 2022 and is moving to a more expensive area so doesn’t have flexibility to reduce so is having to play the long game and wait it out. Fingers crossed something comes from her second viewing .

A friend who lives very close to the OP is looking to sell a bungalow a few miles from the OP, detached bungalows are sticking there whereas in the village where OP is they do go although not necessarily quickly. We were saying how ironic it is as her DD is looking to buy in Bristol and struggling to buy in her price band and has been outbid on one and viewings cancelled on others as gone under offer before she could get there .

Have faith OP, it is a beautiful house! I’m also Somerset-based and would’ve loved your house (bit too far from where I work currently, unfortunately!). It’s a beautiful, beautiful home and I would’ve put an offer in Im sure if we were looking over in that direction.

The only thing I have to say other than the bannister and Astro turf (which have been mentioned previously), is putting a nice big rectangular rug under the dining table to make it feel cosier.

Other than that - your home is stunning. Best of luck for your move!

Well, I can finally give the update I've been desperate to give. Today, we finally received our first proceedable offer, which we gladly accepted! We have viewings booked in Bristol, solicitors being instructed soon, all systems go.

It took almost 6 months.... but we got there. I am exhausted already, and the hard bit is just beginning.

Thank you everyone for your tips and encouragement, which we did take to heart and used to help present the house better and navigate the market.

Absolutely fabulous news!!! There is hope for those of us still OTM and trying to sell. Keeping everything crossed for a smooth sale xxx