RightMove tactics

[Negroany]

This is my late mum's house, I am one of the executors:

https://durrants.com/property/reydon-southwold/

It went on the market in March and has had no viewings. It's a very specific area and I'm aware the market is pretty slow at the moment. I don't really care how much it sells for but I do have to make sure I am working in the best interests of the 7 residual beneficiaries (one of whom is a minor so relies on the executors decisions).

What are the best tactics here? I can see a lot of local property (there isn't really anything similar enough to truly compare) has been hanging around on the market for ages and that they have mostly had price reductions. I know putting on then reducing is now "the RightMove way", to boost views and get into a different price band.
I'm thinking about reducing after this bank holiday and about a week before the next one.

Brother wants to reduce by £15k and "not just give it away" (he's unrealistic and prone to hyperbole) and sister wants "one big reduction then that's it". In reality, it will sell for what it sells for and I'm not sure how much tactics will help, and as we're not worried about timings (I don't even have probate yet) maybe I can leave it longer still?

I could also change agents but I'm not sure the agents have that much sway these days.

I can't restyle the house at all because a lot of the furniture has now been taken and it's three hours from me. I actually thin the photos are pretty good. The only thing that could improve things is some photos of the garden which I assume (not been since Feb) is now starting to bloom.

(I don't even have probate yet)

The house is NOT available to buy yet so stop fretting about pricing and agents and concentrate on getting it available. Anyone sane wouldn't touch this house.

Rightmove opens up a lot of extra potential buyers especially those who are wanting to move to the area. Some agents automatically upload to Rightmove, others you have to ask them.

Ooh I know this area.

It has been on since March and has had NO viewings, that tells you it is significantly overpriced as normally properties get most interest in the first few weeks. I would reduce to 700k and not mess about with a 15k reduction which won't do anything. It looks a lovely house but it needs updating and Reydon is not Southwold, despite the proximity.

Ask the agent to proofread the listing. Mistakes like 'charater' don't look professional.

As you haven't got probate yet you can't even sell it realistically at the moment.

£15k is not enough of a reduction though frankly.

I don't know the area so can't comment on the price, but the lack of viewings would suggest price is an issue.

Plus it's on a main road with no front garden in between so directly onto the pavement. Nothing you can do about that, but it will put off a fair few buyers.

If the garden has now blossomed a bit I would also change that photo.

Otherwise I think it looks great.

I'm not fretting, as I said, it's no bother to me how long it takes. But you're probably right that I shouldn't bother reducing until I have probate sorted (I am "concentrating" on getting it available but there is a LOT of admin to do when someone dies and I am now waiting yet again for another code from HMRC before I can do anything else, having paid the inheritance tax.)

It is on RightMove, I just had the agent's link to-hand so posted that. That's why I was asking about RightMove tactics.

Twiglets1

It looks a lovely house but it needs updating and Reydon is not Southwold, despite the proximity.

It doesn't really need that much updating, only the main bathroom probably does. If you want an older house it's going to look...older. Parts of it are Tudor, the amount of updating even possible is very limited. I know Reydon isn't Southwold, what with my parents having lived there over twenty years, but that's how it's listed for the agent, though it doesn't come up on RM if you search Southwold anyway. If it was Southwold it would be double the price with no garden or parking!
But it is the nearest bar two house to Southwold that isn't Southwold!

I agree reducing £15k is entirely pointless.

I'm not really worried about minor typos in the script. It's advertising the house, not the agent.

It is dated unfortunately, can see that there are parts that have character but any buyer will be budgeting for making the house their own. 750K and no viewings tells you it is overpriced. I agree that a 15K reduction is not enough.

The listing would put me off

I've been through probate too so I understand the forms etc. I also understand it can take months and months to do, even over a year so having it listed for sale before it is actually available for sale isn't a good move. Very few people will offer on a property that could, in theory, take many years to go through or could be liable to dispute, they want a property that will go through smoothly. All you have done is make the property go stale.

Take it off market, get probate, relist it at the going market rate. Doing anything else is a waste of everyone's time, including yours.

I agree with @AutumnFroglets. There also appears to be a house on the EA’s website that has sold for £750,000? I didn’t look at the internals of it but it has over 3 acres of land? That might be the sort of property you are in competition with? Good luck OP a difficult situation for you to navigate as the executor trying to satisfy the beneficiaries. I would just want it gone but when others are involved that can muddy the waters.

I think it’s lovely and I personally am not sure why people think it needs updating. I was brought up in a beautiful 400 year old ,listed cottage with the inglenook fireplaces and original beams.
Someone who bought it since my Mother moved ,has painted the beams white ,destroyed the fireplaces and got rid of the beautiful willow tree.
It’s back on the market and it now looks like a tacky generic barn conversion …awful !

I also agree with taking it off the market and launching afresh when probate is granted.

So I could not get past photo #2 on the agents website. It just would not load.

Maybe a new agent with a different price, and spring garden photos?

I think the main bathroom being accessible from bedroom 1 will put a lot of people off.

Very few people who need a 4 bed home will want a small wet room as their main bathroom so that will either limit the people interested or will involve some reconfiguring which will cost them more on top of the purchase price.

Also, I wouldn't even bother to look at anything that was going through probate as that could take another year!!

I think take it off the market until its ready to sell and price it competitively.

Good luck

Well, plenty of properties go on the market "subject to probate" and while I know that means things can take a while to settle, the agents were happy to list it (in fact, they wanted to list it sooner).

I know prospective buyers won't know this but there will be no issues at all with probate and no disputes. I went through that with the agent so if people are worried about it and ask, they can be told.

I expect probate would come through more quickly than any sale can be finalised even if we had an offer today as the details of the house are quite complex.

I'm comfortable with it being on pre probate. Though I would like HMRC to get on with issuing that code!

I'll have a look at the one that recently sold, I expect it's further out. Reydon is currently blighted by house building so areas near that have reduced in value.

The "small wet room" is quite a big bathroom (bigger than my only bathroom in my house). It used to have a bath in it. Completely understand that people would probably revert it.

I might ask them to just call it a shower room, it's not a real wet room anyway.

The main bathroom is the size of my living room. I would split it into two, make a small en suite and a bigger main bathroom. Personally. If it was possible.

Well, it's fine here :)

I'm not sure the agent has much impact does it? I wanted a local one, there are only two. And if I had a new agent I'd need new photos and there's a lot less furniture now so it probably looks weird.

I’d make sure it’s on right move, on the market and zoopla and any other main websites.

The estate agents website - I couldn’t find a map or a floor plan - that’s what I look for first.

But I agree actually to take it off the market if you’re still in probate. You can still go for a soft sell, this is when the EA knows you will be listing it, but if someone comes along looking for something similar he can send them your way.

We actually sold a house this way. We had an EA round for a valuation only. He had a buyer wanting to live in our specific road, he knew what the buyers price range was - voila sale agreed, and higher than our initial valuations.

In the South East where I’ve been looking houses are going on at really high prices & then being reduced by 25-50k after a few weeks. I’m not sure why they’re being priced so high initially but the agent did tell me that it isn’t only the agent that dictates the price & that often the seller will have an (unrealistic) price in mind. Has the agent given any feedback about the lack of interest/ viewings?

Why do you say a sane person wouldn’t touch this house? Is it over priced for the area or is there another reason?

OP You said yourself that the house is in a very specific area so your target market is small. It's also seems like the kind that would need the 'right' buyer instead of having mass appeal.

Also all major banks have just announced an interest rate increase after speculation that they were going to be dropping. There's massive economic uncertainty.
Buyers are cautious and very picky.

Probate could take months , interest rates could change massively in that time , making the initial agreed price a bad financial decision for the buyers. It's different in a boom where the buyers benefit from their property increasing in value but getting it for the initial lower asking price.

I'm sorry for your loss, your mum's house is really lovely. It's an old building and an older person lived there, so nobody should be surprised that it will need updating when on the market. I wouldn't change anything in the property itself and the garden is fabulous 😍😍😍

I would, however, take it off the market at least until probate is through.

It's good that you state on the particulars that it's going through probate; despite what you may know about the stage it has reached, you'll be putting a lot of potential buyers off as most people would think "at least 6 months".

If you do take it off the market briefly, when you return, I'd price it at £699,950, so you get it into a different search bracket on a Rightmove and open up to more buyers.

Good luck!

"The main bathroom is the size of my living room...."

I just saw the dimensions, 4.9m x 3.8m (although that must include the shower tucked away in the extra corner). That's huge!

Also, the house certainly isn't dated at all - except for the bathroom. The pictures of the garden seem fine as well.

However, I'm another who wouldn't touch a property that was described as "Subject to Probate" unless it really was my dream home.

For others, here is the Rightmove link:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145986299#/?channel=RES_BUY

It doesn't really need that much updating, only the main bathroom probably does.
Both bathrooms and most of the flooring would be changed if I bought it, I’d need to budget for that. (Plus painting etc)
Love the features though, I wouldn’t change them.

Wait until probate is granted and then drop to £700 and wait.

It is on all those sites.

Both the map and floorplan are on the agent's site and RightMove.

The EA obviously doesn't have a buyer, if they did they would surely have told us by now. And if someone wanted the specific street, we'd know by now, it has a for sake sign