Fed up of viewings -what to do?

[MochaMad]

My house has been on the market for nearly a year, nothing wrong with it, well presented, desirable location, no bad feedback and competitively priced (reduced twice)… The market is just awful.

We are currently getting weekly viewings and have had a couple of seconds but they decided to buy in another town or a more modern house.

We are getting really fed up of disappointment and changing or cancelling plans, spending scarce free time tidying up for people who aren’t in a position to proceed. We have 3 kids and both work. The house seems to get untidy quite quickly.

So I’m thinking of asking our estate agent to only arrange viewings only for those with an offer or cash / in a position to proceed and to sift out the ‘browsers’.

Is this a bad idea? Should I be glad of ANY viewings I can get?

Do you have to move right now?

@Gettingbysomehow Yes - post divorce / consent order situation with youngest turning 18. Plus we all work or study elsewhere and want to move nearer to work & college.

i think it’s fine to sift out serious buyers, just beware of chasing the market down price wise - house prices are definitely stagnating/falling in most places, and people’s spending power is much reduced. Basically what I’m saying is / are you sure you’re competitively priced? What is your competition like? Better to drop another 10k now than another 25k in 6 months.

Given the length of time it's been on the market and your needing to sell it feels counterintuitive to restrict viewings. But I totally get that it's a massive pain.

Also - I am not allowed to rent it out due to consent order conditions and we have 4 pets. I don’t want to rent either.

Could you agree one day per week or fortnight that you'll have viewings?

@Spacecrispsnack I have been folowing the market locally closely and know that we are competitively priced. I might get other agents round to appraise again soon though.

Could you see if the EA will do "open house" viewings, so once a fortnight/ month there is a day that is open house and all viewings booked in that period are for that day.

@Bronfenbrenner maybe - at least if we could agree a Friday or a Saturday alternating and not the pesky midweek ones. Will have a ponder.

I don't know how you have kept sane with having your house on the market that long, it's so stressful having viewings, getting your hopes up etc.

I would start by telling your EA you don't want any viewings anymore from people who aren't in a position to proceed. At the very least they must have their own house on the market or be FTBs with a decision in principle .

I would insist only on proceedable viewers. Might you be able to drop the price as well?

With my last house I did both and sold in a week as I had to get rid of it.

Consider changing your EA as a year seems very long. Ask for only those with house on market or about to be, cash buyers etc. Consider only Saturdays and one evening a week for viewings for example but be willing to let the odd one view outside of that, eg a shift worker.

I'm in the process of selling/buying. I do not care about kids toys left out or the pots unwashed or a few weeds in the garden or the mound of dirty washing in the bedroom but please please clean up any grime like dirty skirting, or handrails and light switches. And make sure all odd jobs are done. I've just been to one - there were other problems but these were easy fixes imo - grass growing out of the gutter, couple of misted windows, broken handle on window, plaster/paint falling off porch, fitted wardrobe door falling off its runner, bathroom tap dripping It all adds up to an uncaring owner so what hidden faults have they also ignored? I walk away from those.

My house is dated and needs " kitchen and bathroom modernising" with chipped paint on skirting etc but it's clean. No obvious easy faults. Sold within a week and above EA value.

Good luck OP, I can imagine it's very stressful with three children.

I agree with @Pixiedust1234 I don’t think a house needs to be spotlessly tidy for a viewing. Clean, yes, and well maintained and generally clear, but i would consider a more relaxed approach - especially for people who are not sold or cash buyers.

Yep, I agree, we downsized and relocated during lockdown, I told EA only viewers that are proceedable can view. I went to a lot of effort to be ready for viewers no way was I prepared to waste my time for someone that wasn’t in a position to make an offer. Good luck, I hope you find a buyer very soon.

You need a new EA and a new valuation. It just can't be competitively priced if it hasn't sold yet. If you're following the market you should see that the average time to sell has increased but by a number of days not months.

It sounds so frustrating OP. I'd definitely change agents and get them to arrange some group viewings.

We did it after a few weeks, on the market a whole ago. Got so fed up of sightseers, so only allowed 1st time buyers with mortgage offers, or people under offer. It cut the viewings, but only people who could progress came around and it stopped wasting everyone's time. Do it, you won't regret it.

"You need a new EA and a new valuation. It just can't be competitively priced if it hasn't sold yet."

I was thinking the same, sounds like it needs a significant reduction.

I think you have unrealistic expectations of your house’s value. Ultimately it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Well priced houses will always sell. You are asking too much for it.

I don’t think you are competitively priced for your area/ condition of your house tbh if you’ve been on the market for a year.
Most of the time EA’s actually do ask buyers what their position is before arranging viewings.
Every viewing I have gone for I have been asked if I was proceedable prior to viewing.

I recommend dropping your price. Gives buyers an indication you want to sell especially as you’ve been on for long.

Or relist it with a new agent at a reduced price

or sell at auction - you most likely will end up selling for way less if you go this route.

When I see listings that have been on for that long I genuinely see it as a seller not keen to sell tbh and don’t bother viewing anymore.

It's the price. It's always the price. If you put it up for £1 it would sell instantly. I get thats an extreme example but it illustrates the point that there is a price point between that and your asking price where it will sell straight away.

As the poster above said, if I see a property for sale for ages it's off putting and makes me think there's something very wrong with the place, the sellers are not serious about selling and/or it's over priced.

I agree with the last post. If something has been on market for over a year it would put me of viewing as I would feel they were not serious about moving.

We ended up removing several pieces of furniture to make the property look bigger which seemed to work.

We have been looking for a house and sometimes get these newsletters from the EA saying this vendor is aimed to sell quickly. In this case it seems the houses get sold very within a week. Would you consider that?
Also change the EA, get new pictures done in nice weather.

The market is so miserable that having viewings every week seems amazing.

We were on for a few months with viewings every week or so, but nothing ever came of them. Soul destroying keeping your house tidy and your spirits up...
We took it off the market for a couple of weeks, and came back on with a new agent, new photos, (slightly) reduced price, and it sold within a fortnight.
I think that sometimes EAs just bring round anyone they have available for a viewing, just to make them look like they're doing something after the first couple of weeks of activity!
Freshen your listing up and get someone more motivated to sell it for you.

Definitely time to take it off market for a couple of weeks and appoint a new estate agent.

My property had been on the market for three months with very few viewings. New agent appointed, same selling price and sold in two weeks. It's worth a try. Fresh perspective.