Nightmare trying to sell our house

[PinkBubblesxx]

We are trying to get to sell our very well presented new build lived in home and having a complete nightmare with complete utter time wasters 😫 Our home is in a great central but green location in a very family oriented area and is priced fairly (10k under its market value) to encourage interest.

We have been on the market for over 2 months now and had at least 30 viewing's! We have had a handful of offers of chancers offering £40k under the asking price, which we strongly declined. And the other offers we have had, have offered asking price, which we happily accepted. As soon as we have accepted they have either gone quiet and just ignored the estate agent, one offer had to supposedly rush back to Nigeria for a family emergency then not to be heard from again, we've had 2 offers when they have to submit their paperwork and have an affordability check and it turns out they can't afford their offer or even pull out a mortgage! Last week we had an offer from ideal first time buyers and we had our hopes so high that this was the one! They dragged their feet all week to submit their paperwork to the estate agents broker - which we found odd. They then asked for a 3rd viewing which we found highly frustrating but of course entertained it as we want a sale. The day before the 3rd viewing the estate agent had qualified them being able to purchase and had a mortgage in place, so they marked our property as sold over the weekend. This morning they emailed the agent saying they had changed their minds 😫 the agent pressed for a reason behind the sudden u turn and they said the mortgage rate they had now been offered was slightly more than what they thought they would get 😫

So we are back to square one, having to entertain viewings - which are really draining! Especially where we already had at least 30! Me and my partner are at wits end and it's really making us feel so ill and depressed from all the stress of it all as we have found our dream home but feel like it will just get snapped up! We have been messed around with so called serious offers so much that we have lost all hope 😫 Even the estate agency is just as frustrated with the amount of time wasters we have had! We have a prime home in a prime in demand location and £10k under the market value.

Is it just us having bad luck trying to sell our home or is anyone else experiencing the same? As it's honestly becoming unbearable 😫

They're not "attitude comments"....they're reality checks. Asking prices are just best estimates. They're not cast in stone and the market is telling you what your house is currently worth.

Your estate agents need to do their job and get people to stop time wasters. Threaten to remove the property from them and complain to their governing body .

No it isn’t.

Market value has a very strict definition along the lines:

”the price agreed between a buyer and a seller after a reasonable period of marketing where the buyer is willing and is able to conclude the transaction”

your buyers either aren’t willing or aren’t able and you’ve had a reasonable period of marketing so it’s over priced and definitely not £10k below market value. Maybe £10k below your delusional expectations but that’s a different story.

Exactly. We have just reduced by £40k from £535. Estate agents totally overpriced.

What did you pay for it?

I don’t get emotional when I buy and sell houses. I also try to vacate or have viewings all on one day every couple of weeks.

However, if you’ve found your dream home and want a quick sale and can afford a lower offer negotiating is your only option.

It’s a tricky time now with a GE.

I’m sorry you are stressed, it’s shit having 30 viewings and no sale. We had the same when we sold my Dads flat in 2022 (sold at the 30th viewing) and it’s mentally draining.

However, I also find your wording strange re “market value “. The market value is literally what the market will pay for a property at this snapshot in time. It’s not what the house may have achieved in the past or future, it’s not what your neighbours got for their house. To achieve our sale we reduced the price by 5% and when that didn’t work, reduced it by another 5%.

New build houses that are no longer brand new can be hard to sell. If you want to stimulate new interest then you can do that by reducing the price. Preferably down to the next Rightmove banding which in this case would be 400k.

As your house has only been on the market for 2 months, you may decide instead to keep it at the existing price for another month or so. But if you do this, and get another offer of 400k I would seriously consider accepting it next time if the buyer is in a strong position. Several offers of 400k suggests that just might be the market value for your house at the moment. Lower than you wanted certainly, but hopefully you can negotiate hard on the next property too.

It's not worth as much as you think and as it's a new build house I imagine most viewers would be questioning why you are selling so soon.

We've been in our house for 7 years and the development has been completed since then. So that isn't the issue

You've posted because you either want to rant or you want advice.

If your house isn't selling, then the price is wrong.
You have 'several' offers hitting similar points, but you think your house is worth more based on historical data.

@PinkBubblesxx
Good news is that you've had 30 viewings which is great.

You have indicated that a similar house sold a few months ago for £440 and you are on for £425. Exactly when was the other house put on the market and when was it sold?

You (and your EA) have inferred that there aren't many buyers around.

Due to when the other house was sold and the number of buyers available indicates that your local market could have changed. Have checked the rest of the local houses for sale in your area and what they are on for? How does yours compare?

Look, you're doing something right by getting that many viewings. Your EA needs to do a better job of checking whether potential buyers have a mortgage in principle or not. It sounds like you are clinging on to a number when proceedable buyers are seeing something different.
Getting a buyer that is proceedable and a mortgage in place is 'worth' something, particularly, if buyer numbers are dwindling. You need to work out what you are willing to accept, particularly if you have your 'dream house' at stake.

We've lived in it for 7 years, so I wouldn't say we are selling it so soon after living in it that long

Sorry just re read your OP @PinkBubblesxx & saw that your offers have been 385k not 400k as I thought.

In that case I would suggest counter offering at 400k if you get an offer around 40k under asking again.

Can you afford to go £40k under asking price, or are you not accepting because you feel it is a cheeky offer?
We bought at £125k under asking price because the owner knew full well she was never going to realise her asking price.
Sometimes you just have to take the hit and him with it 🤷🏻‍♀️

£40k is less than 10% of the advertised price. When we bought our house, we started by offering 10% less, and ended up meeting in the middle at 5% below asking. If there are fewer active buyers around and mortgages are tougher to get, some negotiations are to be expected. In percentage terms they aren’t actually aiming that far short of the asking price, it just sounds like a lot if you think of it as tens of thousands of pounds.

You might have to! Your asking price may be too high in the first place. If it’s a new build, are there other properties like yours up for sale?

We are in a very similar situation. On the market 6 weeks, 24 viewings, no offers from anyone proceedable. We’ve had offers from people who aren’t. Mixed and often odd feedback but only one of those 24 said it was overpriced unless the EA isn’t telling us the whole truth.

It’s tricky as we have found a place we want to buy but it’s at the top of our budget so we can’t reduce ours and still buy it.

The EA says we shouldn’t reduce as we are still getting people through the door and have people who want to buy it once they sell their own property. I’ve said no viewings now from people not proceedable and they’ve said that’s a bad idea in this market.

Very frustrating. I really do think it’s price though. If the house we want sells, we’ll come off the market and stay put so there is little point reducing.

£425 to live on a new build estate 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

It can't be much over valued if the OP has had so many viewings and a handful ( I take that to mean 4 or 5) of offers ! It has only been marketed for 2 months - if it was really on for too much viewings would be few and far between.
I would say it might be bad luck. Or it has management or estate maintenance fees attached that the agent is not mentioning prior to people offering ?
Two months though does mean that all the hot potential buyers have now seen it - and the op will likley be experiencing a drop in viewing numbers.
I agree it's time for a price drop but probably not a huge one. 5% maybe.

Don’t listen to the EA saying it’s a bad idea. They just want viewings as it makes it look like they’re doing something. It’s mentally draining to have viewings from people who are not proceedable, if you are the sort of person who puts effort into making sure the property is well presented for every viewing.

If they are serious about liking the look of your property, they will organise a viewing as soon as their own property sells.

@CircusLifeMadeMeMean why not reduce your offer on the new place by what you have to reduce by to sell yours?

House prices haven't dropped anywhere by 10% in the last few months so it just seems like bad luck and a sluggish market

Put it on at 390 and you will still get offers below 350

There are lot of new builds these parts going for 400- 500 and those a couple of years old ( post snagging , reputable builder ) command a small premium so less of the snooty ignorance on new builds

I live on the edge of the Peak District, North Derbyshire. A neighbour listed their house last September for £499,999, they have just sold it for £375,000 😵‍💫

if they had sold during the madness of the pandemic they would have got the asking price, but the market is very different now. I think people are conscious that they may end up in negative equity within a short time of purchase 🤷‍♀️

In your shoes I would get the EA to do accompanied viewings from now on.

Would also consider open viewings again hosted by the EA . That way more people see the house at the same time and might encourage a sense of competition.

Either way I wouldn’t do viewings myself any more.

We just put an offer on a house similar to what you describe. It had been reduced a couple of months ago. Vendor comes back and says they want original asking price 🙄. Why did you reduce it, then? Vendor says they will accept our offer but also stay on the market because they are hoping for a better offer. So we are pursuing the offer but also not getting our hopes up and trying not to be too invested. So it definitely works both ways!

Having viewed a lot of these kind of houses recently:

• there is probably something putting people off (parking/location/small garden etc). There are lots of these kinds of properties on the market at this price bracket and they come up all the time. Many are reducing prices. If buyers miss one, they're not super bothered because they know more similar are coming up in similar locations.
• I think that's a tricky price bracket.

Can you go ahead with your dream property if you do? I've made losses on homes before but it got me the house and location I wanted. Money amd value is a concept, what matters is the life you lead.