37 viewings and not sold

[FrustratedSellerWhatToDo]

My house went on the market at the end of May. I will admit we didn't do our research into how to find the best estate agent and went with the local top performing one in our area, we also roughly know the owner through our kids etc so felt a natural choice.

He valued us at 575k and we went on with that price. He showed us recently sold houses that he'd based this number on but our house is a bit unique in appearance compared to them and the driveway is down the side of the house at the back rather than out the front although there is plenty of parking on the street directly in front which is where I always park.

We had a couple of viewings booked within the first couple of weeks but it was clear that price wasn't drawing in the interest so we reduced after 2 weeks to 550k. At the valuation he said I think we should try for 575 but you won't get a penny less than 550.

The long and short of it is that we are now reduced to 500 and have had 37 viewings. We've had two offers, one for 460k from a cash buyer near the start but he wasn't interested really and was offering on multiple properties as investment and the second offer for 485k from someone who was planning to rent out their other house and live in ours but didn't get approved financially by mortgage advisor and 485k did feel too low to accept. It wouldn't be worth us moving for less than 500k.

Looking at our area at the moment it is all similar stories to us, houses on the market for months either sitting at their original price or reduced every couple of months like us.

So is anyone else experiencing this at the moment? I'm tearing my hair out as we've found a house but obviously not proceedable. Funnily enough that house has been on longer than ours and not had any other proceedable offers either so I know it isn't that our house has anything particularly awful about it. All the feedback is positive just that it's not quite right for various reasons. The price is clearly right now for the amount of viewings it's drawing in but when will people start offering?? I'm hoping things get better after the summer holidays.

Please tell me I'm not alone!

It's the price. If you've had a lot of viewings, there's obviously interest in it, but the price is too high.

I think August is a tricky month as well, because people are away. Maybe it'll pick up in September?

That's a lot of viewings. Is there anything that might be putting people off that's not obvious from the listing? Traffic? Neighbours? I don't think that it's the price if you are getting that many people through the door, assuming that they are genuine buyers. Does your house match the listing? Tidy, clean and fresh? What's the feedback?

If you share a RightMove link on this thread you’ll get some good advice. It’s really hard to advise without that.

37 viewing and no proceedable offers.. down to price.

Your house has been on the market since the end of May which means anyone interested in it has had a lot of time to view and to make offers.

It seems very unlikely you will get more than 500k for it now. If you get an offer close to 500k from a proceedable buyer I would strongly consider accepting it and then negotiating hard on your onwards purchase. The market is stagnant in most areas and you people need to be pragmatic to get things moving.

As an older person this feels familiar as the start of the slow reduction in prices. It should be simpler - you take less for yours and pay less for the next one but it is always more painful than that as nobody wants to blink first and people just hang on and on.
If you don’t HAVE to move and don’t find a vendor who will accept a low offer you’ll need to wait until someone who HAS to move has something you want to buy.
40k off yours and 50k off the next one and it can all get moving again.

It'll be the price. Ours was hanging around with lots of viewings but no offers until we reduced for the second time and had a flurry of new viewings and an asking price offer within the week. Things may pick up in September but who knows?

Have you had much feedback?

We had this with ours. All the EA valued it at 400k, so we went on at 390 had the odd viewing. Went to 375 quite a lot more viewings but no offers, I think we would have sold it at that if we had stuck but we lowered to 350k as we were in a rush to move...two offers within a week.

If you want to sell quickly lower it and take a bit of a hit. Our EA told us in our area anything over 300k is taking a while to sell. Interest rates etc, what's the market like in your area?

We are moving to a city where houses are still selling pretty quickly, so we only managed a 5k reduction on the house we are buying.

the second offer for 485k from someone who was planning to rent out their other house and live in ours but didn't get approved financially by mortgage advisor and 485k did feel too low to accept
@FrustratedSellerWhatToDo
You felt that 485k was too low.
The person who made the 485k offer was unable to borrow the money, so their lender obviously felt it was too much for the property.

Your expectations re the price that can be achieved are surely unrealistic🤷🏻‍♀️

Sorry I can’t edit but meant to say “you” or “people” not “you people”

Asssuming there isn’t a major and obvious flaw with the house then it will be the price

If you’re getting viewings, the asking price is working. The problem is that you are going to get offers well below the asking price. You’ve got to decide whether to accept a lower offer or hold out forever for something nearer your asking price.

We’ve had a lot of viewings and a lot of offers, many from people who were trying to avoid the stress of selling and therefore planning to remortgage and rent out existing properties. Those all fell apart because the banks were not confident of the whole let to buy model.

We also had exactly the same problem with the driveway. People are really odd sometimes. Photograph it and sell it as a benefit.

We hadbig problems with what sounds like a similar drive.
Absolutely no issues with it in 15 years, yet because it's different to what people expect to see (even with photos) some just can't picture it.
So you need to find so eone who loves the house AND can picture living with a slightly different drive configuration.

Are you brave enough to add a link just incase someone else can spot something?

The prospective buyers believe that if they rent out their own property for a while interest rates would fall and prices would start going up again. They would then be able to sell for a good price.
The bank presumably believes that prices are more likely to fall and interest rates remain the same or go higher?

Big question is how many of those 37 viewings are actually proceedable? I would have thought the price is in the right ballpark if you are getting that many people through the door. Chances are there are people in that 37 who would have liked to buy the house, but aren't in position to put an offer in.

Although realistically in the current market you're very unlikely to get full asking price, especially after being hanging around this long. If you aren't going to accept a realistic offer, you probably are better taking it off the market and trying again in a few years when market conditions have changed.

At the moment with the current market the estate agents are letting anyone view regardless of proceedability.

I'm not posting a link as I know what the downfalls are like the driveway. The house is immaculately presented (all the feedback says as such) in neutral colours with new bathrooms and loft with ensuite. 3 double bedrooms and a generous single. Detached house. Everyone says things like looking for a downstairs toilet or would prefer a driveway at the front etc. Nothing I can actually change so lowered the price accordingly. We dropped to 530k after no offers at 550k and we got the majority of viewings at that price. When we still had no offers we dropped to 500k against the advice of our EA who said the market is slow so be patient but we don't want to lose our onward purchase. I think we will though if we don't get an offer that's proceedable with the next couple of weeks. I think the timing of summer hols isn't helping and the market is stagnant.

I know 485 sounds like an offer we should accept but he couldn't afford it anyway and it wasn't due to what ours was valued at. His mortgage advisor said he couldn't afford it without selling his current house which he wanted to keep and rent out. He isn't proceedable so it's not like we refused his offer!

"Big question is how many of those 37 viewings are actually proceedable?"

Not many I expect. The house we want to buy has had 4 offers since it came on in May... they've reduced to 575 from 600 in that time and none of the offers have been from proceedable buyers. Which I think says it all about the state of the market. Not many are selling.

It’s not about belief as much as risk. They’re not assessing the validity of the borrower’s belief that house prices will rise but the risk that they will not be able to make the repayments on the buy to let loan.

At the moment with the current market the estate agents are letting anyone view regardless of proceedability. - This is not the estate agents decision to make, it’s yours.

I wonder if your house is a bit tired/ needs things done here and there and in my experience little things always end up to be bigger. E.g if windows nearly need replacement. Hence people are coming through the door as the particulars are good but the inside doesn’t much the price thoroughly. A buyer subconsciously considers things which need to be done in the near future and it affects their potential offer. Also it’s really tricky to offer much less as the seller usually gets upset and offended.
Im not saying that it’s the case but only that it might be the case. People usually buy, then refurbish and then live until it’s time for another refurbishment but they don’t do it, they want to sell instead. I saw a lot of houses like this while house hunting which were liveable technically but needed work to be done in a very near future.

I do think 485k is an offer you should seriously consider in future from a proceedable buyer but not from the person you mentioned as it seems clear he couldn’t afford the house even at that reduced price.

Yes indeed and they may well accept a lower offer from someone actually in a position to proceed because “offers” from people who can’t proceed are pretty useless.

If you're getting loads of viewings then it possibly isn't price, but something is putting viewers off when they view. A link would help.

Whereabouts in the country are you OP?