Buyers pulled out, now no interest

[FujiWisteria]

We recently sold our house 2 months ago but unfortunately our buyers pulled out last week - frustrating as we'd only been 2 weeks from exchange!

We've since put the house back on the market but unlike the first time it was listed, we're not getting any viewings. I remember when we first listed there was a flurry in the first week. Is the market just super slow? Are we just incredibly unlucky? Any ideas on how we can advertise the house?

Why did they pull out?

We’ve found the market quite slow. We got an offer relatively quickly but we reduced our price after 10 days and then again after another 10 days. When you reduce the price it goes back to the top of the search results on rightmove.

We needed to sell quickly as we had already had an offer accepted on the house we are buying and didn’t want them to change their minds.

It really depends how long you are willing to wait. People who are serious about moving will check rightmove most days I think - so I don’t think there’s much point advertising elsewhere (assuming it’s on rightmove). So you can assume that people have seen it and aren’t interested for whatever reason. Either the price isn’t right or the photo of the front of the house isn’t appealing.

Although saying that, is probably not a good time with everyone on summer holidays - September would probably be better after the kids are back in school and everyone has had a couple of weeks to get back into routines etc.

The market is stagnant but it was 2 months ago too so I don’t think the market has changed much since last time you had the house on the market.

August is a bit of a slow month for family homes so it may be that things pick up slightly in September. All you can do is make sure you have a good EA and there are good photos and the house is nicely presented with minimal clutter. If the lack of viewings continues you may have to eventually reduce the price. But if you sold close to the asking price last time then the price is probably about right.

@TammyJones they decided that a Victorian property wasn't for them. They decided to buy a new build instead...

@Babychewtoy we're in the same position with our onward purchase. They're happy to wait for the time being but want an update in a week's time. It's so frustrating. We can't afford to lower the price significantly, maybe about 10k... it's causing me to feel so anxious. Were your onward purchase give you a time frame to find a buyer?

Thanks @Twiglets1 we sold for over asking last time so we were hoping for the same. I really want to change my estate agents as I'm not keen on their communication. We've had 2 different EA from the same branch say completely different things to us! I suspect you're right with Aug being a busy holiday month...

We were quite lucky in that our sellers were happy to wait as they didn’t have a chain their end.

You definitely need proactive EAs. They should be phoning everyone who expressed an interest last time, and anyone else suitable on their books to tell them it’s back on the market.

I would also make sure the EAs are aware how vital it is to have a quick sale.

We went for a really small local EA where we were dealing directly with the directors (and their one employee). And we were very proactive with keeping it on their radar.

Good luck, I know it can be really stressful. You only need one person to love it though.

Firstly I am so sorry your buyers pulled out. That sucks! Secondly we are also on the market at the moment and yes, the market is VERY slow where we are. We have been on since last month with very few viewings and little interest. But the properties we have had our eye on for a forward purchase have been on the market since much earlier this year and are still there, despite some of them reducing their prices. All are lovely properties too so it just goes to show that the buyers are just not there in my neck of the woods at the moment. Our EA told us that the summer months, especially when its kids holiday time, are always very slow but it normally picks up in September so hold tight. You may find that when the school holidays are over that you start to get more interest again.
Good Luck!

If you had lots of interest and several offers last time, why has the estate agent not contacted the other interested parties already? They should be really proactive, especially because your chain may break altogether if you don't sell soon.
Can you change agent and relaunch in a couple of weeks. If you still don't get interest within the first week, lower the price and hope that September brings some interest. So much for estate agents, Rightmove, etc telling everyone that the falls in interest rates will make a huge difference. Doesn't seem to be the case so far.

To be fair, our estate agent has called the individuals who viewed the property but they've all found somewhere now (house was first listed over 2 months ago). They also called all of the people on their books who have put their preferences in for the type of property we have. We have considered changing estate agent but being cautious as our onward purchase is with the estate agent we're currently with. I'm worried if we change, it might sour that relationship...

I’d leave it til September as market tends to pick up again after holidays and people fixate on moving before Christmas

In that case maybe take it off for a couple of weeks and relaunch with the same agent in 2-3 weeks. Maybe it might be a good thing that they are selling both properties, especially if you need to reduce to sell. Perhaps they might help in any re-negotiation that might be needed on your onward purchase.

When we lost our buyer, I thought that going back to 'for sale' would bump us back up to the top of the list on Rightmove but it didn't - if people are searching by date, you need to change something like the price or the EA to get back to the top. Sounds daft, but could be a reason why people aren't noticing it.

What time of year did you market previously? We've recently had ours valued to sell and the estate agents all pretty much said that spring is best for family home as everyone wants to buy and move before start of new school year. So we are waiting til next year now.

@JollyNewt ah this could be the issue... maybe we are too far down the listing!

@cushionfiend we listed in June and had about 10 viewings quite quickly. Unfortunately we can't wait until next spring as we have an onward purchase that we'd like to hold onto...

If you drop the price by more than 2% or more Rightmove bumps it and sends out alerts

You can't do that. Rightmove only relists as new if you've been off the market for 14 weeks or more or you drop the price by 2%. I know this as we sold in May (first viewing) and they pulled out 2 weeks ago just before exchange. I thought we'd go back on as newly listed but no, so it looks like we've been on the market since mid May. If the EA had told us this we'd have told them not to relist until 14 weeks (we were 10 days off). We're changing EAs - not for that reason, they've been pretty useless all round.

Thanks @LaphroaigOwl. I didn't know that. Perhaps @FujiWisteria needs to re-list with a price reduction then. Mind you, agents/ RM do seem to play various tricks. I've seen a couple listed as reduced on the initial listing and one listed and then re-listed 10 days later at the same price but marked as reduced. Slippery and untrustworthy, the lot of them!