Another why is my house not selling post

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I have a mid terraced house on the market in the most desirable street in St Albans. Priced at £600k which exactly fits (sold) comps and reflectsw we I spent renovating it + average valuation gain in the area since i bought it.

Must have had 30 viewings. Two offers on the first open house day at £5k below asking. Both fell through. Another FTB then offered and pulled out.

It’s all freshly decorated and staged. It’s a cottage like most in this area - disadvantages of these structures are downstairs bathroom and no hallway - but with the addition of a fully tanked basement with spare room/reception and home office. The moisture levels are the same on each floor so no damp in the basement. The doors and windows are beautifully re-done. The kitchen is De Vol.

It’s been on for three months. What do I do?

I think it’s my target market (FTBs, divorcees) not being able to get their mortgages as they all keep coming and people are offering and then pulling out.

But these are the things that maybe make it hard to sell?

Lack of parking spaces for residents (city centre issue).

Extra 300 ft of basement space not worth much?

People freak out about basements even when fully tanked?

Can’t do the loft as it’s Grade II listed.

Price??? Not sure about this one as the fallen-through offers were v close to asking.

Viewer feedback is mainly that they think basement will flood (not in flood zone) and the stairs need repainting (yes but srsly??)

Help?

`Wait. People would actually pay £595k for a tiny house like this?

Given people can mostly work from home in a lot of well paid positions, surely these house prices can't sustain?

I wouldn't pay more than £200k for that, and that's being generous.

OP says it has a downstairs bathroom and a fully tanked basement divided into a home office and a spare room. That’s very specifically pointing to only one property, and why would you do that if that’s not your property? Would be a bit pointless, because the comments / suggestions wouldn’t be applicable to a different house.

I've lived in st Albans twice and whilst it was perfectly ok I think times have changed a bit in recent years and one of its big advantages was quickness into London because pricewise these days it's London money plus far more on the commuting cost ( stupid money for the distance) than living within zones- I suspect some people have gone to Kingston and surbiton instead in recent times as there is little in it on house prices but commuting is far cheaper and also has decent schools . Also people who no longer need to be in London very often will look for better value further out - the quickness will not be the big draw it once was at those prices. Therefore as the OP rightly says it will be quite a small pool of people who specifically want a non family sized home in SA and if it does have no parking and a downstairs bathroom they are big negatives for many buyers with that kind of cash-

You will sell OP , but possibly not at that price and it may take a bit of time due to the small pool - clearly if it's sold several times, it will again.

Baffles me too.

I grew up in a Grade 2 listed house and remember the difficulty my Mother had when there was a major issue as lots of builders didn’t want to deal with it. I just wouldn’t ever buy because of that. Plus if no parking again just wouldn’t touch it.

Then a max outlier and a reveal of the oddity that is my head, even if your basement is lovely I have watched too many horror films. Bodies and portals :)

I’m glad I’m not the only one to think these prices are insane.

That’s money week and they even said ‘unlike the markets we think’… the markets think one cut, it’s in the realm of possibility but The markets (and lenders) will have factored in one to their pricing already

If it’s the one we’ve mostly been looking at, I’d be put off by the lack of doors. Once you’re in the front door the upstairs, living space, kitchen and cellar are all open. Cooking smells would go all over, and I bet it’s a bugger to heat.

We had a similar problem selling our last house - flurry of interest and offers when we first went to market and then our buyer withdrew and we were left then sitting on the market. Our agents turned out to be absolutely useless (we’d only gone with them as they were selling the house we were buying) Lost original house we had offered on and rode out the 12 weeks with original estate agents with tumbleweed. Went on again with different agents after that, fresh interest and a sale to first time buyers.

It’s a stressful business! If you aren’t against the clock to sell it will all work out eventually but find out what the estate agents are doing to generate viewings. Grade 2 and no parking would put me off in that bracket but people should know that before they view. Good luck.

It used to be a logical move to trade up a N London flat for a house in the outskirts when you start a family, we considered it before covid, found a place for DC in one of St Albans schools, but luckily didn't manage to complete before the lockdowns. Since then flats prices have fallen (we were looking at 3 beds for 650-675k with no garden, they're now around £550-570k, some with a garden). They are falling further now as ppl are starting to offload BTL. Friends recently sold their flat in Islington - they had to get much more realistic with the price.

Factor in train tickets etc.

It doesn't make financial sense anymore unless you are particularly attracted to forests (then you'd probably move to a proper countryside).
I guess people just don't realise that market situation is changing rapidly.
This is all N London/commuters belt dynamics, other areas are entirely different of course.

@BunnyLake and @nosmartphone But it’s the local market isn’t it. My house is worth 300k. If it was where I grew up on the South coast it would be 500k. If it was where DH grew up expensive commuter belt close to London and a very desirable area it would be close to a million. MIL little terrace is worth roughly what the posters house is but does have a garage and parking in a separate block and a nice garden. Where I live it would be 190k. Regional differences are wild.

@Ubertomusic yes that's what I was saying below- it's not in zones even though closer than many areas that actually are ( or similar distance) and hence you are paying London house prices plus non London commute costs-my son in the past would have had it on his radar- he's already said they will be looking at flats in Kingston, surbiton, Twickenham, Ealing etc because financially SA is not doable as they are both in London every day as their job requires it

Oh, don't get me started with the train tickets. My partner has been out of a job and was offered a job hybrid job in London. It is 50min train ride away but we calculated that it would cost so much £££ with the trains that it just wasn't worth it to go there for 2 days a week. Insane.

Well, at least now whoever owns the house everyone's been looking at can get some unsolicited feedback on why their house might not be selling.

Even if a prospective buyer doesn't have a car themselves, they may well have people visiting who do.

St Albans is a lovely city to live in.

This cottage is just around the corner (6min walk), 2beds, downstairs bathroom, in good nick and sold for £515k in August www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-137963147-21313765?s=e71c0a5d01caa38674d3c021273161861da6e8e2bb644465eab2f5f38bb64732#/

There's no need for that ffs, @MardyBra .

Tanking is the worst possible thing you can do in a period house, trapping the water within the walls, leaving your buyer massive problems for the future.

It would make me wonder what other ill advised "improvements" had been done that I would need to rectify.

If it's plastic grass garden house, obviously that also needs removing immediately to something in keeping with the property and less of a disaster to the environment/people's eyes.

Yes, I totally agree with your post. It's local knowledge and specific calculations that buyers do and I guess get fairly similar results.

Makes me wonder if ...

Must have had 30 viewings. Two offers on the first open house day at £5k below asking. Both fell through. Another FTB then offered and pulled out.

... is neglecting to mention where in the process offers were withdrawn, whether this was as a result of survey.

There's a few bodged jobs visible in the photos too - the heating system and the kitchen being the two most obvious ones.

Tanking is the worst possible thing you can do in a period house, trapping the water within the walls, leaving your buyer massive problems for the future.
It would make me wonder what other ill advised "improvements" had been done that I would need to rectify.

Yup. I'm amazed it got LBC, if it did at all.

I mean apart from the basement (which apparently doesn't add much value) why is your house worth £100k more than this almost identical one?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149224010#/?channel=RES_BUY

This cottage is just around the corner (6min walk), 2beds, downstairs bathroom, in good nick and sold for £515k in August
Isn't that one quite a bit smaller, as it doesn't have the basement and is narrower? Interesting that it had previously sold in May 2022 (for £505k), so perhaps it was a London commuter who bought it last time and found the figures didn't stack up. 🙂 I like both houses. Good luck with selling!

Or one of a couple may be a London commuter solely using the train while the other may work elsewhere in Herts and really need a car.