Another why is my house not selling post

[Alldressedupnowheretogo]

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?

There are factors you know nothing about.

Mainly their finances.

You're making it all up.

I wonder whether the estate agent checked whether the buyers were in a position to offer?

It would be nice to know from the OP...

1. Why the sales fell through?
2. The timeline, as I don't think three months is that long, if it's been under offer for a lot of that time. Sorry, I'm too interested now 🙂Hope you get a sale soon, as I liked the look of all the houses suggested!

Well of course Im 'making it up' its a theory, proposed on a mundane chat forum with cuppa in hand!!!

Its not a scientific experiment or something!

And OP either wasnt genuine or cant be arsed as she hasnt been back anyway.

It's pointless discussing the pros and cons of a downstairs bathroom!

Oh my apologies I didn't realise you were policing the acceptable topics of discussion that I could contribute to 🙄 my mistake.... 🤐

@CornishCreamTeas

I guess it’s a sensitive subject because I get concerned my own kids will have to climb mountains I didn’t have to in order to buy a property (I’m from the South East). I bought as a single person in my twenties, commutable to London, but still went out, went on holiday, bought clothes, in essence lived a normal life with a mortgage on my own. Those days seem well and truly gone and it makes me quite sad. To me a house is first and foremost a home, a roof over your head, a safe place not a perk of being affluent.

Who said they know why the buyers pulled out?

Or is horrified at people trying to guess which house is hers despite her stating that she doesn’t want to say which one it is for privacy reasons.

BunnyLake I agree, although to be fair, the centre of St Albans has long been out of reach of the average first time buyer! 🙁

Oh cmon, anyone would know it was identifiable it’s the only one on which meets the very detailed description.

I think also when selling a great deal of it can be about timing and competition too - if you want top dollar and it's a point where many similar properties are on the market but only a limited pool of buyers you can simply lose out to ones that are either lower price or more appealing. If you can get a similar place for £540k - why pay £600k -

I’ve only been once many years ago but yes I can imagine.

Well its been up a while after that first flurry of people posting links to various properties, she could have asked for it be removed, yet it still stands?

Or better still either dont make a thread, or be up front about the property, or dont give some many identifying aspects of the property so that its likely to be found. Although everyone is talking about one particular property and we really have no idea if that is it or not

Yet there has been a lot of discussion about exactly which house it is on this thread.

Oh cmon, anyone would know it was identifiable it’s the only one on which meets the very detailed description.

I agree, it is the only one on rightmove matching the OP's detailed description. Easy to find by process of elimination.

'The housing market is so tight at that moment with very few houses available that buyers will compromise.'

That's not actually true. Housing supply on the market currently is back to pre pandemic levels, a little higher actually. It's sellers that are having to 'compromise' in most areas. While it may be low in certain areas or for certain types of houses, it is not the case for small 2-3 bedroom houses in St Albans. There are masses on the market currently, quite a lot of reductions, and lots that are a bit cheaper and more appealing than the one that the OP is trying to sell (assuming that we have identified the correct one).
While people moved out of London to the Home Counties historically, and especially during the pandemic, with many going further, we have now seen some reversal of the WFH trend. Housing prices in some Home Counties are now as high as London. Once you add in an expensive commute, it makes poor financial sense to buy a small 'starter' home somewhere like St Albans.

@BunnyLake is right that housing costs are a major problem in the UK and that it's unlikely they will continue to rise relative to incomes or in real terms because we have reached such a level of unaffordability. The reason why these three buyers pulled out are very likely related to finance, whether finding a better deal elsewhere or a valuation coming in lower or getting cold feet due to my latter point and a deteriorating economy with tax rises coming.

Make yourself a nice cup of tea and stop being so touchy.

It's pointless when the floor plan shows where it is and 30 people have viewed it.

While people moved out of London to the Home Counties historically, and especially during the pandemic, with many going further, we have now seen some reversal of the WFH trend. Housing prices in some Home Counties are now as high as London. Once you add in an expensive commute, it makes poor financial sense to buy a small 'starter' home somewhere like St Albans.

If they can't afford to buy in St A they can't afford to buy in a decent part of London (unless they are happy with a longish tube journey.) A 2-bed flat in Zone 1 will be at least £600K.

I don't agree with your assumption on housing stock. Pre-pandemic is only one measurement. There is a massive under-supply in the SE hence the rise in prices.

House prices are not the sole reason for moving out of London. Young couples want decent schools, green spaces, access to other family facilities and clean air. many are only commuting 2/3 days a week.

@TheBoldHelper But that house doesn't have a DeVol kitchen? So doesn't match?

(just replying to your post above - I don't think it can be that one...)

I'm not sure that's quite correct. People have absolute deal breakers in looking for a house, but they also have preferences. And most people don't get everything on their wish-list - even if they have £600k to spend. So it's not that black and white.

I can imagine lots of viewers thinking that (say) the downstairs bathroom is not ideal but they still view the property because maybe they can change it, or it's not the worst thing if everyone else is great - but then they find out that the property is listed, or they view it and there are too many things that don't work for them, so they don't make an offer.

I think we’re assuming that as this seems to be the only house where everything else matches and the OP does say that she changed some relatively minor details, this probably is still the house (TBH it does look like the kitchen is still pretty good quality in terms of units etc, so DeVol as opposed to HKOC/ JLOH etc probably would be a minor change).

The dargall one? It looks devoll to me.

i personally believe the basement is damp and that’s the really big issue, as posted earlier.

I really like the idea of the little metal strip around the sink to protect the edges of the wood, I might steal that for ours.

Im not sure about saying you see the basement is damp because the jute rug, that style has darker edges on it than the rest of it, thats the design. My ones at least

@CornishCreamTeas yep but when you can buy in say Kingston, surbiton or new Malden or even areas like Wanstead or Enfield- and still get those aspects , PLUS be in zones for travel it starts to make SA look poor value for similar money-- especially if both partners need to travel in a fair bit- that's how my son felt

I don't know all those areas but I do know Enfield and St Albans is a lot nicer. Which is probably why SA is a massively popular area and one of the most expensive places to buy a house in England.