To change estate agent? House isn't selling

[unsellable]

My property has been on the market for 5 months. Had a total of 25 viewings. No offers just one person who was seriously interested but ended up never getting back in touch after second viewing even though they left that viewing saying they’d offer when they sold. They sold. Never offered.

I am in the midlands. I am not comfortable to say where. Or link my property. But property was initially on at price multiple agents suggested. Although viewings were coming in weekly I assumed no offers were due to price so reduced 2% by advice of agent to get back to top of rightmove.

Viewings still kept coming in at new price but still no offers. Agent then advised me to guide price so I dropped the price low to fit in to another price bracket for searches on Rightmove, stating that offers would be accepted anywhere between X (low price in new bracket) and X (which was my original asking price). At this point I'd accept the lower end of the guide price as I am getting desperate.

Same situation, viewings kept on happening at new listed guide price. No offers. Estate agent decided to do the showings for me to get feedback on the spot as a lot of people coming for a viewing don't respond to estate agent for feedback when they ring after the weekend. Estate agent said this is normal. Most don’t return their calls after viewings.

Had a viewing this weekend from a couple who called their parents to come join them and spent 45 mins viewing with the agent and they haven't responded to agent and apparently agent has called everyday since. Apparently couple loved it on weekend. So I can't understand why they're not returning the agents calls.

When I purchased the house it sold in a week after viewings and there was myself and somebody else both placing offers until one of us were accepted - which was me.

I am feeling so low about it. I got another estate agent in who keep trying to poach me. They told me that the reduction was not the right advice as it’s now listed a lot below what it is worth and suggested they would have listed at original asking price too. New estate agent said I could now go with them but can’t re list at my original asking price or anything higher than the lower end of the guide price it’s currently on at, so if I go with them I have to stick to the guide price the other agent advised me to do.

I’m getting frustrated that my agent is only getting feedback from roughly just over half of the viewings. They say they try every day following the viewings for 3 days.

All viewings that are coming in are enquiries from rightmove/zoopla. Potential new estate agent said that they would be proactive in contacting potential buyers and telling them about my property and don’t rely on zoopla and rightmove alone.

Is this an estate agent issue or do I just have a unsellable property. What can I do? What could be the problem with my house and why it is not selling? I’ve been advised by my current agent houses are not struggling to sell in our area and people have been rushing to buy before stamp duty increase. They constantly reassure me the house is lovely and sellable and they will sell it it’s just a case of right buyer, right time.

It's more likely the price than the agent I'm afraid.

Unless a property ticks all the boxes I do not view anything that is 'Offers over x' or 'Guide price range x-y'. For me that suggests the buyer does not know what price they want and as a result will probably make reaching a deal on the price very painful.

I agree to take it off and relist in 4-8 weeks.

Youre priced too high for today’s market. If your house represented good value, it would be sold. Things change though so if you need more, you can wait but bare in mind that prices for your next house will rise in time too; it’s all relative.

We sold our house (not midlands) twice within days. We priced our house to sell, probably £25k under valued to account for the crap market. Our house stood out as the best decorated and extended in our area for the price. Both times we had two asking price offers.

If you’re serious about moving, and your house is up for £500k now for example, put it up at £475 next time. Don’t mess around with in excess and guide prices, people will think you’re overpricing.

I can’t see a 5k price reduction is going to make any difference, unless your house is currently listed at about 100 -125k.

Forget prices in a range or OIEO just “reduce” the price to the lower point of the range.

Agree most buyers won’t be put off by a clean dog bowl. When we sold in the past we left the dog bowls behind but did take the dog out for a walk whilst viewings occurred, and the dog bed went in the boot of the car. To be put off by a solitary dog bowl sounds like a phobia and very unusual.

guide price is for the seller to gauge what price they might achieve.
be buyer just needs one number to a) get them through the door to view and b) as basis to start negotiations.

if you get viewings but no offers it's often something else with the property or surrounds.

Viewings but no offers means that people are interested in the house but the price is too high. A price drop of 2% is neither here nor there.

If you are keen to sell then drop the price OP by at least another 5%.

Get someone else to look at what similar properties in your area are fetching. It's hard to be objective about your own home.

When someone says the garden is too small even though the garden size is no surprise, what they actually mean is that at this price they would have expected more for their money.

It's the price. We've had the same thing. Put ours on in spring 24 at price in the middle of the range various agents said it would sell for. Dropped price twice (by over £150k) Plenty of viewings but no offer (except one from a couple who weren't proceedable). Took it off in autumn and have now gone back on at a further reduced price (now £250k lower than previous starting price. We are looking at selling it for a price which will amount to a "profit" of only £100k over the decade we've owned it. Which adjusted for inflation, is nothing. The market is just not where it was.

If the potential buyer didn't like dogs then I think that I'd add an extra few K to my acceptable price. The neighbourhood doesn't need people like that!

It’s the price. I don’t really care if something says offers over, or guide price, as I’m going to offer what I think is right, no matter what the listing says.

Have a look at Rightmove and see which agents are actually selling houses, and which agents have good looking listings.

I haven't read all the posts but it's likely to be either something significant which is putting buyers off or that the price is still too high. Given that it sold very quickly when you bought it, it's probably the latter.
Your estate agents are talking nonsense about it being priced too low and giving it away. If that was the case, it would have been snapped up immediately. Unfortunately, the market has been slow and falling in many areas for a while. That's likely to get worse in the second half of the year. It's obvious why this is, as prices are far beyond most people's ability to pay for them and the economy worsening.
A 2% drop is a waste of time. Buyers will probably roll their eyes at this rather than becoming suddenly motivated. Can I check what percentage you have reduced by now +/- the asking price?
The agents also appear to be exaggerating/ being dishonest with their comments about the market being buoyant. This is something you can easily check yourself by looking at Rightmove and tracking properties in the area. Look at the number of reductions, whether things are selling and how quickly.

If you are really keen to sell, ask a close friend to look at the listing and criticise it constructively. Follow the market carefully yourself and also see which agents are actually selling. You need to choose an agent that is actually selling properties and one that you trust. Perhaps take it off for a month, declutter as much as possible and then resist at the end of March with a decent reduction if you want to sell.

The market is definitely not where it was during the pandemic. I know some properties are still selling quickly in some areas, usually those that are marketed at realistic prices and in good condition. However, so many are not selling and being gradually reduced by 2 or 3% when they are 25% over valued initially. The agents and sellers really need to catch up and realise this if they want to sell more homes.

From the EA perspective, ask to see their full TwentyEA stats (see the end section of any UK Weekly Property Market video on YT). If they won't share their stats then you should read into that what you must.

We sold our house after 2 tries. The first time was on at a higher price (bad timing as market then fell big time!) and had few viewings. We took it off the market for 14 weeks + (so that you can be 'new' on Rightmove) and then dropped the price by 15%. We then had lots of viewings and a few second views too, but like you, had very little feedback, even after EA nagging, which we found just plain rude.
We ended up deciding to do all second views ourselves, as we realised that the EA was taking only 20-30 mins to do a second view (it was a large house with large garden). The first second view that we had took 1 hour 30 mins and we sold it. Obviously, the EA can't take that long with viewings, so we just took over.

Absolutely!

@IKnowPlacesWeCanHide I 100% agree. I drove five hours to view a house and as soon as I walked in it was clear that the lounge was at least a third smaller than it appeared in the photos and the whole house in real life was nowhere near as newly done or clean as it appeared. After that I learnt to compare room sizes to what I have now.

Btw you only need to come off rightmove for 49 days to then re-list as if you are new on the 50th.

I think I've not made it clear on my OP. Just noticed a few people are mentioning the 2% and not acknowledging that the price has been dropped 25k in total.

The first drop was 2%

The second drop was 25k.

It's been reduced twice now.

The 5k reduction would total a 30k drop from asking price. It would be the third reduction.
I always imagined 30k reductions were on the more 'expensive houses' as it's such a huge reduction.

Thanks for this. I was wondering if this was the case. I was hopeful the guide price was an opportunity for a potential buyer to decide what they felt they wanted to pay and to give my estate agent the chance to negotiate. But to hear how a potential buyer would see it makes me see it from a different perspective.

@BooomShakeTheRoom I wish I was selling a property worth 500k haha! But it's good to hear opinions on the current market. Maybe I have no choice at this point. I thought that I listed at a good time when people would be rushing to beat stamp duty increase!

It is good to put garden measurements in front and back. It is so simple, yet so many EAs don't bother to specify. You get these bland descriptions using the word generous or ample or low maintenance or even worse courtyard but no measurements!!

Regardless of the initial price asked for your property and regardless of how many price cuts you have made the price is still too high OP. I realise that's probably not easy to hear but it will sell at the right price.

What was the original asking price? Sorry if I've missed it but don't think you've said?

Following everyone’s helpful comments i thought I’d give an update. I've had multiple estate agents out, had friends and family cast an eye over my house in person and the listing.

Friends and family and other agents have confirmed current agent have used a fish eye lens and whilst the house is not small, people coming will expect bigger. Personally I couldn't see it but now it's been pointed out I can. This hasn't helped with the small garden feedback at all. It makes sense why people are coming and are disappointed with the garden size. I feel silly for not being able to notice this on the listing when it went live.

Ive spoken to multiple other agents, had them over to value and advise if they can do anything different to help sell. Asked them to be brutally honest on whether I am priced too high for the size, area, etc etc and every agent has said my current agent has priced me way too low and used a poor marketing technique with the guide price. I am suspicious that they're just trying to entice me in to switch over to them by saying 'come to us we can miraculously sell your house for near the original asking price' Clearly if it was worth what every agent is saying someone would have offered that by now! A few agents have said I can relist with them and put the price back up… I don’t think this is a good idea though. I don’t want to find myself in the same boat months later and be sat on market with no offers… one agent said if I stay at the same price my current agent has me at some people may think my house is too low and that something is wrong with it. Hmm. I think if it was too low someone would want to snap the bargain up? Would anyone be put off by being priced too low?

My estate agent has removed my house from the market now after I broke down in tears following the last viewing. He told me that when I go with another agent I’ll just find myself reducing again and that I could just reduce now with them to save myself the hassle. Yet other agents are saying they can sell it for a lot more than it’s on for now - saying they can achieve just below the original asking price.

I am definitely relisting. I think more true to size photographs, a better description of the benefits of the house - descriptions that actually entice the target audience as my current agent has sent absolutely anybody over to view. Overall, a fresh listing will all be beneficial.

Area is sought after and houses fly off the market. Current agent hasn’t described it as a sought after area but instead has described my fabulous cctv and security system, ring door bell and alarm… other agents I’ve spoken to noticed this immediately and said that can make the house look like it’s in a high crime area. It’s not hard to get stats but could mean people skip the listing and don’t even bother viewing. Especially as current agent used this as a key benefit of the house. When there are a lot of other things about the house worth advertising before its security system!

Also noticed by other agents was there are way too many pictures. There was 42 pictures or something like that. Like there was a picture of the back of my sofa showing no benefit of the room and all these crappy photos inbetween make it hard for people to even get to the end of the photos and see the main benefits of the house. Almost as if the listing with current agent is a chore for people to get through. This makes sense because some people viewing have come and it’s almost as if they haven’t looked at all the pictures all the way to the end. Again leading to disappointment when they view and see something in a room that they don't like. It's frustrating because im thinking it's on the pictures, but makes sense why they wouldn't sieve through all 42 to see it before viewing lol.

I’ve had no trouble with getting viewings, just trouble selling. I’m trying to think positive that now I’ve learnt a lot I can work closely with a new agent to triple check the pictures, ensure the amount of pictures is just right and that the target audience actually come to view.

However, I really don’t think I want to up the price at all… even though I’m being advised to. Obviously it’s my choice. But I’d notice a house come back on the market and increase in price! And for all i know someone could have shortlisted my property and not got round to viewing yet and be put off by a price increase! But can't shake off what the other agent said about it being too potentially being off putting and not reaching the right audience that way.

I feel a bit better having a couple of weeks to breathe and trying to stay positive that I can work properly on the next listing to make it right.

Waffled on I know.

Thanks for the update OP. Sounds like you have had good advice from the new agents and I wish you every success for a quick sale when you relist

I think follow your instincts @unsellable

It’s crazy that some EAs are suggesting you would be getting more interest if you increased the price. When you relist I definitely wouldn’t be increasing the price.

It’s good that you’re having a little break from it all anyway as it’s such a stressful process.