Should we reduce by over 15% (75k)?!

[BunnyWilliams]

House was listed in September last year at 475k. This was after 3 identical valuations by local agents. We are in a VERY slow moving market with a lot of houses in our bracket sitting for at least 6 months before selling, if not a year.

We dropped to 450k after a few weeks of no interest. It didnt seem to do anything. Then we finally accepted an offer of 448k in January and then lost our buyers 7 weeks ago. Relisted with our vendors' agent 5 weeks ago at 440k.

We've had 4 viewing requests since then, 2 actual viewings (a potential 3rd next week) but no offers or usable feedback. We've only had 6 viewings total in all the time we've been for sale.

I asked our agent what his professional opinion was on what we should do about next steps/price. It's worth mentioning at this point that our vendors' are still waiting for us (apparently they are "very relaxed" about it). Our agent has today said that he thinks we should consider dropping to offers over 400k. DH and I are a bit taken aback to be honest. A 75k/15% reduction on our original listing price seems huge when we've previously had a much higher offer and have had several comments from people on what good value the house is.

The bottom line is that we absolutely cannot accept below 413k. We need 95k for the deposit on the new house and with stamp duty etc., this is our absolute rock-bottom figure and would leave us with £0 to take to the new house. We were originally planning on retaining 50k to relocate the kitchen to the dining room and create a utility and downstairs wc. The house is 'livable' without these things but it would make life a lot more difficult due to the house layout and having a young family.

I know it's hard for anyone to comment because you don't know this house or this market but I'm just at a complete loss as to what we do. We won't do anything to the price before the next potential viewing, of course.

Help!!!

I remember your property too @BunnyWilliams- very pretty old cottage. I'm sorry that things are dragging on; it is a beautiful property.
I agree with @GasPanic that mid-end 22 was the peak of market in many area so you may have bought a year or so before this and perhaps it just hasn't risen in value as much as expected. I also agree with what she (or he) said about your purchase. I expect they have had little interest so may be willing to negotiate, especially as things are visibly worsening economically speaking.

Obviously, wait for your next viewing before making any decisions.
If you don't get the offer you want, I agree with @Scuttlecuttle that it comes down to how much you want to move. If you really want to move to improve the quality of life of your family, you could certainly consider a large reduction and accepting similar to what you paid in 2021. This may be eased if you can then negotiate a reduction on your onward purchase. If you are not that motivated, you could keep it on the market and see what happens. There is a chance that you may be lucky but you may also need to accept that you stay where you are.

I would try dropping to 425k first.

The trouble with listing it at OIEO 400k is that you would probably get people offering 400k and not wanting to go much above that.

Do you reckon that dropping the price again for the 3rd time to 425 and then potentially again to offers over 400 would look bad though? I always read on here that people look unfavourably on loads of price drops.

I think I remember your thread a few months ago.

Honestly, I think the house sounds very liveable, with a superb location - you don't have to be always running to check on the children; they grow up fast. You can get safety locks and/ or an alarm for the front door.

Other than that, have you considered an estate agent that advertises or has partnerships with real.estate brokers in the US and Canada? I think the house and location would be extremely appealing to buyers in search of a Ye Olde Englande vibe.

Thanks for all your help.

We are definitely leaning towards walking away from this house just 'breaking even' rather than getting a load of extra equity from it. It may not have made us money but it has had a positive effect on our lives in many other ways, including getting our children into the fantastic village school.

I've been thinking a lot today about whether I could live with the onward house as it is for the foreseeable. It's by no means a renovation job - it's perfectly lovely (very similar to our current home) just the kitchen that would be much nicer if we could shift it one room over. The laminate worktops will bug me to no end but we've done it before in a previous house (and then redid the kitchen after a few years) and we can do it again. I think it will be worth the sacrifice for a long-term house that meets all of our needs, especially when there's nothing else on the market that we'd even want to view.

So now it's just a decision as to whether we do OIRO 425k or OO 400k (but hope for at least 410k). Either way, we'll be making it clear from the outset that there will be no further negotiations on price down the line.

My advice is that you need to make the house work for you. I dont understand how it isnt possible to fence/gate the front to make it secure for the dog?

It's really difficult to explain without a picture but just take my word for it that it isn't!

I get if you have a front door that opens onto the pavement, no frontage at all, but you said there was parking, why cant you drill into the boundary where you park and put railings/fencing up?

Because our two spaces are directly next to the road, one perpendicular and one at 90°, we literally wouldn't be able to drive up to park our cars. Just take my word for it!

Do you think there's any merit at listing at 415k? I know everyone is obsessed with RM banding (including our agent) but surely psychologically, it would be more attractive to someone who maybe has a 410 budget but could maybe stretch for the right house, or to someone who could afford 415/420 but not 425? Surely not everyone marks their budgets on RM bands?!

Why are you moving if the house is really similar?

Are you saying that you are really determined to sell and move to a new place despite the fact that you are unlikely to make a good profit and may make a loss?
If that's the case, I would be inclined to make one, big drop which shows potential buyers that you are a serious seller. You could make it clear what your lowest acceptable price is to any interested parties. If no acceptable offers by the end of the Autumn or whatever, you then accept that you need to stay put for now. But do see what the planned viewing brings. Perhaps this one will go well!

Because we want more outdoor space and to be more rural (not next to a main road). What I meant is it's similar in style - built about 1750 like ours.

You're moving after only 4 years because your house is on a main road with a small garden... there's nothing you can do about either of those things but it means your house is going to be worth less than other houses in your village that have none or only one of those problems. If you need to get £413k in order to be able to afford the move then I'd list it at £420k and aim to get £413k, make sure your estate agent is aware of your bottom line.

Try not to worry about what it should be worth or what might happen in the future, it's all too emotional. Be practical and focused on the end goal - the new house.

You could list it at 415k. Completely up to you. Definitely better than going straight to 400k which could invite offers below 400k no matter how you phrase it.

People don’t really like OIEO or OIRO - they just like a price and will always want to negotiate a bit in a Buyers market.

FWIW, we dropped our asking price by 10 percent, in effect put it on for the minimum we could accept. We’d been getting no interest at the higher price but had loads of viewings and offers after that. We soon had a couple of cash buyers and first time buyers offering just below the new asking price. We said we had just made a massive reduction and would not go below it, one of them agreed and we sold.
I’d put it on for 413 and tell the agent to refuse offers below that. Worth a try.

If you look at House prices statistics they really have not rocketed 15% since the pandemic so your house is probably worth not much more than you paid for it.

Let me share our example as the similarities with your case are many -

We bought ours in 2021 for 500. Added an extra room- building contractors weren’t so pricey then.
sold it this spring - not for the 550 we had hoped for but for a 510. The market simply has not grown as much as we would like. We got 4 offers all ranging in the 510/15 region.

this means we still get to buy our forever home but at 770, not at 870. It means we buy a bit of a doer upper but not for instant doing upping but over a bit of time.

DH feels the sting of selling just 10k over what we bought for in 2021. I see the possibilities lying ahead :)

PS If you bought at 400k in 2021, how on earth do you think it’s added 75k since then, amidst mortgage rises and CoL?!

The way we reframed our thinking was as follows -

1. we are not reducing by X percent. The house was never worth X percent to be listed at in the first place.
2. Accepting that in 2021, fresh off the stamp duty holiday we possibly overpaid at 500k and house was actually worth 475k and is now worth 500/510k.

Borh are very hard to accept.

both are likely to be hard reality.

Yes that’s the way to think about it.

There are a lot of these ‘why isn’t my house sellling’ threads on here. The OPs always struggle to accept it when told the reason is that it’s overpriced. However that is the reality of it.

I would keep it at the current price until after the Easter weekend. Lots of people (including those who aren't local) have more time to visit properties.
What are your agents doing to earn their fee?
Are they putting your house in the local free papers?
Would they set up an open day? (Ours sold after one. It was a bit like a bun fight. Everyone wanted what they thought someone else was getting!)

Well, after speaking to our agent again, we reduced the price to 425k three days ago. He thought doing 418/420 wouldn't make a difference because people want to offer under and feel they're getting money off anyway.

It has done absolutely nothing. We've had no additional viewing requests and now I'm utterly fed up and resigned to the fact that our house will literally never sell. I don't know why to be honest. It's priced SO well now (and that isn't just me saying that, that's everyone I've spoken to including valuers, agents, strangers who are resident in the village, strangers who commented on my FB community post, and friends and family who all said that even BEFORE we'd reduced).

We now have to decide how long we wait before pulling it off the market and losing our onward purchase. It has now been listed for 7 months. It's the fear that the moment we pull it off could have been the moment we'd get an offer!

I sense and can understand your frustration @BunnyWilliams

But it has only been on the lower price for 3 days which is nothing really. It may take a few weeks to get more viewings/an offer. But it is on at a good price now so it should sell.

It's a niche property so you were never going to get loads of offers, people always say they like properties with character but what they often mean is they like character in other people's houses not their own. Or they like character but only if it is combined with all the features you find in newer properties.

You just need to wait for those buyers that will fall in love with it as you did. I wouldn't take it off the market as the spring is the best time to sell. Just try to be patient a bit longer. Sorry it must be so upsetting.

3 days? You need give it a bit more of a chance than that, especially as we’re in the Easter holiday season at the moment.