Embarrassment of home not selling

[quadly]

First time seller. Absolutely mortified by the little interest my home has had over the first few weeks it’s been on the market. Really struggling with the public nature of your house being for sale - your neighbours all know because of the sign, I’ve had three friends message me because they stalk Rightmove and have seen the house. We’ve had VERY little interest despite seemingly ticking all the right boxes - estate agent has said they’re “scratching their heads”.

I’m just really struggling with how everyone can see it hasn’t sold. It’s such a public experience and will be such a public failure if we have to reduce the price. I’m mortified by the whole thing and I feel like my reaction is completely emotionally unregulated. I feel devastated in such an over the top way. Does anyone have any advice on how to get past this feeling?

I’ve been having huge arguments with my husband as I just want to take the house off the market and stay put, which he thinks is ridiculous.

I have a few family members with (gorgeous) houses on the market at the moment, and interest has been very low. Especially for more expensive houses, a lot of people are waiting to see what turns up in the budget- all this endless kite flying has been good for no one.

Why? It took 3 months for us to get a single offer on our central London flat. 7 years earlier we were in a bidding war for it. We lost £75k.

The market has changed and slowed down. That’s not your fault. It’s also a house… not you. It’s not a representation of you, your worth, your choices or your value.

They say selling a house and planning a wedding are some of the most stressful life events! (I would know I did both at once lol).

I judge but only greedy estate agents for overpricing.
It can’t be your fault if the price needs correcting unless you overruled the agents advice.

I'm definitely a judgy cow but I don't think any kind of way about people reducing price, selling a house that won't sell etc. It's rarely the sellers fault, and there are so many factors influencing house buying especially at the moment. Keep it up for a bit longer. It could be your estate agents, maybe list it with someone else.

Reiterating what others have said - the market is completely dead right now. In the fact the whole economy is. No one hiring, no one moving, no one is daring to make any sort of life decision whilst everything is so bad. They is the worst the economy has been in my adult lifetime so personally I would take off the market and resist when things start of pick up whenever that is.

Kirstie Allsopp: The property market is dead
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buying-selling/kirstie-allsopp-the-property-market-is-dead/

behind firewall but even Kirstie is talking about it!

Sorry to hear things are not going the way you hope. You could try posting on here…my friend did this and MN feedback was actually useful brutal but useful, she couldn’t see it but they were very honest ie too cluttered, needs to be simple light colours etc she did quite a few bits, rearranged one of the bedrooms, painted the spare room a light cream to make it look fresh and bigger she sold 3 months later.

Hope you get sorted.

I think it’s probably not just the looming budget but the current seeming unrest at the top of the Labour Party etc that is causing people to feel jittery - doesn’t feel like a good time to be making big decisions right now

We just accepted an offer on out flat after putting it on the market in May. When we bought it, it was only on the market for 2 weeks before we snapped it up. Now it was on the market for nearly 6 months! The whole area is a buyer's market. We had to knock 35k off asking which was annoying.

BUT the silver lining is that we were able to purchase a big 4 bed house for less than what it would have been in a seller's market - we wouldn't have been able to do this!! Swings and roundabouts I guess!

It's not a personal slight on your house (or you) .
It's only been a few weeks.
Housing market isn't great atm so houses are taking longer to sell.
Of course neighbours /friends may look up details on zoopla, it's a natural curious reaction-wouldn't you?
Really you are overthinking.
Try not get anxious anxious about it.
If you need to reduce the price well that's also a very common thing to do, so wouldnt worry about that either. You just take the professional advice of the estate agents re valuation.
Mumsnet is good at offering advice re photos and how to present your house if you're brave enough to post a link.
Not sure I would be!
Good luck, it will sell and it's very early days

I understand what you are saying op. It’s a god awful process and does feel very public and personal, it’s your home!
The market is very odd at the minute though, people are extremely concerned about the budget and it is reflected in the attitude of buyers and sellers. We reduced ours, but we also got a reduction on our onwards purchase so it’s swings and roundabouts.
Good luck xx

Sorry to hear this, as others have said it's not a good time to be selling.

I am interested in your response being embarrassment, why do you think that is? In your boots I might feel annoyed, pissed off with the market, puzzled, but it wouldn't occur to me to feel embarrassed! Are you usually easily embarrassed?

But people don’t know how many viewers you have had - you may have had a lot of offers for all people know, but they all offered low and you said no 😎 I think it makes you look kinda badass actually! This is the price, take it or leave it. A house near me has been on for months, my impression is that they aren’t taking any shit and are waiting for the price they want 🤷‍♀️ hold tight OP!

No offence but do you honestly people are spending their life worrying abour your house being sold or not, i am sure you dont mean it but the idea seems a bit narcissistic

Do you spend that much thought on other people's house sales?

In the past people looked at loads of houses in person

Now, it's all done online

It usually (always) comes down to price, IMHO

I remember in the 90s receiving a big envelope full of houses for sale! Despite stipulating a specific area, size and price, we got sent all sorts!

It is nothing to be embarrassed about - pissed off that is has not had any interest yes, but embarrassed. What is that about?

Have there been other houses around you for sale lately? Did they take long to sell? It could well be the unknown of the market just now. What are the estate agents doing to promote your property?

It depends what you want more - to move (with the public scrutiny) or to stay (without the public scrutiny).

Houses are personal things. You have to find someone who wants to live in that area, in a particular style and size of house that wants to move and has the money. All of those things need to align to find a buyer. Its like a needle in a haystack.
Ita not like selling jam where half the country likes jam and buys it weekly.
You are selling one of the most expensive things people can buy in their life and it is a unique one of a kind item. And so there will in reality be very few people in the world that actually want that exact item and even less that have the money to buy it.
Some people will buy if the price is right even if they do not really want that exact item as they know they can resell at a later date for a profit.
This is for every size shape and location of property, the economics are the same.
I dont think anyone in their right mind thinks anything of someone that tries to sell their house then drops the price. Companies skim the market with a higher price first all the time. It's a basic marketing technique.
Market is particuarly bad right now so if you dont need to move then yes, take it off until after christmas if you want but I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better.

I live somewhere where the selling picture is mixed. Some are going in a few days or the same day as happened to a friend recently but others stick for ages.

I do think that was quick when they go quickly but it has never occurred to me to judge those that don’t go.

I think I would probably wait until the spring unless I was really desperate to move
Realist it in March

I went through similar. We had 5 viewings in 9 months, dropped the price twice to lower than most of the houses in our area in the same style. Had one offer at an even lower offer than we were listed at, accepted it. Had a time wasting buyer who eventually pulled out after months of dragging things out, and then we gave up! 2 years of my life I won’t get back. And since then we’ve had so many people ask if we have moved yet. I understand the embarrassed feeling, but you are quite early on in the process to feel that way.

Most of the people you are talking to have sold a house in the past and know all about the angst of whether the price is right and how long it all takes. Just say what they probably already know that the market is slow so you are prepared for it to be a long slog. Most will be sympathetic rather than judgemental.

Yep, I've got a nice little house on the market atm and it's the same, agents says it's the budget uncertainty.

If you're not bothered, take it off the market. At the very least, take the sign down or adjust the price to stimulate demand.

The gorgeous house next door took over a year to sell and the people who've bought it have spent the next year doing it up...it's just who's in the market really but uncertainty never helps.