Horrendous YEAR trying to sell house

[NChousemove]

This time last year we were getting ready to put the house on the market.
January - DIY, painted and declutterred whole house
February - Agent visits, chose one, pictures taken
March - on the market - priced the same as sold prices for similar local properties from 2023/2024
April - no offers
May - reduced price by 10k
June - no offers
July - offer of full asking which fell through, buyer couldn’t get mortgage (no fault of our property)
August - reduced price by further 10k
September - offer of full asking
October - sale progressing
November - chain collapse
December - house off the market due to stress!

We desperately need to move to a bigger house. There’s nothing obvious wrong with our property and it was the cheapest of its size in the area despite not being a project. We are going back on the market in January but I am feeling stressed already. Considering going back on the market for 5k less than previously advertised because I find keeping the (overcrowded) house perfect for viewings stressful, to encourage a faster sale. It would then be 25k less than similar properties sold for previously but clearly house prices have dropped. There are projects on the market for more money. If we reduced any more, we wouldn’t be able to afford the onward purchase which is a big upgrade size wise.

I feel a bit nervous about going back on the market. I already anticipate the stress of viewings and the selling process if we even get that far again, we could well be in the exact same position in another year. Realistically we have to go back on the market as we need to move house.

I feel for you. 20 years ago it took us 3 years to sell our house. We had so many people who wanted to buy, but who had houses to sell so we could not entertain them.

we had a buyer and negotiated on a house we envied for over 10 years. Truly our dream home. Agreed a price. Appointed solicitors and booked survey just so happened to be send day as survey on our house. Estate agent rings night before to say sure it cancelled. Turns out our buyer had a habit of doing this. No intention to actually buy

lost house.

another buyer. Selling her house to developer. Also sale time sensitive due to divorce. Find a house where people are going into rented as they’re buying land to build a house on. Everything booked for surveys, solicits appointed - where were buying decide they want to buy a house and need to then find one so start looking for a house. Our buyer holds on for 6 weeks. No progress so they walked away.

we’re only in our house because it was vacant. It had been a rental and owner to sell. We were desperate to move for space.

took three years just because of the above.

it’ll happen. But it will be at a price to sell. Perhaps this current lower price but back in market in March. You’ll still be open to all sorts of potential pitfalls.

is there any way to add on? Loft conversion? Convert garage to living space and add summer house or sheds for storage?

we too are approaching a year

jan - prepare house to sell, cleaning etc
Feb- photos & estate agents
march - listed & STC within 3 weeks
april, may, june - conveyancing
July - chain collapse on day of proposed exchange.
sept - reduce. Get offer. They withdraw after 2 weeks.
Oct - reduce again. Get offer. STC
Nov & Dec - conveyancing

im sick to death of it. Will it happen? currently discussing Feb. argh.

Price. At least 10% price reduction otherwise it's a waste of time.

Take the advice of EAs you can trust plus who say they have clients looking for your type of property. It's not the price if you've 'sold' it twice. Be careful of seeming too cheap buyers are just as likely to assume there is something wrong with it. Good luck.

Agree with PP, those offers of full asking say the house is priced right and it's appealing. You are just suffering from there not being a lot of action in the market. It's bloody hellish but you just have to stick it out until it happens. I have friends who went on the market in Spring 24, viewings dribbled along, even getting to second/third viewings but they just couldn't get an offer until about May 25 when all at once three people appeared who all wanted it but weren't proceedable and then it became a race for those three to sell first. The whole thing then went really fast and was completed and done by July 25. So don't lose heart, you WILL sell in the end.

I’m a cash buyer, moving to the uk from abroad. I’ve been watching the market very closely for the last couple of years. We know it’s now a buyers market, and that Covid vastly overinflated house prices in the countryside, where we are looking. First of all I was waiting for the latest budget, then of course now it’s Xmas so not great time to be buying/selling. I’m expecting there to be considerable movement in early spring as those who hesitated to sell try and cash in on a falling market. I’m prepared to push aggressively on the pricing or walk away. Buyers choice! If you really want to sell,, you need to be prepared to drop your price (or have it advertised at the average price for your area but let your agent know you’re prepared to drop it for the right buyer). Bear in mind you should be able to squeeze the price on your larger home purchase too. Be brave, and good luck!

That’s really tough @NChousemove

The positives are that the house sold twice and the deals collapsed not due to a fault in the house like a bad survey.

It must be so mentally draining. But I wouldn’t reduce the house by another 5k as you got an asking price offer in July. The price you sold it for then seems about right so I would relist it again at that price. Some people will want to haggle whatever the price so at least that would give you a little room to negotiate.

I suspect you're going to be looking for a while.

Yes I suspect they may be rather over egging the buyers market, but will get a better idea once actually in the UK and viewing properties/making offers.

Sold in 2014 taking two years. Five sales fell through. Moved again in 2023 after a full year on the market with one sale falling through as she had lost her buyer. Eventually sold for £40,000 less than lost buyer's offer. You have my sympathy OP.

We’re going to have to move at some point in future. Having had bad experience with Estate Agents when selling parents house I have started looking at alternatives. I will want to be in full control of my future sale ( viewings etc) and don’t want to wait around for ES telling me ( their version ?) of buyers progress etc.
Anyway I found an online ‘agent’ - Quicklister . Check them out ..
Selling yourself also saves money of course but it’s key that you have an efficient Solicitor lined up. Get every offer etc in writing- sent to you via your Solicitor.
dont rely on phone conversations.
Good luck !

If we reduced any more, we wouldn’t be able to afford the onward purchase which is a big upgrade size wise.

Irrelevant to your buyer. Maybe next house needs to be less of an upgrade? Or look at longer mortgage term for next house? Or hope onward is reduced too? Or downgrade cars to get few extra k?

In substantial amount of the "my house is not selling why" threads the house is not selling because it is overpriced. This is not always true but generally so.

Generally in this country people want houses and are unable to afford them, so if a house is priced attractively relative to the rest of the market it will get buyers quickly.

As pp have indicated, no buyer owes you a price that will enable you to upgrade your house.

This time of the year the market is always relatively slow as peoples attention is focussed on other things, but the beginning of spring should be interesting to see where the market is.

My neighbour can’t sell hers. Her listing says drive and the way it’s photographed it looks like you can get a large car on it. You can’t. So people come and look and leave. In her price bracket there’s loads of houses with big drives. Start by looking like for like and check your listing is accurate.

I always think that's a mistake to use clever photography to mask a problem with a house/driveway/garden.

People that come to view are bound to be disappointed!

It's one thing to use good photos to present your house in the best light - decluttered rooms, good lighting etc - but not to basically lie about something like the size of a drive.

How exhausting for you @NChousemove
With most of these sort of threads, which are common on here, the price is clearly the issue. With you, you did get good offers fairly quickly so it may not be that. Do you think the market has continued to fall since the Autumn? If you do, perhaps reduce a small amount. Also, get an honest friend to be super critical of your listing and photos. I expect you are already organised with all your paperwork from the previous failed sales but that's important too. As @InTheClover says, make sure you negotiate a good deal on your onward purchase too. Larger, more expensive homes have fallen the most.

The market round here took a nosedive after the end of March last year when the stamp duty reductions ended. We were fortunate enough to get ours on the market and sold in January. Many houses they went on at a similar time to us didn't sell and are still on. Fingers crossed you get lucky and find a post Christmas buyer who's spent too much time at home over the holidays and has realised they need to move!

Thanks everyone.

I’ve got friends to critique the listing and nothing is hidden, it’s a genuinely lovely house but we need something different now. It’s well priced compared to other options. We’ve already extended and cant extend anymore.

Part of the problem is the onward purchase. What we need costs around double what we originally listed for. As we’ve reduced it’s now more than double. We need something very niche so there are only three suitable properties on the market, we’ve offered at some point whilst sold STC on all three and the vendors will not reduce the price at all for any of them. All three have been on the market for between 2-3 years but want to hold out for their price, which of course they can do. It’s frustrating when we are reducing and knowing we won’t get anything off the next house.

You need to compare the price of yours to prices of ones which have sold very recently, not what sold a year ago or what is still on the market. Good luck OP with finding as it seems like the vendors of the bigger houses are being unrealistic on price.

I’m currently temporarily living in the uk, employing a house hunter and actively looking at houses. I’m not desperate to move though, I still have my foreign residence, I’m long-term renting in the uk and I’m prepared to wait. Houses right now just aren’t selling as they were even 2 years ago, it’s a buyers’ market, no over egging needed. I believe the market will drop further, which is why I’m in no rush. Our next door neighbour has already had to drop their price by 15% and still no takers (lovely characterful house in a nice village, desirable area). A lot of properties have been taken off market over the past 3-4 months with a view to them going back on in the spring, re-priced. To be fair, I can only speak for the range within which I’m looking, and I have the knowledge of our house hunter to draw on. Maybe the market’s different for the OP’s range, but if I wanted to sell right now, as painful as it is i would drop the price rather than live through the stress of hanging on. I would be very keen for my life to move on, especially if I needed more space for a growing family. It must be really hard for sellers who can’t sell right now, once you’ve made that decision to move you just want to get it over with.

Yes it’s a buyers market but it’s over egging to not appreciate the nuances.

Some areas are much more of a buyers market than others, the best example being central London as there has been a big downtick in overseas buyers purchasing high end properties in central London.

Also some parts of the countryside where property prices shot up during Covid & working from home. Places that don’t have good rail links or are expensive but a long way from London are less attractive now people need to go to the office more again.

However, someone that is fussy and wants the sort of home that lots of others want too - an attractive property in a great area with good transport links and excellent schools, they could well be disappointed if they expect to get a bargain. There are also big regional variations so although I say things like “the market is stagnant” that’s a generalisation & not true of all properties or all areas.

Why? OP sold twice this year so not overpriced.

It is a horrible process. We fortunately sold quickly but then started the 18 month process of finding a house and getting a sale across the line. 2 failed purchases and endless stress.

My advice, for what it’s worth, is to ensure you choose an estate agent you click with and then work on the relationship with them. So many people seem to view EAs with disdain while putting their biggest asset in their hands. Make friends with them, show them you respect their expertise and experience, be honest about your price wants/needs, get them to be brutally honest with you about viewer feedback, and nip any problems in the bud. You want them on your side.

I am sorry to say that trusting estate agents about saleability is not a good idea , even ones with good reputations. A respected local agent assured me houses like mine are in demand when I can see from Rightmove that very similar houses stay on the market for months and years .