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.

That's a pain. It's likely that a lot more properties will come to market from around end of Feb onwards so I would consider relisting yours a little later than you plan to, perhaps March when there may be more choice. I would also revisit your requirements and the area in which you are looking. If you can be more flexible, you would have more choice. What I really wouldn't do in your situation, with a growing family, is over pay on one of the properties you mention and end up in unmanageable levels of debt when you have so many bills to pay. If these homes have been on the market for 2-3 years with no reductions, these people aren't serious sellers. They are kite fliers and no one is prepared to pay what they want. Don't be the sucker who over pays and land yourself in trouble in future years. Good luck!

If you have been on the market, at any price, over 8 weeks, your house is "stale". You would be lucky (or not) to get an offer. You have put your house on the market originally at a too high price. You are unlikely to get a good price now, even if you keep reducing it.

My advice now: Take your house off the market completely until late spring/early summer. Look realistically at what is then on the market, are you the only ones with that type of house? What is the cheapest house of your type on the market, is it up to modern specs? Is the garden well kept/easy to maintain? Are all the odd jobs done? Is all the paintwork good and have you got rid of all unnecessary clutter, especially when entering through front door, i.e. coats, shoes, bags etc?

Price your house just under local opposition or offers over the lowest priced competitor. Do not necessarily take an agent's valuation, they are only really looking at getting your house on the market with an eye for their commission. Do your own homework and look at similar sold prices for your area/road on Rilghtmove and that will give you a better indication of what to ask for.

Remember: Your house is ONLY worth what someone else is prepared to pay for it.

Where abouts are you selling OP?

What you need your house to sell for is irrelevant…as a buyer I’d personally not pursue a house that has dropped that much/been marketed for that long unless it was something pretty special. Unfortunately it’s very easy to check up on property sale history these days. Personally I’d sit tight and do nothing for at least 6-9months. You never know, perhaps another niche property more in line with your budget might appear.

IMO the bottom line is that house prices in this country are now ridiculously high relative to earnings, especially for younger people on lower salaries paying high rents so not able to save much. The housing situation in this country is a disgrace on so many levels.
Sorry not helpful to OP, just having a rant.

It's taken over a year for my parents to sell their house - still going through at the moment.

It's very much down to the local market, their house being a 4 bed detached (relatively expensive so less buyers), whoever buys it will want to put their own stamp on it so will need to spend money on it.

When you do sell I’d encourage being open to renting temporarily if it gets your sale over the line whilst you find your next house.

Put ours on the market in November...2 viewings.
Happy for ours to go for a decent offer moving north so can take a fair reduction...just desperate to move

It’s partly the buying/selling system in our Country that doesn’t help, it’s overly cumbersome, drawn out, and complicated.
My ds sold his property finally in July after 18 months on the market. First sale fell through after the buyer strung him along for months (I think it was obvious she was never really committed), then the second buyer just took forever to get on with it, although finally managed it.

You might be ranty but you are 100% correct too. It's appalling that the government, etc have allowed housing to inflate to such a degree that it excludes many younger people. It's even worse in several other countries, although a couple have already started to deflate.

I agree.

Totally sympathise with you. Daughter sold after 2 days.....3 months later buyers changed their minds 😠

We went on the market last year 2025 June, had a couple of low offers, so after 20 weeks changed EA sold in March this year, still going through the process

what does sold in march mean ? Contracts exchanged or offer made? Judging by other threads the buyer is going to reduce their price so be ready for that mental drain when it happens

Sympathies! Our house took 18 months in the end to sell (now completed)

It just sounds like you were unlucky not that the house was priced wrong or unsalable

It's difficult to say without knowing the asking price but drops of around 5k are likely to be neither here nor there. Also don't focus on the offers that fell through as they were no offers at all - the first buyer for example simply didn't have the money. If you want to sell you need to lower the price by a meaningful amount. Comparing to other sold properties in the area can be tricky as one naturally looks at one's own property with a natural bias when it comes to comparisons. I'm sure it will sell as clearly people like it enough to offer on it but I fear if you need to sell you need to thing of reductions in the tens of thousands and not single digits - you have already tested the marked, when it goes back on bite the bullet and price it to sell.

@EstateAgentLondon it mean a offer was accepted on my house, he had a survey done on our house , mortgage sorted, I've just got get survey on the one we are buying.

I can only sympathise. Mother in the same situation. Advertised last July. Was due to exchange next week. Buyers pulled out hours after COB on the day mum &them had provisionally agreed to have contracts in by, having wasted mums time (and money!!) since January. Furious that people can just on a whim decide not to buy something anymore. The people were total c*s as well which made it sting more.

england needs to catch up with the Scottish system - have an offer accepted then you’re committed to buy.

I am also interested to know if there’s a time-wasters blacklist on the inside of the EA industry?

We sold our house which we were told was priced competively at 300k in Feb , weve had absolutely everything done , new roof, kitchen, beautiful garden and it’s an old Victorian terrace. We’ve painstakingly put the old beautiful features back . LVT throughout and spent a fortune on it . We ended up selling for 275k . Only offer we had . Was on the market for 2 months before we got the offer and only 6 viewings . Loads of houses in our road that went on similar time to ours but still up for sale . It’s awful at the moment

So its not sold - Buyer might gazunder or pull out - Sold means exchange

Thats less than 10% below asking, so a solid offer in the current market. You were right to accept. And hopefully your next purchase is also a reasonable price.

I thought the poster meant sold as in sold subject to contract, like you see on a sold notice on a house.

This is not true about the Scottish system

I agree with this. Offer accepted in Scotland does not mean a firm deal. You have to get missives signed for that to happen. The deal can fail for any reason prior to this. This has always been the case. I remember being so excited my first (lawyer) husband and I had an offer accepted and he wouldn't get excited as he said it's not a firm deal before missives were signed. They used to take about 10 days then not weeks. We are currently selling in Scotland (late PIL property) and have a closing date on Friday. We know we have an offer from someone but they need to sell. It's about £30k higher than the next offer someone made but no need to sell and if these 2 offers come in on Friday we will take the lower one as it's more proceedable.