House listed without parking. Just found out.

[NCDoris]

Any advice please dear mumsnetters.
We havd a large three storey house. 5 beds / 4 baths. New decor / new flooring. Weve had no interest. We found out yesterday it had been listed as having no parking!
Ten weeks without any interest which seened odd and we have to sell to downsize. We need disabled accommodation. We've reduced twice as there was no interest and our situation is running out of time. Our mortgage has doubled plus i can't make the stairs.
This is a mighty cock up. Obviously I've lost faith in the agent but we are in a cliquey village. The house has been reduced by a six figure sum.
What can we do?

I was about to say exactly the same. Very few markets have risen in the last three years - in many you’d be looking at a sizeable drop. If it was initially on at £100k+ more than you are now listing it for you were ridiculously overpriced.

fully agree with that sentiment

Small local agent.

So that may be your problem. That and a slow market overall.

OP, I had another thought, does your listing mention the fact that you have plans drawn up for a revamp of the kitchen – presumably to change the existing small rooms into one large kitchen/diner? That should certainly be mentioned on the details as generally people who need a four or five bedroom house are going to have children and want to have eyes on them while preparing food or doing their homework. A number of smaller rooms is not attractive.

A stupid question OP, everyone including me is talking about rightmove, you havent mentioned rightmove once in your posts, your EA is with rightmove arent they?

I'm sure it must still be overpriced. If it was a bargain, which that size house needs to be these days, you would have had enquiries. Its very unlikely that anyone interested in that type of property won't realise it has parking - or at least ask the agent about it which would have flagged the mistake earlier. Have you made sure you are the cheapest comparable house for sale ? That seems to be the way forward at the moment for bigger houses as there are so few buyers at that end of the market. The other thing to recognise is that 3 years ago you almost certainly overpaid. Things were a bit mad in 21 and 22 - many people are in the same situation that they couldn't sell again at the price they paid during that time. The market has changed massively for larger properties and also in many cases flats.
Is it a true freehold or part of a managed estate ? Larger properties on fleecehold estates have absolutely tanked in value over the last 3 years.

Its freehold with a service charge for fhe grounds.

Ive slept on the problem and i think a national agent would do better. The current agent is online only. No shop window.

We bought in 2023 not in the covid bubble. I shall look into adapting the house today as the setting is peaceful and the facilities good.

Its freehold with a service charge for fhe grounds.

Ive slept on the problem and i think a national agent would do better. The current agent is online only. No shop window.

We bought in 2023 not in the covid bubble. I shall look into adapting the house today as the setting is peaceful and the facilities good.

Yes

Freehold with service charges is "fleecehold" not a proper freehold. This has become really unpopular due to it cost of living crisis. Its sometimes as bad as paying council tax twice. If your service charges are low then get this into the advert, assumptions from buyers may be that its a considerable and variable extra cost that they don't need when full freeholds don't have any service charges.

I live in a house that's about 20 years old and one of my neighbours on the estate installed a lift. After she died the lift was removed, the floor was reinstated and the house has now sold after only a short time on the market. There's a lot to be said for avoiding the upheaval of moving, OP.

In defence of ‘fleecehold’ I was wary before I bought in my current small estate but for £320 a year we have beautifully maintained communal outdoor areas and riverside path. So much nicer than what the council would be able to provide. It can be a good thing.

@Cando6 its about £400 a year and we have a park and a running track.

@TheClangyClunk the lifts are £20k I believe. My income is effected by my illness.

I've spoken with the national agents this morning. Apparently we were only listed on Rightmove, no shop window.
They have a tenant in the same style of house on our road. We're meeting next week.

Is the service charge amount and what you get for it listed in the advert

Who are you meeting next week, and what for?

The National agent is coming to appraise the house next week.
Historically we have always used that firm but I was sweet talked into the local agent getting the instruction. When you are ill you do daft things.

I doubt very much that this is the thing that's caused the lack of interest. Just get it corrected- no biggie.

House prices have dropped over the last few years in real terms (and in nominal terms in some areas). The most likely issue here is the price, especially if you have to pay a SC.

Why is the "no shop window" important ?

Hardly anyone goes looking in shop windows to buy houses anymore.

What's more important is if the "online only" agent offers full service in other respects (showing people round, good photos, negotiating etc) than whether it puts a photo up that next to no one will look at.

They wouldn’t if they clicked the ‘must have parking’ filter on Rightmove. They wouldn’t have seen the house come up at all

We are close fo a very prestigious town with a lot of people looking in the agents windows!
We are within an hour of London and have good schools.

We are priced the same as some of the four beds on our development. We're five beds. We're £200k less than the new builds.

I always filter for parking and garden. So it wouldn’t have come up ever in my local searches if I was a target buyer. Hope that you are recovering well

It's been over Christmas and New Year people have other things to do than look at houses. Are there a lot of houses without parking in your area, like yellow lines on the roads and no driveways? If not most people would assume you can park and would at least look at street view to check the area. I don't think I've ever filtered a search by parking, although I might if it was inner city.

The market is so sluggish that in an odd way it’s not very price sensitive. Obviously if you reduced to £5k or something then someone would buy, but when £100k drop gives no interest it’s more systemic than that. As you mentioned, there’s a huge oversupply north of £500k and you can see why - there just aren’t as many actual buyers as all that with access to half or three quarters of a million pounds floating about - houses are just too expensive.

Was the ‘enquiry at 20%’ an offer? I’d go back to them tbh.

We found the mistake as my friend put in her filter for parking.

Her question was why wasnt it loading.
Personally I don't put filters in but most do.
I've cancelled the contract now. I'm going to see what the female agent says. Ive only seen men and as a ex estate agent (briefly 30 years ago), i believe women buy houses.

There are no yellow lines. Parking is on the road or in bays. Garage owners have extra in front of the garage.