Is anyone on the market but having zero interest?

[rootsandwings89]

We put our house on the market a month ago and only had 1 viewing so far :( our estate agent says the market is very nervous and nothing is moving …. Anyone else in the same boat?

@KeepPumpingi understand how markets work, it’s just hard to see a ‘loss’ like that in black and white when we saved so hard to buy the house!

Still tough to hear @KeepPumping.
At least the estate agents are not hyping to price in this instance @littlemousebigcheese.

Because they are not proceedable (yet) they don"t know how much their own house is worth yet, so they are not in a position to make offers that will stick.

Why sell it if you saved hard to buy it? Have you had lender"s valuations from prospective buyers because EA valuations are often nonsense, in this instance they have probably realised that the market is going down, may be looking at going out of business like many EA"s now and are just panicking trying to get sellers to see reality, a proper lender"s valuation might value higher.

For many people that don"t absolutely have to move the best bet is to get any mortgage debt paid down ASAP, rates are only going one way.

I listed my house in 2022 and it sold the same day it went live on Rightmove. I have 3 viewings booked for Saturday. 🥹 I offered on a house and they accepted my offer and told me they would wait for mine to sell

But @daisychain01 why would anyone use their only stamp duty free purchase on a tiny flat or something like that when flats aren’t selling either? The ‘property ladder’ doesn’t exist, the market looks more like it did in Victorian times with increasing numbers renting and purchases a minority pursuit. Dp’s daughter bought a new 3 bed semi detached off plan rather than a flat or a minuscule terrace and I don’t blame her.

houseprices io updated sales prices up until the end of April. I was surprised to see 11% (-65K) discount on one of the properties - probably, seller was very motivated to sell.
Sets a good precedent for the area.

Just an update - things started picking up in the last week or 2 and we finally have a buyer! Took us 10 weeks to sell where most of our neighbours have sold within a few days previously. Hopefully this is a sign the market is starting to pick up.

That's great @rootsandwings89 glad you have a buyer so can progress.

Great news @rootsandwings89, have you found something? We can’t find anything we like so am hoping next viewer doesn’t like it as an offer would put cat amongst the pigeons.

Think we will come off at end of tie in and focus on getting mortgage paid off by time fix ends in a couple of years. Moving costs are now over half of current mortgage .

Congratulations!

@rootsandwings89 so pleased to see the update, that’s great news, I hope everything goes through smoothly.

I started a thread but thought it might also be worth asking here. I'm in Scotland - my Home Report has just come back at 300k. Agent suggests listing at offers over 285k 'to drum up competition'. Competition is unlikely- (busy road, house not in perfect condition). Could it also be because market poor?
Ps OP sorry to jump on your thread - hope all proceeds at pace that's suitable for you x

I think the estate agents have done you a favour.
Most estate agents over value to get the business then when the viewings don’t materialise tell you to drop the price.This might result in more viewings but still no sale and you will need to drop the price again.
At least you have bypassed the frustration of having your house on the market for 6 months before no sale and pulling your house off the market.
It means you can now concentrate on paying off more of the mortgage before you revisit the situation.

That market doesn"t compare to today though, very few people are doing that now unless they are priced very cheaply.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Bank-Rate.asp

We've had to rethink our approach. Our agent has overvalued our property and if we don't take some affirmative action it's going to sit on the market and languish for an indeterminate time.

so it's going to be a reduction to a much more achievable price, change of profile on the portals and some rewording of the profile which is quite frankly full of Estate agents speak that is all verbiage and adds no value. We want it to be shorter and more factual. They've probably used AI which is why it says shit like "lovingly cared for by its present owners".

meeting with the agents tomorrow and hopefully get things moving, 5 weeks with 1 viewing isn't good enough!

Getting onto the ladder is the important thing, it doesn't matter if it's a "tiny flat" (my first flat was small and I could just about afford the mortgage payments on my own until I had a pay rise) - it still puts FTB onto the first rung. Then in a few years, market conditions may have changed and they can choose the right time to upsize if they want to and according to their financial means, anyone in a FTB property whether it's new or in use is fortunate - A nice problem to have. We all have to start somewhere.

ETA with the price of building materials sky high people prefer a new home with a known total cost, that they don't have to do anything to, as it's very expensive to DIY nowadays and getting building work done can become an open chequebook so to speak.

Getting onto the property ladder really isn't the important thing anymore. As the pp said, the ladder has been broken for some time. London flats haven't risen in many areas in nominal terms since 2014! There are masses of London flats on the market and people who are forced to sell at a loss. Lots of FTBs are choosing to wait and buy a house which makes total sense as FTBs are much older nowadays.
Your second point makes total sense as does your decision wrt your own home above.

Thank you @rainingsnoring ! We shouldn't have accepted the EA's valuation, our bad, but I feel we are doing the right thing by changing a few things inc the price.

In the Southwest where we are there is a property ladder and better value for money. London prices are wild!

Im a FTB in a city in the NW and saw a house I really like but unfortunately its a 2 up 2 down and is priced at 240 when they bought it for 150 in 2019. I think thats really inflated when you look at whats actually been done to it, and I won't even be making an offer because to me the house is worth 190 which obviously they wouldnt accept.
From looking at a lot of houses recently im getting the impression sellers think they can just randomly whack huge amounts of profit onto their sales.
This has been a learning experience and im in two minds about what tondo next. Part of me is tempted to judt shelve my buying plans for in a year and see if prices tumble.
Part of me will continue looking but from now on ignore any houses that have been massively inflated (unless we are talking about people who bought absolute wrecks and then gave them a complete transformation which is obviously different. But sorry in the current climate im jot going to pay you an extra 100K because you painted some walls and got a new boiler).

Good luck @daisychain01. I hope your new strategy works for you.
There are so many beautiful spots in the SW.

You sound very sensible. No harm in looking but it's definitely not a time to pay over inflated prices.

A lot of sellers me included stupidly believe the EA valuation. Not everyone is savvy regarding selling prices.
If you like the 2 up and down property put in an offer....nothing ventured nothing gained

Joining the thread…been on the market for 10 days, had 7 viewings, house in London. I thought I priced realistically, though not as low as the EA was urging. No offers yet, I felt optimistic after the viewings but feedback was all ‘not quite right’, ‘only just started looking’ etc. I guess people are holding back a bit, which in fairness I will be doing as well if I get the chance to buy.