looking at previous asking prices on rightmove

[Ecci]

We've had our house up for sale for quite a while, with what has proved to be a shit estate agent. We had sold it twice and both times fell through because of things unrelated to our house.

The estate agents only marketing ploy was to tell us to keep reducing the price even though we were getting viewers and offers, although some of the offers were very silly.
We're changing to a different agent and want to increase the asking price.
New estate agent has advised against this because he says people will look at asking price changes when considering whether or not to view a property and that if they see it's increased it will put them off.
I've looked at hundreds of houses on Rightmove and I didn't even know you could do this. Turns out you have to download a browser extension to do it.
Is the estate agent right? Do people really consider previous asking price changes before deciding to view a property?

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Thanks but I am, still can't find it.

I absolutely do use a browser extension to view previous asking prices - have done for years. As another poster mentioned, it's likely the most money any of us will spend, so it beggars belief (to me) that any buyer wouldn't use every tool at their disposal to discover everything they possibly can about the pricing of a property.

And yes, if I see that the asking price has been bouncing around all over the shop within a relatively short time period, I'll have nothing more to do with it.

I would have the same issue. It smells more than a bit off when you see that. A pattern of reductions though is pretty common at the moment, and to be fair, everyone wants a good price on their sale.

I just watched this week's UK Property Market Stats Show on YT. One interesting stat was that, of all homes sold in the last 4 years, 82% DIDN"T have a price reduction.

The suggestion here is that if you price your home correctly in the first place then you have a far better chance of selling. As soon as you get into price reduction territory then you're going to struggle.

I haven't seen the data behind the stats and I have to confess that when we last sold in 2020 we DID reduce the price aggressively after 2 weeks and then got a sale through.

Yes I use a browser extension you can also see archived listings of houses on Zoopla. Tbh if a seller did what you are suggesting I would be seriously put off.
you say you need to pay £20k to be able to sell it. What is the issue that means you cannot currently sell it?
is it something the agent can dress up as a value add (eg solar panels) or is it just to make it mortgageable (eg fix subsidence)?

Also can you explain what you mean by ‘silly offers’ how much below asking are we talking? Are they just taking into account the work that needs doing? Silly to you might be financially prudent for the buyer.
I’d follow your new agents advice tbh.

Your new agent told you the price is 'correct' but it didn't sell at that price or even at a lower price? How do you understand correct price in this context?

The issue is that it needs a new septic tank and drainage system. Can't be sold without this.
The silliest offer we had was £100,000 below asking price.
We have now followed the new agent's advice.

That sounds sensible in the circumstances OP. hope it works out for you.

Your house hasn't sold, and you're thinking "I know what I'll increase the price!"

I think you're the outlier. When spending £xxx, xxx, most people use the tools available at the click of a button.

It's overpriced because no one has purchased it. The correctly priced properties shift very quickly.

This.

If a house doesn't sell its overpriced

If a house only gets offers quite a bit under its overpriced

If your estate agent tells you to reduce its overpriced

If the other estate agents you ask tell you NOT to relist it any higher its overpriced

If a house needs 20k spend because its bordering uninhabitable due to sewerage/septic issues and its not priced very cheap then its over priced

If multiple previous STC have fallen through then theres a major issue that probably means the agreed price is overpriced or too hard to fix

OP doesn't want to hear that her house just isn't worth as much as she wants, she also won't want to hear that spending money to fix the problem will NOT make her that money back on top of what she wants as retail price. The house simply isn't worth that much, thats why its not selling.

I’m looking to buy right now (up north) and I absolutely check Zoopla. No shot would I offer on a house that had increased in price in this market. Almost all of the places I’m looking at have asking prices that have decreased significantly from their previous sale prices.

You can"t add work needed to make it sellable to the buyer"s tab unfortunately, they are looking at price for location and size, if the price is aspirational they will look elsewhere.

Personally I would not touch a house that needs a completely new septic tank and drainage system with a barge pole

there could be all kinds of hidden issues linked to this, once you start that process (sewerage pooling and spilling into the water table, foundations can be affected etc), how bad is the situation now and is the drainage issue the reason you are moving?

We almost bought a property like this once but pulled out after surveys as the potential for finding related damage was too great. The people who bought it looked at 100k damage and ended up tearing the house down and building as new one. So obviously yours is not that bad necessarily but it might make lots of buyers very wary…

so yes you probably need to fix it to make it sellable indeed. Hope that it sells once you have this issue fixed.

In response to today's messages:

The house is not borderline uninhabitable and the sewage system works fine. It is a very old house and just doesn't meet the new regulations for septic tanks introduced a few years ago.
The comments about sewage poolong, spilling into water tablets, foundations affected are nonsense.
We've had 2 companies look at it to get quotes and both have said it is fine to use.
Just needs to be replaced because we are selling.

It is not the reason we are selling. We need to downsize due to age and health issues. This is a big house with a garden of several acres in a beautiful part of the country. It is well maintained and in great condition.

The people who wanted to buy it pulled out for reasons that were nothing to do with our house but were related to their personal circumstances.

It's astonishing how many people don't read the information already given.

We have read the information given, you just don't want to hear what is being said.

You can say everything serendipitously unrelated and not relevant until your blue in the face but of course its all relevant and paints a pretty simple and clear picture.

You asked a question everyone has answered and yes posters do check and will notice. You cannot pass the cost of maintenance, meeting regulations or upgrades off onto the buyer, they expect the house to have had these done within the value not as a price added on top of it.

Exactly, buyers are way more cautious now, they are not like buyers of a few years ago, drunk on cheap credit and basically buying anything.

Yep, not presenting the basic ready to move into package will just annoy buyers now, they don"t want "projects" any more.