To those selling in these difficult times

rs82uk

Yeah was going to say im guessing its not down here if it was id be snapping your hand off.

eloise

Hi All,

It has been great to read and catch up on all your news.

This is what has been happening to us. We have been trying to sell a business and a house. The business has been up for sale for over 3 years and we have had four potential purchasers. All dragged on and fell through. Last July we were yet again under offer and after a nightmare of excuses and dragging out, it finally fell through in November. We felt very down, but on the same day the estate agent phoned with another viewing. To cut a long story short , the sale went well and we finally completed the sale at the beginning of February. Hooray!!! I have a husband at home at last!!! Thanks Davesnave for all your messages and well done on selling your house. We have both started 2009 well!

The house has been on the market for 18 months. We have reduced from £295,000 to £249,950. Only 6 viewings.2 really liked it, but have been unable to sell their homes. Really quiet since November. Just had a viewing yesterday from someone who is renting. No news or feedback yet, but at least it is a viewing.

Good luck to all on this thread, as we all know what a difficult time it is trying to sell at the moment. Great to hear that some of you are getting offers.

QTPie

kymie wrote: »

We had an apt with the EA today. We've been on since the beginning of Nov, and not a single viewing. She said we were still 'competitively priced' but we dropped from £152,500 to £147,950 to see what happens. It doesnt matter if we are 'competitively priced', we need to get people round here looking so we dropped today, with a view to dropping again in 4 - 6 weeks, but we cant really afford to accept anything below 140. We are the cheapest 4bed semi except for 1, which has no front garden and the back garden has been turned into a space for off road parking, whereas we have front garden, driveway for 3 cars, garage and a fairly large back garden. I really hope something happens soon, as my eldest is living 200 miles away staying with friends until we get down there, and he needs help with his schoolwork etc as he only has a year left at school and I know he isnt trying as hard as he can/could!

Dropping to £147,950 MAY help - it will bring you under the £150k rightmove band...

BUT surely if your house is competitively priced AND cheap in comparison to other similar properties, how can you not have had even ONE viewing since November...? Wierd

Admitedly, I have only had 3 viewings since coming onto the market beginning of November, but the house was off of the market for about 7 weeks (whilst it was under offer - which eventually fell through). Although we did get 2 reasonable offers out of those 3 viewings.

Sometimes "competitive" just isn't enough - sometimes you have to actively undercut the market. Not good, so you have to be very motivated to sell.

Are you happy with how you house is being marketed? Does it look good on Rightmove and on the agents website? Has it had any coverage in the property press?

I don't know if anyone on here has any experience of this, but have you considered having an "open day" (a couple of hours one Saturday afternoon)? Maybe speak to your estate agent about the possibility of that? Whether they think they could get some interest that way?

Spring is trying to "spring" and there is definitely more interest around... you may find that things will pick up and you will get a few viewing requests over the next few weeks. Nov to Feb is traditionally a very quiet house selling time of year. This year it has been pretty dead!

Good luck
QT

kymie

Lol yeah, I'm in Staffordshire. We moved up here from Sussex to give the kids more, as everything is so much cheaper, more facilities, easier for them when the time comes to get on the property ladder, but my eldest rubbed someone up the wrong way, and he isnt tough enough to stick it out bless him. I like it here, but not for the sake of my son living that far away! And my in-laws are still in Sussex and not getting any younger (but good enough for babysitting lol) so we will have to downgrade as even though prices have dropped down there it is all still relative

QTPie

rsootarsing wrote: »

Yeah was going to say im guessing its not down here if it was id be snapping your hand off.

Yes, mishmash, don't link to the details of this house on rightmove... ww will all be beating a path up there to buy this lovely house...

QT

kymie

We tried asking the EA what we should do to generate interest etc, but to be honest she didnt really say anything other than agree with what we told her (that we wanted to drop the price). Only got about 3 weeks to go on the contract so will see how the next 2 weeks go.

QTPie

kymie wrote: »

We tried asking the EA what we should do to generate interest etc, but to be honest she didnt really say anything other than agree with what we told her (that we wanted to drop the price). Only got about 3 weeks to go on the contract so will see how the next 2 weeks go.

She doesn't sound too brilliant... BUT whether the others are any better is a different matter... You can interview other agents (with a view to moving at the end of the contract), but they will tell you what they think you want to hear (rather than the truth)...

I think that, in this day and age, if a property is on rightmove... then is SHOULD get viewings regardless of the agent. Buyers are a LOT more self-sufficient these days and they do most of the leg-work and know what is out there.

Since you only have 3 weeks left on your contract - if you have the time - you could have a few more agents around now JUST for a chat. Ask them what they think a realistic valuation for the house is, what they have sold recently (anything similar?) AND what they would do to get you some viewings... etc. How would they move things forward to get your house sold? See if you like any of them, then - if you did - you could swap over straight away after your 3 weeks expire...

If you do want to move agents, then I WOULD do it as quickly as possible (after your contract expires) - like move everythign over and be back on the market within a week. Spring is the busiest time of year for people ahowing interest in houses AND there is a definite "upturn/blip" in interest at the moment. You want to be on the market and taking advantage of that as MUCH as possible... (whilst it lasts)

Still might be worth contemplating an "open day" to generate some interest. Especially if your house is one of those that is likely to "sell itself" when people actually see it. BUT I would look seriously at the details (on rightmove and printed details) to see if there is some reason why you are not luring viewers...

Personally - after saying all that - I would sincerely hope that things will NATURALLY pick up over the next few weeks anyway. There definitely IS more buyer interest (and serious buyer interest) picking up as Spring is arriving... If your IS competitively priced AND well presented on rightmove and in the details then you SHOULD get some interest. BUT it is a funny world...

QT

dats

Hello all,
Well my two viewings were both positive. One couple said it was beautiful and 'very clean'! But I'm not sure what their position is, or how keen they were.

Second couple were v v positive and probably broke all the rules of being coy and holding back. Basically said it was perfect and they wanted to live there! But *nods at large pinch of salt* we'll see if they come back with anything.

It's definitely picking up, in terms of viewings. Fingers crossed for us all!

dats

kymie

Thanks QT. We are on rightmove, and I had pretty much all the EA's out in Nov, so already thinking of who to go to. We are on with Reeds Rains and will probably got to Your Move. I know they are owned by the same company, but when in-laws were looking at moving up here, they were the only 2 EA's who bothered to send out details, ring up and keep them informed about properties etc, (or as I would describe it, the only 2 doing a proper job!)

kymie

Will def consider an open day, but thats not too easy with 6 kids (3 under 5 lol)