Our house wont sell!

cabrioman

our house as been on the market now for just over 12 months. had about 20 viewing but nothing! it is not over priced, we have a good idea of the prices in our area,( my partner is a soliciter ). feedback from the agent as ranged from the pond in the garden to too close the the road.( its a country lane! ).we have reduced the price buy 10k. getting very fed up now, do we chance agents? the house is in excellent condition ( its a barn conversion ) and big for the price. i think a lot of the viewers are time wasters but i have never sold a house before. we have a viewing today at 2pm and they have sold so in a good position. is it possible to tell if they are time wasters? just need a good moan!

empfun

Some finishing touches would be smell of coffee or freshly baked goods. All the best!

lisyloo

I don't think you can tell if people are time wasters, however you can try and establish if they are in a posistion to buy.

Don't forget that you are paying the agent and you should be asking them why the house isn't selling.
There are several explanations:

1) You have a crap agent (but 20 viewings sounds ok).
2) The price is too high (should have had feedback and maybe low offers by now)
3) It's a large house and hence takes some time to sell (there is a smaller market for expensive properties as fewer people can afford them).
4) You have just been unlucky.

I would start by talking to your agent.
If you don't think they are doing a good job then get a different one.
Otherwise try to work out what the feedback is telling you.
You could also consider multilple agents. I have had a house sold like this and they went like a rat up a drainpipe when they had competition. They were begging us for the keys first (we only had one spare set) to get the details on the market first.

It may of course just be that there is something that doesn't appeal to people about your property or simply that you've been unlucky and not seen the right people yet.

You could insist that viewers are "proceedable" but obviously you risk stopping genuine people looking.
I have been seriously looking when not "proceedable" (did part exchange with a builder in the end).

You could of course drop the price a bit and see what happens but obviously you have to be happy with the price.

Are there any cheap improvements you could make that don't cost much.
A lick of paint and a few cushions can do wonders.
It never ceases to amaze me, how little imaginiation most people have. They have to actually SEE what they want. You need to thing of it as selling a lifestyle or a dream and not just a property.

[Deleted User]

I'd change agent. I had 25 viewings in 1 month with mine! I agree that most buyers have little immagination. Declutter as much as you can, give it a fresh lick of neutral paint, freshen up the house by opening windows before viewings and tidy up garden. You might want to consider dropping the price a bit more, but speak to other agents first. Good luck!

Becky

A few months ago I managed to finally sell my house after 11 months.

We also had numerous viewings and some of the feedback we had was quite unbelievable. "Too many animals" (when we had 3 fish tanks that would be coming with us!), "Too far from truck road" (just 2 minutes away accessed via a very quiet road.

I stupidly stuck with the same agent after 2 major foul-ups so all I can suggest is that you change agent.

It was my first time selling a house but I am so much wiser now.

Have you researched (yes this is why you pay the agents'!!) what houses of a similar vain are priced at?

Phone around a few agents and ask them how many houses are selling in your price band. It cannot hurt to get another agent round to ask their opinion on the price.

If you do stick with the same agent, or even if you move to another, make it clear that you want people in a position to do something. About 5 of our viewings was literally just a day out for the viewers. They had no solid plans to even buy a house.

Pester the agent a lot too. I made the mistake of not doing this in the early days (well 7 months into selling the house!). It is surprising what a heated conversation can do.

Oh and remember a full bowl of fruit on the table. Seems to be all the rage in interior design these days... :rolleyes:

surfcat

Its most likely not selling because the price is too high. You are in a buyers' market now, they are calling the shots. The bubble won't last much longer.

Robert_Sterling

Twenty viewings have taken place.
Most of those people will have looked at other comparable properties.
None have bought yours so far.
Perhaps the price is not right.

meadowcat

cabrioman wrote:

our house as been on the market now for just over 12 months. had about 20 viewing but nothing! it is not over priced, we have a good idea of the prices in our area,( my partner is a soliciter ). feedback from the agent as ranged from the pond in the garden to too close the the road.( its a country lane! ).we have reduced the price buy 10k. getting very fed up now, do we chance agents? the house is in excellent condition ( its a barn conversion ) and big for the price. i think a lot of the viewers are time wasters but i have never sold a house before. we have a viewing today at 2pm and they have sold so in a good position. is it possible to tell if they are time wasters? just need a good moan!

You have my sympathy. This is a very frustrating position to be in and it is so irritating when you get viewers who you feel are just being nosey.

I think when a house goes "stale" it can appear that the agent has lost interest. I do think your agent should be able to get feedback for you.

We were in a very similar position 2 years ago, but our house was difficult to sell because it was very large, hard to heat and over 100 years old. The location was bad as it was at the top of an unmade country lane which became very mucky in winter. At the back of the house there was a disused airfield which was and still is being used as a motor bike racing track.

However, it did sell eventually to people who really loved it. It's said that every house sells eventually and it is true, but not much comfort when you are keen to move on.

deemy2004

12 months on the market
20 viewings
No offers
And not over priced ?

The market is suggesting that it is over priced... perhaps you need to bite the bullet and cut the price

hobo28

I agree. When I was looking at houses, I saw two identical houses on the same estate, one priced £15k more and they'd already reduced the price once already. Guess which one I went for?

Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it. One estate agent who visited me said something which is probably true. "The only thing which stops a house from selling is the price".

lush_walrus

Completely agree with that Hobo28, everything has its price and thats that really. It is possible to sell any house, even the ones which are located without parking on a busy duel carriageway. We have managed to shift all manor of nasties, the only way to do it is to set it apart from the mob. If yours is close to the road, then it will inevitably put some people off, even if it is a country lane, most people especially in the higher price bracket will expect a set back (unless of course all of the properties in that price bracket in the whole area you are in are all without any set back), so the way to convince them that it doesnt matter is to make it good value for money. Eventually everything sells, but if you want to sell reduce the price, or do something which will set yours apart from the rest.
The other thing that may be creating problems is the fact that it is a converted barn (esp if timber based), although popular not every lender will lend on barns and insurance can be difficult too, therefore your market is narrowed.