Our house wont sell!

Doozergirl

I live in a quiet village where houses tend to sit on the market for some time, in any market. This is because it is a very desirable area and because of that, every house is at the top of it's price bracket for it's type. These are not the type of houses that people buy with their heads - they buy with their hearts.

Look at prices in your local town you will see what people can get for the same amount of money and you will begin to understand what you're up against. My 3 bed semi (albeit a very special one) was more expensive than 4 bed detached executive homes 2 miles away. You have to justify why your house is worth the money you're asking. Your decor must be pleasing and the house must require no work at all.

I suggest, if you consider your home to be desirable, that you look at an agent like Knight Frank who attract buyers with money. You will pay a premium but your buyers will too.

Ultimately, it falls to price though, there's no getting away from it. At the very least, you should get your home revalued by another couple of agents. Your wife may well know what houses sell for, but has she been inside? A house can be completely different to the details.

Ian_W

I agree with many of the others, price sells IMO.

You've reduced by £10k, but what price bracket are you in? A £10k reduction on a property with an asking price of -£150k may well bring it within reach of a larger potential buying audience. That reduction on a more expensive house is so insignificant it probably has little affect on the number of potential buyers.

An alternative way of pricing your property is to work out how much you *NEED* to acheive in order to move where you want to go. How does what you need compare to what you're asking? If the 2 are pretty close you have no leeway to price lower, if there is a significant gap then you do. If you can I'd lower to nearer what you need and look for "offers over" that price.

If you can do that I'd also consider changing EA and/or going multi-agency to give it a fresh impact on the market - but I wouldn't do either, ideally, until the early part of Spring as December & January are not, generally, the time when most people go house hunting.

BoL.

sarah_elton

Don't just look at asking prices of those other properties locally, look at what they actually completed for (available for free on rightmove among other places) and price accordingly.

An agent will most actively market a property the first week or so they get it on - that's when they ring round all their current buyers who may be interested. Do speak to your agent, get them to do this again, and I'd be sorely tempted to go with another one, either changing sole agency or just have it on with 2.

BobProperty

I think doozergirl may have hit on something. What sort of property does your estate agent usually sell? By that, I mean are they used to selling large barn conversions and have several large character properties on their books at any one time. Or have you signed up with a local agent who normally sells 2 bed "cottagey" terraces at around 1/3 the price your property is worth, and therefore no-one looking for your type of property would bother looking in that Estate Agents.

meadowcat

There is a house in my area which has been on the market for 4 years. It is quite unique - a converted school house with a bit of land. I know the person who has it for sale and she steadfastly refuses to reduce the price. If she waits long enough the market will have caught up with her ideas of prices.

The downside for the house is that it is on a busy main road with a 60 mph speed limit and the traffic fairly thunders by. Also, she converted and renovated about 25 years ago - which means that it needs done up again.

terrierlady

lots of excellent advise on these threads, I wonder if you have viewed other homes in your price range, what were your thoughts on these did yours compare well or did you feel yours looked better etc?
Price and location are the main reason people buy homes, presentation also counts are you sure yours is 100% ,difficult i know to maintain over such a long period.
i would be worried having so many viewings with no offers, when was your property last featured as property of the week, is it in prime position in the estate agents window etc, is it featured on the agents web site?Have you ASKED the agent why your home remains unsold?Depending on reply received
Maybe time to swap agents, or reconsider price again against other homes in your area.

Claudie

When we bought our house a few years ago it was priced several thousand pounds more than an identical house for sale two doors down. Why did we buy this one? Well the owners had done everything by the House Doctor book - it was freshly painted, all the flooring was new and the garden was full of pots and baskets. I am guessing that bit of work cost nowhere near the price difference but the neighbouring house hadn't been decorated in years and was very unloved, in fact it was quite unpleasant cosmetically.

We had a small child and we both worked full time with no holiday time available, the last thing we wanted was to renovate or decorate - we moved in and in one day it looked fab. Not everyone would do that but I am sure there are others out there like us who can see potential but don't want to (or know how to) spend months remodelling and decorating!

As it is, it took the other house 2 years to sell and the new owners spent almost a year to bring it up to date. Many months after we moved in they did ask me why I chose this house over theirs and I told them how plain and easy this house was, they just thought we were mad.

Sorry to waffle on - good luck.

cabrioman

many thanks all. its a brick barn, not timber, detached with a detached double garage. the decor is very neutral and in as new condition. we are asking 485k. its in a very nice area but a little difficult to value but there are a few others for sale not far away asking slightly more with no garage, not detached. we have no shared areas, unlike some barns we have seen. the agents have been very good on the whole, they have sold some houses more than ours recently and told us the feedback. we have viewed other houses at the same price and although i say it myself,could not compare to ours.i really cannot understand why it is not selling. the price seems very fair, good location, i think its fab inside and out and i have spent a fortune on the garden. if anyone wants to see it, its on the the https://www.leeshaw.co.uk 1 newhouse farn barn.

cabrioman

p.s., viewing went ok yesterday, but they were concerned about the pond in the garden with there 2 kids, 10 and 12 years old!!! for gods sake!! next door have almost a lake and have 2 kids, 3 and 9 !!! a lot of the feedback has been with kids, if the they fell down the stairs, would there blame the stairs?? or is it me? we have no kids. felt like pushing them in the sodding pond. sorry getting very fed up!!

Claudie

I can see why you are frustrated - your home is indeed beautiful and if I lived anywhere near there and had to buy a new home (and had more than £485 let alone £485000! right now) I would be thrilled with it. Good luck - I am sure the right buyers will come along.

PS Particularly love your kitchen, it looks really welcoming.