Desperate to sell

lornameg

Hi to all
I just joined you today, so this is my first posting and I am in need of any advice you can give.
Our house has been on the market for 15 months, with not one person through the door to look. We are very keen to sell, as we have started our dream of living in France...we are renting here until our house sale is completed.
Our English house is in the Midlands, a very large 4 bedded detached ex-police house in large grounds. Estate agents have told us that it has no "curb appeal"!, most of the windows are at the back of the property, so it appears a bit stark.
We put it on the market Sept 04 at £239.000, the lower end of the estimate, on our agents advice we have repeatedly lowered this, it now stands at £209.000. After all this rabbitting, my main question is...how far should we be prepared to drop the price to get a sale?
If people had looked round then said it was too dear, then, fair do's we'd drop again.
Thanks in advance for any help
Lorna

gentlepurr

first thing i'd look at doing if its been on market that long with no foot fall, change estate agents, seems he didn't advise you very well in first place if he now can't get anybody through the door.

i also live in a house with 0 kerb appeal, but the back garden is to die for, it's a different world, and inside is 3 storey although the front of house is so naff most people don't realise it is 3 story. your estate agent should be working to sell the benefits of property, eg large plot, extra facilities indoors, to overcome the kerb appeal barrier, clearly he's not doing that.

also look at where and how your property is being advertised, if prospective purchasers don't realise its for sale because of poor advertising, how can they buy it?

hth, good luck!

xx

kenshaz

The price of your house is mid range ,so your client base is limited,have you considered an Auction with a reserve,I know that you feel under pressure,but that does not help,because it creates an advantage for your prospective buyers,approach the sale like a campaign,draw up a plan,expand your sale out-lets,and finally look at your house with an objective eye,and spend if nescessary to make your house what others want,speculate to accumulate

silvercar

Our house has been on the market for 15 months, with not one person through the door to look.

Change agent; take new advice on a realistic price; give a new agent sole-rights for 2 months to make them work quickly.

NervousYetFeisty

Yup, think about changing agent. What are the photos like that they are using in the advertising? I ask partly because the house we would like looks pretty rubbish from the front but great from the back (even then it looks better in real life, as the EA's photos give it a House on Haunted Hill feel). So the EA isn't advertising using photos of the front. Which makes sense. Also I'm thinking about a friend of mine who's house sat on the market for ages. It wasn't until I looked for myself on Rightmove that I realised what a pile of pants her stupid EA had made her house look. Check the blurb - are they really emphasisng the right points? In hers they hadn't even mentioned that it's in a very desirable area.

dander

I agree with everyone here. Change agents.

I would advise going into your local town centre and visiting all the agents, ask to see some sample copies of the kind of details they send out. Ask how and where and how widely they advertise. Make sure you're with an agent in a busy area - try and get an idea of which agents seem to have a lot of people coming in looking for properties.

No matter what situation is going on in the housing market, no house should go that long without viewings. It must be being badly marketed.

rchddap1

Definately look at changing agents. Check the photos they are using (are they using a back photo as well?), check the text etc... I would also suggest seeing what you can do to make the front more appealing. Is there any room to put a couple of pots with some pretty flowers in?

Having no curb appeal may be a big advantage....because not everyone wants people looking through their windows....and personally I hate net curtains.

Doozergirl

I have no idea where in the Midlands you are, but £209,000 for a large 4 bed detached house sounds like a very good price.

It's already been said, but if your house has no kerb appeal then good photographs of the interior are the most important thing to sell your house. If you have a digital camera, take some yourself (as you can pick a sunny day and take time getting the best shot) and e-mail them over even!

I agree, you need to change agent. Get another 3 out and ask them for honest advice on how to sell. There's no benefit to having agents treat you with kid gloves if you just want a sale.

Good Luck!

Doctor_Mick

Certainly after 15 months you should change agents. Apart from anything else they will have lost interest since presumably they have received no fees for the 15 months.

A fresh agent with a realistic valuation is what you want.

I bought a smart apartment in 2004 for 255K and have just sold it for 229K. The loss stuck in my craw but having said that I picked up a new place..in the Midlands.. with a 25K discount from the developer.

Be prepared to bite the bullet. It's not the best time to sell.

al_yrpal

Put some windows in the front fast, or, get an Architect round to have a look. You could find that you can sell for your original price or more making more dosh available for your French venture by upping the kerb appeal.

tomstickland

Have you looked at the advert the EA have made? Maybe it's rubbish? Maybe they're rubbish. Change agents. It would be a different matter if 20 people have viewed but none had made an offer. Then you'd think it was too expensive.

You say ex-police house, so is it one of those rendered & painted rectangular houses with a flat roof on the porch? Hence the "kerb appeal" statement.