Simply no interest in my house

STBJohnny

Hi, I've had my house on the market since February last year in Liverpool. Initially I had a very interested party who put in a offer just below asking price only a week into putting the house on the market. I accepted this offer as myself and my wife were planning to move to Edinburgh because I got a new job. Unfortunately the party pulled out at the last moment and I had to leave to Edinburgh with the house unsold. I had only two more visits, 2 months after the pull out , but that has been 1 year and 3months later with no viewings. I have reduced the price of the house 3 times and now is currently 15% lower than when it first went on the market in Feb 2008. I am having to pay a mortgage in Liverpool and rent in Edinburgh at the same time and am desperate to sell quickly. The house itself is in need of modernisation, but I can't understand why there has been no viewing in over a year. Could it be my Estate agent or is the market really that bad. I was wanting to rent,but this is not an option as I don't have the money to renovate to get it up to rentable standards.

Can anyone give me some advice?

Running_Horse

I would be phoning the EA for updates and replacing them if no viewings.

A lot of people will be put off if major modernisation is required.

Have you thought about putting it in an auction? Could you take a hit to get rid?

Geenie

Hi STBJohnny. There will be others along I am sure who will have a greater knowledge of the property market in your area. Can you put a link up for the house, so we can see what it looks like?! Everybody wil be kind and give constructive advice, but it is difficult to offer advice on something not seen. I do know from selling and now renting out property that first impressions are paramount, and unfortunately often time and money has to be spent in a competitive market.


Have you considered an auction if desperate to sell?

sleepyj

I know you've lowered the price 15%, but the answer is really simple. Lower the price more.

Don't mean to sound harsh but this is the only way you're going to attract interest.

googler

Look at zoopla. nethouseprices, ourproperty etc for your street and the surrounding streets.

Has anything else sold there in the last year or so? If so, was it likely to be similar to the one you're selling? How much did the others sell for, if at all?

Once you determine if anything else has sold, try and quantify what it was about them compared to yours. Quiz your agent about who sold the others - they should know, if they're monitoring the local market. Did your agent sell any of them?

STBJohnny

Hi thanks for the advice. I did think about putting the house up for auction but don't think it will make the money I need to clear my mortgage. The price it's at, at the moment is as far as I can go to pay off the mortgage if it sells. I have rang the ea and they had a look at the property again and adviced me to put pictures of the rooms up as this would encourage people to view. Having looked at the photos that were taken they don't do the house justice. So I ask the ea to remove them which they did, but on rightmove they still have them. I have only recently reduced the house price by 3K, but still no luck. I have a feeling that it won't sell till the market improves.


I am not allowed to post links as I'm a new user.


Thanks

gfplux

Hello STBjohny,
I think you know the reason.
Out of site out of mind.

BUT you have now woken up.

Chase the agents, change the agents, shout and scream.
you know you need to up your game and ACT.

Good Luck

googler

Tell the agents if they don't get better photos up there pronto that you'll dis-instruct them.

That should wake them up.

They're only just now advising that you put pictures of the rooms up....?

Do you REALLY mean to tell us there's only been an external picture showing on all the websites it's on, including Rightmove????

Running_Horse

STBJohnny wrote: »

I have rang the ea and they had a look at the property again and adviced me to put pictures of the rooms up as this would encourage people to view.

You should be advising them to put up pictures of a house they are selling. Let me rephrase that. You shouldn't have to, it's their job. They sound like they are lazy and useless.

STBJohnny

Having look at nethouseprices it looks like the last house to sell was on 21-Oct-2008 for £74,000. In 2008 there were 5 houses that sold ranging from 74K to 92K. We currently have ours at £69,500 (originally at £82,500 in Feb 2008 and offer was accepted in Apr 2008 for £79,000, but fell through) as valued at the time at £78,500. It is a 3 bedroom terrace and is very spacious.

Do you think that it's over priced? If so, then I don't think there is anything I can do. I can afford to pay the rent in Edinburgh and the mortgage, but if interest rates begin to rise then I could be in trouble.

Geenie

I would take the property off the market with current agents, spruce it up a bit and get new ones who may be more interested. The other option is to sell it privately. You may have to take a loss on this OP, in order to free yourself. I would imagine the longer it is standing empty, the more it is deteriorating and loosing value. The fact you state it is not able to be let suggests it is in a very poor state, and would cost a great deal to bring up to modern standards, on top of the price you are asking to buy.