House on market.. only one viewing

Bexm

Hello!

We are selling our first house and it on the market last week, so far we've only had one viewing and no word of any more!
Its in a first time buyers scheme where they buyer will only buy 80%, its in a nice area, very well presented and a really good price for what it is..
I expected to be flooded with viewings.. but we've had one and no word of any more.. am I expecting too much too soon?

Bex

goldbyron

What part of the country are you selling in? Is the property being advertised on rightmove etc?

Bexm

We're on the beds/herts border and its on rightmove through the estate agent..

Cannon_Fodder

Could be due to this;

Bexm wrote: »

We need to sell, but haven't put it on the market yet as we're expecting problems. To be allowed to buy the house you have to fit certain criteria, which when we bought 3 years ago we didn't quite match but were allowed anyway.

Our entire close is under the same scheme and there are 3 other houses up for sale and all have been for over a year.
We have spoken to the estate agent dealing with them and they say that there are lots of people interested but the association keeps turning them down when they apply as the association have gone very strict.

googler

Why did you expect to be flooded with viewers?

It's the first house you've sold, so I assume you were first-time buyer(s) when you bought it, and that it's still in the price range for a FTB now.

Have you been watching the news or reading the papers over the last year or so? The ones who are having difficulty are the FTBs - they can't get mortgages without big deposits, and without mortgages they can't buy FTB houses or flats........

Catblue

Most people don't want to buy 80% of a house, unfortunately. That might be what is putting people off - not the area or the house.

The problem with these first time buyers' schemes is the selling them on bit. You cannot sell to the open market (downsizers, divorced people, older people) and then from the smallish pool of true FTBers, there would be a significant percentage who would never buy just a share of a house.

Therefore, your target market is relatively small compared to a similar house which is not in one of these schemes.

Also a lot of FTBers want a brand new shiny house rather than one that is five years old or so.

Bexm

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

Could be due to this;

Yes.. this is still kind of the case.. except one has sold and the estate agent has had us believe there are alot of people out there who are also interested but haven't applied for the other houses for sale as they are cluster houses.. and ours ours is a semi with a garden..

I know its more difficult to get a mortgage now.. but when we bought only 3 yrs ago people were queuing up to get to see the house..they had about 20 couples come in one evening!

Maybe I am just being hugely naive?

Trollfever

the estate agent has had us believe there are alot of people out there

MSE News: First-time buyers at 20-year low

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2418653



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pyueck

As somebody looking to buy a first home I can only say why I wouldn't view the property. Unfortunately as somebody previously said, the idea of owning 80% of a home seems one I would not like. The reasons for this may be more to do with fear than fact, and therefore you need to in your advert make sure you dispell some of the things that are making me worried (and i'm sure other potential buyers):

1) Do you pay rent for the other 20%? How much, what do I do if it is above the market rate?
2) Do I have to pay any fees to the owner of the other 20% if I sell?
3) What happens if the scheme that owns the other 20% wants to sell?
4) Can I ever purchase the other 20% of the property, if so who sets the price?

I think the fear can be put down to one thing. People buy a home rather than rent for three reasons. Firstly people HOPE that the property will go up and they will make a profit. Secondly people do not need to pay rent any more. Thirdly people want complete control of where they own. I think what is making people scared is that they fear they will still have to pay rent/charges to this owner of the other 20% and that they wont be in control of their home.

Can you purchase the other 20% and then sell, I'm sure if you could it would make financial sense, as I reckon the 80% ownership clause is taking at least 40% off the price.

KME91

We're first time buyers completing this week. I have to say we outright completely ignored any properties that were on any kind of % homeownership scheme. we would have never qualified anyway but wanted our home to be 100% ours (at least once we pay off the mortgage!)

NEH

Bexm wrote: »

Yes.. this is still kind of the case.. except one has sold and the estate agent has had us believe there are alot of people out there who are also interested but haven't applied for the other houses for sale as they are cluster houses.. and ours ours is a semi with a garden..

I know its more difficult to get a mortgage now.. but when we bought only 3 yrs ago people were queuing up to get to see the house..they had about 20 couples come in one evening!

Maybe I am just being hugely naive?

Pop onto the sellers thread, there are lots of us there myself included with 9 weeks gone and one viewing, unfortunately it's reality at the moment, things aren't selling that quickly and the EA's have probably sold you that classic line of there are buyers waiting for your house to get your business...

Add to that you only get 80% then that is something that will put buyers off...

It's just a case of hang in there, it's tough but it's the way the world is right now...