Nobody even wants to look at our house!

lorriellah

My house has been on the market now since February and we haven't even had one person look round it. I've looked at other houses that are similar in the area and we are priced amongst those so it's not as though we're over priced in comparison. The estate agent told me that it's a very quiet time, everyone's waiting for the election before they start looking at buying a house and that we shouldn't drop the price yet... but I'm starting to wonder whether we should? Anyone in a similar situation?

Sphynx

I found changing estate agents helped. If you are with a small independant they might not have the aggressive sales drive of some of the national companies. Mind you you pay through the nose for them...
We were on the market for about a year before we sold and the footfall through our house was huge. Bet we had at least 50 people through.

Karmacat

Hello lorriellah - there's a thread on here called "selling in difficult times", something like that .... I'm selling at the moment, and have just this weekend accepted an offer.

If your house is priced amongst similar houses in your area, then something else is going on - its not just about the election, if this has been happening (not happening), since February.

Is there something in particular about your house's situation? Are you the one by the main road? What's the decor like? Have you tidied up and got rid of stuff as much as you can? What's the fabric of your house like? Are you leaving cooking smells to linger, do you have a dog? Does your neighbour have a dog?

Hope this helps.

googler

Sphynx wrote: »

We were on the market for about a year before we sold and the footfall through our house was huge. Bet we had at least 50 people through.

One viewer per week, on average? Huge?

googler

OP, give us some clues. A link to your online listing, for instance?

jeffmasson

did you guzump someone to buy the place?

nickj_2

people are aware that athough no politician has had the guts to say it , there will have to either be major cuts or rises in tax in some form , i guess until we see a clearer picture the housing market could be quiet for a few months

adg1

Any Rightmove Link? Remove the www to post if you can't paste links yet.

Yes some people will wait until the election but that won't have been on everyones mind since february so I'd have expected at least some people to view it.

Talk to your EA. You must be well out of your sole agreement (if you had one) so maybe swap EAs. Get some over and talk through your concerns with the market and see what they say about it and whether they can offer you sold comparables from the last 3 months.

Your tag doesn't say where you are but people are certainly buying houses and the market is move quite fast here (Surrey/West London). I'd guess there are places where it is still terrible (before anyone mentions that London is a hub etc and will always have a sales market and its the little villages feeling the pressure etc etc) but not so terrible that you have 0 viewings since february.

OR

Assuming your EA is open Monday to Saturday thats about 2 and a half months, roughly 60 working days, 540 working hours (assume 9 per day) and not 1 viewing?

On those figures, get a new EA.

Zelie

How is your EA marketing it? Pics in the window? Local papers? Online sites such as Rightmove? Make sure they are getting the info out to as many people as possible. These days that means online. I only ever look at property-finding sites and ignore local papers. If you're EA isn't advertising your property where people are looking then they won't see it.

If it is online then post a link. It could be the presentation of the house is not encouraging prospective buyers to take a second look. Poor photos, taken on a dark day, not enough information in the text etc can all detract from a nice property.

dubsey

I am amazed that your agent has said you shouldn't drop the price. We are targeted on reductions and have to call our vendors every two weeks with an update on how the marketing is going. We will make that general call once, but the next one is with the aim of coming out to take new pitcures, but ultimately to bring out comparible properties and Rightmove hits to show why you need to reduce.

Have you had any calls at all from your agent to discuss the marketing and what they have been doing?

As I have said on a previous post, we have gone quiet in the last three WEEKS, which is being put down the the election, but we are still selling properties, so your agent is using that as an excuse.

Check when your contract ends and find an agent that is actually going to work for you - you are paying them to do this, not just wait until someone notices you on Rightmove, or sees your board and calls them to view.

nollag2006

dubsey wrote: »

We are targeted on reductions ...

What do you mean by this?