Still no viewings after three weeks!!

courtjester

>>>...the UK is in the middle of a housing boom...<<<

IS it? or are you just believing the media hype, mortgage companies and agents 'talking up' the market and saying how great things are....

There is currently a massive shortage of property on the market which has still not recovered to anywhere near the heady buoyant days of 2004. A lot of people are holding off selling and that is causing bottlenecks and depressed selling in a lot of areas. It doesn't make it a sellers market, there has to be some balance between the number of bueyrs and sellers in order for the market to move.

A lot of people persuaded by the hype that prices are rising fast are unrealistically raising the valuation on their homes, whereas buyers are still expecting bargains to be found and are resisting over-valued homes.

Coupled with the seasonal slowdown towards Christmas as other priorities take over for many homemovers - that isn't to say that it is not a 'good' time to be on the market - houses can sell at any time of the year providing the price is right - but it is not correct or reasonable to expect a deluge of viewers at this time of year or even in the current year.

The Spring 'bounce' as bazzz puts it is likely to start earlier next year as many homeowners thinking about selling will want to get on the market and sold ahead of the Home Information Pack compulsory introduction date of June 2007.

PosterBoy77

bazzzz wrote:

Even though the UK is in the middle of a housing boom, it's inevitable things would be slow over xmas. I'm not saying it won't sell before xmas though!

This is only if you belive the hype. It seems that there are boom areas in London which when averaged over the entire country is making it appear that house prices are going up and booming. However this is not the case in areas that I am familiar with. Houses in Hertfordshire are still only selling for what they sold for two years ago, not 20% more like the media would have us believe.

All you can do is see what other house in your area have sold for and price accordingly. Also buyers will be thin on the ground now, so best just to wait now. Estate agents can only promote your property to potential buyers, they can't force someone to buy your house.

virgo149

A difficult one - is it your EA's or just the time of year. Might just be both.

We accepted an offer in October after being on the market for 10 weeks - we only had 4 viewings in all that time and were being constantly told 'it's the time of year'. If that's still the case now, then when do you sell?!? Plus 3 out of the 4 were not in a position to offer anyway.

I guess you are signed in for a set length of time with your agents? All you can do it make sure the house is fit for viewings and keep in constant touch with your agents. I don't think it unreasonable to contact them once a week. In fact for what they will be paid, they really should be calling you once a week to update you (even if in the negative). Check for cancellation details and re-assess a couple of weeks before this if still no good.

Don't drop your price yet, unless you know you are vastly overpriced. We were asked to do this, but my argument was a couple of thousand won't make any difference to those looking as people will always give an offer a go anyway. I stuck to my guns and we got what we wanted (£5K under asking price) from a cash buyer. You know what you realistically want for the house, so stick to this, at least for now.

Stick at it - it is worth it. I had my cancellation letter to my EA's in my hand when the offer came in (which slightly peeves me that I appear to be paying for very little work - staff leaving, very little/incorrect advertising and not a single 'how's it going' call from the EA's).

Good luck!

And apologies to any EA's reading this, but am only saying how it is from a sellers point of view - nothing personal.