time it takes to sell

twirlypinky

Now i know this is greatly varied, and i know times are hard, but i just wondered how long you'd expect your house to be on the market before you got a viewing.

How long before you started to wonder about the price, or the quality of the agent, or the photos etc.?

One week, two, three, a month?

motherofstudents

We are in the process of selling a property at the moment and I think a monthly review is right for us. It depends on your reasons for selling, how quickly you want a sale etc. August is not the best time either. I do think it is different for everyone as circumstances differ. Ideally I would like 2 viewing a week with a sale within 6 weeks. If you are selling and buying it might be easier to drop your price more as you will then be able to drop your offer on your next house. Our photos are actually very good. The agent however has not been too good so we will probably wait till September and try another EA.

twirlypinky

We're selling and renting, since we've lost all the equity in the house, we're having to start over.

We want a quick sale, but obviously every penny we drop the asking price by we'll have to save up ourselves to give back to the bank.

We just want it gone now, to wash our hands of it!

olias

My house has been on nearly 18 months with only 6 viewings. There are a lot of properties around my area that have been on for 3 years. Apart from a handful of them, they are not overpriced, it is simply that the market in my area is dead. It is a rural area, with mostly unique 1 off houses, so the demographic for people moving into such an area/property is extremey small anyway, nevermind in times of uncertainty!

Olias

manda1205

I think it greatly depends on where you live. We live on border of Norfolk/Suffolk. My sisters house has been on the market for 18mnths, she has had lots of viewings, no offers what so ever, lowered the price a few times and has now swapped to a different estate agent. From what we can see about here houses are generally taking well over a year to sell, you get the odd few that seem to go through quickly but in the most, houses are on the market about here for a while. Our only guess is that there are just too many houses up for sale and no one can get the mortgages to pay for them.
Only advice I can give you is dont leave it as long as my sister did to change estate agents, I think she was very silly/naive to stay with them that long, they didnt do much for their share and gave her no ideas as to why the house isnt selling.

oneofthetrio

I had a couple of viewings in the first week then about a further 8 over the next 2 months leading to an offer of 10% off the asking price which I accepted. Hopefully complete soon.

Jazzie99

Our 2 bed has been on for 8 weeks - TWENTY viewings later we still have no offer.

Most people have said its too small. Not sure what they expect for a 2 bed house (with a 40ft garden) in a prime London location! Our agent has been pretty proactive, done most of the viewings, chased viewers, provided feedback etc

This is the first week where we have had no viewings :-(

Starting to think about keeping it as in investment ....hmmm

hazyjo

Jazzie99 wrote: »

Our 2 bed has been on for 8 weeks - TWENTY viewings later we still have no offer.

Most people have said its too small. Not sure what they expect for a 2 bed house (with a 40ft garden) in a prime London location! Our agent has been pretty proactive, done most of the viewings, chased viewers, provided feedback etc

This is the first week where we have had no viewings :-(

Starting to think about keeping it as in investment ....hmmm

Must be something that's putting them off when they view... they're coming through the door, so you need to look at the details carefully to see if anything's misrepresented. Did they use a wide angled lens to make it look bigger? Is there a pylon in view or something that's not clear from the details? Parking a problem? Railway track at end of garden? School opposite? Anything...?

Jx

Bettie

[QUOTE=twirlypinky;45976911
How long before you started to wonder about the price, or the quality of the agent, or the photos etc.?

One week, two, three, a month?[/QUOTE]

House was on the market 3 months asking £5,000 less than the one that sold next door a year ago ( that sold for £160,000. That was in slightly better condition internally hence our lower price. We had one viewing. Dropped price by £5000 and we had one more viewing. Meanwhile because of ill health the one opposite that was similar sold for 130,000 within a week ( way too cheap imo) then a death at the end of the road and that one went for even less in a few days of the sign going up, it was "given away" :eek: So it leads me to think that if I dropped the price another 20,000 I might get a few viewings and a possible sale however I am not prepared to do that so have started renting out.

Jazzie99

hazyjo wrote: »

Must be something that's putting them off when they view... they're coming through the door, so you need to look at the details carefully to see if anything's misrepresented. Did they use a wide angled lens to make it look bigger? Is there a pylon in view or something that's not clear from the details? Parking a problem? Railway track at end of garden? School opposite? Anything...?

Jx

I hate particulars with wide angled lens photos... one of my pet hates with a local EA around here. No pylon, allocated parking space, excellent rated primary school 5 mins away. There is the tube line 4 houses down but all viewers know about it before they come and only 1 person have said thats the reason why they wont offer... these houses were selling like hot cakes at the height of the market... I think its down to first time buyers having no money!!

I think you know this area so I'll message you the link to the house - pls keep it private - but your views would be welcomed!!

Davesnave

twirlypinky wrote: »

We're selling and renting, since we've lost all the equity in the house, we're having to start over.

We want a quick sale, but obviously every penny we drop the asking price by we'll have to save up ourselves to give back to the bank.

We just want it gone now, to wash our hands of it!

It depends where you are, particularly whether inside M25 or not, but I think the sort of calculation you're making is much like that made by most people who were selling at the start of 2008.

In other words, given current economic news, how confident that are you that hanging on at a price inside your comfort zone will result in less saving up? If prices fall significantly as we head into winter, might a price that now seems uncomfortably low, not look relatively good by then?

It's a tough call, partly down to personal circumstnces too, so I don't think any of us is qualified to advise; certainly not me. I shaved 18% off the price of my house to get it sold in 2008. While 'Je ne regrette rien,' hindsight is always 20/20.