House on the market since March... keep trying or rent out?

girllikeme1

Hello

I wonder if I can get some advice. Our house has been on the market since 1 March and we thought (hoped) it would sell quickly. It's a 2 up, 2 down in a nice area, done up nicely (neutral colours, modern decor), good sized garden - backs onto the railway line which puts some people off but we and our neighbours are used to it! I would definitely buy another house on a railway without concern.

Others in our area have sold really quickly (although they were ones that didn't back onto the railway). I can't see this as the sole factor though. Another house exactly like ours but with a conservatory, no railway at back, smaller garden (same decor and everything) sold for £6000 above our asking price recently and was on the market for £10000 more!

We had a few problems with the first estate agent but have just changed to an independent 2wks ago so hoping for improvement. We had about 30 viewings and no offers so I think they were just pushing anyone through the door to get the numbers up. They had such high staff turnover we never dealt with the same person twice which can't have been good for buyers either.

The only feedback we got was that people found the house too small or that they could get a bigger property for less in a cheaper area (tell me something I don't know!). We would accept an offer but haven't even had any to consider .

We want to move on but can't make offers until we have sold. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever happen. All the houses we like seem to sell so quickly, it's so frustrating.

Another thing we are starting to consider is keeping it and renting it out. The only problem with this is that our equity could not act as a deposit for the new place in that case as it would be locked into our house. I need to speak to my mortgage lender about changing to buy to let, but wondered if anyone can help me get my head around whether this might be an option for us and how people manage to pay a deposit if they are renting their existing home? (Unfortunately we don't have a spare £40K lurking!)

Would we have to find our new property, offer, then put our existing house on the rental market at that point and hope the timings worked out roughly? (there is nowhere we can move to on an interim basis, e.g. parents', due to the location of our jobs).

Thanks...

girllikeme1

BitterAndTwisted

Drop the price. Do not even dream of becoming landlords! That will not be a sensible solution and could bring you even more problems than you have now.

DannyboyMidlands

Railway, decor, size are all red herrings. If it is not selling (or even getting any ineterst) then the price is too high. I suspect that in a couple of weeks time the new agent will suggest this too.

GAH

It sounds as though the feedback you have had all leads back to the house being on for too much money im afraid.

Unless people have a limitless budget, the compromise has to be made on location or the property, and at the moment feedback is telling you people would rather buy a bigger house in cheaper area.

Also the railway is going to be a deal breaker for the majority of viewers, you may not mind it, but loads of people will hate it.

You have only been on with your new agent for 2 weeks though, so it is early days with them.

pimento

What was it about the house that made you buy it despite it being on the railway line?

Emphasise that to your viewers.

Do you have a link we could see?

DannyboyMidlands

girllikeme1 wrote: »

We bought it in need of modernisation and as we were first time buyers it was cheaper to buy this house than one of the others that had already been done up.

With regard to the railway, my sister already lived on the same road, also backing onto the railway, and told us it was absolutely not a problem for them - so we knew it would be OK.

The link is here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30973303.html?premiumA=true

The new estate agent kept the price the same, given their experience of other sales on our estate.

It looks nice so must be the price. It sounds like the reason that you bought it (cheap and needed doing up) no longer exists.

pmlindyloo

Looking at your house I have have only one word to say - declutter!

The room sizes are not bad but look much smaller because of the amount of stuff that you have in them. Underneath all the clutter is a perfectly nice house.

You need to be totally ruthless and get rid of or store in boxes (garage?) basically anything personal that can be picked up! Just leave the bare minimum to make the property look homely. (cushions etc)

I know it is a pain but needs must.

When you have had a complete declutter (think show home) then ask the EA to come and take some new pictures.

Good luck!

Niv

House looks nice, apart from 1 photo. Photo 5 the second bedroom I presume? It looks pretty cluttered compared to the rest of the house and is not set up as a bedroom. With it being so cluttered without a bed it may put people off as essentially it looks like a 1 bed with store room.

I would declutter the second bedroom and set it up as a bedroom, then get the photo updated on the website.

Niv

edit: wouldn't hurt to remove bottles from around the bath and and clear surfaces in kitchen also.

DannyboyMidlands

I still think it's price. I as a buyer in the current climate would be looking to pay no more than around £140k, similar to the price in 2005. The work you have done doesn't really matter because chances are I'm going to want to put my stamp on it anyway.

bergerac

Looks nice to me. The photos of the garden would be better if the patio seating wasn't in the shade.

There are a couple of 3 bed houses very close to you for an extra £5k.

Gwhiz

For some (many?) you have to accept the railway line will be an issue. I would never buy a house near a railway line as an example.

Also, as has been said, it's price. In this market the houses that sell are either very realistic or aggressively priced.