Houses on Rightmove selling and becoming available multiple times

Ivana_Tinkle

It does depend on the type of property too. If an empty one-bed flat has been off and on again a few times, then it's a fair bet something's wrong, whereas a big house near the top of the local property ladder is more likely to be a victim of stuff going wrong further down the chain.

cwcw

Also bear in mind that changing from sold STC to available on Rightmove triggers the newly updated status on the website. Therefore, the property will then appear when searched, e.g "within the last 24 hours" or "last 7 days", as well as going out on the new email updates, even though it may have been on the market for months.

If it shows sold STC and then back available very quickly, one could be forgiven for being cynical about the estate agent's motives.

phoebe1989seb

We pulled out of two purchases last year - the first because we'd made a hasty choice having accepted an offer on ours after only two weeks on the market and we soon realised the house was wrong for us.

The second (which was being sold by a divorcing couple) was a grade II listed renovation project and appeared to be just what we were looking for. It was only after we'd had our offer accepted and we'd gone back to measure some stuff that we discovered two new houses were being built on the land directly behind the house. The vendor and EA tried to fob us off by saying they were small chalet bungalows which we found by searching online was untrue and in fact they were four-bed exec houses.

We withdrew our offer and the house went back on the market. A few weeks later it was under offer again and a few weeks later it again fell through. It then went to auction and failed to sell. Early this year it again went under offer and the sale as recently completed. In the time since we first saw it to finally selling, the price fell from almost £400k to OIEO of £200k :eek:

Loopgames

We had two buyers pull out. Or rather one and a half buyers!

The first one was due to their deposit couldn't be accounted for in line with their mortgage company's money laundering policy, the second one were also a couple but the husband decided he didn't want it and called the agent to pull out of the deal.

His wife, however, bought it without his name on the deeds!

Lizling

I looked at one flat that had been 'sold' and then came back the market at least 5 times over a year and a half. It was a shared ownership resale and it turned out that the EAs had kept trying to sell it to people who didn't meet the shared ownership scheme's criteria e.g. cash buyers.

Middy

My parents will be moving tomorrow and their property was still on RM with no sold banner last week!

Just checked and its no longer on the website!

Wobblydeb

Supreme wrote: »

Does it put you off when houses are available, then sold, then available, multiple times? Is this something that can be raised with estate agents for further info, or is that likely to not be a conversation they want to have?

Yes it does, and I have asked the question, although am always aware I might not get an honest answer. I just asked recently as a house I like had re-appeared for sale - be friendly to the estate agent and be clear you just want to know if it is something major (like subsidence).

zappahey wrote: »

I reckon that very few houses come back multiple times due to finance issues.

Agreed. I am wary of anything that comes back more than once. I remember watching a house bounce on and off rightmove until the current owner finally got the subsidence sorted out (and dropped the price).

cosmojohnson

Supreme wrote: »

Second one came up in March this year, and has been set as sold, then back to available 3 times. It's had one price change (£245k to £240k). It's also now on with another agency, and the photos show they have moved out. There is also no chain. I haven't looked at this one.

Sounds like it could be a repossession, hence appearing vacant from the new photos and the bank/repossession people putting it on with a different agency.

nickcc

cosmojohnson wrote: »

Sounds like it could be a repossession, hence appearing vacant from the new photos and the bank/repossession people putting it on with a different agency.

Could also be a company move, one of our houses took about six months after we had moved out before it even got an offer, didn't bother us as the company had previously guaranteed the sale price.

Supreme_2

I have just been to see the 2nd house (the one that PropertyBee says has been sold 3 times). The agent (new agent), says the vendor/previous agency say it's been sold once and fallen through, though did not know the reason. It is possible PropertyBee was wrong, but i think i should call the other agency and check with them. I have asked the current agent to see what he can find out.

The property is on at £240k, but last sold in 2010 for £212k, and they haven't done anything to it...!