why can't we sell?!

mrshightower

I'm hoping some of the experts on here might be able to offer some insight. We've been on for a year now. Started off at fixed price 140k with an agent last Sept and got 2 viewings between Sept and March. Changed agent in May and have had another 9 since then (we also dropped our price below the SDLT threshold).

But no takers. We were initially getting feedback that place was too small, so we decluttered, got rid of some furniture in the living room to give more floor space... but the last 2 viewers we had just said that the kitchen was too small. Not really a lot we can do about that!

I wonder if we're missing something critical. We're in Scotland and the home report val is 135k. On RM our property number is 38854096.

The only other thing that I can think of is that our joined on neighbours are also on. They put theirs on in March at 145k (they have a garage) and have since dropped to 135k. They've only been there a couple of years, but they seem to keep chopping and changing their minds. At one point they were on the rental market for about 2 weeks and then took it off again. They told my husband about 6 weeks ago that they were taking it off the market and took their sign down, but it's still on Rightmove, so I don't know what they are up to. I just wonder if people see that they are both on and think there is something wrong? Maybe I'm clutching at straws.

Anyway, any insight or pointers would be gratefully received as it's really getting us down.

Thanks

19lottie82

99% of the time it's down to price. your house looks nice so i'm guessing it's that.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38854096.html

19lottie82

I think these houses for sale in the local area might be your problem....

2 bed, 105k fixed
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27116493.html

3 bed, offers around 125k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41560484.html

3 bed offers over 122k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36486859.html?premiumA=true

3bed, offers over 99.5k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43239485.html

2 Bed offers in region of 85k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38393867.html

moneyistooshorttomention

Its got nice views.

The kitchen looks as if its not just small, but an awkward shape as well. This is where I went to look at the floorplan, in order to see whether its possible to knock through a kitchen wall and have the kitchen and dining part of lounge as a kitchen/diner and put up a wall or something to section off the sitting room part.

No floorplan and therefore I wasn't able to see if this is possible. It might just be a little thing like that and a potential viewer might think "I cant be bothered to go and see if that could be done", whereas if there was a floorplan and they could see it was possible then they might come round after all.

mrshightower

yeah, I'm aware of those, but although in the same town they are in quite different areas with totally different surroundings. I know it might be price but surely people would just negotiate? Another one the same as ours in the next street sold a year ago for 129k and things were a lot slower then.

If it is price then we'll not really be able to think about dropping it again until the new year when we'll have saved up a bit more money to be able to put down a decent deposit on our next home.

I did discuss price a couple of weeks ago with the agent and he didn't think we should drop it - told me we were giving it away at the current price.

We maybe only have another couple of weeks before the local market with slow for the winter. I guess we will have another think about price in the spring.

Thanks :-)

Mojisola

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It might just be a little thing like that and a potential viewer might think "I cant be bothered to go and see if that could be done", whereas if there was a floorplan and they could see it was possible then they might come round after all.

Definitely get a floor plan. I tend to skip over the ones without one.

NervousHomeowner

mrshightower wrote: »

yeah, I'm aware of those, but although in the same town they are in quite different areas with totally different surroundings. I know it might be price but surely people would just negotiate? Another one the same as ours in the next street sold a year ago for 129k and things were a lot slower then.

To be fair, they might not be negotiating because of the 'offers over' thing. I think offers over puts some people off negotiating because it suggests that you won't consider anything under that.

Personally, I like your house I think it's nicely decorated and the views are lovely but the layout of the kitchen looks a bit odd and the house is quite small. You don't have a separate dining room whereas some of the other houses posted are cheaper and have a separate dining room, which seems to be a big plus for people (especially young families). I think the market for 2 bed houses is always a bit slower too, because they're small and you don't really offer you room to expand (e.g. if you're a young family looking to have a 2nd or 3rd child) so they're not everyone's cup of tea.

So yeah, I agree with everyone else that it's probably a bit too expensive for what it is.

happycamel_2

It doesn't look very friendly in the first image, maybe some window boxes or hanging baskets would help. Giving the exterior brickwork a scrub would help too. I think the first picture should be less zoomed in and only show your property.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm not over-impressed with the photographs. It appears that either the agent is trying to sell the furniture or the rooms are too small to take better ones. Just look at the bathroom pic!

What "garden grounds"? The photo makes it look like there's only the decking.

You ABSOLUTELY need a floor-plan.

It looks like a lovely house in a spectacular spot so I think more could be made of the views, too.

googler

There's only been 4 sales in your street in 2010, 11, 12 and 13.

Either hardly anyone wants to buy in your particular street, or hardly anyone is buying in the area generally.

harrys_dad

What are you hoping to move to? the only key issue is "price to change", i.e. how much more you have to pay than you get for yours. If yours was a little cheaper to help sell then it would not matter if you could save a similar amount on what you were buying.

May I also say your house looks lovely, and the setting is spectacular.