Do buyers ignore a home on rightmove 8 months & assume something is wrong with it?

ellie27

Our house has been on the market for almost 8 months.

If you were looking for a house, and the home was priced correctly (on par with last 3 houses sold in last year or so) but it has been on market for 8 months would you just assume something must be wrong with it and not bother even viewing?

I do often think looking at houses on rightmove 'oh thats been on x months and not sold so there must be something wrong with it' ... however I do think 'oh I might get a bargain price as its been on a while'

More info.... our house had 2 offers within first 3 weeks on the market. We accepted an offer, buyers mortgage fell through 7 weeks later. House went back up on market in November, got another offer in the next month which we declined and they were not going to come up on offer. So december and Jan/Feb were very quiet -Winter/Christmas. Now with the stamp duty changes (I am in Scotland) things are picking up now and we have had 2 viewers last week and 2 this weekend.

Have buyers held off buying in Scotland due to the stamp duty changes?

I guess I will have to expect any offer to be low and '...we will offer x...as it has been on the market 8 months....'

Would you ignore any house on market that amount of time or would you at least go view it if it matched with what you wanted and your budget?

Thanks!

T0mmyh

I wouldn't ignore it. I'd factor it into any offer i would make.

Tigsteroonie

Funnily enough, we bought a house that looked as though it had been on the market for a year - the previous purchase had fallen through. We tried offering less due to the time on the market but we're hopeless negotiatators, and it was well priced anyway :rotfl:

fairy_lights

I would still go and view it but I would do so expecting that there must be something wrong with it or a reason why it hadn't sold. If the vendors could explain why it had been on the market so long it would put my mind at rest.

Gra76

The house we moved into 18 months ago had been on the market for 3 years before we bought it and it was the perfect house for us. My wife has since spoken to 3 other people who'd been to view it (school mums yap a lot while waiting to pick the kids up) and she says the people who'd been to see it didn't like it at all and can't believe we bought it! There's a perfect house for everyone, no matter how picky (or otherwise) they may be.

I wouldn't pay much attention to how long a house had been on the market, When we were looking I'd firstly look at the pictures and the floorplan, then I'd research the street, general area and what was nearby (or not nearby in terms of schools/shops etc) before making any further decision. If there's something 'wrong' with it then you can usually find out what that is from the photos/floorplan/researching the area a bit.

The length of time it'd been on the market might have led to a slightly cheekier than normal offer if it had been on for a long time but the longer the property had been on for the more likely it was to be closer to the lowest offer the sellers would accept. In our case we offered a cheeky low amount to start with but soon found out they weren't far off the lowest they'd take anyway so didn't pay a lot less on it than they had it advertised for.

warthog_78

In short, yes. I'd be wary and think there were issues, either with the house or the sellers being a pain over something. If everything was ok and priced right and with a decent agent then I would expect someone to have snapped it up. Having said all this, the last house I bought was exactly that. Been on market for a year or so and I had dismissed it. Finally viewed out of curiosity and fell in love, despite all the issues and disadvantages it came with.

stator

If it hasn't been changed to Sold STC in those 8 months it would make me think. Perhaps the sellers aren't actually serious and keep turning down offers. Or perhaps there is something wrong with the house. Or perhaps it's just overpriced.
However no matter what the problem is, if it's a good house I would go see it.

cloo

I might be wary, but if it looked OK I'd probably assume it had had a sale fall through once or twice, which can easily happen, even to a good property. The house we're buying had been on the market for six months (and indeed we'd seen it just as it came on) and although it needs some work, I'm kind of surprised it never sold in that time (it had lost one buyer who couldn't get a mortgage).

rosie383

We were in exactly the same situation but once we explained that a couple of sales had fallen through it didn't seem to be a problem. The only problem I can see is that you will miss all of the people who started their search within the last six months who probably filter their search with houses which have come on the market within 14 days.

Dollyrockerz

I would be wary but I would ask the estate agent why it had been on for so long

Bart1

Where I am looking (lowestoft Suffolk) 8 months is not at all unusual. That said, the longer it's been on the lower my offer will be.