Should I avoid property that's been listed for 4 months?

Davesnave

baz8790 wrote: »

Might be a silly thread I have started but I keep thinking of the reasons why it is not selling each time I see the advert..

Not half as silly as many I read!

As Dafty says, it's always worth a look to see if whatever is putting others off matches with what you're prepared to take on. And it's interesting...

For example, our house had plenty of inward investment prior to us buying it, but it was investment by loonies, which we knew from the outset just had to be destroyed. So, it was structurally 'fine,' but it still needed expensive structural manhandling.

carefullycautious

Have you checked the police uk site or streetcheck as in my experience there is usually a problem with Anti social behaviour or some other undesirable happening within the area that makes a property unsellable.


Just seen that police uk do not cover your area not sure if you have an alternative that shows crime in a given area

ellie27

I think first you need to view the house before making all the assumptions!

It maybe that you walk in the front door and straight away there it is, the reason it hasn't sold (?)

How is it priced? Is it at a price thats similar to others selling quickly?

Have you been tracking it on propertybee for the 4 months? Maybe it has sold and the sale fell through then back up etc. Thats what happened in the sale of our house. We had 2 offers in first few weeks, accepted one, then 7 weeks later the buyers mortgage fell through then it went back up on market just before Christmas when property went dead in our area. So our house which was under offer in a couple weeks then actually took 7 months to sell!!! And I think the longer it is on the market folk just think 'oh that ones been there for ages so there must be something wrong with it!'

The house we bought had been on and off the market for nearly 2 years!! It was overpriced and had 2 price drops and we jumped in at the right time.

moneyistooshorttomention

Added to reasons it hasn't sold - it might not be down to the house itself. My house was in a right state when I bought it - but I suspect the main reason it hadn't sold was a couple of neighbours (particularly the immediate one). I spotted Immediate Neighbour making sure they got a darn good look/put their oar in whilst viewing the house and summed them up.

In the event - I was spot on re the neighbour - but I had seen how old they are and therefore this would be a factor that wouldn't apply for long and I felt I could deal with whilst it still did apply. It may be that there is an equivalent situation there and you, for instance, might spot that its a family with two opposite sex kids living next door - but it's only a 2 bedroom house (cue for = they wouldn't be living there much longer either).

AnotherJoe

Based on your logic that if unsold over 4 months you should avoid, then you must think there is a cut off point (maybe 3 months? ) after which all houses would be unsaleable and would presumably languish forever unsold as everyone would simply avoid and it would be a self-fulfilling condition.

Or alternatively, it could be there are numerous reasons a house may not have sold, some good some bad some indifferent (from buyers POV) and you should investigate the house in question if its of interest to you rather than implement a blanket ban.

eilidhcatriona

What area of Aberdeen is it in?


A family member sold their house in January 2015 in a very nice area of the city, and it was on the market 5 months. The house needed some minor non-urgent work, but that was all clearly laid out in the home report.


If it's been on for 4 months, that means it's been on over the winter - isn't that usually a quieter time of year for houses selling?


Bear in mind that with the oil industry struggling, a lot of people are battening down the hatches and not thinking about new houses etc - there might just be fewer buyers out there meaning that some houses stay on the market longer.

westv

4 months is nothing. If it was 4 years maybe then be concerned.