Hardly any viewings, no offers

Clh2017

I'd appreciate some thoughts on the London housing market. We've been on since mid September and have only had 3 viewings, no offers. Feedback has been that the flat is really nice, great location but not quite big enough.

I personally think it is on at too high a price but the estate agent argues that the market is slow and there will be fewer viewings at the best price so they aren't willing to lower the price yet.

We weren't expecting hundreds of viewings but definitely more than 3 in 6 weeks.

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Cakeguts

It is nearly always the price. How many valuations did you get? Which valuation did you accept? How does the price compare to selling prices of flats nearby. Not asking prices but actual selling prices?

Fosterdog

It is just getting into the slow season for house buyers, people tend to avoid buying at this time of year unless they have to so your EA may be right that if you wait you will get asking price or close to it but even out of season a house priced to sell will be snatched up.

ACG

Clh2017 wrote: »

so they aren't willing to lower the price yet.

Is that just a poor choice of words or is that what they said?
Its nothing to do with them what you sell for.

September for us has been the busiest year for the last 3 years.

If you want to sell it this year, I reckon you have about 3 weeks left - that is when I am expecting things to quieten down massively.

I sold my house earlier this year. I wanted to put it on for £155,000. 2 agents told me £165,000. I needed a quick sale as I had an offer accepted on another place, I would have accepted £150,000. After 2 weeks (and all positive feedback but no offers) I told my agent to reduce it to offers in excess of £155,000. The next day I had 2 viewings and both offered £155,000.

As someone else has said, if you are not getting offers or even many viewings (we had 4 in a day when we first put outs on the market), it is the price. If you are happy to hold out then its not a problem, if you need a sale then you need to reduce the price.

LdnFtB

London is very very slow at the moment in terms of both supply and demand.

There's little 'new' money (either foreign investor, buy to let, or first time buyers) entering at the bottom of the market so there's not much to grease the chain so to speak.

Who are the type of people you're trying to sell to?

jojorose

I read the London market is slow.

Is your house presented to its absolute best? (we kept best linen, towels, tea towels everything to be whisked out at viewing times)

Have you looked to see how much similar properties are going for?

If you think it is over priced it probably is?

I dont think when you put your house on is so important. How you put it on is.

Good luck

seven-day-weekend

We sold our house at the end of 2015.

The EA valued it at £159950 which we thought was too high, but went with it nontheless. After a month of no viewings we reduced it by £10k and the viewings came flowing in; however we still accepted an offer under asking price.

If you want to sell it, drop the price.

(Like the above poster, we also had 'best' teatowels, towels and bedlinen, and a rug not covered in cat hair, kept for viewings ).

I too wish you good luck.

Debtslayer

Clh2017 wrote: »

I'd appreciate some thoughts on the London housing market. We've been on since mid September and have only had 3 viewings, no offers. Feedback has been that the flat is really nice, great location but not quite big enough.

I personally think it is on at too high a price but the estate agent argues that the market is slow and there will be fewer viewings at the best price so they aren't willing to lower the price yet.

We weren't expecting hundreds of viewings but definitely more than 3 in 6 weeks.

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Surely it's up to you as owner and seller if you want to reduce the price?
Are you desperate to sell or could wait?

Mickygg

Say where in London and more details such as beds and price and people might be able to help more.

LdnFtB

Mickygg wrote: »

Say where in London and more details such as beds and price and people might be able to help more.

You can use the Land Registry index http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ukhpi/explore to find out trends in your borough for different property types. Can be useful to give a more local picture than London as a whole.

Clh2017

Thanks for all the replies.

In terms of valuations, we had 3 and 2 were pretty much the same, one was £50,000 less. We went with one of the 2 which valued it at similar prices.

We don't have to move immediately but we're a 3rd floor flat with no lift and a 4 month old baby. We're also hoping to move closer to family as we don't have any nearby at the moment. We aren't desperate to move but there will come a point where we'll need to.

The flat is 2 bedrooms, 1 large double bedroom and 1 small single so would probably be best for first time buyers as I was when I bought. The rest of the block is mainly first time buyers either in a couple or with one child.

We've done as much as we can to present the flat in the best way. We've got a storage unit and moved loads of stuff out. We don't have any baby stuff around except the crib and his bouncer chair so it doesn't look full of stuff or won't appeal to single people. I change the tea towels, linen, throws etc for viewings to look as neutral as possible.

The estate agent feels they can get this price for the flat and they just need to find the one person who will pay it when I asked to lower the price to attract more people. The estate agent in question is one of the more aggressive by reputation and have high commission. Which they argue is because of their high success rate and network but that doesn't seem to be making any difference.

I think I'm going to go back and insist the price is dropped to generate more interest. I've looked at what else is on offer and we're not really that different in price to comparable properties but I feel that in our part of South London, a lot of people prefer Victorian conversions rather than purpose built.

Thanks all for the advice.