House on the market for 5 weeks but only 1 viewing

ReadingTim

Shandz wrote: »

Hi ReadingTim, thanks for taking a look. I take your point about price being an important factor and we are open to adjusting the price but the property you link to has about 97 square metres total floor space whereas ours is about 115 square metres, so I think ours is a bit larger. Please let me know if I am missing something but just under £300k doesn't seem unreasonable just looking at comparison of floor space.

Maybe I've inadvertently stumbled across a reason then...even if your is bigger, the other one looks bigger! They might be disappointed with the 2nd place when viewing it in person, but you're not even getting people in the door to appreciate the space.

However, this place is bigger and cheaper, so the point still stands....

fatrab

We are currently in the process of selling my wife's flat. Its a 3 bedroom in a decent area and is in walk-in condition. It was advertised £6k under home report valuation. 3 months it took for an offer and to agree a sale, and we had only 5 viewings in that time.


It was very frustrating for us as we know of folk who sold smaller properties in worse condition and in not-great areas within weeks of them going up for sale.


Personally I wouldn't say the market is "slow" more that it's "weird"!


It just takes the right person to come along so hang on in there and I hope you have good luck selling soon! Our buyers should be getting the keys a week from today so fingers crossed

Shandz

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I wouldn't buy a modern new build so I'm not your target audience. This one seems less pokey than a lot of new builds, but the windows look small. It's not cluttered or badly presented so I don't think that's the issue.

-who owns the bit of grass out front, is it shared with the neighbouring property?
-the view of the fields should go last, not randomly between pics of the lounge
-I like the way the floor plan is presented

- Yes, the grass at the front is shared with our next door neighbour.
- Yes, good point about the view of the fields - I think I will ask the agent to move that last.

- Thanks - do you think there is anything we could do to improve the presentation the house or garden? Do you think the pictures look good?


The house was built c1980 and one of the things I really like about it is that all three bedrooms and the room we use as a study are all a decent size. Do you think there is anything we could realistically do about the size of the windows like getting more light into the rooms somehow? We have tried to paint the all the rooms in a lighter colour which hopefully makes the rooms look airy and spacious.

mistertea

It's a lovely family home, clean, bright and neutrally decorated. Love the shower room but no bath may put some families off. Although the agent listed it as semi-detached people will notice it's end of terrace and factor that in too.

Shandz

PasturesNew wrote: »

The market IS slow - have you checked HOW slow it is in your area?

In my area the current report states that "houses with 2 bedrooms or fewer are hardest hit" - which is precisely what mine is... *sighs*.

You need to be analysing all local/relevant house reports and speaking to agents to find out "is it the house, or the market?" and letting them know you can hear the truth, no need to dress it up fancy for you, no need for any sales/pep talk... what IS going on.... they'll be honest if you tell them you just want them to call a spade a spade.

Have you made a list of all your competitors, as you see it, in your area? What are they doing? Are they selling, removing from market, changing agents, dropping prices? Make that list - and watch it 2x a week.... is anybody "like mine" selling ... then try to work out what was so appealing about that one -v- yours.

No houses anything like mine have sold in my area in the last month... I watch them ALL. 2 beds, 3 beds, £20k lower than my price, £50k higher than my price. Older, brand new, "just like mine" .... you need to be watching your local area.

The honest answer is that I don't know really know but thanks for your advice I think there is lots of useful ideas here and we will go away do some work investigating this. That said, I was kind of hoping that's what the estate agent would do for us, we could ask them although I don't want them to use a slowing market as an excuse for not being pro-active, am I expecting too much/being too harsh?

Shandz

quantumlobster wrote: »

The question is, "what makes your house worth nearly £50K more than it was four years ago?"

That's a 20% rise in a slowing market.

What is the business-looking unit next door? Is it noisy/smelly/got a lot of traffic causing parking issues/etc?

Well, according to the agent at the time of selling our house they thought we had bought the house 4 years ago at a good price and that local property prices had moved up 20% over that period. Please do tell me if that doesn't sound right though! I do wonder if all this Brexit uncertainty has slowed the market by a lot.


There isn't a business unit next door, just more houses and it is a quiet, peaceful village, which photo were you looking at out of interest though?

Cakeguts

It is too expensive for a 3 bed semi. The ones that have sold have nearly all sold in the £250k to £260k price bracket. The market is not slow if you extend the Rightmove search to with 1/2 mile there are plenty of houses marked sold.


No viewings means very very overpriced.


Viewings but no offers means a bit overpriced


Viewings and offers mean you have got the price into about the right place for people to think you are serious about selling.



The value of the house is what someone will pay you for it not a value that an estate agent gives you to get your business.

Shandz

quantumlobster wrote: »

Off-street parking for more than one car is a mighty powerful incentive to a lot of people.

That's interesting you say that, do you think there would there be value in widening our drive way so that it was clear that two cars could fit on it?

Cakeguts

The other problem it has is the carpark over the back fence and the car park for the local pub at the end of the row. Not everyone wants a house where there is a carpark behind their house. So in a better position it might fetch closer to £300k but won't in that position.


You say that you bought the house for a good price. The reason that you bought it for a good price is because it was difficult to sell when you bought it so they had to sell it cheaper. That isn't a problem but you will just have to do the same if you want to sell it.

quantumlobster

Shandz wrote: »

Well, according to the agent at the time of selling our house they thought we had bought the house 4 years ago at a good price and that local property prices had moved up 20% over that period. Please do tell me if that doesn't sound right though! I do wonder if all this Brexit uncertainty has slowed the market by a lot.


There isn't a business unit next door, just more houses and it is a quiet, peaceful village, which photo were you looking at out of interest though?

This thing:

https://goo.gl/maps/xE4vrZCNPr52