reducing price and rightmove

Falafels

It can be a problem knowing how to price 'character' properties, especially if there are very few locally. I have a former nailer's cottage dating from around 1850. The way my EA explained it was that the nearby ex-council houses were my comparables - they're of a similar floor area, and have a similar amount of garden - but mine would carry a premium because of the character and original features. My place has been on the market twice in the last 18 months; the first time it went under offer within a week, the second time I had an interested buyer within three weeks.

So I think my EA got it right.

I've seen properties of a similar vintage in a different area of town go up for sale priced £10-£15,000 more than mine... but they all reduced their asking price on RM and took much longer to sell.

PJBRFC

You need to reduce by at least 2% to get back to the top of RM listings and be included on a new alert email to buyers looking in your area. 

AdrianC

lillypoo said:

MovingForwards said:

Your property has been listed for 6 - 8 weeks, what feedback have you had from the EA after the viewings? 

How much are similar properties selling for (not being listed) in your immediate and wider area? 
How do their prices compare to yours?

Do you get a good feeling when dealing with your EA? If not, how long until your contract with him expires?

the feedback has been
the gardens too big
the gardens too small
my dogs would escape through the hedge
its too small for my growing family
not enough room to extend

there are no similar properties nearby.  this is a cottage built in about 1880 with huge garden, fully modernised throughout but 'retaining original character features ' blah blah

All of which come back to the same thing - "Not for us, but I can't/don't want to say why."
<shrug> Nothing you can do about that.

Individual properties need individual buyers. Identikit properties have a big pool of identikit buyers.

had a very good feeling about EA when they wanted to sell on our behalf, but now feel as if theyre losing interest and/ or impetus

You've basically in the position where everybody that was looking when you came on the market has seen it - so you're now waiting for new buyers to come onto the market.

gwynlas

Are you happy that the photos and description are bringing in viewers?

Titus_Wadd

PJBRFC said:

You need to reduce by at least 2% to get back to the top of RM listings and be included on a new alert email to buyers looking in your area. 

I was just about to say there is a percentage reduction for your listing to go back to the top of the RightMove list.  Or you could add a second agent and that listing will start at the top of the newest listed search, the first agent's listing would be lower down.

If you're not pressed for time to sell, there's also a minimum number of weeks after a house is removed from sale for it to appear as a new listing on RM but I can't remember what the minimum is.  This is a popular practice where I live: the price of a house may drop a couple of times but if it doesn't sell it's taken off the market only to reappear a few months later, often at a higher price than the original one.  I reckon it must work eventually without chipping away at the price.  The price drops are often visible on Rightmove and Zoopla as previous listings history so it's not entirely secretive.

Where I used to live I can see houses that have been on sale for over 2 years.  If I see a house on for so long without a big reduction in price I'd wonder "what's wrong with it" or "How cheeky an offer could I make?" or assume that the sellers stubbornly won't budge on price however long it takes to sell.