Agent or market problem?

LE_Bore

Hi Fellow Forum Folk

We own a modest and characterful house in an area north west of London which has unexpectedly become desirable in the past 10 years. Lucky us. But we are skint. I have chucked in my job because my partner needs a full time carer, so we have decided to get shot of the house and move to a cheap area. We put the house on the market at the end of November, since when... hardly anyone has viewed it. 

We chose an estate agent with a good reputation and priced the house in the middle of the four valuations we received. We were warned by two of the agents that the market was not only dead at this time of year but the state of the economy meant all pricing was uncertain. We live in an area where there are about 15 agents locally, so we are not without a choice. But we hear far more often from the other agents who did not get to place our house on their portfolio than we do from the one we actually employed. They seem to think they can sell it when our agent can't, though exactly how they could find different buyers to other agents in an era where everyone looks on rightmove, I am not sure. 

When we do get to speak to the nice woman at our agent, she says we should drop the price of the house by 50,000. But I see tattier houses nearby priced higher than ours in worse locations. Some even sell! Plus we've only had four people through the door, so there's not a lot of reaction to go on -- all said it presented well but not what they were looking for. I note that our agent doesn't bother with social media, and I worry that they will only sell to locals. There is an artsy area nearby a few miles away which may just get the house a bit more than the locals, I think, but I don't know if our agent will reach them. My question is, should we swap agent, or just hang on? 

Many thanks for reading. 

mi-key

Nobody really buys or views houses in december and january as they have so much else going on. It is always the quietest time of the year. Things tend to pick up in the spring, so its worth hanging on for a month or so and see if you get more interest before thinking of reducing the price.

mi-key

Has the agent listed your house on rightmove?  Most people look on there rather than social media or going on an agents website these days. Does the listing describe the house accurately? Do the photos look good etc...  ? 

LE_Bore

Thank you mi-key. The other thing I should have mentioned is that if we did reduce the price, how do we know there are any more  buyers at the lower price bracket when the market appears to be dead? We don't...

mebu60

Are you on a 'no sale no fee' arrangement with your estate agent?
Dependent upon your contract with the agent, have you considered giving them a deadline to make things happen otherwise you will consider changing agent? As mi-key says, spring ought to see an uplift in activity so I'd give them at least until Easter (9 April). Another BoE rate rise on Thursday won't help your case sadly.
I wouldn't rush to reduce your asking price either, certainly not by £50k! Maybe a much more modest token reduction to get it back to the top of 'newest' on Rightmove around 1 March.
Good luck :-)

tealady

Hi OP
If you are feeling brave could you post a link so peeps on here can see if there are any issues with the listing?
(OK confession time, some of us on here are just nosy Mea Culpa)

mi-key

LE_Bore said:

Thank you mi-key. The other thing I should have mentioned is that if we did reduce the price, how do we know there are any more  buyers at the lower price bracket when the market appears to be dead? We don't...

Very true. To sell a house you only need one person to come along who likes it and can afford it. Sometimes this can happen the day you list it, sometimes it can take a bit longer. The market itself isn't really dead, plenty of places are still selling, it's just nothing much does over the winter.

Interest rate changes arent going to make much impact now ( unless they reduce them ! ) as the mortgage lenders have already priced in increases into their rates, so mortgages aren't really going to get any more expensive than they are now,

LE_Bore

tealady said:

Hi OP
If you are feeling brave could you post a link so peeps on here can see if there are any issues with the listing?
(OK confession time, some of us on here are just nosy Mea Culpa)

I am not quite that brave -- don't want the agent to know we are thinking of chucking them... but don't blame you for asking!

LE_Bore

mi-key said:

LE_Bore said:

Thank you mi-key. The other thing I should have mentioned is that if we did reduce the price, how do we know there are any more  buyers at the lower price bracket when the market appears to be dead? We don't...

Very true. To sell a house you only need one person to come along who likes it and can afford it. Sometimes this can happen the day you list it, sometimes it can take a bit longer. The market itself isn't really dead, plenty of places are still selling, it's just nothing much does over the winter.

Interest rate changes arent going to make much impact now ( unless they reduce them ! ) as the mortgage lenders have already priced in increases into their rates, so mortgages aren't really going to get any more expensive than they are now,

Thank you. It is on Rightmove. Maybe I will hang on until Easter to see if there's any action. Let's hope mortgage rates don't go any higher -- good to be optimistic!!!

LE_Bore

mebu60 said:

Are you on a 'no sale no fee' arrangement with your estate agent?
Dependent upon your contract with the agent, have you considered giving them a deadline to make things happen otherwise you will consider changing agent? As mi-key says, spring ought to see an uplift in activity so I'd give them at least until Easter (9 April). Another BoE rate rise on Thursday won't help your case sadly.
I wouldn't rush to reduce your asking price either, certainly not by £50k! Maybe a much more modest token reduction to get it back to the top of 'newest' on Rightmove around 1 March.
Good luck :-)

I believe so. I thought about a deadline but wondered if would make a difference as I guess if they could make something happen they would. But it might make them focus on it more. Your top of Rightmove idea is a great one, and Easter makes sense too. I don't want to throw away ££££ by reducing it immediately, but if I knew it would make a difference I'd consider it. Thanks for your help. 

Martico

LE_Bore said:

tealady said:

Hi OP
If you are feeling brave could you post a link so peeps on here can see if there are any issues with the listing?
(OK confession time, some of us on here are just nosy Mea Culpa)

I am not quite that brave -- don't want the agent to know we are thinking of chucking them... but don't blame you for asking!

That's quite understandable. Have you sought advice on your listing from someone close to you who would give you the unvarnished truth about how the listing looks? Or have you looked at it with a super critical eye?
(Edit: study it closely as if you were in the market to buy - anything jump out at you that would be within your power to rectify?)
Of course, the listing might well be fine, but it's always useful to get this kind of feedback