Unable to sell house

Bailey1980

uralmaid said:

As an estate agent in a previous life I have sold (and viewed) lots of property. For me, personally I much preferred how the house looked when you bought it.  Full of colour and cosy features in keeping with the house.  Nowadays the trend is to say to everyone - get rid of the colour, paint it white so it's a blank canvas.  It looked for more interesting in the pics from when you bought it. Now it looks like most other bland white and grey offerings.  Not everyone has the vision to see what they can make of a property.  If it had been me, I would have had it redecorated in some colours and dressed it with toning curtains and rugs.  Also added some pics on the walls to give it a bit of character and a suggestion of what it could be, without breaking the bank.  It's amazing what you can find in local household auctions too.  Even without redecorating at this stage there are lots of ways to inject some colour and personality into it. I appreciate you don't live nearby and have other time constraints, but it would be worth it to try and go there yourself for a few days and try and inject some personality. Definitely get another estate agent as the one you are with has lost interest and is not enthusiastic about the property which means they aren't going to promote it properly.  Good luck - hope you get a sale and can move on with things.

Thank you - most of the walls hadn't been decorated for a number of years so they were marked /discoloured and we initially had three estate agents come out for valuations we mentioned that we were thinking of re-painting before putting on the market and they all told us that a white/off white would be best. 

Estate agent has also told us to put in neutral toned carpets - but I'm now not sure? 

We had no intention of ever going back so didn't leave any curtains, rugs pictures etc plus we kept being told by the estate agent not to have anything like this because it wouldn't be to people's personal taste and would put people off. 

I'm happy to now put some rugs in but i'm not sure it would look odd if there's no other furniture in the rooms (particularly the living room) and might suggest something is being hidden? I don't trust any of my judgment and decisions anymore  

I have been trawling gumtree /facebook marketplace for furniture that is free as we can't afford to pay to furnish it but understandably there isn't much being offered for free. 

BobT36 said:

RHemmings said:

BobT36 said:

I've seen some (in the north!) be dropped by £100k and STILL not selling because even with that, they're still too stupidly overpriced (despite being a lovely house that would be perfect for me, if priced appropriately!). However with it being prices SO silly, there's not even the prospect of a cheeky offer. 

So there it sits, after being listed in January 2023, LOL. So many like this. 
I swear most are double what they ought to be. 

Out of curiosity, could you post a sample listing or two of houses you think overpriced. 

When I find the next batch. I usually just monitor postings in the last 24h and laugh & skip over the silly ones. The PropertyLog addin is great though, being able to see the history of reductions for over a YEAR and then it STILL being too expensive lol. 

As to EA's appraisal of prices, they're just having a guess. It's a decent guideline but only YOU can truly decide, and that's also based on what the BUYERS are willing to pay. If you're getting none, then that's a clear indicating that something is "off". If the rest of the property is alright and there's no environmental issues (including crime or bad surrounding area) then it's likely to be the price. (This isn't just to the OP, just a general comment). 
The EAs can say the price is "great" and "accurate", but the only proof of that is getting viewings / sales.

We have had a lot of viewings but no offers and the only feedback has been it needs too much work but when we have pressed we have just been told it's not to people's personal taste which the estate agent has told us there is nothing we can do about that. 

This was the situation up until about 2-3 weeks ago when I spoke to someone different in the office who asked me if they could be "brutally honest" and gave me a whole list of problems with the house that needs to be sorted and even doing if do all of this suggested work, the price still needs to drop by £5K-£10K and we have to be willing to accept offers that are £10K-£15K less than the reduce asking price. 

Yes we want to sell, but if the work is going to cost a couple of thousand to do and still has to result in a significant price drop then it doesn't seem the work will make any difference. 

Ady87

BobT36 said:

RHemmings said:

BobT36 said:

I've seen some (in the north!) be dropped by £100k and STILL not selling because even with that, they're still too stupidly overpriced (despite being a lovely house that would be perfect for me, if priced appropriately!). However with it being prices SO silly, there's not even the prospect of a cheeky offer. 

So there it sits, after being listed in January 2023, LOL. So many like this. 
I swear most are double what they ought to be. 

Out of curiosity, could you post a sample listing or two of houses you think overpriced. 

When I find the next batch. I usually just monitor postings in the last 24h and laugh & skip over the silly ones. The PropertyLog addin is great though, being able to see the history of reductions for over a YEAR and then it STILL being too expensive lol. 

As to EA's appraisal of prices, they're just having a guess. It's a decent guideline but only YOU can truly decide, and that's also based on what the BUYERS are willing to pay. If you're getting none, then that's a clear indicating that something is "off". If the rest of the property is alright and there's no environmental issues (including crime or bad surrounding area) then it's likely to be the price. (This isn't just to the OP, just a general comment). 
The EAs can say the price is "great" and "accurate", but the only proof of that is getting viewings / sales.

Where can I find history of reductions if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve been keeping a close eye on the local market as I’m buying in May/June and I’ve seen a few houses with what I think are fairly sizeable reductions but  I didn’t take down the originally listed selling price. Short of calling EAs to ask and wasting time it would be great if somewhere holds that info!

BobT36

Ady87 said:

BobT36 said:

RHemmings said:

BobT36 said:

I've seen some (in the north!) be dropped by £100k and STILL not selling because even with that, they're still too stupidly overpriced (despite being a lovely house that would be perfect for me, if priced appropriately!). However with it being prices SO silly, there's not even the prospect of a cheeky offer. 

So there it sits, after being listed in January 2023, LOL. So many like this. 
I swear most are double what they ought to be. 

Out of curiosity, could you post a sample listing or two of houses you think overpriced. 

When I find the next batch. I usually just monitor postings in the last 24h and laugh & skip over the silly ones. The PropertyLog addin is great though, being able to see the history of reductions for over a YEAR and then it STILL being too expensive lol. 

As to EA's appraisal of prices, they're just having a guess. It's a decent guideline but only YOU can truly decide, and that's also based on what the BUYERS are willing to pay. If you're getting none, then that's a clear indicating that something is "off". If the rest of the property is alright and there's no environmental issues (including crime or bad surrounding area) then it's likely to be the price. (This isn't just to the OP, just a general comment). 
The EAs can say the price is "great" and "accurate", but the only proof of that is getting viewings / sales.

Where can I find history of reductions if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve been keeping a close eye on the local market as I’m buying in May/June and I’ve seen a few houses with what I think are fairly sizeable reductions but  I didn’t take down the originally listed selling price. Short of calling EAs to ask and wasting time it would be great if somewhere holds that info!

PropertyLog addin for Chrome browsers. 

@OP, could you list what they said needed doing? And yup as before if you're getting viewings but not offers, then either something specific is putting them off, and/or the price. (Heavily weighted to the latter since a lower price means people are willing to overlook more issues). If you're getting viewings then at least you're not so stupidly far off as those I was mentioning in my post. 

UnderOffer

…the price still needs to drop by £5K-£10K and we have to be willing to accept offers that are £10K-£15K less than the reduce asking price. 

So the Estate Agent is saying that the price is £25k too high? Plus you need to make the recommended changes they have suggested? Why don’t you drop the price without changes and see if that gets you any offers? 

daveyjp

I see a lot of decorating and work involved in removing the laminate floor in the main living room to lay carpet. Jobs I wouldn't want to do before moving in,

littlemissbliss

Bailey1980 said:

Hi there

We've had our house on the market for. about 3 and a half months and have had over 20 viewings but no offers. 

The estate agent valued it at £195K but given the state of the market/mortgages it went on for offers in excess of £180K. 

After Christmas it was reduced slightly, albeit not by much - offers in the region of £178K but despite continued viewings, still no offers. 

We've spoken to the estate agents on at least five separate occasions about what the feedback has been and each time they have said that it just hasn't been to each individual potential buyer's personal taste which isn't something we can really do anything about. 

I spoke to the estate agent earlier this week (different person who I had previously spoken to and who has apparently carried out some of the viewings). They said that in order for us to sell it we need to replace all of the bedroom carpets (3 bedrooms) and the carpet on the stairs and landing, replace all of the internal doors, install a new shower and a new bathroom mirror as well as deep cleaning the bathroom and de-odourising the house as there is apparently a pet smell and once all that is done, the price needs to be reduced to £175K and if don't do any of this then we have to reduce it to £170K. 

The house however has been vacant since September 2023 and it was re-painted throughout an off white colour and we had it deep cleaned (all done by professionals which we paid a fair penny for)  before it went on the market so we are a bit skeptical about the alleged smell and needing to deep clean the bathroom. We checked it over after it had been deep cleaned and it was absolutely spotless and no sign of any smell, but apparently that is no longer the case. 

There's a couple of issues, firstly, the issue with the feedback being it's not to buyer's personal tastes for the last 3 and half months but now it's being said that there's all these issues. 

The second is cost, if we reduce to £170K we won't break even on what we paid for the house and what we invested in it (new kitchen, external wall insulation etc) but if we do all the work the estate agent has now told us we need to do and we reduce it to £175k again we won't break even. 

New internal doors throughout including labour and materials is about £800 - £1000. 
New carpets including installation we have worked it out to be roughly £500. 
New electric shower plus installation looks to be about £200-£400 
A further deepclean will be £200-£300. 

I guess we are just really struggling with what to do. 

First ask yourself, do you really believe its with that price? As in would you buy it? I am a buyer so I can defiantly give your a buyers prospective. I see so many properties that are asking way to much, all be it what you are asking for seems quite cheap as i am looking down south. 

People just don't have any money left over to decorate, so i would suggest getting it up to scratch with neutral decore then putting the price up a little. If someone can just move in and not need to do anything, then they will pay it. But if you have rooms decorates to a specific taste (like pink or orange walls), they wont do it. Deep clean I would agree with, make sure all clutter is out so maybe get some storage, make sure its like a show room. Mortgages are expensive so people want to feel excited about their new home 

Update just seen the picture - I would just change the flooring

Bailey1980

BobT36 said:

PropertyLog addin for Chrome browsers. 

@OP, could you list what they said needed doing? And yup as before if you're getting viewings but not offers, then either something specific is putting them off, and/or the price. (Heavily weighted to the latter since a lower price means people are willing to overlook more issues). If you're getting viewings then at least you're not so stupidly far off as those I was mentioning in my post. 

Their feedback and the alleged feedback from potential buyers has been that it needs too much work and when we have pressed nothing has been identified other than the house isn't to people's personal taste. This has been for the last 4-5 months. There has been nothing concentrate/substantive fed back to us. 

However, as of 2-3 weeks ago the estate agent has now decided in their own words to be brutally honest with us and said the following is the work that needs doing: 

New internal doors throughout the interior of the property (7 in total)  
New carpets (stairs, landing, and all three bedrooms) 
New electric shower
A further deep clean

With the help of the forum  and a visit to the house ourselves, we have also identified that the following needs to be done: 
New bathroom mirror in the upstairs bathroom 
New tap for the sink in the upstairs bathroom 
New radiator in the hallway/entry way 
New double glazed window in one of the bedrooms as there seems to be condensation between the two panes ( we have previously used a company who can replace the panes rather than the whole window/window frame) 

In the last week however, the estate agent has advised the following further work is needed if we want to sell the property: 
The upstairs bathroom as whole is not modern and contemporary and therefore needs to be completely redone i.e. a whole new bathroom suite and 
All woodwork (door frames, skirting boards, internal window sills  and banister) needs to be removed and replaced 

UnderOffer said:

…the price still needs to drop by £5K-£10K and we have to be willing to accept offers that are £10K-£15K less than the reduce asking price. 

So the Estate Agent is saying that the price is £25k too high? Plus you need to make the recommended changes they have suggested? Why don’t you drop the price without changes and see if that gets you any offers? 

The estate agent originally valued it at £195K and wanted to market it at that price, however, we thought that was too high so put it on for offers in excess of £180K in September. 

At the end of December we changed it to offers in the region of £179k. 

They are now telling us to drop it to £170K-£175K, which is already £20k-£25K lower than their original valuation and what they wanted to market it for, as well as telling us before dropping the price we need to replace the bathroom etc which is not going to be cheap nor is it viable. 

Even if we spend some money on the recommended/all the work they have now told us about, they want us to drop the price to £170k-£175K but accept offers of £160K-£165K, which is £35k-£30k less than what they originally wanted us to market it for and does not recoup the thousands they are telling us to spend to sell it. 

Unfortunately we need to be able to clear the mortgage that's on the house through the sale so can't really afford to market any lower than £175K; I always thought that people made offers that reflected what work they thought needed doing rather than offering the asking price if they thought money needed to be spent on the property once bought. 

daveyjp said:

I see a lot of decorating and work involved in removing the laminate floor in the main living room to lay carpet. Jobs I wouldn't want to do before moving in,

The laminate floor in the living room hasn't come up as an issue, but if it is an issue I don't know how we can afford to rip it out, level it and replace with carpet. Most houses in the area have laminate in the living room and I didn't think it was off putting; in fact it's easier to keep clean than carpet but if you are saying that we can't sell unless we rip it up, level it and put in carpet in there I think I might just crawl up in a corner and cry. It's already proving too much. 

littlemissbliss said:

First ask yourself, do you really believe its with that price? As in would you buy it? I am a buyer so I can defiantly give your a buyers prospective. I see so many properties that are asking way to much, all be it what you are asking for seems quite cheap as i am looking down south. 

People just don't have any money left over to decorate, so i would suggest getting it up to scratch with neutral decore then putting the price up a little. If someone can just move in and not need to do anything, then they will pay it. But if you have rooms decorates to a specific taste (like pink or orange walls), they wont do it. Deep clean I would agree with, make sure all clutter is out so maybe get some storage, make sure its like a show room. Mortgages are expensive so people want to feel excited about their new home 

Update just seen the picture - I would just change the flooring

People who have viewed the house with neutral walls have allegedly told the estate agent it needs too much work because it's not to their own personal taste even though we thought it was very much a blank canvas? As above I don't know how we can afford to rip up the laminate flooring downstairs (much of which was new -in the kitchen, downstairs WC, utility cupborad and porch), level it and put in carpet.  I did think people made offers that would reflect any work that needs doing. 

cymruchris

Bailey1980 said:

BobT36 said:

PropertyLog addin for Chrome browsers. 

@OP, could you list what they said needed doing? And yup as before if you're getting viewings but not offers, then either something specific is putting them off, and/or the price. (Heavily weighted to the latter since a lower price means people are willing to overlook more issues). If you're getting viewings then at least you're not so stupidly far off as those I was mentioning in my post. 

Their feedback and the alleged feedback from potential buyers has been that it needs too much work and when we have pressed nothing has been identified other than the house isn't to people's personal taste. This has been for the last 4-5 months. There has been nothing concentrate/substantive fed back to us. 

However, as of 2-3 weeks ago the estate agent has now decided in their own words to be brutally honest with us and said the following is the work that needs doing: 

New internal doors throughout the interior of the property (7 in total)  
New carpets (stairs, landing, and all three bedrooms) 
New electric shower
A further deep clean

With the help of the forum  and a visit to the house ourselves, we have also identified that the following needs to be done: 
New bathroom mirror in the upstairs bathroom 
New tap for the sink in the upstairs bathroom 
New radiator in the hallway/entry way 
New double glazed window in one of the bedrooms as there seems to be condensation between the two panes ( we have previously used a company who can replace the panes rather than the whole window/window frame) 

In the last week however, the estate agent has advised the following further work is needed if we want to sell the property: 
The upstairs bathroom as whole is not modern and contemporary and therefore needs to be completely redone i.e. a whole new bathroom suite and 
All woodwork (door frames, skirting boards, internal window sills  and banister) needs to be removed and replaced 

UnderOffer said:

…the price still needs to drop by £5K-£10K and we have to be willing to accept offers that are £10K-£15K less than the reduce asking price. 

So the Estate Agent is saying that the price is £25k too high? Plus you need to make the recommended changes they have suggested? Why don’t you drop the price without changes and see if that gets you any offers? 

The estate agent originally valued it at £195K and wanted to market it at that price, however, we thought that was too high so put it on for offers in excess of £180K in September. 

At the end of December we changed it to offers in the region of £179k. 

They are now telling us to drop it to £170K-£175K, which is already £20k-£25K lower than their original valuation and what they wanted to market it for, as well as telling us before dropping the price we need to replace the bathroom etc which is not going to be cheap nor is it viable. 

Even if we spend some money on the recommended/all the work they have now told us about, they want us to drop the price to £170k-£175K but accept offers of £160K-£165K, which is £35k-£30k less than what they originally wanted us to market it for and does not recoup the thousands they are telling us to spend to sell it. 

Unfortunately we need to be able to clear the mortgage that's on the house through the sale so can't really afford to market any lower than £175K; I always thought that people made offers that reflected what work they thought needed doing rather than offering the asking price if they thought money needed to be spent on the property once bought. 

daveyjp said:

I see a lot of decorating and work involved in removing the laminate floor in the main living room to lay carpet. Jobs I wouldn't want to do before moving in,

The laminate floor in the living room hasn't come up as an issue, but if it is an issue I don't know how we can afford to rip it out, level it and replace with carpet. Most houses in the area have laminate in the living room and I didn't think it was off putting; in fact it's easier to keep clean than carpet but if you are saying that we can't sell unless we rip it up, level it and put in carpet in there I think I might just crawl up in a corner and cry. It's already proving too much. 

littlemissbliss said:

First ask yourself, do you really believe its with that price? As in would you buy it? I am a buyer so I can defiantly give your a buyers prospective. I see so many properties that are asking way to much, all be it what you are asking for seems quite cheap as i am looking down south. 

People just don't have any money left over to decorate, so i would suggest getting it up to scratch with neutral decore then putting the price up a little. If someone can just move in and not need to do anything, then they will pay it. But if you have rooms decorates to a specific taste (like pink or orange walls), they wont do it. Deep clean I would agree with, make sure all clutter is out so maybe get some storage, make sure its like a show room. Mortgages are expensive so people want to feel excited about their new home 

Update just seen the picture - I would just change the flooring

People who have viewed the house with neutral walls have allegedly told the estate agent it needs too much work because it's not to their own personal taste even though we thought it was very much a blank canvas? As above I don't know how we can afford to rip up the laminate flooring downstairs (much of which was new -in the kitchen, downstairs WC, utility cupborad and porch), level it and put in carpet.  I did think people made offers that would reflect any work that needs doing. 

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

Bailey1980

cymruchris said:

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

We are going to do a few tweaks before the new Estate Agent takes over (bathroom mirror, bathroom tap, hallway radiator, new double glazed window) but it is likely to be in the next 2 weeks or so as these tweaks are being done next week. 

The new estate agent has confirmed that £175K-£179K is in keeping with the market and the state of the house and those tweaks mentioned above would push it closer to the £179K mark; they are also going to market it for rent at the same time so we can see what bites and potentially rent it out to cover the mortgage and over bills on it, though sale is still our preferred priority. 

They will take new pictures and do a new listing. 

3 viewings since the thread but no offers and no feedback. 

cymruchris

Bailey1980 said:

cymruchris said:

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

We are going to do a few tweaks before the new Estate Agent takes over (bathroom mirror, bathroom tap, hallway radiator, new double glazed window) but it is likely to be in the next 2 weeks or so as these tweaks are being done next week. 

The new estate agent has confirmed that £175K-£179K is in keeping with the market and the state of the house and those tweaks mentioned above would push it closer to the £179K mark; they are also going to market it for rent at the same time so we can see what bites and potentially rent it out to cover the mortgage and over bills on it, though sale is still our preferred priority. 

They will take new pictures and do a new listing. 

3 viewings since the thread but no offers and no feedback. 

Fingers crossed you'll have better luck with the new agents. 

One thing I've noticed today is the inability to be able to reach some agents. Have you 'mystery shopped' your existing agents through a friend? Just a call in with a few questions on the house to see how they handle it? One agent I've been trying to reach all day has 3 properties I like listed - I called at midday with no answer, again at 1pm and this time left a message with a name and number 'as my call was important to them', and I still haven't heard back from them.

I've also experienced varying levels of knowledge too - does it have this - does it have that - some agents were able to instantly say 'yes' or 'no' or 'that's been fixed' etc. Others spent several minutes rustling through things and couldn't answer (the same questions on a different property) - and one said 'it's my first week and I don't know anything yet, and there's nobody else here'.

So I'm learning that there are good, bad and totally useless estate agents out there. It might be worth testing yours to make sure they're on the ball.