Getting viewings but not as many offers as comparable recent sale - advice?

annetheman

Hi all,

Following the board advice which is not to include links to your own online property listing which may reveal my address - I've added photos instead and describe the listing.

I am trying to sell at the same-ish price (£300 more) as a neighbour did in August 2023. Both flats have 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, SE-facing balcony, allocated parking, approx 20 mins walk from nearest station. Fairly low service charge and no ground rent, long leases, NHBC warranties etc.

The neighbour got 3 offers at asking price from 10 viewings over 3 weeks. Photos of their listing are below:

https://ibb.co/TwqbhH6

https://ibb.co/Vt9Ycf5

https://ibb.co/5rXs4QR

https://ibb.co/ZfdDjWW

https://ibb.co/9hTZJdh

https://ibb.co/sH7N96D

https://ibb.co/5x17Bk3

https://ibb.co/stBkB7J

https://ibb.co/4ddTP2B

https://ibb.co/3N1B4vc

https://ibb.co/jzdWSM2

I have had 9 viewings (12 by EOD tomorrow) over 2 weeks and only 1 offer which is TBC. Photos of my listing here:

https://ibb.co/ryv44Tr

https://ibb.co/XFpk3PZ

https://ibb.co/YXvJ76s

https://ibb.co/jbgRN4J

https://ibb.co/WvR1hFF

https://ibb.co/WkMrTvc

https://ibb.co/F8v0tKW

https://ibb.co/kXMSWmT

https://ibb.co/HYtZZpw

https://ibb.co/TgQy3P3

I'm starting to feel deflated as I am realising I may have been overconfident based on the neighbour's success. I have an onward house with offer accepted so I'm feeling a bit panicky and wondering what I can do.

Comforting myself that perhaps it's due to the recently-announced recession, job uncertainty and people being cautious right now? But really appreciate objective opinions. Is there anything I should change?

Thanks for any thoughts!

lika_86

There are things I'd tweak - a whole rack of shoes in the bedroom suggests there is nowhere else they can go, for example - but ultimately you've had people through the door on a similar level and an offer, so it sounds like you aren't doing badly in terms of getting people in, you just need to accept that it comes down a lot to whether you get people in whose boxes it ticks.

Albermarle

Comforting myself that perhaps it's due to the recently-announced recession, job uncertainty and people being cautious right now?

The recession is really just a technical issue, based on fractions of a percent movement in the economy, that often get revised upwards. The job market is rather solid, especially compared to times in the past. More likely.

Cost of living affecting peoples budgets

Increased mortgage rates.

It is not Spring until Thursday and the weather is rather grey.

annetheman

Albermarle said:

Comforting myself that perhaps it's due to the recently-announced recession, job uncertainty and people being cautious right now?

The recession is really just a technical issue, based on fractions of a percent movement in the economy, that often get revised upwards. The job market is rather solid, especially compared to times in the past. More likely.

Cost of living affecting peoples budgets

Increased mortgage rates.

It is not Spring until Thursday and the weather is rather grey.

Thanks, that is very true about the cost of living (cost of greed) and increased mortgage rates, I didn't mention that but definitely a consideration I had myself as a buyer now. 

I didn't think too much about the weather but you raise a good point - the day the viewer whose TBC offer came, it was sunny and I had the double doors open. The neighbour sold in summer and we are in a woodland area so it really does look lush, green and gorgeous then - not so much now!

I hope maybe if the weather picks up and I can do that again (looking grim tomorrow when my last viewings booked are...) in a few weeks, that might help.

RHemmings

@annetheman - if you have posted the photos because you want to keep your listing private, please be aware that people can still find your listing. If you want privacy, I suggest that you edit your post and use another method. 

Your property is being sold full price, while your neighbour is selling shared ownership. These are very different ways of buying a house, and I would expect the markets for these to be different. I don't know much about shared ownership, so I don't know if it's easy to buy such a property outright pro-rata or something like that. 

Your neighbour's house is dressed quite normally, and even though I guess they are the same size looks more roomy than yours. You have given your home more personality. This wouldn't affect me, but I don't know if it would affect others. You haven't, that I noticed, painted anything odd colours and don't have any psychedelic carpets. So, nothing that would remain. The blocky table is interesting. 

annetheman

RHemmings said:

@annetheman - if you have posted the photos because you want to keep your listing private, please be aware that people can still find your listing. If you want privacy, I suggest that you use another method. 

Thanks - what is another method, could you suggest? I'll try that. Accepting a dedicated OSINTer could still find it! The links will expire in a few days but will be helpful to edit with any suggested

RHemmings

annetheman said:

RHemmings said:

@annetheman - if you have posted the photos because you want to keep your listing private, please be aware that people can still find your listing. If you want privacy, I suggest that you use another method. 

Thanks - what is another method, could you suggest? I'll try that. Accepting a dedicated OSINTer could still find it! The links will expire in a few days but will be helpful to edit with any suggested

I'm not sure that you will get as good feedback if you just describe your property generally in text. I would suggest biting the bullet and posting the RM links. Or, asking if some people will volunteer to look at the links and give feedback, and then you can PM them to any volunteer. It's not uncommon for people to suggest 'send me the link' in other threads. 

I once posted cropped photos of a property I was interested in, and five seconds later people had found it.  

annetheman

RHemmings said:

annetheman said:

RHemmings said:

@annetheman - if you have posted the photos because you want to keep your listing private, please be aware that people can still find your listing. If you want privacy, I suggest that you use another method. 

Thanks - what is another method, could you suggest? I'll try that. Accepting a dedicated OSINTer could still find it! The links will expire in a few days but will be helpful to edit with any suggested

I'm not sure that you will get as good feedback if you just describe your property generally in text. I would suggest biting the bullet and posting the RM links. Or, asking if some people will volunteer to look at the links and give feedback, and then you can PM them to any volunteer. It's not uncommon for people to suggest 'send me the link' in other threads. 

I once posted cropped photos of a property I was interested in, and five seconds later people had found it.  

Ahhhh okay, sorry I thought you meant another hosting method or some other way. I won't post the links against the board advice. I am very grateful for any little feedback based on what I've shared, totally accept it will be limited due to the method and don't expect detail!

annetheman

lika_86 said:

There are things I'd tweak - a whole rack of shoes in the bedroom suggests there is nowhere else they can go, for example - but ultimately you've had people through the door on a similar level and an offer, so it sounds like you aren't doing badly in terms of getting people in, you just need to accept that it comes down a lot to whether you get people in whose boxes it ticks.

Thanks a lot, I didn't think of this! I actually don't have anywhere else to put them! There is a big built-in wardrobe but it's absolutely packed with clothes I'll have a think about what I can do with the shoe rack...

As far as I can tell from the feedback from the EA, most people are saying it is nice but a few have said they don't like the area (too far from station, too far from sister and too far out are a few pieces of feedback); just not sure how this didn't seem to affect the other neighbours getting more offers. Sigh...

FlyMeSomewhere79

Try not to over think it, some people get lucky and sell quicker than most but for most people it does take time. The market is coming out of some tough times thanks to interest hikes last year, I put my house up for sale in June and it took til Halloween to get an offer! Your home looks really nice so don't worry too much as it is still early days.

FlyMeSomewhere79

Another thing also is that the market really slowing down last year meant that lots of properties went on the market but very few were selling - I had a few viewers that had weeks worth of viewings lined up because there was so much choice available which was a bit soul destroying and there may still be a surplus of available properties now making a bit more of a waiting game to sell.