Need Advice - Sellers With Multiple Sale Attempts

adamjoanahome2

I’m after some advice. My wife and I are about to put an offer down on a property we really like. But we are hesitating after looking at the listing history on Zoopla. 

This is the 4th time the same owners have tried to sell this property on Zoopla and Rightmove since 2016 and they still haven’t sold it. The first listing was in 2016, second in 2021, third time in 2022 and now it’s the fourth time this year. In fact the last buyers withdrew recently so it came back on the market and we were the first viewers since then.

Should we be cautious about buying this property given this history? We have asked the sellers the reason it has been put on and taken off the market so often. Their response was bad timing but quite frankly I don’t 100% trust their word (nor the word of real estate agents).

The crime rate in the area is very low, it’s in a very good and quiet neighbourhood. Good school catchment etc. The home isn’t modernized but it seems very liveable (had two viewings already)

What might he the reason this property hasn’t been selling? Could they be hiding something?

LHW99

Have you checked the Environment agency flood maps, and the situation wrt old coal mines (if its in that area)?

incus432

I would try to find out why the last buyers withdrew.  Did they get to survey stage? Could be something structural in that that puts buyers off

It might also suggest that the vendors aren't that bothered about actually moving and might be tricky.Although why anyone would go through the hassle of marketing and keeping the place tidy etc and not selling is a mystery to me

user1977

incus432 said:

It might also suggest that the vendors aren't that bothered about actually moving and might be tricky.

I was thinking that might be more likely - maybe they are being fussy about what they buy and are testing the buyers' patience.

dinosaur66

2016 was a very hot year in the selling market

i remember it was hard to try and get a viewing spot so many people were chasing property

south east -i had 20 viewings in jan which is very slow month for selling and 3 offers

i bought a property summer of 2016 and it went to sealed bids with 6 offers

2021 /2022 similar after covid property were selling at a new ceiling price

this year is slower and a buyers market albeit rush on last 2 months to beat stamp duty increase

prices in my area on the bottom end propertys £300k mark came down 40k in 2023 and then went up 20k approx 2024 so now selling at 280k

600k propertys and above stayed the same right through for some reason

seems strange that in 2 very very hot selling markets 2016 -2021 (i am in essex-might have been different elsewhere ) that the property never sold.

Sapindus

I viewed a house a couple of weeks ago which had been on the market and then withdrawn the year before, because I remembered seeing it.  I asked the seller why this was and she said she had been ill - later expanded to having had cancer.  So this COULD just be an unlucky run of circumstances.  The seller may have had changes in employment or family circumstances, not necessarily even bad ones, that meant it made more sense to stay.

I'm currently in the process of buying a house which is back on the market after the previous buyer withdrew - according the estate agent "nothing to do with the survey, they had a change in financial position" hmm we will see, the survey is being done today. 

FlorayG

Perhaps they are really fussy about what they move to - they found a perfect house, put theirs on the market and then their purchase fell through so they took theirs off. Some people will only move if they are 100% sure of the new house. Or perhaps they know they really OUGHT to move ( perhaps one of them needs a bungalow) and they keep arguing about it and going hot and cold. In either of these scenarios you run the risk of them doing it again - but they are only possibles, they may mean it 'for real' this time

adamjoanahome2

I dig a bit deeper and got some more answers from the sellers in terms of their listing history and what happened. They seem relatively legitimate? Does anyone have any thoughts on their responses below?…

“In 2016 we went on the market as looking for special school placements out of the area. We listed two days after the Brexit vote which resulted in a leave result which unfortunately had a huge effect on the housing market. It was a very slow market and we missed the school cut off date to apply. 

 

2020

Listed as wanted to downsize as adult child left home. 

Went on in Jan 2020 and as everyone knows we couldn’t have picked a worse time due to what was to come. Lockdowns started due to covid, world and housing market closed / stood still. Then prices spiralled, as the housing market opened and closed, financial uncertainty etc so we came off the market. 

2022

Once again after covid went back on to downsize and unbelievably the mini budget happened with Liz Truss causing a recession, cost of living difficulties and financial uncertainty. Not a good time to move, housing market slow so came off again.

Today 

Looking to down size and praying for no world events to affect the housing market this time “

incus432

adamjoanahome2 said:

I dig a bit deeper and got some more answers from the sellers in terms of their listing history and what happened. They seem relatively legitimate? Does anyone have any thoughts on their responses below?…

“In 2016 we went on the market as looking for special school placements out of the area. We listed two days after the Brexit vote which resulted in a leave result which unfortunately had a huge effect on the housing market. It was a very slow market and we missed the school cut off date to apply. 

 

2020

Listed as wanted to downsize as adult child left home. 

Went on in Jan 2020 and as everyone knows we couldn’t have picked a worse time due to what was to come. Lockdowns started due to covid, world and housing market closed / stood still. Then prices spiralled, as the housing market opened and closed, financial uncertainty etc so we came off the market. 

2022

Once again after covid went back on to downsize and unbelievably the mini budget happened with Liz Truss causing a recession, cost of living difficulties and financial uncertainty. Not a good time to move, housing market slow so came off again.

Today 

Looking to down size and praying for no world events to affect the housing market this time “

Does sound plausible.  Do they have a clear idea of what they are looking for and where? Are they still looking for a special school placement or was that the child that moved out in 2020 (sounds too soon)?

user1977

You said there was a more recent attempt at marketing which did result in an accepted offer? Are they saying it never actually "sold" during the previous attempts?

EssexHebridean

I'd certainly ignore anything that occurred in 2020 as in fairness a lot of people simply stopped marketing properties at that stage - the bottom fell out of the conveyancing world! The minibudget did cause some carnage but not on quite the same scale, FTBers and sellers of properties that were particularly attractive to FTBers were the worst affected then.