Is it a concern that a property has been on the market for 6 months and it's hasn't sold?

SneakySpectator

I know absolutely nothing about the home buying / selling process but there's a really nice looking property in my area. It's listed for £120,000 and other similar properties in the area have recently sold for between £120,000 and £135,000. 

However this one in particular was listed 6 months ago and it's still there, unlike Zoopla, Rightmove doesn't seem to show if the price has been reduced recently or not so I'm thinking maybe it was listed higher and has recently been reduced to £120,000. 

I'm thinking because of how long it's been listed perhaps there's an issue that's putting buyers off? Or maybe it was listed high for a long time and has only recently been reduced.

Either way I'm going to speak to the estate agent tomorrow and find out more but they could just lie and say yeah it was listed for £135,000 but now it's £120,000 to try and induce a sale or something? 

When I go and see it if the property genuinely looks ok I'll put in an offer for slightly below the ask price, on the condition of a good report from the surveyor etc. 

RHemmings

If you add the PatMa browser extension to Chrome (or other browsers?) then it may show you the price history for the property. This will at least let you know what its' price history is. It may (the data isn't perfect) show you if the property has been made 'Unavailable' and then returned to the market several times, suggesting accepted offers that have fallen through. 

You can ask the estate agent what the reason for any fallen-through sales were. But, in my experience, this is completely useless. Unless every single failed sale that I've ever asked about was because 'the buyer couldn't get a mortgage' and that there were no other problems. Which personally I don't believe. 

SneakySpectator

RHemmings said:

If you add the PatMa browser extension to Chrome (or other browsers?) then it may show you the price history for the property. This will at least let you know what its' price history is. It may (the data isn't perfect) show you if the property has been made 'Unavailable' and then returned to the market several times, suggesting accepted offers that have fallen through. 

You can ask the estate agent what the reason for any fallen-through sales were. But, in my experience, this is completely useless. Unless every single failed sale that I've ever asked about was because 'the buyer couldn't get a mortgage' and that there were no other problems. Which personally I don't believe. 

Really nice extension, here's what it shows



So it doesn't seem to have been reduced to relisted or anything right? 

Herzlos

ReadySteadyPop will be over soon to tell you, based on nothing, that it's 50% overpriced and recommend some app. 

The reality is that it can easily take 6+ months to sell a house particularly in England. The price not dropping presumably means the seller isn't desperate to sell. 

Newbie_John

6 months is nothing really.

Even if it was there 1-2 years it could not mean much as it could be just the seller isn't rushing and wants to sell at specific price.

Do your checks thoroughly, visit the house twice at least, do home buyer report..

mlz1413

I rang an estate agent about a house being marketed and was told it was sold.
But the same house kept appearing on Rightmove and never went to Sold STC so i rang again,  apparently the owner wasn't prepared to remove it from the listing or update the status until exchange of contracts.... but wasn't allowing viewing whilst the sale was going through 🤷‍♀️   !!

Another house for sale at the same time refused to let anyone view who hadn't exchanged contracts. After a year it was removed from the market as they had so few views!!

People are weird!!

Just ring the agent and ask. 

Hoenir

View the property personally. 

ReadySteadyPop

SneakySpectator said:

I know absolutely nothing about the home buying / selling process but there's a really nice looking property in my area. It's listed for £120,000 and other similar properties in the area have recently sold for between £120,000 and £135,000. 

However this one in particular was listed 6 months ago and it's still there, unlike Zoopla, Rightmove doesn't seem to show if the price has been reduced recently or not so I'm thinking maybe it was listed higher and has recently been reduced to £120,000. 

I'm thinking because of how long it's been listed perhaps there's an issue that's putting buyers off? Or maybe it was listed high for a long time and has only recently been reduced.

Either way I'm going to speak to the estate agent tomorrow and find out more but they could just lie and say yeah it was listed for £135,000 but now it's £120,000 to try and induce a sale or something? 

When I go and see it if the property genuinely looks ok I'll put in an offer for slightly below the ask price, on the condition of a good report from the surveyor etc. 

Demand for houses has dropped a lot, 6 months and longer is not unusual now.

ReadySteadyPop

Newbie_John said:

6 months is nothing really.

Even if it was there 1-2 years it could not mean much as it could be just the seller isn't rushing and wants to sell at specific price.

Do your checks thoroughly, visit the house twice at least, do home buyer report..

Most serious sellers don`t want to wait two or three years to sell a house, sellers who sit at a price they are very unlikely to ever get are just time wasters.

eddddy

mlz1413 said:

I rang an estate agent about a house being marketed and was told it was sold.
But the same house kept appearing on Rightmove and never went to Sold STC so i rang again,  apparently the owner wasn't prepared to remove it from the listing or update the status until exchange of contracts.... but wasn't allowing viewing whilst the sale was going through 🤷‍♀️   !!

Not relevant to the OP's question, but that sounds like it could have been a 'disagreement' between the seller and estate agent.

The seller wanted the property advertised in the hope that a 'gazumper' would come along and offer more.

But estate agents don't like 'gazumping' because it delays the sale, and delays them getting their commission. So they were 'quietly' refusing to do any more viewings.

RHemmings

SneakySpectator said:

RHemmings said:

If you add the PatMa browser extension to Chrome (or other browsers?) then it may show you the price history for the property. This will at least let you know what its' price history is. It may (the data isn't perfect) show you if the property has been made 'Unavailable' and then returned to the market several times, suggesting accepted offers that have fallen through. 

You can ask the estate agent what the reason for any fallen-through sales were. But, in my experience, this is completely useless. Unless every single failed sale that I've ever asked about was because 'the buyer couldn't get a mortgage' and that there were no other problems. Which personally I don't believe. 

Really nice extension, here's what it shows



So it doesn't seem to have been reduced to relisted or anything right? 

According to the data PatMa has, the property has been on since the 1 Feb and there have been no reductions. Nor has it been marked unavailable (most likely 'sold subject to contract') and then put back on the market. 

However, PatMa relies on people with the extension visiting the listing. It seems unlikely given the time on the market, but it is *possible* that some changes were missed because nobody with the extension visited. But, we know that the price was £120,000 in early Feb and it still is now.