Take property off market?

rowan222

Our property has been on the market for a year now. Two sales fell through for different reasons and viewings pretty much ground to a halt over summer. The main reason is that whilst most viewers love the house its "too much work to update". Our EA thinks we should stick with the current asking price and wait for the right person to come along. That kinda make sense as both previous offers were close to asking price/full asking price.

What we're wondering is if the fact its been on the market for a year is a turn off for viewers? If it were me I'd wonder why? and maybe ask more questions but it wouldnt make me less inclined to view a property if it interested me. But i dont know how other people think. I guess I'm weighing up the advantages of a fresh listing  vs chance someone will come along before/after Christmas.

Any thoughts? 

El_Torro

Somebody asked a similar question yesterday. Different situation but essentially the same question: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81733177

As I said in the other thread I would leave it on the market if selling is what you want to do. Tough to know what the right move is though.

rowan222

El_Torro said:

Somebody asked a similar question yesterday. Different situation but essentially the same question: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81733177

As I said in the other thread I would leave it on the market if selling is what you want to do. Tough to know what the right move is though.

Ah thank you. Yes we are surprised we havnt got more "cheeky offers". We only had one which we rejected. 

edwink

rowan222 said:

Our property has been on the market for a year now. Two sales fell through for different reasons and viewings pretty much ground to a halt over summer. The main reason is that whilst most viewers love the house its "too much work to update". Our EA thinks we should stick with the current asking price and wait for the right person to come along. That kinda make sense as both previous offers were close to asking price/full asking price.

What we're wondering is if the fact its been on the market for a year is a turn off for viewers? If it were me I'd wonder why? and maybe ask more questions but it wouldnt make me less inclined to view a property if it interested me. But i dont know how other people think. I guess I'm weighing up the advantages of a fresh listing  vs chance someone will come along before/after Christmas.

Any thoughts? 

We purchased our house after it had been on the market for 18mths. We were looking to buy very near to where we are now but as we couldn't find what we wanted we expanded our search area and this house stood out for us.  It needed some work doing to it which we have now done and we have made it as we like it.  We saw some houses that were really nicely decorated and more modern than this house when we were house hunting but they just were not for us and we would have needed to change some things and decorate in the style/colour that we preferred.  Buying this house has allowed us to put our own stamp on it and as it was not newly decorated we believe that this was reflected in the price we paid.

HTH

Edwink

singhini

i have to agree with El_Torro 
Keep it on the market. Since you’re selling, it should stay listed. If someone asks why it’s been up for a while, just say you’ve had some offers but aren’t in a hurry to sell (or it had sold but the chain fell though). 

Anyone seriously looking to move to your area will likely already know it’s been listed for some time. It’s the new buyers you want to attract, which is why I think it should stay on the market.

Try asking the estate agent what can be done to make the listing appear as new (is it simply taking it off the market for say a week and relisting it........or  is it something like just uploading new photos). i would try to find out. 

rowan222

edwink said:

rowan222 said:

Our property has been on the market for a year now. Two sales fell through for different reasons and viewings pretty much ground to a halt over summer. The main reason is that whilst most viewers love the house its "too much work to update". Our EA thinks we should stick with the current asking price and wait for the right person to come along. That kinda make sense as both previous offers were close to asking price/full asking price.

What we're wondering is if the fact its been on the market for a year is a turn off for viewers? If it were me I'd wonder why? and maybe ask more questions but it wouldnt make me less inclined to view a property if it interested me. But i dont know how other people think. I guess I'm weighing up the advantages of a fresh listing  vs chance someone will come along before/after Christmas.

Any thoughts? 

We purchased our house after it had been on the market for 18mths. We were looking to buy very near to where we are now but as we couldn't find what we wanted we expanded our search area and this house stood out for us.  It needed some work doing to it which we have now done and we have made it as we like it.  We saw some houses that were really nicely decorated and more modern than this house when we were house hunting but they just were not for us and we would have needed to change some things and decorate in the style/colour that we preferred.  Buying this house has allowed us to put our own stamp on it and as it was not newly decorated we believe that this was reflected in the price we paid.

HTH

Edwink

Thanks! Thats where we are at. It does need some updating so is priced down somewhat from others in the are of similar size. We are just waiting for someone who is up for a project to come along.  Hopefully that will be before spring as we are going nuts being stuck here.

Luxton28

I'm sorry to hear that you have had two sales fall through. Not what anyone wants.

It is a buyers market at the moment so people are being very choosy and taking their time. With the impending budget looming some might be sitting tight and waiting to see what that will entail. That's not to say you shouldn't carry on trying to sell if you are motivated.

It's good to listen to your EA, but take note if they are doing enough to get the interest.  
Like a previous commenter said, freshen the pictures and look to see if you can edit the listing that sounds more appealing. From experience one EA said to me the default picture that you use on Rightmove/Zoopla when you scroll through properties can make all the difference to buyers. First impressions and all that!
Maybe you could suggest an open day to the EA if you haven't already?

On the flip side there would be no harm in taking it off the market and having a break. November and December can be quieter months with people focusing on Christmas. You could re-list in the New-Year or early Spring with a fresh approach and maybe a new EA with a different approach. Good Luck.

Dustyevsky

There is often a mismatch between how an owner thinks about the cost and difficulty of updating their house and the costings and effort potential buyers see when they view.

As Luxton28 has pointed out, at present it's a buyers' market, and in the face of economic uncertainty, people are less willing to take on properties that require work and expenditure. Unless a property has an obviously unique selling point, it is likely to be passed-over unless the price is keen.

As a vendor, you have either to sit tight for a buyer who sees potential in your property others have missed, or you reduce the price to provide the necessary incentive. Those are the two options.

In a similar stagnant market situation in autumn 2008, we decided the spring of 2009 wasn't going to bring a wondrous new flock of buyers, dropped our price substantially, and sold before Christmas. It proved to be a good move, as the market continued to fall for another year or so, and it took until 2013 for prices to return to the level we'd begun selling at.

I'm not predicting where the property market will go next, simply pointing out that you take a risk whatever you do, unless you're happy to stay put. I know what I'd do, but I'm not you! 

Bigphil1474

Did either of your previous buyers have a survey done and have you seen a copy? We had a buyer pull out after their survey. We got hold of a copy via the EA and spent a few £k dealing with some of the issues it outlined. Second time round, the buyer had their own survey done again and we gave them a copy of the first survey, plus the damp survey we'd had done, plus the paperwork for the work we'd had done to deal with the damp issues and some other bits. House sold. Cost us about £4k in total I reckon, but we sold at the same price as the first buyer, which likely saved us having to drop the price.

Prior to going on the market, I'd also spent about a year (and maybe another £1k) fixing the house up a bit. Nothing major, just adding some wallpaper in places , sprucing up the paint, had the kitchen floor recovered etc. Even repainted all the kitchen doors which brought the 30+ year old kitchen back to life. Made a big difference IMO. Depends what needs updating to have people say it's too much.

ReadySteadyPop

rowan222 said:

edwink said:

rowan222 said:

Our property has been on the market for a year now. Two sales fell through for different reasons and viewings pretty much ground to a halt over summer. The main reason is that whilst most viewers love the house its "too much work to update". Our EA thinks we should stick with the current asking price and wait for the right person to come along. That kinda make sense as both previous offers were close to asking price/full asking price.

What we're wondering is if the fact its been on the market for a year is a turn off for viewers? If it were me I'd wonder why? and maybe ask more questions but it wouldnt make me less inclined to view a property if it interested me. But i dont know how other people think. I guess I'm weighing up the advantages of a fresh listing  vs chance someone will come along before/after Christmas.

Any thoughts? 

We purchased our house after it had been on the market for 18mths. We were looking to buy very near to where we are now but as we couldn't find what we wanted we expanded our search area and this house stood out for us.  It needed some work doing to it which we have now done and we have made it as we like it.  We saw some houses that were really nicely decorated and more modern than this house when we were house hunting but they just were not for us and we would have needed to change some things and decorate in the style/colour that we preferred.  Buying this house has allowed us to put our own stamp on it and as it was not newly decorated we believe that this was reflected in the price we paid.

HTH

Edwink

Thanks! Thats where we are at. It does need some updating so is priced down somewhat from others in the are of similar size. We are just waiting for someone who is up for a project to come along.  Hopefully that will be before spring as we are going nuts being stuck here.

Are other properties in the area selling fast?

ReadySteadyPop

Dustyevsky said:

There is often a mismatch between how an owner thinks about the cost and difficulty of updating their house and the costings and effort potential buyers see when they view.

As Luxton28 has pointed out, at present it's a buyers' market, and in the face of economic uncertainty, people are less willing to take on properties that require work and expenditure. Unless a property has an obviously unique selling point, it is likely to be passed-over unless the price is keen.

As a vendor, you have either to sit tight for a buyer who sees potential in your property others have missed, or you reduce the price to provide the necessary incentive. Those are the two options.

In a similar stagnant market situation in autumn 2008, we decided the spring of 2009 wasn't going to bring a wondrous new flock of buyers, dropped our price substantially, and sold before Christmas. It proved to be a good move, as the market continued to fall for another year or so, and it took until 2013 for prices to return to the level we'd begun selling at.

I'm not predicting where the property market will go next, simply pointing out that you take a risk whatever you do, unless you're happy to stay put. I know what I'd do, but I'm not you! 

Unfortunately that happened due to the market being propped up by artificially low interest rates, and is part of the reason we are in the economic mess we are in now.