Selling a house for the first time - struggling!

Anemone11

We bought our first home in 2022, at peak pandemic price, when properties were selling like hot cakes. We had been renting for 7 years before, and we bought into the idea that we needed to get on the property ladder sooner rather than later. We bought a 2-bedroom semi, new build, with a surprisingly large, SE facing garden. We added lots of nice, high spec things to the house, like understairs storage, shutters, blinds, etc. and landscaped the garden, with a cottage-style planting and trees. The plants alone cost over £2,000, but we did it because we love gardening and thought this would make the property more appealing when we come to sell.

3 years on, we’re looking to upsize and move to a village. We are really struggling to sell, which came as a shock. We had 5 estate agents value our house, we went with the one who has the best reputation locally and we listed at the lowest of the 5 valuation prices. This was in mid-November 2025. 3 months on, we had 14 viewings and no offers. We reduced the asking price by £15,000 already, 1 month in, as we weren’t getting any viewings and we found a house we really wanted. The feedback from viewings is consistently that our house is immaculate, but we’ve still not had a single offer.

It’s a nice area but, just like on any new build site, there are social housing properties around, with one messy neighbour who has bags of rubbish on their drive. Is this why we’re not getting an offer?

There are 2 other houses up for sale on the same site, at higher prices and not in immaculate condition, and those have not sold either.

I would be curious to find out if anybody else is struggling to sell as well, or is it just our area that’s low demand at the moment?

Should we reduce the price again? We would then be priced £20,000 lower than comparables which seems bonkers!

Any advice or insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

Anemone11

I forgot to add: the current asking price is £10,000 lower than we paid in 2022.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655701/selling-a-house-for-the-first-time-struggling

The Christmas period is a slow time for selling properties so that wouldn’t have helped.

What’s the estate agent advising? You’re getting viewings but no offers so either you’re only getting sticky beaks through the door or there are similarly priced properties that are offering better value that buyers are choosing instead.

If you’re feeling brave you could post a link to the listing here.

jackieblack

I’ve always been told that very little sells between end of October and mid February. Unfortunately you listed your home at the slowest time of the year, things usually start picking up around now. Feb to early summer is the peak time for house sales.

Unfortunately, your listing now shows that your home has been for sale for 3 months already and so anyone viewing will be looking to get a reduction in the price.

It may be worth considering having an ‘open house’, if your agent does these, it will draw attention to the home and can create a sense of competition amongst potential buyers.

Also, bear in mind that the ‘nice’ things you’ve added might not be to the taste of someone looking to buy and they’re factoring in the cost of removal/replacing.

GrubbyGirl_2

Unfortunately that's the market at the moment and it's just a matter of waiting for he right buyer. I had my house on the market for a year in 2019 with just 2 viewings and I took it off the market in December 2029. Then came covid and the market went bonkers. I relisted with a new agent and it sold within a week and I then struggled to find a new house so ended up having to go into rented for a few months.

There is a house close to me that is gorgeous. Seafront location with an amazing sea view, beautiful inside and even has a heated indoor swimming pool. It was priced the same as similar houses on the same road (actually not so good in my opinion) that sold over the last few years. He's reduced the price by £250k as they are keen to sell. When I spoke to him the other day he told me that they haven't had a single viewing in 6 months.

Your only experience of selling was during the Covid boom which was completely artificial. The market at the moment is far more normal. Don't keep lowering the price of your house because that will make people suspicious that there is something wrong with it and you're desperate to sell. To be honest I'd be tempted to take it off the market for a while and just watch what's happening and as soon as things start moving put it back on the market

Bigphil1474

There's no point reducing the price by 10 or 15k. If people wanted it at that price, they'd just offer that price. Even if you reduce it, the offers will just be lower proportionally. As others have said, you just need to wait for the market to pick up.

p00hsticks

If you’re feeling brave you could post a link to the listing here.

I think that's now against forum rules as it potentially identifies the poster.

RelievedSheff

It could just be a slow market in your area.

We listed our 2019 "new build" mid November and were SSTC the week before Christmas, but we are in a very popular area and there was nothing like it on the market for sale at the time.

I wouldn't say we had loads of viewings, sounds like you have had more, but 75% of those that did view offered. Although that said we did have some silly low offers in those.

I wouldn't lower your price any further. We have noticed in the last couple of weeks that some of the houses that have been sat on the market a little while have now come SSTC, so early signs perhaps that people are looking to buy again.

Just try to be patient, although I know that is easier said than done.

Exodi

It's always down to price, and to a lesser degree, time.

There's also the problem of what you might consider as the 'new build premium', much like a new car (though thankfully the depreciation isn't as heavy!). I believe it's common for new builds to dip 5-10% after purchase.

It's logical also. Why would someone pay the same as you paid to buy a 'nearly-new-build' from you with the specs chosen for them, when they could pay the same price to get their own brand new bespoke new build?

Coupled with this, you had bought at the top of the market - generally there has been no house price growth between 2022-2025 (in reality a reduction and recovery, depending on where you live).

Unfortunately you bought during a sellers market, and are now selling during a buyers market.

There are countless properties stagnating around my area dropping £10k off their asking price every month, and still sitting unsold 6-12 months on.

Then there's expectations because most do not recommend performing works in the expectation that it will increase house value, as this rarely converts 1:1. For example, while you beautifully landscaped the garden, the next owner may well place no value on it and think "I'll rip all that out and slap a patio down with a hot tub, jobs a gooden".

Anemone11

3 years on, we’re looking to upsize and move to a village. We are really struggling to sell, which came as a shock. We had 5 estate agents value our house, we went with the one who has the best reputation locally and we listed at the lowest of the 5 valuation prices. This was in mid-November 2025. 3 months on, we had 14 viewings and no offers. We reduced the asking price by £15,000 already, 1 month in, as we weren’t getting any viewings and we found a house we really wanted. The feedback from viewings is consistently that our house is immaculate, but we’ve still not had a single offer.

It’s a nice area but, just like on any new build site, there are social housing properties around, with one messy neighbour who has bags of rubbish on their drive. Is this why we’re not getting an offer?

There are 2 other houses up for sale on the same site, at higher prices and not in immaculate condition, and those have not sold either.

Sorry to sound like a negative nancy but it's not a surprise, nor that your current asking price is slightly less than you paid in 2022. At the end of 2022, someone might be paying ~£1k a month for a £275k mortgage at a 2% interest rate, now they might be paying 30%+ more than that.

The good news is, they say no viewings + no offers = way too high, viewings + no offers = slightly too high, viewings + offers = just right (or maybe even too cheap!).

Since you're getting viewings, potential buyers are at least comfortable enough with the price to consider viewing the house. I suspect you may soon find an offer, either by waiting or reducing a little bit more.

Anemone11

Should we reduce the price again? We would then be priced £20,000 lower than comparables which seems bonkers!

I don't see what's bonkers? They're not sold either. Following that logic, the best decision would be having the highest price out of the comparables.

Positioning your house slightly cheaper than comparables I personally don't see as outrageous and actually a natural part of the sales strategy, else become one of the houses on my road, sitting here unsold 6-12 months on.

I'd also consider the wider picture - given that the market is difficult for sellers at the moment, presumably you'll realise a good reduction on your onward purchase to - that's to say have you really lost anything if you have to reduce your house by another £10k to sell it, but you can negotiate an extra £10k off the house you wanted to buy?

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81887744#Comment_81887744

I half agree and half disagree. The problem is, many buyers are put off making offers with too high of a discount (e.g. 10% or more).

For example, if the OP's house is £250k, some may feel it would be rude to offer £225k, whereas if it was reduced to £235k, not so much.

We see people saying as much on 'how much to offer' threads on this board.

I think the advice (as with others) of 'don't reduce price, just wait' is only OK if the OP is happy to wait months or years for the right offer or for the property market to change. The good bit is the OP is at least getting some viewings, which suggests they're not a million miles off.

Albermarle

The housing market is quite regionalised.

It seems at the moment, the higher price regions, like London and the South East are a bit dead . Whilst the market is better in the North and Midlands where houses are more affordable, as the house price to salary ratio is less .