Selling a house for the first time - struggling!

dinosaur66

its simply the time of year

to me it makes no difference when i view and put an offer on a property i want but it seems i am in a small minority on this, estate agent told me december /january are always dead in that part of essex

i got 1 viewing last time i put a property up for sale in early december 2014 / 2 nd viewing was in febuary i thought the listing was not listed ,kept checking but it was

weather not helping at the moment either its either raining or snowing depending on where you are whole of febuary

mid febuary i had about 14 viewings in a week and 3 offers on the bungalow and it got the asking price but the weather was fine that year

that property was a house flip so i did not care how long it took to sell but the lack of interest was a surprise to me / it was a turn key double fronted yet december and jan not a peep except for a tv license man trying to look through the windows which had shutter blinds

jimi_man

we put ours on in September 2024 and it eventually sold in October 2025, for about 10% less than we put it on for.

We had lots of viewings and a couple of lowball (non serious) offers. Eventually got an offer in Feb 2025 but the couple hadn’t sold their place so we carried on with viewings. They eventually sold their place and all was good. Took 3-4 months for both sale and our purchase went through.

I agree with the poster above. If you’re not getting viewings then it’s way too high. For us we needed to tinker with the price to find the right one. We were in Surrey. It’s a slow market and over winter it’s just not worth the bother.

Re adjusting the price by £10-15k it depends. If it takes you into a lower band on Rightmove then a different section of buyers will see it which can help.

Ultimately there is no such thing as market value for a property. It’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it and that’s it.

Titus_Wadd

Sadly I think you have to try to forget the house you fancy because it isn't going to happen until you sell. At a pinch it might still be up for sale when you do but it's a long shot.

Markets differ around the country and estate agents seem to work slightly differently regionally too: where my family lives houses stay up for sale for months, sometimes years even though the area is fairly healthy. Where I live on the south coast folk list their houses for 3-4 months but if they don't have to sell quickly they take them off the market and relist after a few month's gap. those that do need to sell urgently tend to swap agents rather than drop the price because this bumps their house back to the top of RightMove's newly listed properties.

I'm a serial house window-shopper locally and see the same houses on and off the market over years…weirdly the strategy can work with houses selling after 4-5 years for a higher price than originally listed.

I've had to sell a house with negative equity and it still rankles nearly 20 years later, so I'd probably stay put, enjoy your garden for another Summer but keep reviewing the market. Never underestimate the positive impact from say - a nearby school getting a great OFSTED score. It's worth reading the local papers to anticipate any trends which might signal your time to sell.

Unless it's the house immediately next-door is the one with fridges or carrier bag ex-pets in the garden I wouldn't be put off by a messy house nearby.

GDB2222

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?

Don’t pick a fight with the neighbour. You will have to declare the fight to your buyers, plus it’s unlikely to make much difference.

Incidentally, the price of the other houses on the market is not all that relevant, as they have not sold either.

Soot2006

I echo what everyone else has said re market and time of year. It sounds like your garden might be a selling point but even my immaculate garden doesn't look great right now after this wet winter. I have a huge tide of daffodils that opened last week, and they almost look out of place against the backdrop of water-logged lawn. even my evergreens look a bit tired and soggy. I bet in 2-3 weeks I will be saying completely different. I can primroses peeking out of mulch; I can see buds and shoots on almost everything. From March, gardens start to sell themselves. Right now, they just look like hard work.