Have viewings slowed or stopped?

brock-cruse

Hi
My parents bungalow in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire been on market since Nov 07. Got a few viewings(feedback great, immaculate etc but some think garden is too big) and one bloke wanted it but yet to sell his. They then dropped 20k to below stamp duty level and had more viewings. Eventually 2 couples offered asking price Dad chose one. After 2 weeks fell through due to FTB at bottom of chain no longer suitable for mortgage. Went back to other offered party they too had fallen through. Since then had numerous viewings, a second viewing (stillno feedback but Dad thinks not as would have heard by now) and still the oringinal interested bloke since Nov 07 cant sell his. So Dad has had a lot of interest but it seems that its all dependent on others selling theirs first and trying to get a FTB at the bottom of a chain...there arent any! To cap it all my parents just lost the property they were going to buy...sold to a cash buyer after being on the market 18 months....GUTTED!! They have decided that they areno longer going tolook until theirs has sold again and a survey been commissioned. I really do think the way it is at the moment is so very difficult. Good luckto you all

phil_b_2

I think in this market you have to be very proactive in selling your house. Make greater efforts and DONT simply rely on your estate agent to get the sale, they are lazy.

Some professional photos of your property and scouting around to make sure it is advertised everywhere humanly possible should make a big difference.

I see a lot of properties with what can only be described as disgraceful photos, only listed on some crappy abstract property site that no one has heard of. I only found them by being an overly obsessive house hunter!

In todays highly competative market you need to get off your butt and paint those dated walls, put down a new fresh carpet, sort out the exterior with lots of attractive plants and greenery so it grabs people when viewing on rightmove etc. Curb appeal is extremely under-rated and the front view of some houses you see on rightmove are apauling.

pawpurrs

DFC are you on with Savills?
I am wanting to sell, and am just down the road from you, its not looking too good round here, I see the same houses that have been on for donkeys. Sigh......... wish the crash would come and be over with so we have a level playing field! :rolleyes:

lkalka

jpjp wrote: »

We also went on the market at Easter and have had just ONE viewing. Located in NW Surrey and priced at 12% below what someone else in our road got for same design house in similar condition 10 months ago.

In my own mind I have two reasons for it. Firstly, the Labour Govt letting the Northern Rock thing run and run (compare to US Govt v.swift handling of Bear Stearns). This led to High St banks making unnecessarily over-cautious write-downs in their mortgage books because they did not trust the Gov't in case the same thing happened to another bank. That led to the banks not passing on changes in base rate to mortgage borrowers, and BoE have criticised them publicly for this too.

Secondly, the media don't help either, blasting this "credit crunch" headline everywhere. Why don't the public remember that the prime business of a newspaper or TV station is to sell advertising, and the accuracy of news is very secondary?

Nothing to do with how stupidy over priced property is compared to wages are then?

I'm looking to purchase and even before all the 'credit crunch' and -ve press hit the media we were looking at property around the £200,000 mark (I'm in the North West) and all we were seeing is a load of 'cr£p'. I know I have a vested interest (as I'm currently in rented) but if I'm going to mortgage myself up to the neck then I want something decent to show for it!

There is a massive bubble and it will either pop completly now or the government will manage to keep it from completly going bust by one means or another - but if they do that will only delay the inevitable. I'm staying put until I get something decent for my money.

Conrad

Cheap and easy mortgage money = high prices.

Expensive and difficult to obtain mortgage money = lower prices.

The only people selling are those that are AHEAD of the falling knife. Forget selling for a few years unless you are realistic and prepared to accept the 2004 price, afterall that 'lost' equity was free gifted money anyway - you didnt create it yourself.

mwhitt

we are still getting 2-4 viewings a week up to nearly 40 since we went on the market 3 months ago have dropped 25000 from an original 220000 we will drop another 10k next week even though agents are saying not to. we have been the cheapest detached property in the post code for a while & if we do drop we will be the same as a prefab fixed mobile home i think the bn code is bust

trulysaintly

Have been on the market since 12th Feb...have had six viewings so far in that time.

Had two estate agents round to value (third one never turned up!) - both valued property at £230k (we're a two minute walk from the open New Forest).

No offers in after the viewings, have dropped price twice (first to £229k, now at £225k).

Have had no viewings for the last three weeks - not even a sniff.

Frustratingly, we have identified at least two properties that we would consider...

Take a look and give any advice you can....I've just about reached the end of my tether!!! :mad: (Bathroom is now a neutral Magnolia!!!)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19477895.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

Conrad

Truly I saw this in the last crash. People end up chasing a falling knife. The trick is to get ahead of the falls to a price where it will sell, otherwise you will forever chase the market down.

50% less mortgage money is going into housing, so prices HAVE to reflect this 50% reduction in cash.
We've all got used to cheap and easy money propelling prices, well that money has long gone.

The good news is EVERY house is affected (although many will not recognise this for some time), so as long as you find a motivated seller you will get a similar % reduction on the one you buy, so you lose nowt. Just avoid the idiots that think thier little castle is somehow detatched from the rest of the UK economy.

dopester

Conrad wrote: »

Truly I saw this in the last crash. People end up chasing a falling knife. The trick is to get ahead of the falls to a price where it will sell, otherwise you will forever chase the market down.

It's no use Conrad. The sheeple don't understand that. They want to believe their property is invulnerable to significant falls in value, despite more than willing to believe it's risen 50%, 100%, 200%, 300% over just a few short years.

They will learn when a neighbour in a near identical house is forced to slash 40% off in order to sell. That will smack their own fairytale valuations down in one go.

Benefits_Blagger

carolpinkdreamer wrote: »

. We have had NO viewings at all although we have priced low to move quickly (ha!). House has been on market since Easter.

.

you are not priced low, others are overpriced, you're just less overpriced. but never the less still over priced.