The nervous wait to exchange....

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Buffman said:
Thats a Scottish thing. In England it means "roughly around" to me.

When mine was on you could change the narrative but i think guide price is fine. Only thing I'd say about that house @ChrisD. Is some people might want the living dining room with a dining table in it? People should realise you can obviously fit one in but a lot of people arent very bright :D
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I've tried but it just doesn't work with the current sofa's in the living room, they need replacing but I don't want to buy new ones in case they won't work in whatever new house we find. But the kitchen is big enough for the dining table.

Peerzy said:
What attracted you to the house in the first place? How old is it?

Any chance one of the things you liked was that it was "new", and now that it isn't your missing out on buyers who prioritise that, and the actual house is putting off people who are happy with older ones?
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I bought it new at the end of 2014, I liked it because the kitchen is a decent size as is the living room. New houses around the same size around here go for well over £300k.
 
ChrisD. said:
I bought it new at the end of 2014, I liked it because the kitchen is a decent size as is the living room. New houses around the same size around here go for well over £300k.
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You can't really compare it to a new house now though. It's cleared not new (as you are selling) - buyers won't be able to pick the spec they want, have a warranty, choose a plot, get developer contributions which assist with low deposits, new buyers often feel 'safe' when having their hand held by a developer and inhouse legal teams etc....

Unfortunately (and please don't take this is a personal criticism to you or your house, it's not intended that way in the slightest) your property falls into the trap of being something that both main groups of buyers will try to avoid.

If the buyer is attracted to a new house (or something very modern) they are probably much better off buying new (like you did).

If the buyer doesn't want new (me for example) then your house represents everything they will try to avoid - it's overlooked, it's copy and paste design around the estate and country, the parking situation is odd (with no driveway and photos showing other cars parked metres from your windows), the family bathroom has been severally compromised so that an en-suite can be included, it's not a genuine 4 bed house - I'd class it as a 2 bed with 2 upstairs offices, the garden is small, it's 'detached' but only gains the benefit of reducing neighbours internal sound (you'll still hear them pull up, walk to their door, access to the side is limited, no land for you to mark as your own etc...), the garage probably isn't much use and could potentially be liability, your front door opens directly onto what looks like a road (or at least somewhere where random cars can park), there is no room to expand or extend aside from the loft, the bathroom spec looks cheap / bland and nearly everything is magnolia. Obviously you get these with a new house but you also get the benefits that come with a new house.

Again, please don't take the above personally. People who want moderns will buy a new build, people who want to avoid modern (and the mentioned issues that come with it) will buy something built between 1950 and the late 1990's. You are left with a smaller subset of people that the house will appeal to.

If the house isn't selling it's almost down to money and time. Your house may be worth it's asking price but probably to much smaller group of people than a new built, so if you want that price you may need to wait until someone from the group who will be happy with it is ready. The other option is to reduce the price so that it falls into bargain territory - people will compromise once it gets to a point that it's significantly cheaper than what they want.

The above is all honest feedback from someone who watches the housing market very closely, not meant the offend.
 
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@Peerzy they're all valid points so no offence taken. The house is in a courtyard, there is more than enough parking here and all the cars outside are residents. I have one in the garage, one directly outside the house and another on the 'driveway' in front of the garage. There's never been any parking issues. Although the front door does lead directly onto the 'road' it's only ever really used by residents. I guess that's extremely difficult to convey in an advert.

For a house my size it's over £300k new, probably more like £320k here as they went up considerably in 2016 or so due to the local school (I think).

Do you think it's worth lowering the asking price (again), it was £300k and it's now at £270k (as of Tuesday). There's a house we have viewed and we really, really want it and to maintain 75% or below LTV the house can sell for £250k but we obviously want as much as possible as we'd like to keep some savings. Selling it for £250k and all costs put in we would only have £10k in savings left. That's also assuming we exchange within the stamp duty holiday.

This is the one we want: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98427038#/

I'm at the point now where if it doesn't sell and/or that one above goes by Christmas then cut losses and remove it from the market as the mortgage fixed rate ends at the start of April. Then have the bathroom and kitchen vastly improved.
 
The courtyard was an example, most people want something like the property you are trying to buy - garages attached to the house, parking just for you and no other random cars nearby. The courtyard is there to allow developers to cram in as many houses and parking spaces for as little space and cost - so it's going to be a negative for people not looking for a new build which uses that design.

Only you can decide if you want to lower the price, I don't know the area well enough to offer advice like that. With my recent move I had the luxury of my selling agent and the agent of the house I wanted was the same company / branch. I told them I didn't care how much my house sold for, nor how much I paid for my next one - but my cost to change wouldn't be a penny more than £180k (which worked out at us accepting roughly £15k under and the house we moved to accepting around £35k under. Cost to change is in my opinion a much better way to help evaluate your options, who cares how much you sell your house for - it's all relative to how much you pay for the next one.

Talk to your agent and explain the situation, you want the house you've found but need £260k as a complete minimum. You're not getting much interest at £270k, nor the higher prices. Ask them to be honest about if it's going to be possible in a short timeframe. You can then think and decide would you rather 'take the hit' to get the house you want and avoid paying more stamp duty after March, paying more as house prices rise or remove from the market and take a step back.

Sadly I think a property like yours will always suffer when you try to sell and thus you'll have to reduce it past the point of what you 'think it's worth'.
 
How does the price compare to similar used houses or other older very small 4 bedroom properties or larger 3 bed properties?

if people aren’t coming through the door it’s normally a combination of price for what you get and the condition or the pictures.

To be honest, the pictures look fine and the house looks well presented, I don’t think there are any issues there. The bathrooms are std new build (functional, no frills), the kitchen looks fine but the garage is a bit off putting. I assume no power for an EV either?

Your buyer is likely going to be a small family (likely young) looking for a 3 bed but may want to accept some other compromises (like smaller rooms overall) for a 4th. So that’s where I would price it. I’m not sure it commands a significant premium over large 3 bed properties.

if I was looking for a true 4 bed, I think what you are selling would be too small to consider.

I don’t know the area so I don’t know how it compares and what else is out there but that’s my view.
 
I wouldn’t mess around with the price too much unless you are actually going to reduce it.

Do you know what you have the guide price tag?

We did OIEO but that’s how others were priced around us.
 
ChrisD. said:
I'm not sure what you mean?
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This is your ad isn’t it?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84105355#/

If you look on the ad it says ‘guide price’ (if your doing OIEO, ther would be in the same place).

Most properties are just advertised with an asking price and there is no tag

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/99368777#/

The guide price is suggesting something like OIEO. To me guide price is normally a term they put on when a property goes to auction as the agents ‘valuation’.

I was just wondering why you had it on there. As it’s not an auction it seems to be more akin to OIEO but perhaps less firm. Some people might think your property is going to auction without reading the ad.

When the market is more balanced or in the buyers favour, the asking price is normally the most you would pay but I know that isn’t the case in a lot of places at the moment.
 
Im with @b0rn2sk8 - I think the guide price is very weird. Someone said that it was common in England but I looked on Rightmove around the area of @ChrisD.’s house and none other had that and that was out of over 100 houses.

Guide price to me definitely screams auction and I’d avoid it. you only need one buyer so why take the risk and leave it when it’s clearly not a common thing? Get it changed! It may not make any difference but right now it’s putting me, and possibly ‘real buyers’ off. Changing it won’t put a single person off.
 
Guide price is fairly common in the UK and often is just another way of saying offers in the region of. It's designed to entice people with lower budgets who would ignore if it was just a normal asking price and also inflate the price when offers come (someone offers asking and the EA can go "Oh, it's guide price and we have someone interested in it at £10 over - whatcha gonna do?". It's not the reason Chris' house isn't selling but changing it is unlikely to have any negative effect. Chris should discuss this (and the other bits I mentioned) with his EA.
 
Almost every house for sale in my village, after a quick check, is listed as "guide price". I wouldn't think anything of that at all.

My thought (again only meant as literal thoughts rather than meant personally) is that the images show, to me, a house which looks to open straight into a road with cars crammed in everywhere under the windows. A courtyard is mentioned above but the images do not show that to me. It is also pushing it to call it a 4 bed house with the space on offer (Peerzy mentions this). A lot of people specifically searching for a 4 bed might be expecting a house which is rather larger. Only 2 of the bedrooms look very usable which is helpful if you have more than one child.
 
Finally exchanged after about 8 failed attempts on different days. The last 2 because HSBC were overloaded and wouldn't confirm release of funds.

Our offer was accepted with a complete chain on July 12th, so nearly 6 months....

Completion next Monday. Wahoo!!
 
I personally would avoid a house with 'guide price' it's ambiguous. Do they want lower or higher?

House we have was oieo. Not great and almost put me off. Only because it had an oversized garden did I proceed.

Any games like that, if the house isn't unique I'd avoid it.
 
Mason- said:
Finally exchanged after about 8 failed attempts on different days. The last 2 because HSBC were overloaded and wouldn't confirm release of funds.

Our offer was accepted with a complete chain on July 12th, so nearly 6 months....

Completion next Monday. Wahoo!!
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Good luck - I can feel your excitement after what will have been months of anguish, we were in a similar position but managed to move in last Friday!
 
Reduced to £260k. If it doesn’t sell by the end of the month it’ll come off the market for a while and go on again spring time to cover stamp duty. We really don’t want to be using all of our savings to buy our next home. We’re really keen on the one we’ve seen as it ticks a lot of boxes including mainly being a home suitable to start a family in. If we get an offer no less than £260k we should still have at least £10k in the coffers for a rainy day. Bonus time in April so I’ll be able to top it off plus the mrs is due money from her family.
 
@ChrisD. How many viewings has your house had/week and how long it been on for?

Offers in excess of might be an idea as remember Rightmove works in 10k bands at that sale price (when over 300 its 25k increments)

I guess December isnt a time when many people search for houses also.

Also the new house you're looking at looks nice, but if it were me id possibly have it open plan kitchen /diner (too much arseache to change at this stage with a utility) and i suppose it depends on what works for you).

My new house purchase (at just over 500k) doesnt have a garage which may not work for some but to be honest my current one is just full of crap
 
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It’s been on for nearly 80 days. On average we have had one viewing per fortnight.

Yeah we would prefer a larger and open plan kitchen but we are prepared to extend or convert the downstairs somehow down the line. For now the kitchen is the same size as ours but benefits with having the utility and space for a double fridge.

I’m massively into cars (I have two with one being a toy) so a single garage is a necessity for me and a double an added bonus. The toy is currently in my garage.
 
ChrisD. said:
It’s been on for nearly 80 days. On average we have had one viewing per fortnight.
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Yeah that sounds like really low interest for viewings numbers wise, hopefully price improves!

I think time of year could be an issue too, less people generally look in december and generally prices are high just now in the hope that you will get stamp duty returns but that might be difficult unless accepting an offer very soon. I guess people might be thinking that way also.
 
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