hi
we had 3 viewings in the first week (one was a double viewing with the kids looking to upsize and the parents looking to downsize!!)
feedback from 2 viewings so far, still waiting to hear on the 3rd lot, no movement in the last week.
we're on holiday next friday for a week and still debating about what to do should any viewers want to come and take a look (since we do the viewings not the agents [part of keeping the costs down]) want to be positive and think that'll there will be people queueing up to view just because we're away!

Have you had any interest via these? Was wondering whether to put mine up on there....

my tip is to take what you can when its offered

General question for all those trying to sell in the UK currently ... and it has been touched upon above ... are there many buyers out there actually looking ?

Is the slow market predominantly due to tougher lending criteria by the mortgage companies, do you feel ? I understand there are several factors - but is this the main reason - or do you think the general unease and fear plays the bigger part ?

There will always be a core amount of buyers and sellers that are serious (all those leaving the UK for example, and all those returning, to mention a few ), plus those relocating for jobs, etc.

Is there a lot of property on the market ? Or are those that traditionally might put their toe in the market to test it, the ones that are not putting their own houses on the market either - so are not really seriously looking?

I know it's a complicated mix of factors - but what is the main one, do you think?

Sympathetic to your plight

Hi Ann Its a mixture of not many buyers, people are feeling the pinch and a sense of doom and gloom here, the media is scaring the potential buyers to just sit tight and the mortgage companies not lending, Repossessions are also becoming a factor according to the TV esp the buy to let market ?

there must be a flood of properties from people moving abroad
Our house has gone down by at least £50,000 - £100,000 if not more in the past year, even when you get a buyer they can't get the mortgages.

There are homes here that have been on sale for nearly 2 years, some have sold but its not good.

We are doing the house from top to bottom new kitchen the works just so we can get a sale, but you can only drop so much and then you have to sit and wait it out ?

I knew of a teacher who used to spent his holidays renovating / flipping houses and then selling them on.

His tactic for selling was to list it at a stupidly low price, and then just sit back and wait for the bidding war to raise the price up.

That was in the good old days of the early / mid ninetys though.

Thats what our agent suggested put it on low get the peeps through the door, he said once through they will not resist, still think it may work after all thats how you get people through the doors for bargain sales ? and nothing makes something more desirable than when someone else wants it

Hi all - Just to add my 2 pennies worth!

We put our house on the market on the 3rd May (knew we were picking up passports on the 8th) and by the 26th we'd had 7 viewings and one second viewing; all on a slightly inflated price

However not one of these lovely people wanted to buy it, but no-one cited price as the reason why Had nothing since then even with a price drop to bring it in line with others in the area. Still it's very early days yet compared with many on the forum.

It appears as if there are buyers out there; but as others have already said they can be very selective as it's their market.

Best wishes to all in the same boat

IRM

Our 1 bedroom flat has been on the market since march. Had 6 viewings so far. The second viewer nearly made an offer, but apparently she drove past at night, and due to the fact that parking in our area is a nightmare (I am often lucky if I can get a space within 200 yards of our flat) she decided against it.

Everyone else has said its nice, but went with another property or it was too small. Original asking price was £135k, its now down to just under £120k.

We have a viewing tomorrow at 9:30, so hopefully we might have better news this time. We are a bit unfortunate because we have the sort of property which might appeal to a first time buyer, who are finding it harder to get mortgages at the moment.

In the current state of the market, the cautious potential buyer will sit it out hoping that even though his house will fall so will the one he’s thinking of scaling up to..
The down side is the few buyers that are out there are going to be aggressive as they’ll be assuming you're selling because you have too, and also be considering that many will be selling because they are struggling to get or keep their mortgage going .. In this case they’ll be looking for huge discounts, partly because they think you have to sell and partly to offset any further fall in prices..
For those of you selling to move to Canada you’re competing with those selling because they’re in the financial shit and selling in a buyers market because of it..
How fast you want to sell like in any other buyers market depends on how much added value you have over your competition, if you don’t have added value then is straight down to price
For the same rational if you want a big SUV in Canada, now is the time to buy, the discounts and add ons are great, and the higher the gas prices go the bigger the discounts will become

Hi

Just to add our 2 cents!

Agree with all of above reasons,

We have been on market for a month now(not long I appreciate in comparison to other people on BE), this time a year ago the chances are we would have sold for a good price by now.

Instead, we have had 1 viewing, the buyer apparently really liked the house, but she hasn't sold her own so in no position to proceed.

I believe it is a combination of factors, press scaremongering, first time buyers content to stay in rented in the hope interest rates and house prices drop, difficulty of obtaining a mortgage now, no chance if you don't have a deposit
lack of confidence generally in the UK economy. In today's papers it has quoted that of the people applying for a mortgage, the amount that has been agreed in the last year has halved.

To add to this, our agent said that of the very small amount of viewings they are getting at the moment, a lot of them are from people who have not even got theirs on the market, and they are seemingly just having a nose at the house to see if it is worth their while even putting their own house on the market

For me the whole thing is very fustrating, if we had sold a year ago we would have had a decent amount of equity released, however in the current climate if we are to get a sale, it is going to be at a significant drop.

Good luck to all

we waited 6 months to get a buyer , and had to drop 27K to get them , now means we won't be putting down a large deposit on a house in Canada , however also means that we ARE GOING TO CANADA.


Even tried the " we'll buy your house for cash" they took off 10% of the asking price straight away, saying " no one pays full asking proce" then said we only pay 75% of the vendours price , so they offered me 65% of the house value ( we had it on for 180K they offered 123K)......... but if you can afford that drop and it gets you out there , the choice is yours.

if it cheap enought it will sell, and I am afriad that as good as tip as you will get...

good luck , the sun is starting to shine , so that might bring out the summer buyers.

Gary

My situation was bought a new build Aug 2006 for 200K including all fees!
We knew March 07 that we were going to Canada! I had the house valued by 3 different estate agents! they all valued the house for approx £232K. As you can guess i wa delighted. This was just before any news regarding struggling house market in the UK! I had 1 viewing in the first 8 weeks! so i dropped the price to 225K. 2 months later still no interest down to 217! We were initially going to Canada Sept 07. By sept still no interest new Price 210!! Canada move on hold! By this time credit crunch kicking in! My OH have should have started her job! extreme measures the house down to 200K the house was gone the next week! 2 seperate people wanted it! both limited to the asking price! We were in Canada Jan 08. Due to all the mortgage hassle it took another 4 months to finally complete! So i guess the best thing to do when it's valued be realistic! then put the house on for the minimum you could possibly accept! Good chance it will go! There are still houses on the same estate up for sale for the same price £230K guess what they have been on for over 2 year! over priced! Get what you can and run! I just hope same thing doesnt happen in Canada! Not nice to get burned twice!

Well, our flat is now sold. Put it on the market when things were a bit shaky, at £135k. Brought it down to £130k a few weeks later, then a few weeks after that down to £120k. Finally accepted an offer today of £102.5k. Bit of a painful drop, %-wise, but it gets it sold, allows us to pay off our mortgage and all our debts and end up with £30k saved towards Canada.

I took the offer because I just know that if I waited I would end up being forced to take a lower offer down the road.

best tip ever !!!!!!!!

sell to clear your debts and take some money with you , and eh then you can live the dream !

The way the housing markets is going the prices are still dropping , so you may as drop as save your selfs 6 months of waiting and still sell at the same price....

My wife and i had the first ever argument in 14 years of marriage over the price of house , but it's sold and we are on our way..

You know how low you can go , and that's your limit , but good luck , my Granddad used to say

" everybody has a path to travel, some have a straight path , some have a windy path, but it all ends up in the same place, some people just take longer to get there"..

you'll get there , keep the faith brother

Gary