Nobody coming to view my house

shelly24

So we did things backwards and found our dream home by accident so got mortgage approval and got our house on the market in less then a week.
A similar (4 bed and ours is 3 bed) went on the market and got an offer after 5 days so we expected similar but it’s been 3 weeks now and nothing is happening, nobody is coming to view it.
Is a desirable enough area just outside Dublin and our house is in great condition- recently painted inc skirting boards and doors, new blinds etc
We are wondering if it’s worth changing estate agents? We will have to pay a few of €350 if we do.
Any advice?

LirW

Is it on the market for a realistic price? Had a neighbour who wanted to sell for 18 months in a nice area of Dublin but he wanted some ridiculous money and never got an offer until he drastically dropped the price.

Nekarsulm

Where is he advertising it?
My Home, Daft, ?
Or just in a window?
Have you checked the ad?
Are the photos good?
Is the house spotless and tidy?
Is the price way out of line?

Is he pushing your house, or trying to sell some other house on the road first?

M.Cribben

How "outside Dublin" are we talking here?

Baybay

Were there under bidders for the other property you mention & were they told about your house coming on the market, assuming you used the same agent.

Photos are very important.
So is decluttering. You got sale ready very quickly which is great but could another round of removing excess furniture, pictures, garden furniture, cars etc improve your photos & give a better sense of space.

We had one lady who requested permission to view our garden only without actually going inside our house. Would your garden encourage or discourage her viewing the interior?

Assuming you have your pricing right, it is exam time, primary schools are finishing up with all the end of term things parents attend, there's holidays etc. Maybe it's just going to take a little longer for your buyer to appear.

DubJJ

I think you're expecting too much when comparing it to another property that sold in 5 days, that's just luck that the right person came along at the right time.
3 weeks isn't that long, although you may have expected some viewing by now, is the agent planning to advertise any open viewings?
If it's the property I think it is it looks like a great house in great condition, but the photos do let it down a bit, theres none of the bathroom or the two smaller bedrooms.
A friend of mine has just gone sale agreed on their house in a very popular area of Dublin, they had no offers after 3 weeks but then it got into a bidding war in the 4th week and has sold well over asking, so don't panic just yet!

0lddog

Where I am ( rural but well within Dublin commuter belt ) there are a good few secondhand houses that have been on the market for a over a year with little or no interest.

For all that, four smallish housing estates are being put up. Its a bit of a mystery to me - perhaps the new houses wont sell ?

Homer

If you want to get proper professional photos done drop me a PM as that’s what I shoot day in day out and most auctioneers would say it makes a big difference in generating interest for viewings. Of course the price has to be right and location etc etc!

Nekarsulm

Is the ad for the other house still online?
Take a long hard look and compare it with your ad.
Be honest with yourself.
It's harder to be critical with your own home, but buyers have no emotional attachment.

cruizer101

shelly24 wrote: »

I thought myself that the photos weren’t the best and no pics of kids rooms but be said if we show less then people will come to see?

Such bulls**t, I'd be pulling them up about that, it costs nothing more to put more photos on daft.
If I don't see rooms it makes me think they are hiding something, I wouldn't necessarily says it would dissuade me from viewing a house but it sure as hell doesn't encourage me, to me it doesn't reflect well on the property as a whole and just sounds like laziness on their part.

That said 3 weeks isn't that long, if it priced right it should sell, some new estates nearby could have an effect especially for first time buyers with the grant available.

I've been looking at a lot of similar houses myself recently so if you want to pm me link to ad I can say what I think compared to other ads I've been looking at, not interested in that specific area mind

jimmycrackcorm

Buying : location, location, location
Selling: price, price, price

the_syco

Throw up a link to it. If no link, who knows about it?

davo10

A 4 bed house will always be a more popular family home than a three bed, most families have more than one child and most people prefer to have a guest room.

If it is in a desirable location, you have to look at the asking price, maybe it's too high. People give out about EAs advertising the price low to get people bidding, but maybe you need to consider dropping the price and get a few bidders interested. Also, as above, three weeks is a short period of time.

Personally I don't think pictures of kids rooms add anything, unless the buyers have a toddler.

fishy_fishy

I think you should have pictures up of all the bedrooms and bathroom. I flicked through what I presume is your ad and the thoughts l had were

"Wonky photo to start"
"Pretty good condition. Looks nice"
"Where are the rest of the photos?"
"Wonder what the bathroom is like"
"Oh. No room layout diagram."

People are time poor. Lack of photos isn't going to make them rush out to see it, it'll just raise questions about whether it's worth going to see it. Is it ACTUALLY 3 bed or is it 2 bed and a box room? Is the bathroom usable or does it need ripping out? What about wardrobe space?

ongarboy

Agreed with above post. If I'm a Dublin buyer who can't afford Dublin and am considering neighbouring counties, I'm not going to drive 20+ kms to somewhere that I don't know in advance what the full visual package is. The risk it won't meet my requirements will be too much. Especially if all other properties in the area are showing pics if every room plus frint and back garden. +1 on the room layout diagram. That should be the absolute minimum photo for every house advertised. I also get suspicious if I don't see pics of the additional rooms and bathrooms listed as the assumption is they must be too poor or fixer upper for a photo.

ELM327

Having just bought a 3 bed in the commuter belt in Q1 this year after a perhaps 18month search. I can confirm that we woudl not have bothered to go look at a house that didn't have photos of every room. No photo = something to hide. Same for photos at stupid angles.

Throw up a link to the ad, OP

dk1982

fishy_fishy wrote: »

I think you should have pictures up of all the bedrooms and bathroom. I flicked through what I presume is your ad and the thoughts l had were

"Wonky photo to start"
"Pretty good condition. Looks nice"
"Where are the rest of the photos?"
"Wonder what the bathroom is like"
"Oh. No room layout diagram."

People are time poor. Lack of photos isn't going to make them rush out to see it, it'll just raise questions about whether it's worth going to see it. Is it ACTUALLY 3 bed or is it 2 bed and a box room? Is the bathroom usable or does it need ripping out? What about wardrobe space?

All the photos actually look wonky. Looks like the camera (a Nokia 3210 going by the resolution!!!) is being held at a slight angle which really takes away from them a bit. And agreed, where are the rest of the bedroom photos and the bathroom? I dont think i'd bother travelling any reasonable distance to see it with so little being show upfront in the ad. Does look nice besides all that so I'd be having a serious word with the EA to start from scratch with that ad

gotasmoke

ELM327 wrote: »

Having just bought a 3 bed in the commuter belt in Q1 this year after a perhaps 18month search. I can confirm that we woudl not have bothered to go look at a house that didn't have photos of every room. No photo = something to hide. Same for photos at stupid angles.

Throw up a link to the ad, OP

I agree with this, if a house is advertised with 3 bedrooms but only shows 2 in the photos I immediately think the owner is trying to hide something such as a room that may not fit a bed.

This doesn't apply to just houses, you need high quality images of what you're trying to sell online. It's the only reference that a buyer has and the more images and info you can provide to more interest you will receive.

snowcat

dk1982 wrote: »

All the photos actually look wonky. Looks like the camera (a Nokia 3210 going by the resolution!!!) is being held at a slight angle which really takes away from them a bit. And agreed, where are the rest of the bedroom photos and the bathroom? I dont think i'd bother travelling any reasonable distance to see it with so little being show upfront in the ad. Does look nice besides all that so I'd be having a serious word with the EA to start from scratch with that ad

Fire your auctioneer.
Get a professional photographer to shoot quality photos and maybe a drone shot.
Ask him to do a 2 minute walk through video as well. Get him to send you the edited walk through video.
Post your own ad on Daft.ie at 20% below what you believe is market value yourself (You do not have to accept any offer that you are not happy with). This will generate interest.
Any interested parties that contact you send them the walk through video on whatsapp.
Answer any of their queries.
If they are still interested arrange a formal viewing or group people in an open viewing.
Accept offers
When you agree a price direct the interested party to lodge a deposit with your solicitor and you are sale agreed and saved your self several thousand.

cruizer101

There is only 2 3 beds in kill listed on daft and both are examples of terrible ads in terms of photos, I'm guessing is the first one second one has even less pics of the inside of house.


<snip>

TooObvious

Like the others say, get some new pics. I think it would be worthwhile getting a pic of the green to the front on a day when the landscapers have just been, it's in full foliage now so looks great on the drive in.

mugsymugsy

Also get someone else to ring up and enquire about the house and see how well the estate agent is selling it. See are they actually any good at their job. If they are unable to answer basic questions or don't seem interested in getting people out to see your house then you have your answer.

razorblunt

Have you had a friend/family member ring and enquire about it?
I do this quite often (once a year for a friend who flips apartments) he's not been happy with the response.

BabysCoffee

Good job on the decluttering however for the next set of pictures I think you need to do more.
Even though the kids toys are very neat and tidy they are very distracting near the dining table. For the pictures, remove them completely - it does not sell a lifestyle, it just gives the impression that there is not enough storage space in the house.
Whether you remove the toys during viewings is up to you (can you fit them in your car) but I would recommend it.

BabysCoffee

shelly24 wrote: »

Yes twice! Once they weren’t able to accommodate the person who wanted to view for a full week so hubby rang them and went mental.
Another phone call yesterday by a work friend and the response was much more positive.
A small duplex in the same estate went up only 2 weeks ago and has had 14 viewings??? I know they aren’t the shame thing but still

Is the same agent selling the duplex? They could try show your house to all the people viewing the duplex

Jane1012

One thing that stands out to me (it could just be me that thinks like that),
is when I was viewing houses 2 years ago, I was always cautious seeing adds with kids stuff in it. Immediately it said to me why is a young family moving out and obviously if we want to have a family there must be something wrong with this house.

That could just be me but it was always a preconception I had, may be useful removing the children's things as much as possible.

In the end, we bought a home from a couple in their 60's whose kids were all grown up and they wanted to downsize, this was a comforting factor for me (not too sure why though).

razorblunt

I'm really bad at "seeing" space. My wife isn't and if we viewed your property she'd see past most of the kids stuff.
But the shelf in the front room, the stuff in the kitchen by the door and the house in the garden should be removed and stored.
As others have said wonky photos too, the kitchen photo was taken in poor lighting making the fixtures look dirty or grubby (I know they're not but it just looks like that).

Could you move the sofa from the window?

Is it not a thing that estate agents get proper photographers? It is in Scotland at least. Our apartment looked amazing in photos, to the extent it was commented on by friends of friends who shared the ad on FB for us.

razorblunt

Jane1012 wrote: »

One thing that stands out to me (it could just be me that thinks like that),
is when I was viewing houses 2 years ago, I was always cautious seeing adds with kids stuff in it. Immediately it said to me why is a young family moving out and obviously if we want to have a family there must be something wrong with this house.

That could just be me but it was always a preconception I had, may be useful removing the children's things as much as possible.

In the end, we bought a home from a couple in their 60's whose kids were all grown up and they wanted to downsize, this was a comforting factor for me (not too sure why though).

Good point, it's not always the case obviously. Our agent advised us not saying "we're moving for more room (2bed apt to a 4 bed house) before kids come on the scene" as you'll always have a view that would think "jeez we'll be in the same boat in 2/3 years time".

keane2097

Honestly the bull**** from the agent about less photos = more viewings would be an instant red flag that you should take the house off him. It's such obvious nonsense and shows a lack of interest in doing any leg work on your behalf.

Edit to add, the follow on of him not bothering his arse to arrange a viewing for a week when you had someone ring him makes me wonder what he would have to do to lose the listing!

HeidiHeidi

keane2097 wrote: »

Honestly the bull**** from the agent about less photos = more viewings would be an instant red flag that you should take the house off him. It's such obvious nonsense and shows a lack of interest in doing any leg work on your behalf.

This!


In the overall scheme of things, you stand to lose €350 on a sale of (hopefully) close to €300k. Suck it up. Find an agent whose ads online look professional - crisp, clear and plentiful (at the very least showing every single room in the house). Get them to quote you.



The online ads are your prospective purchasers first view of your house, and you've seen yourself here the reactions to the wonky photos, and the shortage of them. The suggestion to include a couple of outside pics if you face onto a lovely green is good as well.



Another bugbear of mine with online house ads is the random order in which the photos are uploaded. It's a simple thing to order them as if you were walking through the house, and helps give an better overall impression of the house layout. Yours has kitchen, kitchen, sitting room, and kitchen again. (I might be in a minority, but it drives me nuts!) But a floor plan should also be included!


The ad is your shop window. Invest in it. Good luck!

The Mulk

I think your big problem is the amount of new houses for sale in Kill at the moment , with a lot more to come.
You house is perfect for a first time buyer that wants to live in Kill, but there seems to be a large number of identical new houses in the same price range as you are looking for.
Declutter, new photos and ring around a few other auctioneers to ensure your price range is correct.