On the market for a month - only 3 enquiries - bad location

[rainbowbright]

Hi there, I am very new to these forums but I've been reading for a while. I've seen some very good advice given to other people in the past and I'm hoping that someone may be able to give me some too.

My house has been listed with an agent and has been on realestate.com.au for around a month. The agent tells me the price is right and the listing is perfect but there have only been three enquiries so far.

I'm concerned that the price is too high but there really aren't any similar properties to compare it to. An RPdata report gave me an estimated sale range of $290k-$358. I had a professional valuation done in August 2008 and it came in at $290k. My property backs on to the highway and I know that will affect the final sale price, but no one even seems to want to look at it at all.

Is anyone able to give me some advice on how to get people interested in a property so close to a highway? Is my gut feeling right, is the listed price too high?

Link to my property: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-villa-qld-underwood-106670156

All replies and advice is welcome.

Thanks!!

 

[Xenia]

Rainbow as a real estate agent, I have seen better times with sales. It is really a crap time of the year to be selling although just starting to improve now.

It is not just your property that is not moving, I've had 3 contracts fall over just this week. We actually have to work in this market

Drop the price to increase enquirers (although it does not seem overpriced) and get the agent to refresh the ad by taking it off the internet and putting it up a week later as a new feature property.

Do scheduled opens for 3 weeks right after that. Letterbox drops in area and newspaper advertising can work well too. The prime selling time is the first 3 weeks that a feature ad has been put up.

Good times are just around the corner so hang in there.

 

[Propertunity]

If I am looking at the right property, you paid $205,000 on 10/10/2006.

A couple of things:
1. Yes, property in 'bad' locations backing onto highways are the last to sell in a quiet market. Nothing you can do about that except don't do it again on your next purchase.
2. According to RPData, unit prices in Underwood have fallen 0.6% in 2009 & are down again 14.1% in 2010. So yes, perhaps your price is too high.
3. There have been 470+ hits on the advert in the 4 weeks it has been on the market. That is not too bad. But obviously they do not like what they are seeing
4. There are a couple of photos there that either are dodgy or make the place look dodgy. What are those grooves on the ceiling of the loungeroom? Same in the bedroom + there are faded areas on the green? walls by the looks.
5. The kitchen has no overbench cupboards

Overall I think you need to fix those 2 photos.
Supply exceeds demand by quite a bit if you look at the graph on: http://www.rs.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=sp&s=qld&u=underwood
so that market is a bit quiet and I think you'll need to drop your price to meet the market and try to unload a property in a not-so-desirable location near the highway.

 

[rainbowbright]

Thanks for the ideas and optimism Xenia. I've had one open so far and one person came but they'd called the agent earlier that week to organise an inspection. I did think about advertising in the local paper but I wasn't sure if newspaper ads were still effective. I'll talk to my agent about this next week. Sorry to hear that the market is crap for you too, I'm told that Spring is a good time to sell, do you find that's true?

 

[Peter Parker]

Rainbow, scrolling down a bit to recent sales on that link, I see a property at 4 Dulaca St that sold for $312,500.

Was this another unit in your block that competed with yours, and if so this might have discouraged buyers given your asking price.

 

[rainbowbright]

Hi Propertunity,

You got me! That property is mine.

I was really excited for the first week or so because of the volume of hits on realestate.com but they haven't translated into enquiries.

I didn't notice the ceiling groves in the photos until you pointed them out. The groves are where the joins are, the pics seem to have been darkened and make the joins stand out. There is a second set of photos that are lighter and I've just emailed the agent about using these instead. The walls are actually a light creamy beige.

I have learnt a lesson, I will definitely steer clear of busy roads and highways next time, this place was perfect for me at the time though. I am keen to sell and move on now, I think I will push harder to drop the price next week if there's no more interest over the weekend.

Maybe a price drop combined with some local paper ads over the next few weeks will get people interested.

Thanks for the reply!!

 

[startingnow]

i second the loungeroom photo. The first thing i thought was "oh no, the roofs full of water and sagging= hard work ahead". Maybe see how much it will cost to put some downlights in? It will Modernise the place a little, and take away from the sagging plaster emphasis that the current lights show. Or even take a photo in diferent lighting times? I know i wouldnt go to an inspection peronally if i saw that.

just my opinion

 

[rainbowbright]

Spiderman, that property is directly opposite to mine and was sold off market. Thanks for pointing it out though, I hadn't look that far down the page, I've been too busy concentrating on the page visits

The property that sold for $312,500 is not in as good condition as mine and the land is much smaller and not as usable, but it also doesn't have the highway so close.

I would honestly be happy with a similar price for mine and I've budgeted for it. I think I'd prefer a faster sale at a lower price than hanging out for a high price that may not happen.

 

[rainbowbright]

Thanks everyone for the help. I've dropped the price and changed the photos and have finally received an offer. It's a little bit low, but at least it's a start! Thanks