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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

Sold but nowhere to buy (despair)

36 replies

PippiLongstromp · 22/05/2017 16:23

We got a sale agreed on our house in March, and thought spring would be a good time to find a new and bigger house, surely something would come up! But it didn't, it hasn't, and now three months later I feel so despondent !! I don't think we are picky, we have a reasonable budget, and are up for a project, but we have seen everything there is in our area of search and so little new is coming on.... Is anyone else in the same situation at all? Just looking for some sympathy I guess. The way it's going we will be moving into renting before long. Luckily our buyers are understanding, but have asked that we move out by September which we will do. Would rather take the sale than lose out. Anyone got anything encouraging to say, feel like crying today...

OP posts:

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TheNumberfaker · 22/05/2017 16:26

Sold last summer and currently renting. Nothing is coming up!

Honeyandfizz · 22/05/2017 16:31

It's similar where I live. Put my house on the market in Jan and had 12 offers after a weekend of viewings....great until you realise you are now one of the 12 going for the same house!

In the end a brilliant local agent who had valued my house (I didn't use them as used online agent) came up trumps. I was very specific about area due to schools. They rang to say a huge project was coming on the market in my area, I viewed with another 15 or so people. Only 3 of us put offers in in the end due to the level of work needed but they really guided me on what to offer. I got the house and their vendor got a good offer. Ring agents, go in and see them. Maybe try leaflets through the doors of your fave houses.

Honeyandfizz · 22/05/2017 16:32

To add my friends sold last September and still haven't found anywhere. They have a large budget but it's been just as tough to find somewhere. There are more buyers than sellers around here and it's pushed up prices.

PippiLongstromp · 22/05/2017 16:51

Oh my word thenumberfaker have you lived in renting since last summer??? This is making me despair even more! I am beginning to question whether we should have put our house on the market at all, whether we should have waited until we found something we wanted to buy...

OP posts:

FunSpunge · 22/05/2017 16:52

Sold March 2016. Still looking to buy somewhere

I'm well and truly fed up.

I feel your pain OP.

PippiLongstromp · 22/05/2017 16:53

My DTs are starting school in September and I have no idea where, which is making me feel even more uncomfortable now. Argh!

OP posts:

PippiLongstromp · 22/05/2017 16:55

No no no funsponge!! Do you regret selling now or was it still the right thing to do?

OP posts:

PippaFawcett · 22/05/2017 16:55

Friends of ours sold up and moved in with family and were with them for over 12 months before they had an offer accepted. Good news is that because they didn't have a property to sell they were in a good position to proceed. Other friends stayed put and extended instead.

Astro55 · 22/05/2017 16:57

Can you leaflet?

FB ad

But your sellers may have the same issue!

PippiLongstromp · 22/05/2017 17:00

Do people really respond to leaflets? Not sure how that works. How can you know the house that looks right from the outside is going to appeal when you're inside, or even whether it is in your budget? What do you put on the leaflet?

OP posts:

FunSpunge · 22/05/2017 17:00

We sold at a very good time but the prices are still going crazy where we used to live so could have probably ended up getting a little bit more but, on the flip side, we have had no mortgage/rent payments since last year so have saved loads.

Some days I'm not bothered by our situation other days, like today, I am really fed up and just want our own space again.

Other than politics, I cannot fathom why there is such a shortage

FunSpunge · 22/05/2017 17:02

I would love to be able to leaflet but in rural areas you can get a £1million house next to a £90k house
No way to gauge pricing at all

I would end up disappointed I just know it

Astro55 · 22/05/2017 17:34

You'd put

Local family seeks new home

We are looking for 4 bed 2 bath family home. We will consider properties in need of love and attention.

If you are thinking of selling please contact X on Y

You won't know a price - seller would have to be valued and then you look and see if it's what you want - same as any property on the market

You may have people not sure whether to sell because they've 'heard' it's a slow market - so are waiting till someone says it's better -

You won't know until you are proactive

Lilmisskittykat · 22/05/2017 18:17

I'm hoping to move as I'm up for sale but there is really nothing coming onto the market that fits the bill.

I'm moving back into parents house and it's looking worryingly like it might be for longer then I planned. There has been no pick up this year.

People must be sitting tight ?

HaveYouSeenMyHat · 22/05/2017 20:40

Are you me OP??

We've accepted an offer but can't find anywhere suitable. There's not much coming on. We're tied to a specific location for school catchment. It's so frustrating 😩.

mum22boys83 · 22/05/2017 20:57

I'm the same, I've had 2 valuations and due another next week, I'm scared to put it on ! Just missed a 4 bed in budget ! Now all coming on over budget, keeping fingers crossed something pops on as the house on the next culdesac from me sold within 24 hours ! Very rare one comes on the market, normally one a year on my road , my potential estate agent said not to worry but I m so picky on location !

TheGoodWife16 · 22/05/2017 21:57

FIL and his DP sold their house in August 2015 and have been in rented ever since. They just cannot find anything that ticks the boxes.

Meanwhile, their savings are slowly depleting with the rental costs and their overall purchase budget is being reduced as a result.

They don't regret selling the house they'd been in for 11 years, but they are beginning to panic!

m0therofdragons · 22/05/2017 22:58

Snap. We sold in 3 days but there's so little on the market to choose from. Really frustrating!

jenks81 · 23/05/2017 06:13

We were in a similar position and our buyers were beginning to get impatient, so I put leaflets through doors in the village we wanted to buy in. I probably put about 250 leaflets through doors of houses that looked liked they'd be about right from the outside (it's very difficult to judge). Two people got in touch and we've just moved in to one of those houses! Good luck.

StarTravels · 23/05/2017 07:00

We took two years to find the property we wanted to buy. So we decided to look for one we wanted before putting ours on the market. It seems to have worked out okay.

The sort of houses we were looking for were taking a long time to sell though and we knew we could sell our house (small, great for commuting) a lot more quickly.

xandersmom2 · 23/05/2017 07:31

We're in E Mids and it's dire around here - the same few houses have been for sale in our village since we started looking, in February. Nothing is moving, they all just slowly are reducing their prices....

There's only one we're truly interested in and the vendors aren't at all motivated - have been looking themselves for 2 years (!!) and have let two other buyers walk away so no point in starting down the purchase path with them.

We're not in a chain, have mortgage agreed and ready to go, and a decent deposit. It's really disappointing/frustrating.... talked to our mortgage broker last night (as our initial AIP is about to expire) and he says this seems to be a general problem, not just our specific location.

tiba · 23/05/2017 08:59

i sold Dec 2015 and ended up renting from Feb 2016 for a year.
Finally found a property Oct 2016, but there certainly wasn't a lot of choice about.

I still keep my eye on rightmove and I havent seen anything since that I would consider purchasing either

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PippiLongstromp · 23/05/2017 09:03

Oh my. Im sad to say you have not managed to make me feel better at all you lot, waaaaaahhhh!!! Only positive is that at least it's preparing me for what may lie ahead. I realise there is no point in regretting anything, we have to move - our house is too small and not in the area we want to live. We can now move into renting in the right area and get our children in the school there, all of which I'm really looking forward to. I will give the leaflets some thought, it sounds like it can work sometimes. And will become best pals w the local estate agents of course! Otherwise it looks like this will be my toughest exercise in patience yet....

OP posts:

JamesDelayneysTattoos · 23/05/2017 09:07

Anyone want to buy my lovely house? Near Birmingham

FunSpunge · 23/05/2017 09:28

@PippiLongstromp I was only joking with my local EA last week that she would invited to our house warming when we eventually find somewhere!

I keep telling myself peoples circumstances change all the time and people have/want to move.

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