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When to offer - house about to go to market but already found dream house

14 replies

Myeyesmyears · 29/05/2017 10:45

Fatal mistake!

Found the house we could walk into and it had 'the' feeling for all of us. It's in our budget, but our house isn't on the market yet. How long does it take to get onto the agent's books and website? We'd have to do a big tidy before photos so I'm guessing after half term?

Our house was our first purchase so I'm struggling to get my head around selling a house and buying one at the same time... how does anyone do it on the same day? We stayed in our rental for a while before moving into current house to do work on it.

Can I ring the agent and make an offer on Tuesday if I explain honestly our situation (we think we can port our mortgage)? I don't think this house will stay on the market long although its definitely not for everyone (it's very old and irregular - but in astonishingly good nick - if you like straight and flat floors and walls you'd hate it). I know I can't predict how long our house would take to sell but who can? Its a funny time at the moment with election, Brexit, but where we are has tripled in value over the seven years we've owned it - so someone might want it Wink

Also does anyone write their own particulars? We did loads of stuff to this house and it has a lot of history (I even have photos of the couple that built the house c1830) - but is this of interest or distraction?

There is a slightly complicating factor in that we'd be keeping part of the garden with poss of getting planning permission (it's an area where there are lots of 'infill' houses and it would be an architect-designed house) - but a few agents have told me this doesn't decrease the value of the house.....

( I'm going to post separately on the implications of this bit)

OP posts:
Kokusai · 29/05/2017 10:49

There is a slightly complicating factor in that we'd be keeping part of the garden with poss of getting planning permission

Have you split the deeds and partitioned off the garden already? Is there independent access for the infill?

This would hugely put me off your house as I wouldn't want to buy a house and then live next to a construction site for a year. I would be even more put off if you hadn't already fenced it off as I wouldn't be able to see what 'my' garden is actually like.

I think you need to get that sorted ASAP.

You can defo take your own photos and write your own blurb. I rewrote mine as the EAs were shit.

Myeyesmyears · 29/05/2017 11:04

there's totally independent access on two roads (road on both sides of property).

Need to speak to our tax advisor on capital gains etc before fencing it because if it's separate at time of sale it's liabel to CGT. I am assuming if we keep the land and sit on it we'd be liable to CGT if we ever sold it or even if we built on it and sold. We are fine to take that one on the chin because its such a +++ to have the land in the first place. Of course we could sell the house with the land too but wouldn't realise the same total value as selling it separately . Because of the way the market has changed this infill piece has an obvious use as build land though.

We want to keep the land in case we want to return to London (once you're gone you can't come back), but ideally we'd eventually re-mortgage on new house enough to build on this piece of land and then rent out that house once built.

OP posts:
Adsss · 29/05/2017 11:05

Call the EA ASAP. They take pictures usually on a second visit. Our house sold to someone on their books before they even got round to photographing so just the one tidy up!

Carolinethebrave · 29/05/2017 11:07

It took 2 weeks from instruction to firing on Rightmove with our agent

Quirky houses take longer to sell. You can offer but your offer may not be accepted as you're not in a position to proceed.

Carolinethebrave · 29/05/2017 11:08

Don't take your own photos - difference between those I took and EA took is vast, theirs are 100 x better

Blurb, let them write but ask for approval and edit etc

StripyBlanket · 29/05/2017 11:13

We're in the middle of a similar situation. Viewed a house we loved, so got the house on the market as soon as we could. Think it took about a week to get on Rightmove. But we didn't make an offer until we had one on ours - we just let the EA know we were interested. It only worked for us because no one else was interested in the house we wanted.

But your complications I think are likely to slow things down which doesn't put you in a good position really.

Millionsmom · 29/05/2017 11:17

We instructed the agent on the Friday afternoon, the buyer came on the Saturday morning - house wasn't show ready at all - he put the offer in on the Monday morning.

Then the business of selling took 3 stinking months! The estate agent was the one delaying it all.

Good luck, I hope it goes through brilliantly for you

Kokusai · 29/05/2017 11:18

I just don't think anyone will buy your house unless it's really clear where the boundary is.

Myeyesmyears · 29/05/2017 11:21

I won't take own photos. One of my good friends takes the pics for local EA anyway, so hopefully they will give her the business.

Think I will just keep in touch with everyone. Sometimes these things aren't meant to be (we lost a house on the next road which I totally loved but we are glad we bought our house instead) - but OH that house.

OP posts:
Myeyesmyears · 29/05/2017 11:27

Obviously a sale wont go through until it's really clear where the boundary is; but lots and lots of people want to buy houses with less garden than this one will have around here. If I were considering buying I might want to negotiate on the exact boundary...

Having said that I would either fence or make incredibly clear where the line would be.

Am I being naive to think that we might be able to rent the land to a new house owner for a couple of years for a minimal rent? I don't think we'd build for a few years.

OP posts:
monsieurpoirot · 29/05/2017 12:09

I would really worry that partitioning off some land will put buyers off. Who would want to buy a new home knowing there will be a building site at the end of the garden for a year, not even being able to see what the planning permission shows is proposed. If you need a quick sale do not do this! Could you rent out your house until the building is complete?

DancingLedge · 29/05/2017 12:31

Whether a potential building site at bottom of garden will actually put people off depends.

How far from house?
In certain fairly urban areas where there's frequently construction going on, not an issue.

Family member sold similar, reasonable distance from house, no problem at all.


I would expect a good agent to be doing particulars and getting on Right move in 48 hrs.
Choose agent well, and get undertakings about timing.

The deeds have to be 'split' into 2 properties, but these can be done during the sale, so no problem.

I would always tell a seller that I' m very interested, even if they won't take an offer at this point. And don't assume that that is the case: many sellers won't, but some will , at least hang fire briefly to see if you can get a quick sale. A quick sale nearly always means, putting yours on at a market price, not an optimistic price.

MissDuke · 29/05/2017 13:19

I think you need to stop looking at other houses - I don't see how you could possibly achieve a quick sale with the complications you describe, given that you haven't even sorted the legal aspects of partitioning the land. No way would I buy your house, I wouldn't even buy a new build because I couldn't tolerate building around me but then I work nights - obviously it wouldn't bother lots of people. Why don't you get the legalities sorted first? Then people know what they are buying.

bilbodog · 29/05/2017 13:30

I work for an EA and have found that the main thing which puts people off a house in this situation is the fact that the back garden is really overlooked by the new house. You need to get all this done before you market as all sorts of problems could come up during the process. Most agents wouldnt recommend you as a buyer at this stage as you could take ages to sell.

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