To think it's actually quite easy to flog a house..

[squeekywheel]

I've done it three times in the last four years. Took between two and four weeks each time.

Now I'm trying to buy one for the first time and years and bloody hell, there are some idiots out there...

1. Price it reasonably. It's not worth what you need to buy your dream home, it's worth what someone will pay for it. A lower offer is not a personal insult or disrespectful to all your happy memories, it's an object lesson that you might have over priced.

2. Let people view it. Sounds obvious but the amount of vendors who only allow viewings during working hours or refuse to give the estate agent a key when they go on holiday. Nobody wants to steal your massive fluffy grey rug or your sparkly cat ornaments.

3. Clean it.

4. Answer questions. If there is a huge crack in a walk, give me a sensible answer when I ask about it. Don't deny the existence of said crack that I sent you a picture of. You just come across as hard to deal with.

Why do people make it so hard to buy their blumin houses??!!

Unless you or someone in your household is severely ill or disabled, there really is no excuse for any of it.

Rant over.

That’s nice.

You're welcome

God yes I so agree OP. I sold mine in 2 weeks by leaving a key with the agent, making sure it was clean and tidy at all times and pricing it reasonably. I have answered all the questions about my house openly and honestly.
Places I have viewed, most utter filthy shitholes, garden totally overgrown, 1970's decor, moody owners.
Maybe I've been unlucky but some of them I wanted to wipe my feet on the mat on the way out.

There are some obvious mistakes people make, overpricing is definitely one of them.

I think showing people around your home instead of letting an estate agent do it is also a mistake some people make. It makes the whole thing very awkward, like you’re a stranger in their whole and don’t want to put a foot out of place.

There’s always some CF talking about how other people should price their homes. Actually, nobody has to sell their house unless they choose to, so they can hold out for the offer they want if they like. Not necessarily advisable, but very much their business.

Home, not whole obviously.
L

Sounds like you could've made a bit more money if you'd held out a few more weeks

weve just been house hunting and the house we wanted nice house even met the owner on the second viewing but its been for sale for over 18 months, and she has lost two sales before us because she wouldnt move out of the house, messed us around for over 7 weeks so she lost our sale as well, we found another house that needs more work but was cheaper so budget is there, six weeks from viewing to completion we move in a couple of weeks , 2nd house empty with no ongoing chain,

The house I last bought was on the market for a year. (Love it, got it for a good price - agents coulnd't understand it either). The house I'm selling has been on the market for a year. The house I'm trying to buy has been for sale for a year.

People ARE stupid yes, in myriad ways. Even those who can't see through the cosmetic and imagine how great a house might be, or those people that buy a house with a new kitchen and then proceed to have their own put in anyway (but never would have bought the house if the kitchen wasn't new), or those who ask the seller to get quotes done for work they 'might' do (get them yourself - I don't know what you want!) - or ask 'how much a new kitchen would cost' (refer back to previous question), or those that come to look knowing how big, how many rooms, how much garden, but then feedback that one of those things wasn't right. Or those that offer the price same price as the house three doors down that is half the floor area (with less garden). Or indeed those that say they 'don't want to walk under a railway line (not a tunnel) to get to the shops (in Central London).

People are strange. Only 'one' person is going to buy the house...

Especially 3!!

Sometimes you put a home on the market at the wrong time of the year not necessarily something a seller can avoid.

Easier said than done. We went through 3 buyers when selling our last property. None of the circumstances were within our control. You've been lucky.

The one I'd like to point out is that if you want to sell your house, don't even think about lying to the buyers about when your new house will be ready, or about the fact you're willing to move into temporary accommodation to ensure the sale goes through because when you don't do that and the buyer then has a tantrum and shouts "I'm pulling out of the sale" you'll lose your dream house all for the sake of a big fat lie.

(The people we were going to buy from did this; they were converting a barn and told so many lies about how, when, where etc that I gave up and they lost the sale, so had to halt works on their dream barn and took another 18 months to sell their house at a hugely reduced rate. Bloody liars). Just be honest and tell people if they're going to have to wait a little longer.

Number three definitely. Been looking with my daughter recently and some of the places we’ve been to.
Dirty undies on the bedroom floor, washing up piled in the sink, animal hair everywhere.
Now I now they’re going to take their undies and washing up with them, but surely you’d clean if people are coming to view.

Our house took 12 weeks to sell, because it was 3rd floor with no lift. We had 6 viewers in the first week, we had one time-waster, 1 who bought the ground floor (still raging as they would have bought ours if they hadn’t been on sale), a young couple they couldn’t raise the money and three lots of people who moaned about thestaits!

@herculepoirot2

I'm not telling people how to price their houses but how to sell them.

If people want to over price them and sit there on the market like a lemon for two years, that's fine by me. It's a waste of everyone's time though.

It’s a waste of everyone's time though.

How is it a waste of your time?

Do me a favour, OP - never attempt to buy my house.

Why? Are you selling a filthy, over priced shit hole with obvious structural issues you pretend don't exist?

It wastes my time as I've been to look at a couple. Expected something nice considering what they are asking for it - estate agent will have done their best by putting up as few photos as they can get away with and no floor plan. Just to get people through the door.

Then you find out what it's really like and I've wasted 45 minutes of my life and the estate agents.

It wastes my time as I've been to look at a couple. Expected something nice considering what they are asking for it - estate agent will have done their best by putting up as few photos as they can get away with and no floor plan. Just to get people through the door.

Ha! That’s you wasting your time. Look at properties in your budget. Expect that a property will be marketed on its best side. Nobody owes you anything.

No, it's definitely the vendor. I don't understand why estate agents allow them onto their books- there's one in the area where I'm looking that has been on for two years. What is the point?

It’s none of your business, OP! If you go along to view a house on the basis of a few photos and not the whole place, more fool you. They’re not wasting your time just because you disagree with their valuation of their own property.

OP I am likely to try to buy and sell very soon. Your stories of ease have cheered me up. It was really easy when I did it before.

I’m mostly worried about the fact that I live here and can’t keep it to show home standard. It’s a small flat and while I am buying a storage bed to conceal as much stuff as possible, I can’t make it a Kondo space! I hope people can see past a bit of normal living stuff. It was empty when I bought it.

Everyone was efficient and it took five weeks. Most people thought that was miraculous.

So, on what basis do you decide to view a house? Other than the Rightmove ad, what the estate agent tells you, local knowledge of the housing stock, knowing the area and a working knowledge of building construction and problems, a search of it sales history on zoopla and google searches?

Hmmm?

@Grace212

Sadly, the ease of buying will depend directly on how sane your vendors are. I'm almost giving up.