Begging for some advice on how to get our house to sell... I need a miracle.

[FeeFee832]

We have been trying to sell our house since April. The bloody thing is taking forever. I am beyond impatient now and don't know what the heck to do... I want our house to sell ASAP.

Side note: House is on at £550,000.
We've had 3 buyers. All chains collapsed.
6 offers between £543,000 and 575,000.

Reduced the house to £550,000 from 575,000. Thinking of reducing again to £535,000 but EA saying wait.

The house across the road sold in 3 days!

Changed EA once as well... apparently the house is perfect, neutral colours, tidy, clean... etc.

HELP ME...

Google St Joseph and selling houses - I was equally desperate and I'm convinced it worked in my case. Had a viewing and offer, while they were still at the house, the very next day.

@dontcallmeduck

No, I dont ever want to sell again. The next house we buy is our forever home... I dont see the point in buying if you know you will sell again unless you're starting out.

The problem doesn't seem to be your house if you are getting buyers but their chains are collapsing. There is nothing you can do to stop this happening. The onus is upon them to make sure their houses are priced & presented correctly. The only thing you can do, if you are desperate to sell, is to sell to one of the companies that buy your house, or wait it out! It will happen, eventually. Took us 2 years in the end, but finally we are settled in our new home!

If you have been trying to sell since April, and you have only noticed tonight that the photos are old and unflattering, maybe should be a bit more involved with the agent and what they’re doing.

In my experience, you cannot just give them your house and let them get on with it. Far from it

TBH if you’ve not got to the actual legal and surveying part then I would agree it doesn’t sound like it’s the property but that they are asking too much for theirs or they have issues with their homes.

Unfortunately there isn’t really anything you can do about that. It would probably be worth telling your agent you are only excepting viewings from people ready to move, so with solid offers or chain free. This obviously doesn’t guarantee that the chain won’t collapse again but hopefully makes it slightly less likely.

Brexit has made selling and buying property really hard right now and if anyone in your chain is even slightly unrealistic about bending on price a bit or even tiny issues are found during the legal side then everything can collapse so easily.

It sounds like you’re just going to have to be a bit more patient and chalk it up to the current climate.

If you wanted advice on the actual house then putting a link up in a week or so like you suggested is a good idea. At least then you can be sure it really isn’t anything to do with your property.

@derbee not the photos advertising the house right now!!! The photos of the house now are great.

I found photos on RM in the history of the house. I typed in the address and it comes up with the sale history and previous photos of the house... Not available to everyone but if you are smart / RM savvy I am sure people have a look at this.

• Accepting

Thanks @Pollypenguin01

Yes, I daren't link to this now but will do with a name change later down the line. My husband is well-known in the media too, so I was trying to be fairly low key on this approach.

If yo want to sell quickly why not put your house up for auction. You can specify your reserve, the auction bidders can do online and in the auction house and they cannot back out after the auction as that is part of the auction deal. This will mean no chain and cash buyers. Nowadays you advertise for 4 weeks or however long you want to agree and then you have the auction day. The bidders are vetted in advance to check they are genuine.

*you

@ifonlyoneday

That sounds good... is there any hidden catch in that? Sounds too good to be true?

i think you need to curb your expectations when accepting an offer from someone who a) is waiting for a property to sell, or b)is in a chain. in both circumstances you have an increased risk of non-completion, so you need to be fully armed with lots of information at the point of offer. This is where the Estate Agency should be able to add value to you.

Sorry to add to the below:

I have noticed tonight that our house has old pictures of it from a rental 5 years ago, (we've had the house 12 years). The photos are HORRENDOUS. They show the house in a terrible state before we renovated the whole place. Can I get these removed via Right move? It even has the ghastly old bathrooms... and just looks shit! Maybe this is putting people off too as I know the photos are from when we rented via RM, but it looks like we tried to sell in 2014 and were unsuccessful. This isn't the case!

Also... our house on Street View looks nothing like it does now and neither does next door!!!! Should we get this removed?

I feel like our agent should see these things...?

• the photos are not the current photos advertising it but are in the houses history with its previous sale price. You have to search for house prices in the area and it comes up!

@Warpdrive what kind of things?

You wont be able to remove the history of your house from the internet - at least it shows what the house was like before you renovated it. The house near by hasnt sold within 3 days - sounds like it has gone under offer quickly - so theres still plenty of time for that one to fall apart like yours has done, so stop worrying about that one! Youve had bad luck because the market is crap due to brexit - nothing you can do about that. If you reduced the price you might attract a cash buyer who is waiting for a bargain or you just have to be patient - or wait until the market is less crap - but who knows when that will be?

I don't think there's anything you can do to change the property history online. When we were house hunting, we could also see old history of houses like this (especially if they were once a rental). This made us worry about 1 house slightly and wonder if it was kept under good condition while it was rented. I don't think it will stop your house from selling, but your price point and the timing is going to be really hard right now.

Depending on the auction house you either have to pay them a flat rate or a commission on the sale. Only downside is if the bidders do not go above your reserve price. This may indicate there isn’t enough interest at this time in you property or the price is too high.

If you can; wait. If you need to move, wait until the end of September and then bring the price down. I’m in a position to buy at the moment but I’m choosing not to. There’s plenty of people doing the same. I expect (rightly or wrongly) prices to fall.

Really? But what if you didn't want everyone to be able to see inside your house once you bought it? Could you not ask for this to be removed? I think I read somewhere else tonight that people could request photos be taken down but NOT the house price history...

I have emailed RM anywhere, so let's see!

If the house that sold in three days was more modern but same price as yours then it's possible your buyers are hoping for a price cut to factor in the amount of modernising they envision.

The buyers who are keeping in touch are hoping for a reduction, I would suspect.

I also think you need to keep in mind InvernessAdventure's warning about sharp practice by your EA (pitting buyers against each other, encouraging gazumping). That may also explain why the two buyers are contacting you directly - they want an inside track.

@bilbodog I know...I hope it does sell for them though. I would hate anyone to go through the process of chains collapsing like we have. It sold 5 weeks ago and still saying sold STC, so looks good so far? Ours only ever lasted 4 weeks max!

As much information as possible - how many in the chain, details of any high risk circumstances (eg. mortgages not in place, or buyers waiting on sale of a property, buyers not having full deposit, buyers having history of pulling out of earlier deals). Your EA needs to get really nosey and find out - for themselves if not for you - how likely is it that this deal will succeed? Managing your own expectations at the outset will help you.

moving house is so stressful so I feel for you.

@mathanxiety

No, they haven't sold theirs. Please read the thread. They are keeping in touch because they don't want anyone else to buy it.

Thank you @Warpdrive - good info.

I guess when it comes to accepting an offer, it then is just luck. Should we ask for direct contact with the buyer? Or is that asking for trouble?

Can i ask if youre not moving to a house youve found why are u desprate for it to sell so quickly-maybe wait for the buyer thats trying to sell theirs-they wil eventually

And like ytou say youre only going to go into rentals so it doesnt matter when it happenes does it