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...

I don't think your solicitor should be getting your hopes up like that. We bought from renting this year, our sellers we're moving abroad so there was zero chain and absolutely no issues. Still took 9 weeks from offer to completion.

I also want to add to the people saying that it's unlikely to complete that quickly. We were first time buyers and not in a chain and it still took 12 weeks start to finish. We had our mortgage/funds ready. A couple of the searches were difficult and there was an issue with the windows not being in keeping with planning which held it up. Admittedly Christmas was in the middle but really that shouldn't have made a huge difference. Depends on all manner of things.

I also think they are getting your hopes up. We sold a house to a cash buyer this year who was getting it as a buy to let with builders booked so very motivated. It still took over 9 weeks. Buyer had also shown all of his ID etc, it just took that long.

There is nothing you can do about chains collapsing. We lost our buyers twice, we got lucky third time with a cash buyer no chain and it went through in under 3 months. In total it took 9 months.

Now is an awful time to sell with Brexit looming. You just have to wait it out. It will happen.

7 weeks is fast, but not impossible.

The only search that could take any significant length of time is the local, and that varies from one local authority to another.

However, there are a great deal of variables involved when selling a house, and an army only marches at the pace of its slowest soldier.

I have bought and sold several houses. In one case, it was all done and dusted within 6 weeks, so it is possible. More difficult with leasehold.

Someone I know was a ftb and bought a probate property. The legal stuff still took nine weeks.

Our searches took 12 weeks. We were FTB moving into an empty house, nothing could have been more straightforward, it was a very simple transaction, but yeah, 12 week was the minimum timescale due to the Local Authority taking that long to do the searches

Well aren't you a bunch of positive Polly's this afternoon... if it sells and completes in 7-8 weeks, fantastic. I just need an offer and close to exchange in 6 weeks, which is do-able at the right price.

What happens with the searches? What are they even for?

Ah FeeFee ask your solicitor that one. They are very important as you would know when you bought your house initially.

Our completely chain free, issue free purchase took 13 weeks from offer to completion.

Searches explained:

www.comparemymove.com/conveyancing/what-are-conveyancing-searches

@FeeFee832, what would be the point of misleading you? If none of us has achieved exchange in seven weeks, it does kind of point to it being a rare occurrence.

FeeFee, the searches are for things like flooding, mining in the area, Radon gas, etc. They can take ages, but they can also be done relatively quickly. It is worth asking around for recommendations for solicitors who work quickly. Good luck with your viewings.

Alsohuman, as I mentioned above, it is possible to get completion, never mind exchange, within 6 weeks of accepting an offer. Unusual, but not impossible. I have done it.

You seem to be very otherwise, OP. But as far as 7 weeks for completion goes, your solicitor cannot give any realistic indication of how efficient your buyers solicitor will be. So giving you a confident timeframe of under 7 weeks actually doesn’t mean anything.

@InterestingView I didn't buy the house initially, my husband did

Thanks @Mildura

Do people ever do the searches on their own house, pay the fee and pass to the new buyer to speed up the process??

There's literally nothing you can bypass unless you yourself are a solicitor.

AFAIK.

If anyone other than their solicitor does the searches, the buyer has no redress if things go tits up after the sale. Only a truly bonkers buyer who completely disregarded their solicitor’s advice would do that. Sorry.

Ah ok... completely different system in Scotland where I bought and sold my property. My flat went on the market, sold and completed in 6 weeks to a cash buyer.

It's just so different down here!

The most stressful thing about house sales is almost everything is out of your control. You literally just have to be patient.

I know this won't make you feel better but my DM's house was on the market from June 2016 and didn't sell until June this year. Same thing happened to her, people constantly pulling out (sometimes on the day of exchange), although this was for a variety of reasons.

She has now finally managed to sell the house but it is an awful market at the moment, and the rules around buying/selling in the UK do not help!