To think we’re not meant to be moving

[SleepyHamster8]

Hi everyone, looking for some advice/perspective on our housing situation. Not posting in Property as I feel this is more of a personal matter and not just to do with the UK property market.
Our house has been up for sale since mid January. We’ve had dozens of viewers, a few offers - most of these way below what we were prepared to accept - and a couple of prospective buyers who seemed extremely keen and then ghosted the estate agents.
We had an acceptable offer but the buyer subsequently changed his mind, and another offer that we accepted where the buyers pulled out after 3 weeks. During this time we changed estate agents and dropped the price. The current agents are asking us if we’d consider dropping the price again but I’m wondering if this house sale just isn’t meant to happen.
Is the universe telling us to stop trying for now or is the market really that unstable at the moment? When we viewed our current house, we fell in love with it instantly and the whole process was a breeze, it took 8 weeks from offer acceptance to exchange. I know things are harder for everyone at the moment but should they be this hard? Many thanks for reading.

Why do you want to sell?
If you need to move, drop the price.
If you'd like to move consider what to do.
If you use fancied a change, take it off the market.

Yes, the market is volatile right now. We were third time lucky on the sales progressing last year. I'd day you probably really want to move to be going through things right now.

Thanks for your reply. The main reason for moving is our fixed term mortgage coming to an end in a couple of months.

Unfortunately the house is only worth as much as what someone is willing to pay for it. If this doesn’t match what you are after you will either need to pull the sale or reevaluate your expectations.
Unfortunately with COL and high Morgage rates it’s very much a buyers market at the money

So you don't actually want to move?

You could just get another fixed rate. Maybe just a year or 2 and then re-evaluate again then if you do want to move.

What do you mean that your mortgage deal expiring is the reason for you moving? Can you not just remortgage? Seems easier than moving

I"m in the same position so following with interest!

All very well saying it's a buyer's market, but all of the offers I've put in have been rejected (too low, fair enough) but we are getting offers too low also...Either the buyer or the seller is going to have to crack!

I'm currently reevaluating what we can afford..

Sorry, I’m drip feeding! We don’t want to enter another fixed term deal and be stuck here for at least two years and we need to register our DD for school next year.

We’re also reevaluating our position, I feel your pain. We didn’t put our house on the market thinking it was going to be easy but this is just too stressful. The work that goes into getting our house ready for viewings when you have a toddler running around is something else! I’m finding the whole vicious circle of hope and disappointment really hard :(

You're expecting more than it's worth. Buyers and estate agents are all telling you that.

You don't need to do another 2 year deal, there are plenty of 1 year deals. You can also move while you're in a fixed term, sometimes you can port the mortgage and sometimes you pay a fee.

But are you saying you're actually moving for school catchment areas?

The reason why you are moving matters as to whether it's worth the trouble or not. School applications have very fixed timelines, including having to live in catchment for months before applications are submitted.

The market is tough at the moment, and most estate agents I’ve come across are pretty shit and can’t get stuff landed in a tough climate. It will happen lots of people are in the same boat at the moment.

i am currently living with my ex-partner, desperate to sell and nothing. It’s so frustrating and I feel my life is on hold. I own most of the property, and if I move out he’ll never let it be sold, but I can’t get him out because he owns as tenants in common (only 20ish% though). I have to believe it will sell eventually. I feel your pain

You had a particularly easy ride last time OP - 8 weeks from offer to exchange is exceptionally quick. That's partly why it seems so much worse this time.

I don’t think you need to move just because of your fixed term.

As a pp has said, sometimes you can port the mortgage, sometimes you can pay a fee. They can’t force you to stay put.

But yes, it does also sound like you’re asking for more than it’s worth

Thank you all. The asking price was set based on valuations, we had 4 and they all came back with a consistent figure, it’s not something we came up with. Appreciate that things are changing quite quickly though.
We may not have to move right now but we want to be in the new area that we love and settled before we start applying for schools.

That’s a tough situation, sorry to hear that. Hope you sell very soon!