Aarrghhh!!!!!!!! Buying/Selling Houses!

[fio2]

Just want a bloody rant really. The people who are buying our house have a had homebuyers survey done, about 3 weeks ago. And today I have had a phonecall, well not me dh. They have just decided that there are a couple of little things that have come up on the survey. The purchaser wants to send an elctrician round because something has come up with the electrics, a corgi engineer to check the CH system (which is only 18 months old and cost us 2.5k to put in!) and apparently not all the windows open!! (they do) I asked the esatate agent to explain properly what was the actual problem is but they cant tell me in more detail. Why? I just think its really funny that they have waited 3 weeks and now have decided there are problems, hardly major are they? We have already dropped the price by 3k but they obviously want to knock more off. Why are people always like this when you are selling your house. We never do it to other people, maybe we are too soft. I just want to scream and shut his stupid little head in one of my windows that 'doesnt' open! Where do we go from her? Rant over

Ahh feel better now

But it doesn't protect tenants, it just binds them in and guarantees the landlord rent (presuming tenants aren't insolvent) regardless of if circumstances change and the tenant has to move house unexpectedly. We have tried all sorts of places to ask about lettings and we are hearing this 6 month thing again and again so obviously the landlords are extremely keen on it (and no surprise why if it's guaranteed 6 months income). Sorry if I send aggressive but I am very PO'd about it. No wonder people get so bogged down in house-selling chains if they don't have the flexibility of very short-term letting. WE have a friend who is offering to put us up 'for a month' or so. I had thought no way would I impose on her but it's looking like an extremely attractive offer, although we may run the risk of camping at her place more like 4 months than 1. What a friggin' pisser.

Zebra, Don't lower the price and don't except lower than the asking price.
If this couple love your house enough to buy it then paying 112 or 118 is not that big a diff.
Stand your ground and if they are serious they should give the asking price.
They might try it on with a lower but ime will up to asking price if you stand your ground.

No, i know Zebra. Basically it helps the govt/councils because landlords can no longer give 30 days notice if rent is unpaid which means they can take even longer to process housing benefit claims. Private Eye has had some interesting stuff about all this in recent issues.

Why are estate agents so patronising? GGGRrrrrrrrrr

they should all be shot.

zebra I forget, where are you? I can recommend a few websites that are good for short term sublets but they really mainly cover the london area.

i think patronising the wrong word. they're too stupid to be patronising. they're just scum....

Nowhere near London, but thanks anyway. We have decided to bite the bullet and just rent (in Norwich), hoping Loughborough house will sell in our absence (?sp). It solves a lot of problems, really.

Just one thing... realising I don't know what I'm talking about. When people say 'lower the price a bracket' -- how big is a bracket? What? The 3-bed houses around here (mostly built ~1935, on quiet streets) are currently advertised for

£134k (modern semi with integral garage),
£120k (semi next to us with extension),
£120k (end terrace, dirty carpets),
£115.5k (Our house, semi, lean-to conservatory, no parking, room for an extension)
£111k (modern build end terrace, off-road parking, opposite very dodgy flats)
£110k (narrow modern-build terrace with 2 parking spaces, sold sign up for 3rd time in last year, so wonder if it will fall through again).
£97k (run-down semi on busy road, almost no garden)

Nearest 2-bed houses seem to only be terraces on busy roads, for £80-£90k. But I think you would ask more like £95k-£105k for a 2 bed terrace on a quiet street. So what is our 'next bracket' down?

I think they prob mean to lower it to £110K. Don't know if i'm imagining things, but didn't you say you lived in a studenty-area? We were told that most people buying to let to students won't go over this as it cuts too deep into their profit margins. Similarly, whilst 5k may not sound a lot compared to the total asking price, or to people who live in areas where house prices are that much higher, it is likely to be a hell of a lot to a private buyer looking inthat price bracket. I'd guess you may be looking at 1st time buyers, people without massive deposits to put down and so on, even if they love your house they might simply be unable to raise the funds if you are only willing to accept an asking price of 115k

zebra have you not heard back from the pregnant couple yet? I didnt know you lived in Loughborough, my dh used to work in Loughborough and most of Leicestershire in his previous job. He always wanted to move there!

SofiaAmes you made me laugh

MLuisa: it's a student town, but this is mostly a family/immigrant neighbourhood. I think a 3-bed house in the Lboro hot 'student area' advertises for about £150k-£170k -- a lot more than your £110k! These are only small 3-bed terraces, too! The Estate agent keeps phoning to book viewings (2 tonight, 1 tomorrow, 1 Saturday), so there's hope, yet.

Fio2: Your DH wanted to move to Lboro? Not my neighbourhood, probably... but we only live in a working class/poor area. There's a really rough area of Loughborough where a houses like ours but somewhat nicer inside, really, wouldn't fetch more than £85k-£95k. and if we lived on the posh side of town, could expect £140k-£150k, and a fast sale, easily.

Wow, weird how things are so different in different parts of the country! Oh well, sorry to have been no use whatsoever. Though I guess if you live in a less well-off area the bit about 5k being a stumbling block does apply!

Good luck with the viewings (have you thought of calling in the house doctor? )

House doctor.. do they EVER go to bottom of the market houses? I just can't imagine them going in and saying, "Great House, shame about the neighbourhood" -- or, "We would recommend you spend £3k to get it sold, but in this area it will only make it sell 3 months sooner, you'll never make that back again."

Hey, we accepted an offer today - and it's even better than the last one (when the buyers flaked out on us), or even last summer's (when the buyer lost his mortgage)! So When do I believe it & let myself feel happy??

At the point you're unpacking your boxes in the new lounge, zebra

Congratulations!

That's great, zebra! Fingers and toes crossed - third time lucky!

I have just accepted an offer on our flat after the last lot pulled out following a survey.The surveyor valued it at exactly the original price they wanted to pay-a bit fishy as they sent a surveyor round the day after they offered and they instructed him themselves.He was possibly a friend of theirs because as soon as we asked to see a copy they pulled out.We now have another better offer but are terrified it wont go ahead.I cant sleep at all any good remedies to knock me out?

well done zeb our buyer 2 weeks from completion is being a cachead if i knew where he lived i would punch him

deep breath, but i am not like that..

noddy sorry i wasnt ignoring you on purpose yesterday. I would say the first people definately werent geniune, I dont know any surveyors who would come out the day after an offer was - it takes weeks to sort out. I would just relax about your new sale, it seems unlikely the same will happen again. Good Luck

hi everyone

hope no-one minds me bringing this back. for all you sellers out there at the moment what fees are your estate agents charging you? we had our house valued last night and the agent said their charges were 2%.

is that the norm? too high, too low? we are in sw london, in case that makes a difference.

thanks in advance

BK- Friends in our street beat their agent down to 1.5% in November.

BK - that's about average for sole agents in SW (although some will try 2.25%), and it will go up if you use more than one. Still, I would negotiate if I were you. We're in the midst of a terrible property selling saga, but all the agents are now saying there are not enough people selling since the market has picked up. You should tell them if they want your busines to drop their commission, esp if you are selling a house.

thank you

any other comments?

Most estate agents in Loughborough were quoting just 1% commission for us, the other agents were 1.5%. That's on a house selling for little more than £100k, so they'd be getting a lot less than where you are, BK.

WE offered on a house last week! Advertised for £255k, we Offered £240k, they turned down so we upped to £245k. Doesn't that still sound quite good? Less than 5% below asking price. Garage roof has asbestos, living room carpet is dirty & stained, kitchen is hideous bright yellow -- the seller is in midst of decorating one of the bedrooms. But NO, they won't budge. They want £249,999, we reckon. We are still mulling over what to do next. I just hate feeling coerced, but although it's not the sort of house most in demand in this area, it's an uncommon example of the sort of house we want in a good area, IYSWIM.

Then, a week after we sent the seller's pack out (we are doing our own conveyancing on the sale of our house in Lboro), the seller changes soliciter -- without even telling the first soliciter to whom we sent the seller's pack! Pillock.