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Original poster

I hate selling houses (even more than buying them!)...

239 replies

Heathcliffscathy · 18/10/2004 19:29

we put our house in the market in sept and the first people thro the door offered us asking price...the sale fell thro last week (no reason given) so we have to restart the whole process having lost a (crucial) month...

the papers are all doom and gloom and we just really want to sell it (we can't live in it as it's in the countryside, originally we intended to move there, but it hasn't worked out, and we can't leave london, it's crippling us financially).

every day i wait for the agent to call,it's like when you really fancied someone and you had a sick feeling in your stomach waiting for the phone to ring...it's horrible...i know we probably won't sell before xmas and then there will be a massive crash and we are screwed...

no point to this post other than to express my tortured mind...argh, i hate it so much!

thanks for getting this far if you have...

OP posts:
Kaz33 · 20/10/2004 15:15

Just had a call from F**s - apparently there has been a mix up with the keys and they had to cancel viewings last week because they didn't have the keys. Strange as we gave them to them over two weeks ago when we instructed them !!!

Aaaarghh..... hopefully that explains why it is so quiet and we will now be indundated with viewings.

Cranberry, we are in the same position as you - having given up work to be SAHM we cannot afford to live here and are presently relying on my redundancy money to make up our living expenses.
Not an issue yet, but 6/9 months down the line it could become one so lets keep our fingers crossed for the general buoyancy of the British economy. Oh yes and Dp getting a payrise.

pamina3 · 20/10/2004 16:12

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

katzguk · 20/10/2004 16:24

hulababy sorry to hear you still hvaing problems, just wanted to give you the link to the house nextdoor that i have mentioned before, she has finally got round to putting it on the market. One thing i have to say is the house isn't as small as the details make out.

house

sweetkitty · 20/10/2004 17:51

I have 3 indoor cats and although they are very clean I think it may put non cat loving viewers off, can't really do anything with them (they refuse to stay in the cupboard )

Had viewing last week they EA phoned at 12 and said can they view your house this afternoon we were on our way out but said 3pm will be ok. Gotback at 2.15pm bags of shopping hungry babe, house wasn't too bad but needed final viewer clean (hiding ironing pile etc) got a phonecall from EA saying viewer had finished early could she come now (had to say no) then about 5 mins later another phonecall to say sorry they now couldn't make it could they make it Monday at 6pm. Yea you guessed it tidied Monday they didn't show

Hulababy · 20/10/2004 18:00

Seems a very good (for the buyer) price for it's size Katzguk. Is there any parking do you know? As we will ahve to have a second car And do you know if theere is much to do in the house - bearing in mind I like white bathrooms and very modern kitchens? But in saying that I am iwlling to do both if need be anyway.

But I can't face viewing any more properties just yet Goign to wait until we have an offer now.

foxinsocks · 20/10/2004 18:09

For those of you with F***s - we moved in 2003 and we ended up on the market with practically any agent that would have us! We lived in a lovely flat that was completely non-child friendly but we had 2 kids and NO-ONE could see past all their stuff. We were on the market for AGES at a time when supposedly, the market was really taking off.

I have to say F***s were the most professional of the lot - however, they didn't sell our flat because they never seemed to have a good stream of viewers coming through. Although, all the viewers they did get were completely different to all the other agents (who often seemed to be operating with exactly the same set of buyers, if you see what I mean). We eventually sold with another agent (three words, first one beginning with K!) who I felt never gave up on us even though they weren't necessarily the most professional, or the most informed.

Anyway, what I'm really trying to say is DON'T GIVE UP! Just when I thought we weren't going to do it, we took it off the market, put it back on 2 months later, rented a storage place and shipped out half our stuff and sold it within a month. Good luck because I know how soul destroying this house selling business can be.

bonniej · 20/10/2004 18:28

How did you get on with your viewer dillydally? Did they show and were they keen? Hope you had some good news. Might keep us all going for a while

bonniej · 20/10/2004 18:32

Just checked out your house, Skate. It's lovely and I'd buy it (if I could afford to

Hulababy · 20/10/2004 18:33

WE have had a copuple of no shows. It's so demoralising isn't it?

stripey · 20/10/2004 18:34

We are having some house buying dilemas ATM not quite the same though. Our problem is not being able to find anything to buy. I have been looking on the Internet for most of the year and viewed 3 properties.

We did find a house we really liked but felt it was overpriced and the vendors wouldn't accept our offer even though their agent advised it was a good offer and they hadn't had any other viewers.

We managed to sell our house to neighbours who are currently living in a downstairs flat (equivalent to the bottom floor of our house). However we have now told them we can't sell as we have nowhere to buy, they also cannot find anywhere else to buy and so are most likely going to rent for 6 months.

I definitely think the market is really slow as since I have been looking for a property I have seen several houses reduced by 25k especially in the last month.

I know a most people wouldn't want to accept a lower offer but from our point of view we are worried that if we pay more than we think it is worth plus stamp duty we wouldn't be able to resell should interest rates go up etc. On the other hand we do like the house and would probably offer more but again the owners cannot find anywhere to buy so even if they accepted more we wouldn't be able to move for who knows how long?

SpringChicken · 20/10/2004 19:34

Think this is the only reason ours appears to be going quite smoothly - ours is only a 2 bed house so would only be first time buyers or people looking for a development.
It is perfect for first time buyers - we feel in love with it straight away, only viewed it once and still really like it - just a case of no space.

I need to arrange a 2nd viewing on the house we have bought - eed to measure up for carpets, cooking space, fridge space etc - is it too early to be doing all this or should i wait until things are a bit further down the line?

DillyDally · 21/10/2004 09:50

My mum went round to hide babygros and kick rusk crumbs under the sofa for me - so the viewing would go well.
Then at 6 o'clock (five hours after the "viewing"), i get a call from the estate agents with some feedback. Which was that the Queen was travelling near my road and had blocked the viewer from getting to my flat

Apparently, viewer will return next week.
The DD started projectile vomiting last night until 3am this morn

Anyone have a spare pile of joy I can temporarily borrow?

pamina3 · 21/10/2004 09:54

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macneesh · 21/10/2004 12:47

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DillyDally · 21/10/2004 13:01

I think that people are more willing to move after Christmas...also it gives them more time to see what the market is doing and how interest rates are going.
As long as you are not buying at the top end of your affordability, want to live there for a few years (to avoid some smaller changes in prices) and negotiate hard on the asking price - you should be fine "in theory" - but you can never tell what the market will do though. Your guess is as good as mine. Do you want a flat in the East End of London by the way

muddaofsuburbia · 21/10/2004 13:06

Finally worked out who these blummin mini people are your all talking about. They're only based in London and Surrey which is why I've never heard of them!! Nice cars though

muddaofsuburbia · 21/10/2004 13:06

eek - people you are talking about...

muddaofsuburbia · 21/10/2004 13:06

are

muddaofsuburbia · 21/10/2004 13:07

give up mudda...

PicadillyCircus · 21/10/2004 13:09

Well, other set of agents have been roudn this morning doing measuring, photo taking etc. So maybe we might sell our house.

Or maybe there is a pig flying past the window .

DH and I have resigned ourselves to not selling until after Christmas and it helps a bit.

But still really want to sell our house

Skate · 21/10/2004 13:17

Macneesh - January/Feb are always the hottest months for buying/selling - always have been regardless of the type of market. When we sold our flat 5 years ago we had no interest at all in Nov, Dec but in Jan it went mad with up to 6 viewers in a day!

There are lots of houses still selling round my area - lots of sold boards going up, just not at my house and I'm sure it's not overpriced - it's the cheapest and the nicest out of 4 on our stretch of road up for sale.

Skate · 21/10/2004 13:18

PC - yes, I don't feel AS stressed because I've resigned myself to thinking that it probably won't sell before Xmas now so I'll just concentrate on my little holiday, ds and dh's birthdays and Xmas and then start worrying again in Jan!!

macneesh · 21/10/2004 13:27

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Skate · 21/10/2004 13:30

Macneesh - yes I see your point re September. I think normally it would pick up in September but this year it hasn't because people are waiting to see what interest rates do. I think if they remain stable from now it will pick up as usual in the new year/spring.

You realise I HAVE to believe this because I'm moving out anyway in Jan and will have 2 mortgages!! Can't be doing that forever!!!

katzguk · 21/10/2004 14:33

hulababy

not sure on the decor have never been inside, from the garden the kitchen looks okay. The house has a garage round the back like us but parking on the road is generally okay, we only have one car and the two houses oposite have off road parking.

Big plus is the bus route from here to town is great.

i know your not lokking but might be worth a look, you can then tell me whats it like!!!

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