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Original poster

Is anyone else having a misreable time trying to sell their house?

475 replies

Roseflower · 23/08/2010 23:07

Our house has been on the market since June and trying to sell it - it's so depressing. Our one offer fell through and since then it just been no more offers.

Buyers (this month we have only had FTB) seem to be getting more and more unrealistic in what they expect for their money around here.

I hate everything about selling a house- the horrible estate agents, the constant calls from rival estate agents touting, the time waster people, rushing around like mad tidying up after dd for hours, giving up our plans to get ready for viewings, people saying nasty things about our family home... but worse in the uncertainity of it all.

Be good to know other people feel as down as me for some support. Or even better people who did feel like me but now things have turned out well!

OP posts:
quietplease · 15/10/2010 20:15

Aw Sugar Muppet - sounds like you need a good rant!

I'm also selling a house and I hadn't realsied it would be so stressful. LAst time we sold a house, it was a different sort of market and things move quicker. I'm a very impatient sort of person so this kind of thing is hell for me!

Is there anything about how your photos look on the internet? I've been lurking here for a while and noticed other people put photos up for others to cast a critical eye. Appreciate you might not want to do this (I wouldn't want to blow my cover, TBH!).

Is it a lack of viewings? My EA reckons this is par for the course ATM.

Sugarmuppet · 15/10/2010 20:55

Added some of the photos, wouldn't let me take main pics of front of house and garden from EA website for some reason, but you get the idea! Be as critical as you like, I will do anything! Would repaint the whole house pink with blue spots if that would help!

OH keeps saying 'it only takes one person', yes darlin I know that! The frustrating thing is he is prob right, if some one with the funding in place, who was looking for this type of house came to look at all the houses on the street they prob would buy this one. But where that person is - I have no idea!

Have you had many viewings? I had no idea it would be so stressful and if we didn't absolutly have to move the house would be off the market!

quietplease · 15/10/2010 20:58

We had five viewings in the first three weeks then nothing since (I think it's been three or four weekends now without a viewer).

Of the five viewings, three weren't looking for this particular location (stupid EA!) but two really like it.

Sorry, I can't see your pictures otherwise I would comment. Where are they?

How long did you say you've been on the market and how many viewings??

Sugarmuppet · 15/10/2010 21:05

Put photos in my profile...I think...not very technically minded!

Had five viewings in 7ish months :( All seemed to really like it, only 2 were in a position to buy, then couldn't get mortgage, the other one who was interested just seemed to drop of the face of the earth!

Not sure if it would be more frustrating to have lots of viewers and no interest or not having any viewers at all!

quietplease · 15/10/2010 21:13

Ok, looked at your photos now (my DD is also called Gaby - how weird!).

Shame you couldn't post front of house as it's hard to get a perspective.

I think your photographs are fine - the house looks spotless and in good order - but - I'm a bit off-put by the kitchen - specifically, the colour of the walls (is that black paint?) and the floor is dated.

Can you replace this floor with something more neutral like a wood effect and make the walls lighter? Also, I would need to see your actual rightmove page to see where you stood (pricewise) in relation to other houses in the area.

How does your price compare?

Sugarmuppet · 15/10/2010 21:22

Is your Gaby spelt Gaby? We had the biggest disagreement over Gabby/Gaby/Gabi (Although she is Gabrielle)

Yes, if we were staying kitchen would be the first place to get re-done. Its black tiles, were like that when we moved in, left hand side wall is white. We replaced the work top before putting house on market but couldn't afford to do floor. Are thinking about doing it now though, I HATE the kitchen floor with a passion. Its lino and very difficult to keep clean. Is it worth spending money now, in case house does sell, would they just rip out whole kitchen anyway?

Our house is priced about the same as the others in the area without the fourth bedroom/drive/downstairs toilet, so the most competitively priced I would say.

teddiep · 15/10/2010 21:22

The sad truth is that anyone with any sense would not buy a house just now because it's obvious that prices are going to go down. A nice paint job isn't going to alter that. If you think you can get the same property in 2 years time and save a year's salary off the price in the process, you'd need your head examining to buy it now.

Unfortunately EAs live in a fantasy world. But if they don't give out high valuations to sellers, the sellers just go to their rivals down the road.

The only real choice is to stay where you are fir a decade or two, drop your price now or drop it by even more later. Not very nice.

quietplease · 15/10/2010 21:48

She's Gaby, like yours!

I would replace the floor and paint over the black tiles. I think this would cost a bare minimum but might look better in photos. I think a kitchen sells a house in many cases and so you might argue that a kitchen could be a deal breaker.

I wouldn't view a house with a kitchen that needed work if that house was already at the top of my price range. If someone looks at your photographs and realises they would need to do some work on it, you might lose the interest of anyone for whom that's the top whack they could pay.

You could offer an incentive like a cashback scheme - that might work. It's the same as reducing the price but it might grab people's attention.

Vine · 15/10/2010 21:49

Just had a look at your pics - Gaby is cute Smile. The house looks neutral, I don't think that you will improve the situation by DIY, the lack of interest is just a sign of the times.

A lot of buyers search on rightmove and will put a highest price so by dropping 5K you should pick up some more viewings. If you would be prepared to take a lower offer anyway it is worth it. I have noticed that a lot more properties are being advertised as offers OVER a certain amount to get to a wider market.

Sugarmuppet · 15/10/2010 22:01

Totally unrelated but you have made my day having a GABY! Both my Mum and OH say its a ridiculous way of spelling it, think everyone will pronouce it like it rhymes with baby! Rubbish!

Anyway, back to the matter in hand...

Think we will look to replace kitchen floor, just to save my sanity if nothing else. Will be a nightmare in the winter with muddy little feet!

Yeah, the last time we reduced our price we went down a price bracket in search options but no new interest as yet. It is offers over, until recently had been fixed price.

Just have to keep plodding along hoping our time will come. Drinking lots of wine and eating lots of chocolate in the mean time. (at least that's what I do when i'm feeling down about it!)

quietplease · 15/10/2010 22:11

See, if it were "Gabby" then that would look weird, wouldn't it?!

She is very cute, I agree.

I also agree it's a sign of the times - we're in the same boat though do have some interested people, if only they could sell theirs!

Perhaps you should include her photo on Rightmove - that would grab 'em!

Sugarmuppet · 15/10/2010 22:31

Lol we had one viewing when she was in her cot for a nap, she woke up at just the right second when they were looking in her room and flashed the most wonderful smile at the couple! If she can't sell houses no-one can! lol

Totally, Gabby looks silly IMVHO, glad I won that battle!!

katspaw · 17/10/2010 11:13

With the spending cuts/job losses to be announced this week, property prices are bound to start dropping again.

If you are selling you must be realistic/flexible in your asking price.

Remember, you can always sell to rent for a while or haggle a similar discount on the property you are looking to buy.

JaynethePain · 17/10/2010 13:18

I'm possibly a little older than most on here so can remember the situation in the early 1990s - the last time we experienced a prolonged period of house price falls.

I'd bought a flat in 1987 for £31,000 and put it up for sale in 1989 for £49,950. Within hours I'd had a cash offer of £45,000 and rejected it out of hand as being an insult. It then took me another 9 months to sell the place - for £40,000!

That flat didn't rise in value to £40,000 again for seven or eight years.

The situation in the housing market this time is FAR worse. Learn from my mistake, and accept almost any offer that allows you to clear the mortgage and move on. The alternative could well be years of negative equity in a house that is unsuitable.

Mooos · 17/10/2010 14:50

Jayne - you were lucky; my best friend and her new husband way back then lost a whole lot more at that time and took many many years to recover. I remember the complete and utter misery they went through for a long time.

I do sometimes feel like shouting and warning people to really really consider an offer if they get one these days.

Avocadoes · 17/10/2010 14:56

I am surprised by this thread. There are obviously massive regional variations in the health of the property market. We are central London and, after a dip 18 months ago, prices are sky high. We put our house on the market at the beginning of Sept and had a bidding war within three weeks. We accepted a cash buyer with an asking price offer. And I thought our asking price was ambitious. Our challenge now is finding a house to offer on ourselves, supply is still very low around here and so prices a re sky high.

I would love another slump. We might lost our buyer but the differential would shrink between our house and the bigger houses we are looking.

Sadly I don't think there will be another significant slump here. Not now that City bonuses are back. This is bad news for DH and I as we work in the public sector.

The nice parts of London are in a weird little bubble that bares little relation to the rest of the country. Bloody bankers.

sethstarkaddersmummyreturns · 17/10/2010 16:52

agree re regional variations Avocadoes.
I get really confused by property threads where everyone piles in and gives advice, or posters bicker about the state of the market, without anyone actually mentioning where they are!

sethstarkaddersmummyreturns · 17/10/2010 17:36

(actually 'bicker about' was a needlessly negative expression, sorry. Should have just said 'discuss'.)

69 · 17/10/2010 18:15

Hello Mums !

Anyone selling in North Somerset? Please contact, we I may be interested.
Post codes BS22, BS23 and BS24 would be especially welcome. Cash purchaser.

69

threetimespink · 17/10/2010 21:00

A house is not worth what you overpaid for it anytime in the last 10 years of madness.

Neither it is worth what the agent "valued" it at.

Neither what some other crazy nest maker is willing to pay for it.

A house is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay AND has as funds available to pay for it and can afford to pay.

The shampagne socialist party is over...

Just accept it and be happy to have any offer for your pile of bricks.

sethstarkaddersmummyreturns · 17/10/2010 21:18

'Crazy nest maker'? Hmm

let me guess, you're from HPC.... things slow over there tonight?

threetimespink · 17/10/2010 21:26

No, that is from CSR

And thing aren't slow where I am:

Estate agent taking a 450k offer on a 700k asking price...

sethstarkaddersmummyreturns · 17/10/2010 21:32

don't know what CSR means, other than Corporate Social Responsibility.

threetimespink · 17/10/2010 21:44

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spend_index.htm

Rickenbacker4001 · 17/10/2010 22:19

Reading this thread reminds me of the film Titanic. The ship is holed and sinking.. almost no chance of escape.. about to start going down real fast.
Yet people are standing on deck chatting and listening to the orchestra play, wondering where they might get a nice brandy to drink and whether they should have put a warmer coat on.