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

[Roseflower]

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!

Hi there, Ours has been on the market since Jan, only one viewer (trying to sort their finances, we are hopeful!!!)
First agents got over £500 for marketing and newspapers(in scotland) + Home report at £400, didnt even get a viewing, changed to more local agents who know the market better, was charged 150+vat to leave old agents even thou outside of 12 week contract period. (Threatening letter sent to advise that we are going to write to OFT re charge as not explained when signing up, awaiting response).
We are still hopeful, we sold our flat in London last xmas after been on the market for two years!! If we'd got it on the market 6 months earlier then we'd have got 200K easily but moved at just the wrong time!!, still happy enough as we got 175K (other properties that bottled it and went early in same area sold at 150K).
Good luck!!!!

BTW, the viewing we got was from details I added to the tepilo website (free), not the agents, the agents don't know that we have a possible!!!

Someone is coming to view our house this afternoon too!! Perhaps the tide is turning for us all

Well we're in rented and looking to buy and round these parts (south west) in my opinion a lot of vendors are still being very unrealisic as to pricing.

Agent I spoke to 2 weeks ago said they're routinely getting people asking that their property is put on at £25-50k higher than the agent's valuation. This then means that people like me feel its reasonable to offer 20% under asking price.

Also I am much more aware now of re-selling the property so any big flaw can not be overlooked.

Its a tricksy time though.

Hope you sell soon but if I were you I would definitely look at your price.

Thanks all of you and good luck!
Our agent valued at £399k, marketed it for 6 months with 3 reductions,(no sale) I suggested a new price of £350k, note, I suggested it: our agent is still over-valuing and just expecting us to wait. We cannot afford to do this. As it is me, rather than my husband dealing with the agent, I just think he does not take me seriously. Yes, this is the south-west, and I am a middle aged mum- just another 'invisible' woman?

Wiltsmum my situation is so similar to yours! Have you got any more news yet?

Roseflower - just as soon as we've sold our flat in Battersea (lots of viewings, no offers yet, but only seriously marketed in the last week as EA said nobody really buys property in August) we're going to be looking in Kingston/ Surbiton for a family home. Is that roughly where you are? If so, I know by just looking at things in EA's windows and DH's obsessive use of the Rightmove app on his iPad that there are huge variations in values of property but that there usually is an underlying reason. Small differences in location and size of third bedroom can add up to a disproportionate difference in price. I really wouldn't rely on what other similar houses are fetching as a guide to what yours is worth.

We also had a huge variation in the valuations of our flat. We went for the agent with the highest valuation, but there were other reasons for our choice. I think it's over-priced and am ready to drop the price like a shot if we haven't had an offer at that level by the end of the month. But why wouldn't we give it a try at this price if the agent thinks we can get that?

We're waiting to see what price we get for ours before doing any serious viewings in Surbiton as we won't know what we can afford before then. DH keeps getting excited about things he finds, but it really isn't worth thinking about it yet.

Hope things work out for you. Who knows, if you're in the area we want to look in, maybe we'll end up being your buyers........

We're just about to put ours on- and have had a 30k difference in valuation- we had one at 235k, 225 and 200- its really unnerving there can be such a difference. Houses like mine with 2 less bedrooms are up for 200 so I don't know which one to go with- any ideas?

Maybe somewhere in the middle? Not sure where you are and demand in your area though.

We've just bought a house for 210k which was valued at 225k and we were happy with that as it gave us a buffer zone should prices drop further. People will always go in with a lower offer at the moment!

Hello all!
Guess what-we had an offer, but it was so low (310k) for a house valued at 399k. So who is right? There is nothing comparable in our area for anything like 310k. The people offering had 'sold' and are just after a bargain. There is another property in our village for sale within their budget, but guess what, the agent sent them to us-thinking we would let our house go at whatever price.
Whilst we want to sell, we paid £325k in Dec 07 and have spent 40k renovating. Not borrowed money-our own, hard earned cash. There is a limit to how far we will drop, and many people now in 'rented' are just biding their time until people like us get desperate. We are only asking 350k.
I am now more annoyed with the agent than ever, but as we are tied to them for another 3 months I feel we are up the proverbial creek....

cheek of it! Don't accept under any circumstances!

If it is on the market at 350 then 310 is an ok offer.Valued at 399 doesn't mean anything sadly as property has no intrinsic value and its worth is based on economics and what someone will pay.I have a feeling in another 6 months 310k will look good!

Ours has been on since June (one offer 6 weeks ago that fell through) but another offer today! So will update it if holds! (offered about 12% less than asking value)

I've been on the market since January! Some viewers ("lovely but I want detatched not semi", "lovely except I really need 4 bedrooms" etc - don't people read the specs before they come round?!) - one offer, then he lost his buyer so now we wait...

We had our house on the market, while renting in the area we now live, for a year with barely even a viewing, it was on the market for 10% less than the valuation, and for about 15% less than a comparable house across the road sold for at the time we put it on the market. We have now had to rent it out - which took another 2 months to find people to rent. We are now totally broke and totally depressed as we can't buy until we sell.

We've been on the market since Feb, with one failed sale (buyer finance issues). Now finally hoping to exchange this week.

We went from sole agency to joint agents, and cut the asking price and I think that helped. While the single office local firm was under notice that their sole agency was about to end (we had to give 4 weeks) they seemed to find more viewers. Eventually our buyer was found by the London-wide firm we appointed as the second agents. The buyer's flat is being sold by the same firm of agents so they are pretty keen to push both sales through.

the only feedback we got about lack of offers from the agents (aside from the usual piffle) was that there weren't enough bedrooms. Hello? It's a four bedroom house. If you want more than four bedrooms, go look at a bigger house.

Our neighbours are selling too, but they can afford to wait for a sale so they haven't cut the price.

14 weeks on the market. 7 viewings no offers. drppoed the price and no viewings since. its a 2 bed apt with amazing location/views. just changing agent.

any ideas??

the way estate agents work could do with a big overhaul. It used to be that you needed their shop window, but it makes little difference now when their is the internet.

I think part of the problem is their idea of professionalism - its as though its necessary to be above the buyers and the sellers. This enables them to ignore people's wishes and try to push them into things that aren't right for them. Have you ever asked for a house not on a main road and been taking to something on a red route?? They manipulate buyers into seeing properties that are unsuitable and they manipulate sellers into proceeding with a sale that isn't fair. Its the no-win, no fee structure that is at fault. Maybe if they were paid a fair rate for doing a fair job, then it would be better because they do have a role to play in property sales.

Also, wouldn't it be lovely if people didn't put ambitious prices on the houses and then convince themselves that it is worth it? And buyers who budget for a shack but aim for a detached villa.

One thing I would suggest to anyone starting out is trying to reduce the time period an agency demands you stick with them, before signing up to them. There isn't much on the market, they will be desperate and hopefully agree to do it. I did this with my flat years ago and was able to quickly ditch the rubbish estate agent.

The reason I know they were rubbish is that I asked my Mum to call up as a buyer and pretend to be looking for something like my flat. They didn't even mention it to her!

Same boat over here . House has been on the market since May, only one viewing so changed agents last week. New agents recommended we drop the price by 7k which we have agreed to do.
I am currently working in London away from the kids :( and DH :( . Love my job but my entire wage goes on rent, travel and childcare.
I swear buyers smell desperation. Fingers crossed for all that things pick up, but not too optimistic over here, sadly.

We're hoping to go to market soon. For reasons I can't work out prices here are going up which is madness. I full expect it to take a year before we get a sale just because we're selling a family home which will inevitably be in a chain. This will be our fifth move in 18 yrs.

If you go on Rightmove there is a thing where you can see how much houses in your location have sold for recently. Obviously something comparable has to have sold in the last year or so for it to be helpful, but still...

With regards to renovations, as I understand it there is a point at which money spent doesn't increase value to the property. In particular although a grotty bathroom and kicthen will stop a sale, spending oodles on a new one will just make your house sellable, not actually add to its value - not unless you also open up the space to make a living kitchen or something like that. Ditto wiring and damp proofing - buyers expect a house to have safe wiring an not be damp; sorting this means your house is sellable but not worth more. Adding rooms gets the best returns. We've converted our integral garage into a self-contained studio which can be used for working from home or for a teenager or dependent relative. We didn't need pp and it was relatively cheap and easy, although we do have off-street parking so could lose the garage.

Roseflower - you mentioned you had a three-bed semi, and viewers were complaining about the tiny third bedroom. We got the same comments when we put ours on the market. I rearranged the (very small amount of) furniture in the third bedroom to make it look bigger, and no-one else mentioned to the agents how small it was. Worth a try.