am i mad trying to sell our house now?

[overthemill]

we want to move - to france - and need to sell our house first, of course! BUT should i start trying to sell it now (people want to be in for christmas?) or wait for the spring?

We have a bit or tidying up to do (like finish painting odd bit we never got around to) but it could be on the market in a week.

What do you think?

i am a born worrier and always seem to try to sell in spring as i think things dip in the autumn

iiwy i would ask the local agents advice

it depends where you live, i'm in se london/kent and anything nice is still selling very quickly with no reductions in price

nancy75 - ooh you lucky thing! Rural bedfordshire - place where people always want to be but times are hard locally (as everywhere...)

Totally depends on where you are as nancy75 says. Nicer houses at a 'reasonable' price are selling again here (South Glos) after a very quiet few months.

There are lots of houses coming on to the market ATM so not sure how this will affect prices/demand?

It obviously depends where you are. We're in Oxfordshire and last week accepted a very close to asking price offer after ten days on the Market.

Are you in any rush? We wanted to get sold if we could as I suspect the Market isn't going to be getting any better in the near future and worried it would be harder to sell next year.

If you can try and sell now and it doesn't massively alter your plans then it might be worth a go. You can always rethink in a few weeks if you've had no interest and put it on the Market again in Spring.

my dh is very doom and gloom about the property market. We have been thinking about this move for ages but now it seems right from our point of view (he will be offered redundancy next year) and we want to do it now while we feel brave!

I am inclined to do it and try to make it as appealing as possible - families will always need homes won't they?

moomiemoo - did you negotiate a fee with the agents? We are wondering about trying to haggle!

There are massive regional differences.

In the E and W Midlands houses I have been watching since Christmas 2009 are still on the market despite 20-30% reductions in price.

What is amusing and sinister in about equal measure is that if you phone up about one of these houses the Agents will tell you the house has just gone on the market and there has been a lot of interest already.

Could you rent your house out here and then rent a house in France? It might be worth renting in France until you find somewhere you really want to live. My friends moved to France and thought they wanted to live in the countryside but actually ended up in a town as they rented out in the sticks and never saw another human!

we could rent out and then rent in france - we'd already thought of renting there first - we are pretty certain of where we want to live and are keen to make sure dd can start and then stay in the same school as the transition will be harder for her than us.

good idea though will beetle off to see how much we could rent our house out for!

Colleague has just agreed the sale of his house on the east/west midlands boundary for 95% of the asking price - within a week of it going on the market. And he was willing to accept 90% of asking

We did negotiate overthemill and all 3 agents offered us 1% in the end.

We thought about renting and renting too but I wanted to sell if we could because I'm also pessimistic about the market and knew I would kick myself for not trying now if we couldn't sell next year. We decided to sell then rent but found a house we love and plan to spend a long time in so not too worried if that dips in price.

Good luck whatever you decide - sounds very exciting.

We have just gone under offer after about six weeks on the market. We had to drop the price to sell, though - about 10% below original asking price. We found there were very few buyers around (especially ftbs) so without dropping the price I think we wouod have been waiting a long time.

I think you should get the house on the market asap.

The housing market depends greatly on where you live. I get a feeling very good properties still go quickly for good prices but average properties are becoming a struggle to sell.

The recent trend seems to be downward
www.rightmove.co.uk/news/house-price-index/september-2010 and www.rics.org/site/scripts/press_article.aspx?categoryID=509&pressReleaseID=289

My DH and I have been looking for a while for houses in Surrey (£1m+) and in that price bracket we've seen some substantial reductions (up to 25%) albeit from rather silly original asking prices.

Good luck.

I have two sets of friends who have both sold ina week - another friend ahs taken two years

We sold in 2 days in April, had an offer accepted on a house in June...and are still waiting to move. So bear in mind that even after accepting an offer it could be a very long process and in time for Christmas might be pushing it.

Sorry if I sound cynical, can you tell I'm weary of this whole debacle? (I'm sure yours will be fine though!)

IHeartKingThistle i feel for you! Buying & selling is so tortuous isn't it? We are 'lucky' in that we will sell before making a purchase - so we will be cash buyers in france. Decided that will be the best way for us to go.

good luck, we are going to try for this weekend

That will definitely take some of the pressure off you I think.

Thanks for the sympathy, good luck with your new adventure!

Just sold ours at asking price (much higher price than two other agents thought it was worth) on the first day of viewings. It depends where you live.

fiddledee where are you?

west london suburb however there is not much for us to buy though

oh yes everybody wants to beat the VAT rise on Jan 1st so the solicitors will be busy over christmas. Impacts on estate agents, solicitors, removal and other costs. Now is a good time to sell IMO.

VAT rise? omg, that's done it then, will list now, need every penny we can get for move