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Original poster

Is anyone else trying to sell a house and feels like poking themselves in the eye with a sharp stick?

283 replies

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 14:37

House has been on the market since July. We have changed estate agents, which obviously made no difference as it's not a new instruction. Am sick of it all, sick of the pointless viewers, sick of the useless feedback, sick of always being pipped at the post, sick of the market, sick of my house.

OP posts:
maggiethecat · 04/05/2011 14:50

Do you have to sell it, can't you rent it out until things improve?

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 14:52

We could do, I suppose. Wouldn't that be a massive pita, though?

OP posts:
MrsMoppet · 04/05/2011 14:54

Yes! Me too! Hellooo!! Utterly, utterly sick of trying to sell the blardy house, and particularly sick of the feckin estate agent (sorry, I don't usually swear, but they really are a timewasting bunch of idiots - at least, ours are, and all the others in the area are no better). Ggrr..

Maybe we should do a house swap Pinkjenny! Hope your buyer turns up soon.

nickelbabe · 04/05/2011 14:55

I know how you feel - DH is selling his mum's house and the buyer's just pulled out.

why? because of a problem that he knew about (that's why the house was sold at a low price, and he was fully aware of the condition)

FairyLightsForever · 04/05/2011 14:57

Not me, but my Mum is in the same position and phones me everyday to moan about it- can I borrow your sharp stick when you're done with it?!

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 14:57

Mine are also. How long has yours been on the market for, MrsMoppet? Have you had any offers?

OP posts:
mrsravelstein · 04/05/2011 15:01

yup us too, been on and off market for 18 months, have had various buyers and various chains which have broken down for one reason or another. endless people coming round to say they don't like the house because the flats opposite aren't very attractive, or because the kitchen isn't miraculously twice the size the details/photos suggest, or because they 'don't like the look of the neighbours' (we have lovely neighbours)...

we are now at the point where if our current chain breaks down, we won't be able to move in time for september when we need to make 2ndary school applications for ds1 (we are moving to a new area). so then we have to stay here for the foreseeable future, v depressing.

mrsravelstein · 04/05/2011 15:02

also sick of estate agents telling me that the house we want to buy is not overpriced despite the fact that it's been on the market for 12 months at 100k more than it was bought for at the height of the market etc...

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 15:03

We are lucky I suppose in that we are in no desperate rush, but I have just moved on from that house, and I am starting to despise it. Also, my ds is such a destructive force that much longer and we are going to have to start spending money on it.

I just didn't want to do that, we've already lost every penny we've spent on it (based on the asking price).

OP posts:
MrsMoppet · 04/05/2011 16:03

Pinkjenny It's only been on the market for 2 months this time, but we put it on the market 2 years ago and didn't sell it, so decided to try again ... so it hasn't only been 2 months iyswim, we moved on from it, emotionally, 2 years ago ....
We're not in a desperate rush either, but it's still a major pain in the you-know-what.
The useless feedback is what gets me the most. (I can't make the garden any bigger!!). That, and the fact that I will have to pay thousands of pounds in commission to the lazy buggers estate agents when the house FINALLY sells.

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 16:05

I agree with everything that you have said. It really is a buyers market. We have had two offers, both fallen through. I completely get the emotionally moving on.

OP posts:
MrsMoppet · 04/05/2011 19:17

I've just had a phone call from Obsequious Git Estate Agent, droning on about hit rates on RightMove, click-through rates, bla bla bla bla bla .... I cut in sharpish and asked him how this fascinating data is translating into viewings? He rang off pretty sharpish.

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 05/05/2011 10:52

I have had to pass all estate agent dealing over to dh. I am losing my rag quite a lot, which isn't a very good colour on me. They said this in the last conversation:

'Er, the viewers that you had on Sunday had already made an offer on a different property on Saturday, and that has been accepted. They did like your property though. Er, also, Anne Marie also wanted me to phone you because er, we have another vendor who is interested in the bow bay semis, but when we showed him your property on the internet, he wasn?t exactly blown away by the picture of the lounge, so er, can we come out and take another picture of it??

OP posts:
nickelbabe · 05/05/2011 10:56
Confused wouldn't it make more sense for the "vendor" to come and few it rather than go on the internet pictures? what is wrong with people??
Sushiqueen · 05/05/2011 11:15

Can I join? I am sick of having the house looking like a showhouse and cleaning constantly. Fed up of the comments such as " it looks like it is on an estate as the other houses are quite close" IT IS AN ESTATE. What did they expect?

whatshallmynamebe · 05/05/2011 11:23

I know what you mean. We have a house which we have been trying to sell on and off since Sept 07. We do now have it under offer and should complete by the end of the month (fingers crossed). I just got so fed up with the whole "they really like your house, but there is one other that they like better" crap the EA fed us. If I hear that one more time I would definitely have needed that sharp stick

Laugs · 05/05/2011 11:26

Oh help, can I join? We've just put our flat on the market, so haven't had any viewings yet. We've been advised that there are 90 other flats for sale in our (small) area though! I have 2 under 5s at home with me, so the idea of keeping it clean, tidy and clutter-free is driving me mad already.

Good luck to everyone. Maybe by the power of Mumsnet we can push some sales through.

poshme · 05/05/2011 11:31

Me me me!! We had a viewing ... Cue mad tidying ... And when they came they thought they were coming to see next door??? WTF! Apparently they hadn't bothered to look at the details online or on paper before the viewing- they'd just seen the for sale sign and asked EA the price. Next door is twice as big, has a HUGE garden and is beautiful. Our house is ... Not. Clearly buyers have no idea about price. Very p'd off with EA tbh. All that cleaning/tidying/ yelling at kids not to touch anything... Argh!

Original poster
Pinkjenny · 05/05/2011 11:55

whatshall and nickel - spot on!

Sushi - we get, 'Oh the third bedroom is quite small.' THE DIMENSIONS ARE THERE IN BLACK AND WHITE, PEOPLE!

posh - how rude.

Laugs - when this estate agent came to take the pics, she moved all kinds of toys/books etc. I said to her, 'That's fine love, but the house won't look like this when people come and see it.'

OP posts:
whatshallmynamebe · 05/05/2011 12:04

Our EA photos were so crap that DH ended up taking them and we insisted on using them instead.

Pinkjenny - Our landlords are currently selling the house we are living in at the moment, and their EAs moved our furniture and soft furnishings around as well, and made no effort to put them back in the correct place. Very annoyed.

I am currently dealing with numerous different sets of Estate Agents (the house we are selling, the house we are living in, and looking for a house to buy), and I am so stressed with it all. It is no wonder I have tonsillitis

tyler80 · 05/05/2011 13:38

Just a note from a buyers point of view. Often estate agents use max dimensions including recesses either side of the fireplace etc. and no floorplan means you can't really gauge the size of the room until you're there.

So I'd make sure your agents include a floorplan, we've viewed places we wouldn't have bothered with if we'd understood the internal layout before we went.

onesandwichshort · 05/05/2011 13:45

Me too. And the state of the market is driving me mad. We accepted one offer last year, then their buyer fell through; we have two people kind of interested but they both need to sell their own houses. I might be here for ever. Or possibly longer.

whatshall - we changed estate agent as we were getting no viewings and got the new one to pay a photographer to do the pics. It's made all the difference, and we are getting viewings now.

MrsCholmondleyWarner · 05/05/2011 14:05

Another one here!! We've been on the market for what feels like forever but it's actually only 10 weeks. Had 30 odd viewings, one low offer (we refused it) and one conditional offer (they want to get pp) from an unproceedable buyer.

We were hoping to move in time to make primary school applications in Jan 2013 but am giving up hope of that happening now. At least DH and I have been able to say that we'll take it off the market at the end of August if we haven't had any luck.

The number of viewers has definitely tailed off for us now. Not sure whether to feel relieved at not having to keep the place immaculate with 2 pre-schoolers or disappointed at the lack of interest!

Have been pleasantly surprised by our EA's though. They've done a good job and worked hard. Always been pleasant and professional too.

dikkertjedap · 05/05/2011 18:40

I agree, it is grim. However, I think that the market is going to get a lot worse, especially in the South East. We have had offers, but very significantly under the valuation price (proper valuation by chartered surveyors, not estate agents). I think that unless you are in Central London or another desirable city, it is very difficult now and in years to come unless you sell at a bargain price ...

mathanxiety · 05/05/2011 20:18

Why do you have toys and books out? Have you done any staging? I recently sold mine (not trying to make you feel bad) and when the RE agent first saw it she gave me advice about putting away 90% of the books and other 'clutter' reducing things I could do, including changing the position of various bits of furniture. If people are making remarks about the size of a room it might mean you should take a long hard look at your furniture positioning or at elements that are contributing to a bursting at the seams feeling.

The quality of the photos makes a huge difference in getting potential buyers in the door.

That being said, we broke records for viewings and accepted the only offer we got (which was close to the price we eventually dropped to and pretty fair imo). Value in houses is what the market is prepared to come up with, not really what the valuers say it is when it all boils down.

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