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Original poster

Is anyone slowly going mad with trying to sell a house?

176 replies

nikos · 04/08/2011 18:16

Seriously down about the whole thing. All agents round here are now admitting that things are just not moving and can't believe we might be here for the foreseeable. Anyone else down and how are you keeping your spirits up?

OP posts:
mspotatochip · 04/08/2011 19:12

me, beer

mspotatochip · 04/08/2011 19:13

That was a bit flippant sorry. I try my best not to dwell on it too much as I get panicky. Whereabouts are you north, south, east, middle?

Karbea · 04/08/2011 19:28

No but we are with trying to buy one :(

openerofjars · 04/08/2011 19:33

Beer, chocolate, kung po chicken and gradually spending remaining savings on desperately trying to make this house nice enough to sell, rather than on making a new house ours.Sad

But as we too might be here for the foreseeable, at least we'll be able to enjoy a new kitchen in a few weeks...

We're in Yorkshire, where beer is cheap people are usually friendly and no bugger wants to move house (apparently)...

TheresAHuppoInMyHouse · 04/08/2011 19:35

Just sold my flat at a MASSIVE reduction in price because we'd been waiting so long to shift it. Very very depressing but worth it to get rid.

It was miserable waiting for an offer, then we reduced the price, then it was miserable getting really low offers. Huh.

Keeping my spirits up? By thinking about how it's a home, not an investment, and I've been happy here for 10 years, and now is a new time in my life. Bring it on!

mspotatochip · 04/08/2011 19:44

Theresahuppo could you please have a word with my dp!? I'm fairly certain thats what we are going to need to do and hes so not on my wavelength yet. Did you get a reduction on what you are moving to?

I have my beer in my hand :)

TheresAHuppoInMyHouse · 04/08/2011 19:57

Yes, the place we're moving to had also been reduced in price and had been on the market for ever. And we then offered lower than their reduced price. So it all works out. Kind of. (Our reduction was a greater proportion than theirs - but you just can't get tied up in those thoughts! We wanted it, so we had to do what we had to do, to get it.)

I want a beer too. DP! Bring beer! :)

openerofjars · 04/08/2011 20:25

Mrsp, mine's like that too: won't sell it for "less than what it's worth". Arrgh. Huppo, how did you get past that stage? And please can I have a beer?

Becaroooo · 04/08/2011 21:05

We sold ours after selling for £20k less than asking price (no chain cash buyer though)

To be fair, I thought the EA valued it too high and it should have been on for £10k less but still.......

Original poster
nikos · 04/08/2011 23:09

We are in the north east and everything seems to be grinding to a halt. It's the not knowing. Should we give up and extend ( which is not the best long term) or just keep trying. So hard to know what to do. Already on at a good price there are just no buyers around. just wish I could stop thinking about it all the time Sad

OP posts:
Becaroooo · 05/08/2011 07:32

nikos We extended 5 years ago and I regret it...we have great space now which we have had the benefit of for the last 4.5 years BUT this house has never been in the right location really and we have spent a FORTUNE on it.

Is there any way you can reduce the price any further? The only houses selling round here (derbyshire) are the ones that are significantly reduced - including ours!

EAs keep saying that they need FTB's (which we will be again next week!) and yet the houses we are viewing are refusing offers!!! - we offered £5k less than asking a few weeks ago on one and were refused...I could weep Sad

Original poster
nikos · 05/08/2011 07:59

Beca-thats my gut feeling too. If we extend we will still not have the right house and will never get that money back. Also we could reduce the price a bit more bit am not sure that others that we would want to buy would do the same. If we ever get sold I will promise to stop this obsession with houses. It's taking over all my thoughts.

OP posts:
Becaroooo · 05/08/2011 08:05

I can empathise with that nikos Sad

If you can drop the price any more then do so...also would you consider a "Fixed price" and an open day at your home to enourage viewings...you know the sort of thing...

"REDUCED!!!! For one day ONLY this house is at a special fixed rate!
Open day 10 -3 on Turn up and view!"

??????

Tbh I would never try and sell and buy at the same time again We are going into rented next week so we can take our time and find the right house and not rush.

openerofjars · 05/08/2011 11:39

Liking your idea about the open day: we are about to spend £4k on replacing the ancient boiler and kitchen and I'm really hoping that DH won't then try and up the price again, although it might be worth a word with the estate agent.

I can see where my DH is coming from in some respects, as our price has gone down by £20k and we are still getting people sucking their teeth and saying "Ooh, can you drop it by another £10k?". Seriously, we are almost at the point of selling our 3 bed house for the price of a 2 bed flat in the same area. It's not that bad!

We're just not getting viewings, apart from the £20k under the asking price offers from the family over the road, who I think reckon that we're going to just crack one day and just hand the keys over, gratis.

Becaroooo · 05/08/2011 19:11

I feel your pain Sad

We also replaced the boiler, had new glass in all the windows and completely redecorated last year and yet we still sold for £20k under asking price and we have still had to jump through hoops for our wanker buyer. Angry

I think the problem is that EAs are currently overvaluing houses by 20% (in some cases more than that) - after all they get paid on commission!!! but it means that the vendor then has an unrealistic idea of what their house is worth.

What made us lower out price was simply doing a bit of research on house buying trends in the last 2 years and what similar houses in this street/this area have sold for recently....righmove has a "house price" facility that lets you see how much has been paid for houses in your street/area within a set space of time eg; last 2 years. It made for sobering reading tbh but it gave me the info I needed to make the right decision.

The open day option has worked for a few people in this area lately.

Good luck!

Original poster
nikos · 05/08/2011 21:00

We have done that on rightmove and we are still competitively priced and not getting viewings. Wonder if it might pick up in Sept when kids back at school.

OP posts:
beanlet · 05/08/2011 21:19

Yep. Now at £30K less than what it was worth in 2008, two price reductions, change of EA, quite a few viewings and STILL no offers...in nearly TWO YEARS. Very nice part of the north too.

Completely depressed and about to take it off the market. Can't live there either because it's 4 hrs from where we both work. Can't rent it cos it's full of my stuff. Meanwhile the three of us are living in the world's smallest 1-bed house, but if we sell and rent here (SE) we'll never get back on the property ladder.

Hoping to do a loft extension on the 1-bed, which tho a crap idea in terms of VFM will at least make it liveable for the medium term.

And the economy's about to double dip too...

supadupapupascupa · 05/08/2011 21:25

we gave up trying to sell. bought house no.2 and now rent out house no.1.

not a happy bunny because i needed my equity to do up this old house Sad

Becaroooo · 06/08/2011 09:17

nikos beanlet supa Auction???? I know several people who have had to go down this road....

SingleMan25b · 06/08/2011 12:48

House prices will continue falling now we've moved into a further period of economic instability. Many sellers may have to reduce their price by at least 30% over the next few years. Times have changed.

Becaroooo · 06/08/2011 17:14

People dont seem to realise that where I live singleman Sad

Mandy2003 · 06/08/2011 22:47

Between August and December last year I had about 30 viewings on my 2-bed flat. I was present for most of them and a lot of people seemed interested.

But the critical difference this time, compared to when I've sold before and compared to me when I've bought: nobody made an offer no matter how much of a piss-take. If anyone can answer me that one I'd be grateful!

KangarooCaught · 06/08/2011 22:59

House should sell, it's big and in very good nick with spanking new carpets, new fancy boiler, massive conservatory with underfloor heating, can add value as can extend either to the front or the side (granny flat even), not overlooked, quiet blah blah...two weeks on the market and not a sniff. Big contrast to when we last sold, but it was the height of the market and in the SE [sigh]

Think EAs are living in cloud cuckoo land though with pricing and have instructed them to bring it down within range of where I think it should be. Also rewrote their house details.

Have found the house I want to buy but think it will sell before I can seriously make an offer [sob!]

Becaroooo · 07/08/2011 08:35

Our house has been on the market 3 times in 5 years and this is the only offer we have ever been made!!! People always said how much they liked it etc etc but no offers.

We took £20k less than asking to sell it.

Seems to me the only way to sell atm is to take the absolute minimum you can (but not everyone is able to do this, obv)

Becaroooo · 07/08/2011 08:36

Oh, amy my house has new boiler, new windows, is extended, newly decorated throughout, drive and car port, front and back garden and loft room, next to great school with a waiting list to get into, and a park.

Sigh.......

large 3 bed semis where I am are selling for £110-115k atm.