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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:
CleanSheetsAndSmoothLegs · 28/08/2011 12:38

I know! DP is fairly sanguine about it, but I am really pissed off. We could have been doing anything!

On the one hand, I'm glad they are getting us viewings. On the other, I really want to phone up and strop massively!

dizzyday07 · 28/08/2011 18:10

Can I join in? Or house has been on the market now for @10 weeks and we've had 1 viewing Shock

It's on the market as DH has a new job near Hull (we are in Shropshire) so he is away during the week whilst I am here with DD. Sad

We just hope it's been quiet because of summer holidays and will pick up imminently.

JoJoMummy321 · 29/08/2011 11:01

Well...Agent called with feedback from the viewer on Friday and apparently he loved the house...he is going to put in a note of interest. Who knows if it will lead to anything but it's a bit of positive news to hang on to in the meantime.

I was wondering though...if we then don't hear anything from this person for say a week, would it be a good idea to drop the price to try and encourage them to take it further? We were going to drop the price anyway but agent says not to just now as we have this person seriously interested? What would you do?

We are working to a timescale of moving in April 2012 but Sept 2012 is our total deadline.

Thanks!

wideawakenurse · 29/08/2011 12:55

Oh, I'd be tempted to hold for another week or two Jojo. Fingers crossed for you.

Welcome dizzy. Yes, this is a very quite time for EA's, you should see some pick up in interest soon. Do you think you are priced right though?

We did a viewing ourselves this am. Seemed to like the property, but made comments about not enough kitchen cupboards....GAHHHH!!

JoJoMummy321 · 30/08/2011 23:59

Well no more viewers booked in but the viewer from Friday has gone ahead and put in a note of interest via his solicitor. Will wait and see what happens next.

How is everyone else getting on?

Hope those that had viewers over the weekend have some good news?

Wideawake - at least they liked the property!! Hopefully they could get round the kitchen cupboard issue? Seems a minor thing to me really!

cherrypiew3 · 31/08/2011 19:52

can i please join you we have been on the market for 1 year nowSad and in that time we have only had one viewing. The price has been dropped 3 times now and i am starting to go slowly mad.

drcrab · 31/08/2011 22:32

Both my viewings cancelled for no good reason. One wanted a house for her son starting uni. 20 min walk away. Sure she can, but not at this price!! But otoh she's seen the state of student let and she doesn't want to pay what she might pay for mortgage to landlords. Well she can't win can she?? Sad

wideawakenurse · 01/09/2011 07:58

Sounds very promising JoJo.

Oh dear cherry. Have you been on with the same EA all that time?

I hear you pain, again, drcrab. We just seem to be being viewed by people that have no desire to compromise on anything, yet for our purchase we have quickly realised that we are not going to get a 4 bed, or extra reception.

Kitchen cupboard lady likes it, but has somewhere to sell.

Another viewing last night, so I took DS for a walk. We got back 20 mins later and they were still there. So we hid round the corner for another 10 mins....but sadly couldn't overhear the conversation Grin

drcrab · 01/09/2011 15:31

ahhh... got a phone call from EA this morning - possible viewing on saturday. some woman from London. we'll see. There's no problem with our price for sure....(we're the cheapest in a non-dodgy area!!)....so we'll see. Hmm

Doilooklikeatourist · 02/09/2011 20:29

Have a second viewing booked for a week Saturday. It's our first viewer coming back with her other daughter.
Feedback fromlast weeks viewer was " the house looks a bit tired and why is it so much more than the house that sold down the road ?"
Well the house down the road is older than ours has artex ceilings and is smaller , and surely a house that a family has been living in for 10 years isn't going to look brand new !

I washed all the paintwork , Walls , ceilings, doors , skirting , but did anyone else paint the whole house ?

drcrab · 03/09/2011 14:11

Omg. Woman from London actually turned up (we saw them outside our house so we went to say hi and have her a 'factsheet' about the local amenities!!) and she's put in an offer! Lower than the asking and lower than the other offer which fell through last week but still an offer. Going to think about it. I hope she can reach or match my previous buyer's offer. That'll make things easier especially since DH got made redundant and has set up on his own (ie no fee paying work yet!!).

Hope everyone's doing well today. The sun is shining!!!

drcrab · 03/09/2011 14:14

And do - no we didn't do anything painting or diy prior to putting house on market. Our biggest issue was clutter so we decluttered like mad. And cleaned (like wiped front door so it wasn't dusty). Put high chair away. Decluttered kitchen.

pud1 · 03/09/2011 14:29

We have had our flat on the Market for 2 years and could not sell. We are in the north west and although we had viewdata at the beginning the only real interest we had was from a women who could not sell her house. In the end we took it off the Market. I just couldn't cope with the disappointment of not getting any veiwers and the couple I did get in the last year were not in a position to move. I feel much better now I have got used to the idea of not moving. It is far from ideal having 2 under 4 dds and a dig In a 2 bed flat but we have 3 neighbours on the Market and they have all dropped to less than we can afford and still not even a viewing.

Becaroooo · 04/09/2011 09:50

Oh hope it works out drcrab

Have realised we will need to wait til more houses come on the market...nothing on atm we like/can afford!

Didnt really want to be in rented accom for longer than 6 months, but cant be helped.

Am I right in thinking that the market will get busier after xmas and in the Spring???

drcrab · 04/09/2011 11:01

Hi becaroooo did you sell and move into rented then? We considered that as our chain is so long but to get a 3bed rented place where we want to be would be a minimum of £1000. We currently owe the bank only £350! (tracker). Doesn't make financial sense but it may make sense from the sanity that we'll get!!

My chain doesn't look anywhere near completion so am anxious again. Agh.

Need answers this week. We're on holiday on saturday!

Becaroooo · 04/09/2011 11:54

decrab We did indeed!

We're in a slightly different position as we are paying over £200 less pm in rent than we were in mortage (although this is only a 2 bed but in very desirable location)

Certainly saved our sanity! - and has given us some much needed breathing space...our buyer made things very difficult right up to the last minute so I can empathise Sad I was ready to pull out the week before completion..thats how bad it got Angry

I honestly dont think I would EVER consider selling and buying concurrently again!

We got the keys to our rental house a week before the move so I could go and and do a really deep clean. Also hang curtains etc. We had booked a storage facility 4 weeks before the move so we moved LOADS of stuff we didnt use regularly in there (kids toys/our books/furniture/stuff from the loft, shed and greenhouse etc) ordered all the packing boxes online (cost £99 for everything inc bubble wrap, tissue papaer etc) which meant on moving day we could hire our own 7.5 ton tail lift lorry and do it ourselves....all done by 3pm!! (with help from FIL and dbro!!)

Our total moving costs were £450 - storage unit for a month, packing boxes and lorry hire. Pickfords qouted me £1200 + VAT So we saved over £1k and it really wasnt too stressful at all.

We only moved 5 miles though - not an option for everyone!

Sushiqueen · 04/09/2011 15:19

We are doing similar to Becaroooo. Our purchase has fallen through, so we are going to complete on our sale, and then move into rented in the area we want to move to whilst we find something else.

We did think about staying in our area whilst we try and buy again but the rent is horrendous in comparison to the area we want to go to. Even with higher travelling costs we will be better off.

drcrab · 05/09/2011 13:27

ok... our buyer's have upped their price again and this time a smidgen off the original offer price of previous buyer...so we're accepting it yay!! :) now, we need the chain to complete. having taken an hour off this morning to GO INTO TOWN to see the EAs (ours and the one we're buying from), we've ascertained that there is light at the end of the tunnel... hopefully we'll see that light by this week!

hope everyone's doing ok.

hksi · 05/09/2011 14:25

We're still hanging on - hope to exchange tomorrow or Friday. Least we know our buyers have now got their contracts - they were posted to our house by mistake Shock

hksi · 05/09/2011 14:26

Tomorrow or Wednesday! Move next Thurs. Not getting my hopes up though!

SparklePrincess · 05/09/2011 17:10

Good news drcrab, & you too hksi. Hope all goes to plan for you both. :)

wideawakenurse · 05/09/2011 18:32

Great news drcrab and hksi, here's hoping it all goes through ok.

No viewings booked here...nothing, nada, net. Sad

Doilooklikeatourist · 05/09/2011 19:15

A viewing booked for tomorrow morning , I'm at work so DH will show round.
A lovely evening planned tidying up after the children AGAIN . Why are teenagers so untidy ? Or is it just my 2 ?

hksi · 05/09/2011 20:17

Thanks for your wishes!

drcrab · 05/09/2011 20:53

Thanks for your wishes!! The EAs were supposed to ring us today. No call. Sad I hope things aren't going up the creek. I can't deal with this much longer!

do good luck tidying. We have a 3.5 year old and an 11 month old. They are mega mess creators.

Just wondered if everyone did their own houseviewings? We'd not done any this at all and feel happier about paying agents' fees. Even when going to see houses to buy we probably only met 1 couple who did their own viewing. 2 years ago with a different agent we did most of the viewings.