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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:
nickschick · 05/09/2011 21:03

Link your houses Grin it might stir up interest I am a nosey cow Smile

FiniteIncantatem · 05/09/2011 22:33

Not me, but my mum has just sold her house, after being on the market for 13 or 14 months. Over that time she reduced the price by £15-20,000. It's been hard going for her (and for me, as I've had to listen to her obsess been supporting her through it for the last year!)

levantine · 06/09/2011 11:26

We're selling with a four year old and a one year old. It's a nightmare keeping it tidy, we've put most of the toys in the attic and just try to keep teh amount of stuff down.

I hate it when vendors to their own viewings, you feel so inhibited and I always end up feeling worried about what happens to them, everyone who has showed us round their house has been really nice

drcrab · 06/09/2011 12:36

levantine - the upshot is, when the kids see their toys again, it's 'like new'!! :)

levantine · 06/09/2011 14:15

yep true Grin

I reckon we could just chuck out everything that we have put in the attic as no one has missed any of it

Gonzo33 · 06/09/2011 18:19

Oh this has me stressing, I am putting my house on the market soon

hksi · 07/09/2011 21:07

Want to add hope to this thread! We have had the worst 6 months ever but finally after a lot of stress and frustration we have exchanged and move next week! Keep going - it does work out.

Doilooklikeatourist · 07/09/2011 21:40

At last ! Good news , and good luck with all the packing up , and then unpacking and putting away !

wideawakenurse · 08/09/2011 07:47

Great news. Good to hear that hski.

DH spoke with EA last night, as we have not had a viewing for over a week, and all the promises of weekly reports of right moves hits/enquiries etc have dried up from their end. Makes you worry that their lack of commitment is mirrored in the way the show the house to viewers.

They tried to tell us that we need to reduce by another £5K. Which is fine, but we have only been on the market for 30 days and have already reduced the price on their advice. Reducing it more means it is way, way off the valuation they did, which was only a few weeks ago. Although, I know that the house will only sell for what someone is willing to pay for it.

Although everything we like is going for the asking price. Confused

Hope everyone else is having better luck.

lazysod · 08/09/2011 13:33

I think people need to wake up and smell the coffee, somewhat.

EAs are over valuing houses in order to get the business, and then vendors are believing these valuations and being intransigent about it.

At the end of the day a house is not worth what an estate agent values it at, its worth what someone will pay for it. In my view this is somewhere between 10% and 20% less than the EAs initial valuation.

If you want to sell your house then you need to be realistic about the asking price.

Everything boils down to price. If people aren't coming to see it, then it's overpriced.

drcrab · 08/09/2011 16:42

lazysod - fair enough that the EAs may be over-pricing it, but that's what i find so frustrating... why do they keep doing that? I much rather they price it at a reasonable level, and of course, if it's not reasonable to you (whether it's too low for you to be able to move, or whether it's too low because you are greedy!! Grin) then, you don't have to put it on the market. Those that go on the market need to be those that want to sell for whatever reason, and CAN SELL.

I've been v realistic about my asking price, and no wonder it's sold v quickly. The house that we're moving too - we think it's a realistic price too... and it went almost immediately too.

MiddleOfTheStreet · 12/09/2011 21:43
Sad we thought we had sold (were getting close to exchange). relatively short chain. now we have lost our buyers, because they've lost theirs... they have of a sudden found another house they'd rather buy. why on earth could they not have come up with that at an earlier stage??? upward chain is only house we are buying. anyone ever heard of a short chain waiting for another to sell?? was thinking of ringing our sellers and asking if they'd consider doing this, as agents would never do (they'd rather get us all on the market again for a reduced price...) it just seems like such a shame of all the legal work we've done to get this far...
TeamEdward · 13/09/2011 00:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dizzyday07 · 13/09/2011 01:38

I have heard with a house swap that stamp duty is only payable on the more expensive house - then split the cost between you so you both in effect save money. I'm sure your solicitors would know the ins and outs.

You may still have EA fees to pay - I'm sure our T&C state they get paid even if they don't introduce the buyer to us in the exclusive period!

Thepoweroforangeknickers · 13/09/2011 03:55

I think this says it all and really if you are serious about trying to sell you need to be reasonable with the price you will accept.

"Fourteen homes were sold per UK estate agent in the three months to August - the lowest total for more than two years, a survey has found."

14 is an incredibly low amount. It can't go on - realism must set in soon.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14885963

FemaleEuknickers · 13/09/2011 04:57

We're trying to buy an investement property and, or course, want the cheapest price possible. Especially as the market is not exactly on the up.

I always find it interesting when people say they lowered the price by 20k etc as it's the percentage value that is a better indicator of a martet. 20k of a 800k house is nothing compared to 20k off a 200k one.

We're looking in SE london and the market has seemed fairly buoyant. Though there are some crazy EA pricing policies. (One house on at 385, taken off put back on at 410 after NO offers and now back on for 370). I just feel sorry for owners who are the whim of EA's greed and having their expectations managed so badly.

FemaleEuknickers · 13/09/2011 04:59

and thepoweroforangeknickers, i love that song!

Thepoweroforangeknickers · 13/09/2011 05:22

Euknicker...do you really think property is an investment now? My feelings are that if you are thinking of 25 years then maybe okay. I've had a BTL and it was a nightmare although I had it for 12 years. Would have been better putting the money in shares to be honest.

FemaleEuknickers · 13/09/2011 07:14

It's not too bad a time to invest, interest rates are low and we're just taking collaterol out of another BTL that had nearly paid itself off. We've got 30% deposit and are taking a long term (topping up pensions) view!

We've got two BTL (one abroad) and haven't had too many issues. What was the issue with yours?

Zeeky · 13/09/2011 07:53

Wideawakenurse you sound a bit like us. House went on Market almost 3 weeks ago. Need to relocate from SE to Northants as DH has a new job starting Nov. EA's we had round all thought our house would sell quickly as in a good location, quiet cul de sac, excellent state as we have spent a fortune on it in last 5 yrs as we thought it was going to be our home for next 20yrs. We've only had 3 viewings & nothing now for over a week! EA assures us they have lots of buyers looking in our price range but don't know why they are not wanting to see our house. They also tell us that the house has plenty if hits on rightmove but this is not converting into viewings!

DH has forced them to agree to taking some more photos as we think maybe the photos aren't doing the house justice. Eg we have a massive kitchen (all granite & good quality appliances) yet the photo they put on rightmove only shows half the t
room! I thought they were supposed to be the experts but obviously I am going to have to direct them as to best angles for r
each room.

We worried that the price is too high but when we look at what is on the Market above & below us price-wise they are not particularly nice looking and/or are on busy main roads, making ours look competitively priced! Just don't understand why we are not even getting an viewings :(

Thepoweroforangeknickers · 13/09/2011 09:18

Euknickers, we were just clearing2.3% taking everything into account. We hd to deal with a central heating issues mainly. We did have lovely tennants but when they left we had a void of 10 weeks, which, again, set us back. I do think we did it at the tight time however and I'd NEVER CONSIDER getting into BTL again. I really don't think houses will increase in value for about 10 years plu7s.

Becaroooo · 13/09/2011 10:30

Sorry some of you are having such a stressful time Sad

Our problem is buying! We only have a £20k deposit (which should theoretically be fine for the area we are in!) but we are struggling to find a house we a) like and b) can afford!

Completely agree that EAs are valuing at 20% too much....its mad! Also had the old trick of "oh, there are so many other people interested in this, you need to make a decision quickly!" Yeah....a month down the line and is still on the market! Hmm

nondomesticgoddess · 13/09/2011 11:05

Can I please join in and also ask for some advice?

Some background - our house went on the market at the begininning of July. We went with an online estate agent partly to save money (about £5k) and partly because I was so unimpressed with the local agents.

In our area prices are still going up and preoperties around £500k are disappearing off the market within days. However, properties in the price bracket of ours seem to be hanging around for longer.

In July we had one viewing and in August we had 5, one of them came back for a second viewing.

Anyway, the house next to ours is currently vacant. The owner died in January and it has been sitting empty since then. The garden is ridiculously overgrown and one of the front windows has been smashed and is now boarded up. Last weekend some local kids smashed the front and back windscreens of the car that is sitting in the driveway, thw police were called out and the car is now taped up with notices all over it saying 'police aware'. Since then, we have had no interest in our house at all. Our area is a quiet residential place and but I don't think the state of the house next door paints a very pretty picture. If I was looking around, it would definitely put me off. So what do I do?

The dead owner has no children, his nieces come round once in a blue moon and have no interest in communicating with me (or getting the house sorted). And it feels slightly cruel to say, 'I'm terribly sorry about your dead uncle but would you mind clearing up your garden and getting the window and the car sorted - our house is on the market and they don't make a very good impression'!!! Goodness knows when I'll next see anyone there...

What do you think I should do??

LaBag · 13/09/2011 11:39

Nondom - there is nothing at all you can do. Whoever eventually buys the place will factor in how much it's going to cost to clean up the garden etc.

Nothing is going for advertised price just now so be prepared to take a (min) 10-15% drop from your asking price. Your neighbour will probably have to take 20% off.

photoretoucher · 13/09/2011 13:02

I feel soooooooooo much better after reading this whole thread.

Selling the house has become an obsession! Been on the market since August 26th. First week 4 viewers. 2nd week 2 viewers + 1 repeat. Since then, only one person arranged to view, only to cancel.

Reading that some of you have been on the market for months, has now made me feel like a real moaner.

I'm lucky that I haven't got young children to tidy up after constantly. So those of you that are in this situation have my admiration!

Apparently my house will finally be in the local weekly paper on Friday. So maybe that will help.

Fingers crossed for us all.