Support thread for house sellers

[Spirael]

Just what it says on the tin, really! I'm sure there must be other stressed house sellers out there? Hopefully we can band together and get some small joy of (hopefully?) seeing our houses sell so we can get a move on!

This is a thread of hand holding and mutual support for the EA dealings, weeks of silence, frantic house tidying, no-show viewings, silly offers and tough decisions. This is not for house bashing and price slating. There are plenty of other threads for that!

I've been trying to sell for a year now. Had a surge of viewings earlier in the summer making the right noises, but all has gone quiet for the last few weeks.

However, we have a viewing booked for later this afternoon from someone who has sold their house and is able to proceed - wanting to move before Christmas. Currently swinging between pessimistic and optimistic, while trying not to look at the house we want to buy!

Anyone else out there? :)

1605 thank you & apologies if it looked like I was fishing for free advice, I was just grumbling really....

We already have very neutral colours in the bedroom, plain white duvet, cream curtains with a narrow stripe, and the bed is already a small one (another reason we need to move, DH is 6ft and we need a bedroom that can fit a bigger bed).

We can, however, put more stuff in storage, so that is a definite 'tick'. Fresh flowers are already on the kitchen table and gardening is my favourite hobby so the garden is well looked after. Only negative comment about the garden so far was 'too small' - it's actually a decent size for a house of this type, compared to what I've seen on Rightmove, so that buyer probably wanted a different type of property altogether.

Will avoid OIEO! 1605 - great tips there. I think I am a good student and have been following most of your tips - not the blankets as the bedrooms are quite big. My house is totally deep cleansed and it's been a real chore keeping it this way. I've bought so many lots of cut flowers. I am still miffed that I've had no feedback from my five lots of recent viewers and that my cancellation never bothered to rearrange.

MoreBeta yes someone on my street did this - same house as mine but with a loft conversion, original asking price was £130k more than the current asking price of my house?!

The owner, it turned out, wanted to buy a property mortgage free and had worked out the money they needed to achieve that - and priced the house accordingly. All the EAs I've talked to about that house have said they tried to convince this person they were never going to sell at that price, but they insisted.

Oops pressed send too soon. Meant to add, we have 3/4 viewings tomorrow AM, the first since last Sat, but these agents seem to prefer doing weekend viewings. Off to do more tidying now...

Marshmallow, didn't think you were fishing for free advice at all, sorry if I sounded snippy.

I've learnt that people can't see the value of your work if your professional advice is free or your work seems easy.

Well, interior design is dead easy. Until you have to stay in business in a recession and pay your staff and put food on a table .

On another tack, do people think I'd be mad to buy my mother's house at the price she wants?

I could do a reno and rent it out to avoid actualising the loss, and it would give my mum her life back.

Don't want to get into letting though and really don't want to own property in the NW. Decisions, decisions.

Yes I think you'd be mad to buy a house in a very different area to the country that needs work and is overpriced by 70k, to the distance renovate and rent!

More than one way to tackle an issue. Have you actually taken your mum to see what 225 cash would get her now where she wants to be. Not talking numbers to her could you do something like buy at the price you think she can sell for, by hard negotiation, and then move her and take over the sale of hers?

Of course I'm mad. Too much wine.

Still, am thinking about it. We three kids could split any loss between us.

I love her house. I could do a lot with it. It's been totally untouched by us professionally because "I have my own style darling."

Well if you can afford the time/work/possible ultimate financial loss, then not mad, maybe, just very altruistic? But then she's your mum and if she is a nice mum and you love her then maybe it would be a good thing to do. It's still not very sensible so it would probably be a good idea to explore every other possible avenue first.
The risk is that you do it thinking you're doing her a favour but she never realises you are because she thinks someone else would buy the house for that much. So you would need to do it in the full knowledge that you may never get the slightest bit of appreciation for it.
It sounds like you know what you'd be getting into, though, so this isn't like those threads where everyone is begging a poster not to do something because they clearly don't appreciate the magnitude of what they're taking on. Would the other siblings be equally mad up for it?

Cuddy Missed your post. Don't stress about lack of feedback. You love your house, do you really want other people to criticise it?

My client this week has refused to buy our first choice recommendation because the house is "too bling." It's £1.5m in Northcote Road, of course it's bling. It would cost just £20k to replace the finishes for something a bit less sheeny, but she says ripping out new things is a waste of money.

So she'd rather be miserable in her corporate rental a bit longer, even as prices continue to rise.

People are not rational, especially about homes.

My sister who works with me would be up for it. I think she'd like to have Mum nearby and this is the price she's prepared to pay.

Dbro more detached, will need to talk him round.

It's DH who's dead against.

I think if your Mum knew that her 'stubbornness' / lack of realism was potentially going to result in her children crystallising her loss for her; she might see sense? No parent would want their children taking a hit for them. She would also be touched at how important you guys see it for her to be close.

Look at me for criticising my client for being irrational and then proving myself to be the same. Cheers for the kind words though.

Tunip My comments only apply to the areas I work in: W/SW London, £1m-£1.5m. I do keep a very close weather eye on all the reports, surveys, stats I can lay my hands on because I'm interested and because my livelihood depends on it.

Ooh... I hadn't thought of getting our own mini survey done on the house! Fantastic idea, thanks 1605. :) Might give us a teeny edge over all the very similar houses flooding the market here.

Thanks 1605.

Had a call from my EA this morning - panicked because I thought it was a viewing and husband has man flu and teenagers are hibernating. Anyway, woman who thought we were overlooked has now realised that the majority of properties around here are and is going to put her house on with my EA. EA suggested we look at theirs to see if it is suitable for us. I ideally wanted something quirky and do up-able etc but theirs is a really nice condition with new flooring and kitchen. I have "swapped" properties before but now I am confuzzled!

Ooh!
Well you'll know when you see it. And when you find out how much she wants for it.

I'll add to the anti-'offers in excess of' brigade. As it happens, three houses in my search area switched to OIEO yesterday, with the drop from Asking Price to OIEO being 2-4%...

For me, that change has just told me they aren't vaguely serious sellers and aren't worth viewing. If I look at a house on RM and it's been sat there >6 months (which these all have - mainly >12 months!) then I'm calculating that it is probably 10-20% overpriced.

That person then drawing a line in the sand at 97% of asking by switching to OIEO has just made clear that they aren't really in the market - just a waste of space on Rightmove.

I know (re-reading my last post) that I can sound a little insensitive to sellers, but having sold two places in the last ~20 months I'm not oblivious to the stresses and price concerns people have when selling - it's just obvious price naivety that frustrates me sometimes.

Barring very unusual houses/locations, if a house has sat there for twelve months at price x and no-one has bought it, then it isn't worth price x, regardless of what the EA has said, or what sold three years ago, or what the seller wants to buy, etc...

Not the most palatable message for those whose houses have been on the market for months - but RC deep down I can't fault what you say. Any fault / flaw, won't put off buyers if the house is at the right price to make up for said fault. Not addressing the price is just making excuses. It's not a buyers fault if sellers bought at the peak of the market and expecting a buyer to pay for our own bad timing is just not going to happen. :(

Yep.
Exactly.

We have just got word that our buyers' last condition has been removed (they were waiting for finance from a divorce settlement) - it seems like we will be moving on our agreed date in January. And bonus, our removals quote (including full packing - we didn't fancy packing boxes with a new born) is approximately 50% of what we'd expected. Another advantage of moving when the market is stalled. Cheap costs!

I have just bought somehwere at 10% under offers over price. I was first to view and agent advised them to take it

Great news YellowWellies. You breathe a sigh of relief with each step of a house sale that goes successfully. A close friend of mine has just has his chain collapse (I've been lucky and my purchases/sales have been fine so far) which has been the closest I've seen of the stress it can all bring.