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? :)

He is Jonas Adam Ernest (the middle names being his Dad and the wonderful dr who got him out when he got stuck) and was 6lb 3 and a bit at 36 weeks, and treated his Mum to a 22 hour back to back labour! All good now he's home - just pretty much sleepless. Am so glad we went with the buyer we did as otherwise we would have had to exchange 2 days after he turned up!!!

Congratulations Yellow Wellies!

Congratulations yellowWellies - glad you are home and hope everything is ok.
We have just finished our last cleaning stint before our 5 viewings tomorrow (am expecting 2 of them not to show so I am mentally prepared if it does happen). Have used our Lakeland mould remover (and bleached my trousers in the process - doh!) and moved even more stuff into the attic. The cats are going a bit crazy as I think the last time they saw us do this much cleaning was when we last moved so they are a bit suspicious about what is going on. I have been saying to DH we should put any house we live in on the market every 2 years so that we sort out all our stuff on a regular basis!

Congratulations yellowWellies!

We had a couple view yesterday who were 7.5 months pregnant. I don't think they'll be moving before the birth.

Also was told by the EA that a viewer was "interested" - and this was one that was here when the cat bit DD so hard she was crying very loudly. (Note to self: banish cat to balcony during future viewings.)

Wow Sunset - 5 viewings in one day! Did they all turn up?

It is our first day but we actually had 6 in the end and they all turned up! I think or EA might be encouraging people to do weekend viewings so they don't have to do anything! Hard to tell if any will take it further but at least 5 of the 6 were first time buyers and there just many affordable houses around here. We had a bit of a disaster in this DS threw up all over the kitchen between viewings 2 and 3 but we had a good couple of hours to clean again and air the place.
The hardest bit was answering why we want to move as the 2 I showed had 2 children whereas we just have DS so I felt a bit bad saying it was because we need more space! I just said we were in a position to move onto something else at the moment so were going for it. I think I may have sounded a bit shifty though...

That was brave doing your own viewings. How great to have them all on the same day.

We'll see what the feedback is from Friday's viewing. Husband wants to give up now but I'm not sure. I am stopping cleaning now though - I'm burnt out!

Hmmm. Maybe just naive - might speak to the EA and encourage them to try and get people to do weekday viewings. You could tell some people were uncomfortable with us showing them around. Hope this final push works for you cuddy.

Another rejection here - viewers liked the size and layout but want an old house with character. EA now gives feedback via email otherwise I would have said why the hell did they bother coming to look at a clearly very modern David Wilson home then?

Well, we got feedback from 5 out of the 6. Two are still interested and other 3 are nos (for fairly sensible reasons we can't change). Still feel a bit hurt they don't want our house but know I am being irrational. Remembering also we looked at 30+ houses when we were FTBs - really didn't think much about the vendor at the time (though don't think we were horrid to anyone). One of the viewers have asked if we would move into rented which is making me feel a bit stressed as we'd rather not and there is so little out there in our price bracket. Trying to work out what we'd do if we do get an offer but trying not to get ahead of myself. Got a few more viewings lined up which is great so we will see.
Sorry you had another rejection cuddy and it was for a silly reason. I guess just saying it wasn't right for them would be better than unhelpful feedback like that.

We are sort of feeling in limbo right now. I kind of want to make some changes to the house, like change the sofas and colour scheme in the lounge (which will mean new blinds etc) and update the study but we were hoping that we could do this when we move. I am still imagining doing these things in the house that is number one on our list. I just can't see us moving and I know I'm being negative. I wish the EA would vet the viewers more but I guess they are just hopeful that the next viewer could be 'the one'.

Well, two more rejections here - they both liked the house apparently but the first couple (ona second viewing) said they wanted to see more properties first as ours is the first they've seen. Second couple said it was beyond their budget.

I know we've only been on th emarket a couple of weeks but we've been talking about it for sooo long and looking at the place we want to move to for aaaaages, it feels like we've been in the process of moving forever. Ad I'm not very good at being patient!

Sorry about your rejection cuddy, not being able to plan is rubbish.

Ah Cuddy, hope you get the right viewer soon. So annoying to be cleaning up & preparing for people who clearly aren't going to buy...not sure if that's worse than getting no viewings at all!

Tomorrow is a big day for me - double survey day! Surveys being done on my house AND the house we're buying.

I've had a cursory tidy up, but the house is not at its most presentable...do you think that matters for a survey? We have now begun weaning DD aged 6 months so the kitchen has baby food spattered everywhere, bibs drying and the high chair is always in the way. So relieved we got our offer just before weaning started!

Sorry to hear your viewers weren't interested, CuddyMum. :( Have you decided whether to stay on the market or come off for a time?

I wouldn't completely give up on your first couple, Gravenwithdiamonds. They might see a few more properties then come back to yours, after all! Two weeks isn't long at all, the fact that you're getting viewings is a good sign.

Congratulations, YellowWellies!!

Hope your surveys go ok, marshmallowpies. I think we're nearly there, ourselves. Surveys done, mortgage offer signed and our vendors (the bank) have now turned around and insisted we move within 28 days.

I'd move tomorrow if we could. We're pretty much sorted, the house is about half packed into boxes and I've prepped everything that can be prepped. I just need to be given exchange/completion dates and then we enter the final push.

Spirael - pleased everything is happening so quickly.
Marshmallow - hope the surveys went well
Graven - hang in there
Toomuchtea - hope it's all progressing nicely

We've got highs and lows at the moment. Low: realising the awful smell that appeared in the bedroom was a dead mouse from the cats 2 hours before a viewing! Hope they are not put of by the stench of bleach in there now. DH and I also now have DS's stomach bug and are sat in a supermarket carpark while the viewing takes place. Should really be in bed.
High: feel a bit sheepish writing this but we have an offer...... It's 93% and a bit lower than we can cope with I think. Am getting all confused about mortgages. Last night I thought I had messed up with the online mortgage what can you borrow calculator and we could borrow a lot less than we need. I just looked again now and it seems we are ok. Not sure what was going on last night but I was feeling awful so maybe put income in wrong.
Glad you have a date spirael - hope it all goes well. Sounds like it can't hurt to do the improvements cuddy if you have the budget. It's been so nice living in a tidy house this last week I have sworn to DH we can't go back to clutter!

Well done sunset, that's great news! And that's despite the dead mouse. Hope you are all feeling better.

While I'm slightly disappointed that we have no viewers lined up, it is nice being able to slob around a bit more so making thr most of it...

Hello. Our house had just gone on the market. 2 viewings so far and another two booked in. It is a nightmare trying to keep house tidy! But at least people are coming to look.

After a very depressing two years up for sale, and after much soul-searching and sadness, we've decided to take our house off the market.

I rang the EA this afternoon. He said he was very sorry he wasn't able to help us, that it wasn't just us in this awful situation.

Their sales figures are only half what they were last year. He sounded more depressed than we are. I'm sure he can see his job disappearing soon. Sad day :(

Sorry to hear that Duchess, that must be a difficult decision to make. I hope everything works out for you in the end.

Thank you Graven. I feel close to tears this afternoon, but there's nothing else we can do.