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? :)

[Gravenwithdiamonds]

Well, we got our photos done after manic decluttering & cleaning, only to have a complete change of heart - we have decided to rent out our house and sell DH's flat, which is currently rented out - a 2-bedder in a different part of london - and use that cash instead as a deposit as the house is a better longer term investment. The flat will be a pain to sell as there's an ongoing issue with the managing agent (it's on a large mansion block of flats) so so we won't be moving any time soon unless we go into rental and there's no suitable rental properties in theplace we're going to.

I'm disappoined not to be moving soon but at the same time, it's great to not rush and feel like we're making too-hasty decisions. Best of all, I can stop tidying the house!

Hope all your viewings/de-mouldings/exchangings go well!

[TunipTheVegemal]

Thank you Woodlands/Spirael!
I think I've got some Lakeland vouchers somewhere....

[YellowWellies]

Graven I'm in total envy of anyone who can stop decluttering (stuffing stuff in cupboards) and cushion plumping and manic cleaning.... good luck with your decision sounds like it is right for you. I almost wish we didn't have to move, but having battled out to the woodshed to get coal, in near gale conditions complete with horizontal rain, whilst 7 months preggers, this morning - I am so glad to be moving closer to civilisation!!! Even if we have no clue as to where this baby is going to be born.... let alone coming home to... hey ho!

[CuddyMum]

How was your viewing Spirael? My little St Joseph medal arrived today and I will be burying him later and saying the prayer. Shame I'm an atheist!

[Spirael]

I called up a few minutes ago for feedback, and apparently there was nothing wrong with our house but the woman has found a different one out of the bazillion available in this area that she preferred more. :(

Oh well, hopefully the holidaying couple will up their offer when they return! Only another week and a bit to wait to find out whether they're going to.

[CuddyMum]

Oh people are so fussy. Hope you hear back from the couple when they return from holiday.

[YellowWellies]

CuddyMum don't worry (I'm a pagan shhhh don't tell anyone and burying the charm is more linked to old fashioned folk magic / hoodoo than formal religion!).

Our viewing today was a young girl and her Mum - who seemingly was brought along for advice. It was nice to see a genuine FTB as this is very much a FTB house and they seem to be rare beasts priced out of the market at the mo. They seemed really positive, loved the Rayburn as it was something the girl had grown up with - which is good as it can put some folks off used to oil fired central heating - the other option up here, but once you've had one you become nostalgic about the odd beasts, even if they do blow out on stormy nights. Mindst - they were hardly going to say anything awful in front of a heavily preggo lady I guess.... so who knows!! I'm rubbish at spotting who's genuinely interested. Both of the couples who have put formal offers in were folks that I thought didn't like the house.

I guess we will find out on Thursday. I might ring the agent on Monday for a catch up to see how things are going. Or should I just be patient and wait until Thursday at 4pm??

Good luck everyone else with viewings planned. Tough on the lack-lustre viewing outcome Spirael - there's so much on at the mo' it's so hard. Still at least there is nothing wrong with your house? Fingers crossed for lots more viewings.

[Whenisitmysleepytime]

Can I join in? :)

Ours has been on the market for 4 weeks but we nee to move fast as dh starts working on a new job 150 miles away on 1st October. Work will let him live on expenses till Christmas thankfully. We need to be settled by January so I can apply for ds' school place.
We found a perfect house by accident and put in an offer in principle which was accepted. So we JUST need a buyer and the we can go.

So far we've had 8 viewings, 2 lots liked it and EA thought one might make an offer. But she's been chasing them since Tuesday and heard nothing so I'm guessing they're not serious. :(

I am getting really fed up because we NEED to be into the new house before the primary school deadlines. The school is mega over subscribed BUT we'd be super close so should be ok. As long as we are in the hose in time.


Aaaaaarrgh! It is driving me mad! I am not a patient person!

[CuddyMum]

Right another morning of cleaning, gardening, arranging fresh flowers, lighting candles, hiding evidence of teenagers and a pug and not forgetting to bury St Joseph!! The viewer had better turn up!

[Whenisitmysleepytime]

No viewings today. :(

Not a happy bunny.

[CuddyMum]

It's a horrible feeling when you have no viewers :(

[DuchessofMalfi]

I don't like to visit this thread too often, as it's making me depressed :( We haven't had a viewing for over 6 months now.

The housing market in our area has completely collapsed. Our Estate Agent says he's barely selling anything now, just the occasional small property to first time buyers and nothing more. We've all but given up ever finding a buyer. It's a complete nightmare.

[CuddyMum]

Oh no Duchess - what area are you in?

[DuchessofMalfi]

We're in Dorset :(

[CuddyMum]

Lovely part of the country - expensive house prices though. Just had a quick flick on Rightmove and so many million pound plus houses!

[MoreBeta]

Hasn't Dorset been bid up a lot by retirees in the past decade and now the flow of retirees has slowed to a trickle as they cannot sell their houses elsewhere so cannot move?

[YellowWellies]

Ouch - that has to hurt Duchess - do you have to move urgently? Are you in NE or do you have a bit of wiggle room to drop the price slightly to get the process over and done with?

I know some folks are sentimentally attached to a certain price which feels 'right' in their minds but for us we've had to forgo that to move when we need to and get on with our lives. Not of course, that I still wouldn't wish to achieve this price this Thursday when we go to closing. I really hope we do, but we'll sell regardless TBH with new baby etc we just want to be close to family and back in civilisation (we're at the opposite end of the UK up in Orkney). M'eh we're just taking it on the chin to be the first generation not to make a packet from property - but then we were also the first to be screwed by student debts - so I don't us as being particularly 'lucky'!

[Woodlands]

Sorry to hear that Duchess - it must be really panicky when you need to sell and can't.

We had our first two viewings this morning. The house is cleaner and tidier than it's ever been before - wish it was this way always!

We have friends who live round the corner who have also just put their identical flat on the market, with the same agent. Inevitably we had the same two sets of viewers this morning! We are both having our photos done on Tuesday. Interestingly theirs is going on the market for £5k more than ours, although ours has a view of a park and is marginally closer to the tube. I haven't been to their flat before but I think it is more recently decorated so that could be the difference.

I bet she's a MNer - I wonder if she'll see this thread!

[DuchessofMalfi]

We're not in the expensive retirement part of Dorset. We're in the north - a long way from the sea. Property prices around here are quite low compared with, say, Poole or Swanage.

Our Estate Agent has told us it won't make a scrap of difference if we drop the price by £50k or more, there just isn't anyone out there. Anyone want a 4 bed house in north Dorset?

[DuchessofMalfi]

Some examples of the types of houses in our price bracket in North Dorset.

[YellowWellies]

Why isn't there anyone out there Duchess?

Is it the disparity between prices and wages? (That would be my best guess).

A third of a million for a family home in a rural relatively low wage area does seem massively out of whack with local wages (what's the average wage for that part of the world £25k, wow that makes them more than 10x local wages!)? Perhaps the market has run out of people trading with equity and 'free money' from HPI and is now relying on those using wages - which aren't anywhere near high enough to allowing them to buy houses at that price.

I can see why now the banks are returning to traditional, more risk averse lending, i.e. 3.5 to 4x salary loans - there are huge areas of the country where that just isn't enough to buy anything, let alone a family home :( Gosh it'll take decades for folks to save up a 20% deposit there - I've no idea how long it would take me to save up £60k on a £25k wage but it would be a long time. God what a mess.... :( this bubble has only been good for the banks and it nearly killed them.

Have you had a look at the land registry for actual sold prices in your area rather than asking prices?

[TunipTheVegemal]

I wouldn't be happy with an agent with such a defeatist attitude. He's supposed to be selling your house for you dammit and if he starts off with the view that it's not going to sell and there's nothing he can do about it why the hell did he take the instruction in the first place? Can you change agent or are they all like this?

[YellowWellies]

I'd be inclined to agree with Tunip. The EA's job isn't to make excuses about not selling it - his job is to sell and if he needs a new strategy to do this - then he should take it! Have you put a rocket under his arse and explained that you want to sell, not just put it up for sale, and you need to know what if anything you can do to achieve this (up to and including changing agent)?

[DuchessofMalfi]

Actually this is our 4th agent and it's just getting worse here. We're all in the same boat. It isn't the EA's fault - he's doing what he can. Changing agents won't help now and people are giving up. Dropping the price won't help either. We tried and no-one came. Nothing we can do. But it does appear to be quite a localised problem.

[YellowWellies]

I dunno - from reading this months RICS survey (from EAs all across the country all reporting on their local markets - definitely worth a read), it seems to be a problem across the UK - bar London, and areas which have already seen big price drops - Scotland, NW, Wales, NI, NE - where the market is more in line with wages and is starting to move again as FTB can get mortgages on real wages. I mean the trigger factors - the economy - seems to be pretty similar nationwide I guess?