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Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

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Original poster

There are NO houses on the market!'

50 replies

LaurieFairyCake · 09/06/2013 20:58

I sold mine today (took 8 days) and there is nothing to move to.

Why?!??!?!

There is ONE I like (overpriced) and we are going to try and get a mortgage for it - bit of a stretch. But there is nothing else.

OP posts:

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2013 14:41

Good luck selling quenelle

Letchworth and north are way too far from me.

OP posts:

clam · 10/06/2013 14:50

What sort of thing are you looking for? Why are you moving such a relatively short distance? Don't mean to sound nosey, but what will you get half a mile up the road that you aren't getting now?

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2013 14:56

I want a forever house - bigger garden, separate room for work (rather than coming directly into the front room) and a bigger bedroom for dd as she's a whiner.

In short I want to never move again as I've done it 28 times.

OP posts:

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2013 14:57

And be as nosy as you like, it's a perfectly valid question

OP posts:

orangepudding · 10/06/2013 14:58

I'm in West Hearts and have the same problem. There is very little coming on the market, been looking for 18 months and only found one house to make an offer on ( we didn't get it). We have given up for now!

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2013 14:59

Hope it wasn't my house orange

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orangepudding · 10/06/2013 15:04

It was a few weeks ago and was a four bed property.

clam · 10/06/2013 15:21

Had you thought about dropping notes into the letterboxes of any houses you fancy?

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2013 15:29

I've thought about it but there is about 3000 houses that would be suitable

I could do the 4 roads I'm most keen on though - they're about a 100 houses each.

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Badvoc · 10/06/2013 15:32

Same.
We rented for 4 months til is house came on the market and because we were in such a good buying position we got a god amount off asking price too.

Otherworld · 10/06/2013 16:00

I would definitely drop notes around to check whether someone would sell in the local houses. And probably suggest you give your 15YO a boot up the backside for being a lazy whiner.

If someone put a note through our door offering to buy I would find it very difficult to ignore.

SquinkiesRule · 10/06/2013 16:29

Theres nothing on the market around us either. the house round the corner went as soon as it was on the market, didn't even have time to put a sign up. Should be new people moved in in the next 2 to 3 weeks (they only take 30-45 days from accepting the offer to handing over keys here US) We are putting ours up as soon as Dh can finish painting, he's got some gutters and three inside windows left, and no time off for two weeks.
I think putting letters through a few doors on houses you really like in the right spot would be the way to go. Can't hurt can it?

MrsJamin · 10/06/2013 17:55

If your search area is that restricted I am not surprised you can't find anything! My 5 yr old walks to and back from school, over 2 miles a day and I am sure I did more when I was 15! I think your only option is to drop some notes through doors.

flow4 · 11/06/2013 18:15

Surely it depends on population density, MrsJ? Where I live, a half-mile radius would only give us about 300 houses - so about 10 for sale! But Laurie says there are 'about 3000' houses in that area where she lives.

Still Laurie, I reckon you could widen your 'search circle' by another quarter of a mile or so and tell DD it's half a mile your DD would moan a bit, but cope!

WireCat · 11/06/2013 18:23

Widen your search to a mile! Walking a mile to school is nothing!

clam · 11/06/2013 18:54

Look at how far other local kids walk to the same school and shame her!

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 11/06/2013 19:41

Ach I'm being mean about her. It's really about how she has activities 2 days after school where she has to come home and get changed before going - and she wouldn't have time to get there and back. And if she went straight from school there's too much hanging around town with boys time

There's probably about 10000 houses really and because of the way the roads go it nudges onto 5 different areas so it should be easier than this.

I'm also looking for my forever house - so decent garden, as quiet as possible, as much room as possible etc

A lot of the three bed semis are really variable - tiny garden one side of the street, 100 foot gardens the other side. Garages at the end of gardens versus garages to the side (preferable for conversion)

So, in short I'm fussy

I've seen 3 so far - one house too small, one garden too small - one okay ish but very noisy road and needs a 30k extension/conservatory to provide the room we need. It's almost a go-er as at least there is enough room to build it.

OP posts:

clam · 11/06/2013 19:59

Time for a name-change, methinks. Goldilocks?

kissmyheathenass · 11/06/2013 20:03

I feel your pain. Our house has bee 'sold' for ages and there is just nothing at all for us to buy. I think we will probably lose our buyers soon . We nearly bought a very small bungalow in a panic - thank god we didn't, would have been hell of a squash.

I widened my search parameters so far today, my existing house came up as a search result.

mummytime · 11/06/2013 20:37

Maybe this is why we keep getting "We could sell your house" postings from reputable estate agents, some really impressive ones too. Not the rubbish ones from F*ons who lump our house in with far, far cheaper ones nearby.

If someone dropped a note through the door I might well be tempted. So it is worth it, walk around and see which houses most fit what you are looking for, and be realistic about price.

Around here some houses are going in days others are hanging on for a while.

flummoxedlummox · 11/06/2013 20:47

You could use google earth to check out the garden sizes and then do a letter drop on only those that suit. Also, make sure all the EA's know your position i.e. ready to go as you have accepted an offer. Apart from that good luck.

Socarrat · 11/06/2013 20:50

Jeez, guys, come to sunny Glasgow where mine has been languishing for three months, three viewers! And, nope, it's not the EA.....four neighbours on market, nothing is shifting!

BellaI · 11/06/2013 23:06

Put letters through doors, it's worth it for a few hours work. I've had quite a few replies from 100+ letters. People will contact if they are thinking f selling as they have nothing to lose! Could put you ahead of the competition!

clam · 12/06/2013 18:06

Actually, thinking about it, if this is a 'forever' house, then you might want to reconsider the importance of walking to school. Don't know how old your dd is, but how many more years is that going to be of key importance?

thegraduand · 12/06/2013 19:38

We're in the same position, it's a nightmare, nothing to buy. Our search area is quite big and I don't think we are being too fussy. I'm thinking of the leaflet approach. One frustrating thing is ringing estate agents asking to view a house, and them ringing back 5 minutes later to tell us the vendor has changed their mind and decided not to sell.

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