Prices have increased since my house went under offer... what to do?

[meadowquark]

I put my house on the market in August, accepted a lowish offer (£285k off original £300k - London) in September as I was rushing to offer on a particular property - it did not work out so in October I offered on a "compromise" property. (in the meantime I accepted £1.5k discount on my house to fix non-existing damp - felt pressurized into it). We are in January and still have not exchanged but heading towards that direction (perhaps next month).

In the meantime similar houses to mine have appeared on the market priced £320-325k, one of them sold for 312k, another for £322k few months ago, couple of others SSTC for asking price £320-325k, you get the picture. My neighbour just put her house on the market, +1 bedroom but horrible condition, asking price £350k. You get the picture. I am feeling increasingly nervous that I am "giving my house away".

Not to mention that I was only able to get a "compromise" property as wasn't able to afford anything else at the time.. if I was buying a dream property, perhaps it would not matter that much.

What would you do??

Be aware you might have to pay first agents commission if you are still under contract with them, if you accept an offer through different agent now.

You're not happy with the house you're buying or the price you have got.
pull out.

start again when you're ready and have found the house you want.

So.. I had three viewers on Saturday. No feedback yet, hence my confidence is droping. No solution yet, either. As to the compromise house, it has a big advantage of an excellent school catchment, and that's why I compromise.

Anything else is out of catchment or not-affordable.

But still think I am losing out by potentially 20-30k.

You need to decide how much you value being in a popular school catchment vs the actual house. Where I am the price premium for houses near the most popular schools is much much higher than 30k, imagine this is even higher in London.

OP would other houses still be unaffordable with an extra £20-30k to play with? If so then the issue is whether you want to move for schools or not.

If it were me, I'd still proceed with the sale unless you think you will be unhappy in the compromise house. I think you always have to compromise on something (well 99.9% of the time). Schools are the reason I am moving and even though we love the house we are moving to, in an ideal world id pick it up and move it a few streets away. But like you, it's all we can afford.

And just to add, £20-30k would get us a house those few streets away but the house wouldn't be as nice. So It would still be a compromise.

Good point about the premium because of the school.