Anyone fancy starting a Sellers support thread?

[Sooperswooper]

Just that really!

I knew it was too good to be true. Found a buyer (at last) and then our seller demands an extra £35k! So sale and purchase both off.

I am absolutely gutted. After nearly 40 viewings we finally had an offer. It was a low offer but we took it to get things moving as they were in a good position and no chain. The offer on the house we are trying to buy (and the only reason we are selling) was accepted after much haggling and agonising. It has been a really stressful, horrible week.

However yesterday things were happening, solicitors instructed, everybody delighted. Then a phone call today and our buyers have unexpectedly pulled out. The reason given just doesn't make sense and they could have told us this over a week ago.

I am so upset and we are back to square one. The thought of yet more house viewings fills me with dread.

Golden that's awful, I can sympathise. Our buyers also pulled out yesterday, for a reason that makes no sense at all. We will lose our purchase home if we have not sold again by next week.
Which also means we will have wasted £800 in surveys and solicitors fees too

Back to square one with viewings

Can I join too? We've been on the market for a couple of months with little interest, and just had the worst viewing ever! a couple with 2 under fives who ran riot around my home despite being told off every five minutes by parents, the parents went from room to room declaring what they would change/rip out, what they liked and disliked, I was exhausted by the time they left (over an hour later)! To top it off, they have fedback to the EA that they don't like the area! I am seriously considering in staying put, only want to move to reduce the 2 hour commute to work!

Tickle- what a nightmare- fingers crossed for you. £800 is a lot to lose and a waste of everyone's time too.

Time- I feel for you too. Having negative feedback isn't great but how to rude to say things like that in front of you!

I had a nightmare viewing with a lady who turned up an hour early. However she was the opposite and loved the house so much, talked about where her furniture was going to go, promised to be back as it was the house for her. She told me she was a cash buyer and in a position to move very quickly and would be back after her holiday. We talked about moving dates and she seemed really nice. It turns out she had made the whole thing up, wasn't on holiday and had recently bought a house for considerably less than our house on the market for. She was just being nosey as someone she knew used to live here!

I don't know where to go from here to stop us losing our dream house. The owners have just re launched the house at a lower price and there are big adverts about it.

I had to tell the children yesterday that we wouldn't be moving yet after all. It was awful to see my little boy sitting there with tears silently rolling down his face. However it is impossible to not say anything and hide the whole house move due to the endless house viewings. It is so disruptive for the children. I am so sick of timewasters of which there have been many.

I feel your frustrations people. I had my home on the market for 6 months with a high street named EA and had just the same nightmare. However, I guess we've all seen houses that we just didn't get the right vibe from and sometimes it's difficult to be constructive when asked for feedback.

I thought it was my buyers that were the problem, but having changed EA I now realise it was them that were, and what they weren't doing for me.

I chose an online agent and BINGO!.

I spoke to my "Personal Negotiator" and explained what I'd been through with buyers. He then stated he would ask each buyer what their position was prior to them even getting a viewing. He was very specific about cash buyers are as many buyers misunderstand what that actually means! He managed to weed out what I call gawkers.

I too was fed up with viewings, but he offered us an open day option where once a week or whenever was convenient to us, we would show people around. We didn't go for that, but having read about everyone struggling with young kids, I can see it would be really useful to others.

Anyway, long and short it that the service was brilliant. Held our hand the whole way through from start to finish. We received 2 offers and have just exchanged at a price more than we were asking. And best of all, we're saving a fortune! Over £4000 based on what the other EA was going to charge!!

Am I allowed to say who it was?? I highly recommend them?

Can I join? We are going on the market very soon. I've been decluttering and tidying and cleaning and polishing for what feels like forever - the agent came to take photos today - and I am aching all over! The idea of keeping the house in this pristine state for viewings is giving me conniptions.

Just had the EA email me that one potential viewer wants to know my opinion of what the local schools were like , suggested they look it up! I think more research is done on a new TV than buying a house!

Urge, it's all so annoying isn't it. We put our two bed first/second floor flat on the market in June, soon had a good offer, but they pulled out early Sept as they are suddenly expecting a baby. Back to square one. Three viewings since hen and two more tomorrow, hate all the tidying up and cleaning and putting the baby's stuff away. What really gets me though is we clearly don't have a garden and it says so. Then we get feedback from viewers that they really want a flat with a garden. So why come to see it?!!
I am much more stressed about it than DH. Main reason is we are moving to a cheaper area, DS started at a horrendously expensive nursery in May (not much choice round here) but we thought we'd easily move by year end so could just about afford it for six months or so as the nurseries where we are looking to buy are much cheaper. I'm eating into my savings to help pay the nursery bill and can't continue doing this for much longer. And breathe!

Has the housing market slowed down (with the exception of London)?

For the first week ever since putting our house on the market, we have had no viewings/interest at all and nothing last weekend. The EA assures me that things will get busy in September but September is nearly over!

We have dropped our price hugely again in a last ditch attempt to still buy the house we want. I have noticed that many other houses nearby have also dropped their prices quite significantly too (including the one we are trying to buy). There doesn't seem to be a huge amount selling near us.

Don't know where you are golden but nothing is around in my area (Essex). Very much a seller's market but I think a lot of people must have stopped looking because what is up isn't moving.

Kent/East Sussex border.

In case anyone here needs it, happy to chime in with impartial EA advice - because I am an EA owner!

based in Hertfordshire, but happy to answer questions/frustrations etc.

Best of luck to all selling - hope it goes through for the price required!

alasdairhand- is the market not as good as EA's are making out in the South East (not including London)? Is it a buyers or sellers market? Our EA keeps telling us not to panic. We've dropped our price again and can't go any lower.

Since our house sale fell through, the vendors of the house we are trying to buy have decided to put their house back on the rental market. If this happens and they wait for us to find another buyer for ours, then we can't move for at least 6 months. I guess it will buy us time.

EA phoned today with a request for a viewing at short notice today (house viewing number 43!). I frantically ran around tidying/cleaning/buying yet more flowers, then they cancelled just before they were due to arrive. The whole process is so frustrating.

goldenlilliesdaffodillies - The market at the moment feels a bit like....how to describe it.....hmmmm.......when the market is in good 'flow' its like carrying two moderately weighted shopping bags down a hill - everything moves nicely and it's not too difficult, plenty of buyers, plenty of vendors and everything is ticking over nicely with people moving up the ladder. What we've got at the moment is incredible demand and loads of mortgage approvals, but there's no stock because of the cost of moving many people are choosing to extend or just sit on things until the equity goes up a little more and the market slows down before they sell. Back to our bag metaphor, this is like having an extremely heavy suitcase on one hand, and nothing in the other, no balance - nothing flows properly and the over-demand and under-supply is causing us all problems.

it is definitely a sellers market and prices are rising - the data clearly shows this, but part of the problem is that unless you're going for no chain investors or FTB, everyone who is going to buy from you, also has to sell, unless they're willing to break the chain and take a punt on renting for 12-24 months.

We're hearing from all the agents that we work with out of our local area that stock is just utter pants at the moment - which is why any of you who are on the market are probably drowning in leaflets coming through your door because everyone is fighting over the same instructions - there just isn't much business at the moment, consumer confidence in the market is still shaky because I think people don't genuinely believe that there has been any significant economic recovery - they can't see it in their wage packet or in their daily life (although I admit it may be hidden) but if people can't experience it, it might as well not happen.

43 viewings sounds an insane amount - most places go within 14-20 viewings at most in my experience unless it is significantly over priced (due to overvaluing from major high street chains) or there's something seriously wrong with the property that is putting people off (which again boils down to price).

My advice for the frustration is to just live in a semi-state of clean. Nobody expects a house to be a show home - you live there - and if they do expect that and it doesn't meet with their approval, what can they do - ask for a reduction in price? Your Estate Agent should be more than capable of overcoming such weak objections from buyers - they're paying for the location, the space, and the fixtures and fittings. Everyone who moves in to any place is going to spend the first 3-5 days cleaning it anyway - its a case of your agent giving them a gentle reality check and SELLING the good points to them.

Who are you on with, if you don't mind sharing?

Have you tried using social media to get more people looking at the property? I did a Youtube video on that topic recently. Take note of the figures, they're quite compelling -

See if you can share the listing on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram - at the end of the day, it only takes ONE buyer to make it all happen.

I would list it for you as well but I'm probably not in your area! Happy to share more insight if you have more questions :-)

Can I join in? 4 bed detached house, been on the market 4 weeks, reasonable amount of viewings one second viewing this weekend. No offers. Cheapest 4 bed house in the area, ten years old, no obvious possible.

Anyone buying the house is getting a lot for their money, 4 double bedrooms, en suite, and ground floor wc, garden not overlooked. Yes it needs new carpet, but is priced accordingly. Downstairs is laminate, so upstairs only.

I'm going to start painting the woodwork .. But I just don't understand why there aren't people fighting over it?!

We need to move soon for various reasons.

Thanks alasdairhandc. We have dropped the price by£100K so in hindsight it was overpriced to start with, but the valuations were suggested by 3 different High Street EA's. It's Grade 2 listed so I don't know if that makes it harder to sell.

Every time I mention to the EA about the huge number of viewings they keep saying we are lucky to have so much interest and that other houses aren't getting any! Our EA is a well known EA (can't say who though!

Thanks for sharing your website information about social media- very interesting.

Probably about right then.

Understand you can't say - sensible idea. Sorry, shouldn't have asked.

If it's G2 then probably quite a few are people who are in love with the idea of the house being old but overlook the practical side of maintaining an older building. Yes, they are harder to sell if they're G1 and G2 but still, might be worth gently suggesting to your agent that they think creatively (or do it yourself if that's beyond them) by speaking to people like the surveyors and land agents - they'll know the kinds of people that will buy that sort of house.

Failing that, you could try speaking to Jason Tebb at IvyGate in Surrey (invested in by James Caan, Dragons Den) - he's closer to you than I am, tell him you've spoken with me, he might be able to help.

Your post inspired me to record another video today that is uploading as we speak, so thank you for the inspiration!

Hope it goes well, feel free to email me direct if you need more advice :-)

Our house is not even officially on the market yet and I'm already feeling gloomy. Agents have been a bit slow with the property particulars etc due to various issues, although AFAIK everything is really ready to go now. But meanwhile, the agents have sent out "pre-marketing" info to their mailing list over the past week or so.

When we signed up with them, they were (naturally ) confident that the house would be snapped up instantly perhaps even during the "pre-marketing" period - so far, a few people have expressed vague interest but this hasn't translated into any actual viewings. Although I did take the agent's sales pitch with a large pinch of salt, I'm still feeling deflated - it's like being permanently "battle ready" and then nothing

Makes sense - you're relying on the Salespeople in the office knowing what they're doing - sadly most of the time it's a bit 'fire and forget' because so many estate agents are so busy trying to look busy because they believe that impresses people, rather than actually thinking ahead and trying to SELL property by spending more time getting to know their buyers and finding more buyers.

i.e. - who will the buyers be - probably all of the people using their competitors - so why not knock on the door of houses that are slightly larger and slightly smaller and find out where those people are moving to - they could be the perfect buyer and it only takes one - but of course they won't do this because they don't think laterally - they just throw it on Rightmove and hope for the best.

The video I mention that was inspired by goldenlilliesdaffodillies predicament is here;

although I say don't blame the estate agent, sometimes it's warranted for the reasons outlined above.

TheElementSong, that's a bit annoying when they say they are sending it out to a mailing list. I've been told that it's often just used to pay the vendor lip service and make it look like they're working on your listing. However, if someone is truly looking for property, they'll see yours on the property portals anyway. So even if they are doing it, it would seem like a waste of time.

As I've mentioned before, I used an online agent, and our details were up on the portals within about 3 days. No idea why it should take the high street agents so long. We had viewings immediately and a sale within a few weeks. I know I'm not in the deep south, but again, all these stories of properties not shifting make me question what these High St EA are actually doing all day.

I didn't mention who we used the last time, but will now

www.yournaturalhabitat.com

Hope it was ok to do that.

Alasdairhandc,
A couple of comments I have on your post.

It worries me when you say EA in your area are fighting for properties. From what I researched prior to selling mine, this is a good indication that EA will over price your property in order to gain the instruction. This in turn makes the property difficult to sell. As a seller that would make me very wary. I'd rather receive a realistic price and it sell quickly than an over inflated one which takes forever or I have to reduce (making my possible buyers wonder what's wrong with it).

Regarding the cost of moving, I think that's something everyone wants to consider, and I wonder if part of the problem for high st EAs getting their hands on property is the upsurge of online Estate agents taking business away from them. They are cropping up as local agents and national agents everywhere and of course cost a fraction of the price. I think it's serious competion based on my experience. They knew my area, were bang on with the valuation I thought my house would be and I had everything I needed and a house sold within several weeks, all for under £700. They were in touch whenever I needed them to be too. No chasing etc..

This proves, it doesn't have to be costly to move....

I don't want to lay into traditional agents, but I have to say, neither I, or the majority of my friends, have had a good experience with them.

PushandPull- that is exactly what has happened to us- house over priced, house on the market for ages (since end of May), house not selling!

Alisadair- I liked your 'why is my house not selling blog'- very true.

A couple knocked on my door the other day having spotted the 'For Sale' sign. They were driving past and wanted to view my house there and then and got quite shirty when I said they couldn't come in and had to go through the agent. I didn't let them in as they could have been anyone. We haven't heard from them (I gave them the agent details). It left me feeling quite unsettled. House viewing number 43 tomorrow.

OMG, poor you. I think I'd roll over and die if I had to do 43 viewings, especially with the kids!

Our house went on Rightmove last night! ^^

How long is it typically before people get viewings? (I know this is a "how long is a piece of string" question, I'm just a bit over-keen).