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Original poster

Anyone fancy starting a Sellers support thread?

912 replies

Sooperswooper · 21/07/2015 17:30

Just that really! Grin

OP posts:
goldenlilliesdaffodillies · 07/10/2015 09:25

Elements- It took a week of being on Rightmove before we had any viewings, then we had about 8 the first weekend and a steady stream over the summer of 3 Or 4. Now we seem to be only getting one a week (4 months later). Fingers crossed for you.

TheElementsSong · 07/10/2015 13:53

Thanks golden - since I last posted, agent has called and we have 2 viewings booked for this Saturday! Luckily our cleaner is coming this Friday so the inside of the house will be nice (as long as we keep the DC under control), unfortunately our once-lovely garden currently looks like a muddy swamp after the past two days of torrential rain. I'm seeing a frantic Saturday morning of raking leaves and cutting back rain-battered plants.

Thelioninwinter · 08/10/2015 13:21

Hello, can I join in please?

Our house has been on the market in North Surrey for 5+ months now. 30-40 viewings, one very stupid offer (15% below asking price). Feedback generally positive.

It is 5 minutes to train station, 25 mins into Waterloo, 10 mins walk into town, 10+ mins to two excellent local primary schools plus a good prep school. 4 beds, detached bungalow with PP for further extension upstairs. All modernised, oak flooring, granite worktops, white walls, landscaped large garden, off street parking etc etc etc. It is not overlooked & is on a quiet residential road.

Downsides: the garden was flooded 18 months ago (broken lock on aquaduct). No issues and unlikely to happen again. There is also a busy road behind the house with trees inbetween the house and this road. There are lots of houses in this position in our area.

We have it on at 15k over our mortgage company's valuation & have reduced it this month by 5.5% from the three original EA valuations.

Feedback is that there is nothing else we can do to improve the property, couple of people didn't like the road at the back, fair enough. One very stupid offer but nothing else. I thought the edge of London/Surrey was supposed to be a hotspot? Even the EA is puzzled although I am chasing for updates. Anyone know anything? Have any suggestions? Aaaargh.

Off to chase again. Wondering if it's too late for this year now.

Bearbehind · 08/10/2015 13:30

It sounds like the bottom line here is that's its over priced.

Why are you marketing it higher than the mortgage valuation? Unless that was a while ago, anyone who needs a mortgage to buy the property might well find they can't borrow what they need against the house if they get the same mortgage valuation.

Also, has the flooded garden even come up in conversation during viewings?

It's not the knd of thing vendors would be falling over themselves to disclose at a first viewing and if you haven't had any serious offers then this stumbling block wouldn't have been encountered by a potential buyer but is likely to led to a reduction in any offer made further down the line.

PushAndPull · 09/10/2015 16:34

I think Bearbehind is right. At the end of the day, your property is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. You are getting positive feedback so it HAS to be the price. For whatever reason, so far people haven't felt it's worth what you want.

We sold ours pretty quick, but we were realistic about the price. That was part of the reason for choosing an online. Paying on ly £700 to sell it allowed us to be sensible about the price.

When I was researching, I saw the EA often over price your property in order to get you on board with their agency. After that, they wait and then tell you to drop it.

IIRC once you are flooded, no matter what the reason was, the house insurance goes up for years. Perhaps that's what has put people off too? As Bearbehind said, at this point I wouldn't mention it.

TheElementsSong · 14/10/2015 10:43

So we had 2 viewings last weekend (was supposed to be 3 but one cancelled), and have 2 more scheduled this Friday. And now the first viewers have called to asked for a second viewing next week! I don't dare get my hopes up yet...

goldenlilliesdaffodillies · 16/10/2015 13:43

Fingers crossed for you Elements.

Has the property market really slowed down? We have had regular viewings throughout the summer and now are down to one a week on a Saturday. The owners of the house we are trying to buy have now rented the house out for the next 4-6 months. Apparently they really want to sell to us and this will buy us time but we can't seem to sell our house. It's been on the market now for nearly 5 months. Price has been dropped significantly (think £100K). I wonder if we should change agents or is it just a slow market? We're Kent/East Sussex and being bombarded by other Estate Agents to get them to sell our house. DH thinks it won't make a difference.

TheElementsSong · 17/10/2015 11:57

The feedback from yesterday's viewers is not good. Our rooms are too small, apparently Hmm. And there are no more viewings lined up for next week. I thought we were reasonably priced and in line with other houses nearby. I guess buyers don't agree Sad.

Not sure what to do now, I know we haven't been on the market long but I don't want the house to sit there, unwanted and getting stale.

paddingtonbear1 · 17/10/2015 12:02

goldenlillies - the market has really slowed down in our area. Our house has been on the market again since July (first buyer let us down), and for the last 2 weeks we've had no viewings. Our EA says it's not worth dropping the price as there's no-one coming through! We had one couple interested a few weeks ago but they haven't sold their house.

paddingtonbear1 · 17/10/2015 12:03

forgot to add - we're in the NW (Stockport area).

TheElementsSong · 17/10/2015 18:18

So much for the market picking up in the autumn...

orchidnap · 17/10/2015 19:46

Paddington... what agents are you with? We're also in the stockport area!

paddingtonbear1 · 17/10/2015 22:15

orchid, we're with Snapes. Had 3 very similar valuations but chose them as they were cheapest and seemed to have more sold boards up! Doesn't count for much at the moment!

orchidnap · 18/10/2015 02:25

Snapes always seem friendly when I speak to them, but their email list is rubbish! Everything they send me is either wrong area or wrong price!

paddingtonbear1 · 18/10/2015 09:13

I do wonder - the first documents they sent to us, they got my first name completely wrong (dh's was correct). It was between them and Gascoigne Halman, who have a very similar house up for sale round the corner. If that sells first, we'll be tempted to switch!

LaFlottes · 18/10/2015 19:03

Hi - please can I join in? We have just gone on the market, in an area where property generally sells well. We are in a popular village, however we only have one garage and no driveway, the rest is on street and additional spaces, but we don't actually own a space, just the garage.

We had 10 viewings in our first week. I must say I got my hopes up that this might be easy and we might have a buyer straight away. Estate agent implied this might happen too.

We then found out no offers, in fact a couple of people didn't even come in once they saw the parking. Most of the feedback is due to parking and so there's not much we can do.

We think we are too expensive so may drop the price by £20k but not sure that will help.

I feel so upset, although I know I am being unreasonable and just have to try and be patient.

I don't know if I'll cope with feeling so down for this whole process.

orchidnap · 18/10/2015 19:34

Paddingtonbear1 not sure where in stockport you are but we sold through the Cheadle branch of gascoine Halman and can't preside them enough. They've gone far beyond what we would expect from agents, ,and we have viewed with the bramhall branch who are also lovely and have already said that if we ever sell again we would do so with them!

paddingtonbear1 · 18/10/2015 22:11

Hi LaFlottes! Hope you're not feeling too down Flowers
The right buyer will come, I'm sure. We have several properties near us with no garage and on street parking only, and they have always been popular. Fingers crossed for you!

jennyj123 · 18/10/2015 22:51

Prices round my way are dropping and dropping fast. Property Bee tells me over 40% of properties have reduced price on a Rightmove search. Those holding out and not even willing to consider offers below asking may live to regret it next year. Life it too short. Accept the offers and get on with your lives!

LaFlottes · 19/10/2015 09:11

Thank you Paddington - I'm feeling a little bit better this morning. I am meeting the Estate Agent at 1pm today so will see what they suggest.

Luckily we can drop the price by around £25k if need be, so will certainly be happy to do so if that's what it takes.

I had forgotten how draining this process was! It's nice to join this thread to feel like I am not along. DH is much better at the whole "what will be will be" attitude, whereas I drive myself nuts!

PushAndPull · 19/10/2015 09:19

A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it...

Seeing as something like 98% of buyers start their search on the internet, the only point in changing EAs is to lower the fee you'll pay them when it sells. That's why so many now go online to sell - lowering your house price is softened by the savings you make.

Also, this time of year is traditionally harder to sell. Apart from first time buyers, not many people want to start organising a move that interferes with Christmas and the run up.

LaFlottes · 19/10/2015 09:39

I agree about the time of year - maybe we should wait until March....it's so hard isn't it.
We're happy with our agents so will see what they say later on.

goldenlilliesdaffodillies · 19/10/2015 10:24

Everyone around here has dropped their price in the last month. I am rather annoyed with our EA who said if we started at a lower price we would have sold by now and are just "unlucky" to have had 44 house viewings and not sold. We were entirely guided by the EA's who valued our house and didn't go with the highest valuation. Why can't EA value at a sensible price in the first place rather than making unrealistic promises?

The house we are trying to buy is now being rented out so we have 4-6 months to find a buyer. Somehow I don't think we will in this current market round here.

LaFlottes · 19/10/2015 10:36

That's annoying for you GoldenLillies. Surely they should have guided you better at the start then. That's a huge amount of viewings, so I guess at least you are getting interest. What's the feedback been like?

That's good news that you have a window of several months now. Fingers crossed. Timings are so hard. If we wait until spring, before we know it the summer holidays will be looming and that's not a good time to sell either. Seems there is no good time!!

Where are you located? We are in the South East but up against lots of new builds with their en suites, designated parking etc. Although if you read the actual room sizes ours is much larger just less rooms.

silversixpence · 19/10/2015 14:00

Can I join please? We're just about to go on rightmove and the EA expects our house to go very quickly as its in a popular location and has recently been decorated etc. The only problem is that we can't see any good properties in our budget at all! We are hoping something will come up within a reasonable timeframe.