Need advice please about getting ready to put house on the market

[RebeccaCloud9]

We have been looking to buy a house for a year now and in that time, not one single house has come up that would be right. We are looking in a small (Nottinghamshire) town and there are not many large houses in the streetswe would want, let alone any coming up for sale! We are ok where we are for now, but would want to move quickly when the right house does come up so we don't miss out and end up waiting another year! The type of house we are selling (3 bed townhouse) is selling much quicker than the larger detached houses we want next.

Because of this situation, we don't want to put our house on the market yet as we would either be unable to accept offers, or be left homeless whilst waiting for a house to buy!

But what do we need to be doing to be ready to move quickly if we need to? What point should we be up to with estate agents, mortgage etc?

It sounds as if, when a suitable house does come on the market you are going to have to move quickly to make sure it is you they chose to sell it to.

First you need to be registered with all the EAs and making sure they call you when a property comes available. Do some viewings (of similar price or of areas) to get an idea of what is available, size, price, compromises you may need to make.

As far as your house goes;
I would get valuations from 3 EA's and chose which one you want to go with (if you know which agent is more likely to have your larger house, then chose them).
I would get a decision in principle from a lender (via a free broker like London and Country)
I would get quotes from 3 solicitors and chose one (dont fill in any paperwork with them or accept a quote yet)
Id get your house viewing ready (decluttered, deep cleaned, minor repairs done, neat garden, cleaned windows etc).

Take deep breaths and good luck!!

Thanks!

Anyone have an idea of how quickly we could get on the market after instructing an ea?

you can be on rightmove within 20 minutes of instructing the EA, provided they have been round, taken photos, measurements, and prepared the description ready for you to give them the go ahead.

We had to get our house on the market really quickly recently after randomly seeing our dream house with no previous plans to move (the perils of speculative Rightmove browsing...). Had three agents round on the Friday, appointed our chosen one on the Saturday, he came round on the Monday to take photos etc, it went on Rightmove that evening. Open days that Friday and Saturday, with best and final offers by 5pm on Monday. So just over a week from start to finish. And we could actually have got it on Rightmove the first Saturday, but we wanted the weekend to desperately clear out/tidy.

FWIW, I would sell your house and move into rented. That's what we did because we knew that houses on the roads that we wanted, within our budget would be rare, and when they did come up, would probably go to sealed bids because they were so sought after. I think we only got this house (we didn't have the highest bid) because I called in at the estate agents every week (in person - they knew we were in rented and what we were looking for) so I was the first person in to see it (went back the following day (Saturday), made an offer as did 4 other families I think on the Saturday, it went to sealed bids by the following Wednesday), we were chain free, could move within 6 weeks (or whatever timescales the sellers wanted) and my H's company would do the legals (and we said he could check daily to make sure there were no delays).

Petshopgirl was very lucky to find an EA that moved that quickly. Twice we have tried to get it done quickly and were told a few days, however both times the EAs failed to mention they had to instruct photographers and floor plan people from outside their business - and that took a week. Once it was raining and the outside photos were useless so they had to go back again. Perhaps check they have in-house people when you chose your Agent .

Crikey, really mixed experiences then! I think I'm tempted to get an ea ready but hold off putting on the market until we give the go ahead. Has anyone done this before - ie had photos taken etc then paused the process? Thanks

I doubt an EA would do that - they're incurring time & therefore cost when they take photos / writing up the spec and it could be months/ years even before a house comes up that you want to go for. You normally sign the contract with the EA before they start taking photos etc.

when we put ours on the market last year I wrote out a message describing the house with approx room sizes and garden size, sort of like an EA particulars and emailed it to ALL of the EA in the town

They were fighting each other to sell our house

In the end we had 9 come round to take details and give us their pitch and we chose 2 and gave them 6 weeks to sell it with 1% incl VAT as a joint sole agency basis

This was in an East Sussex seaside town

We had the details put on rightmove etc the same evening that we signed the contract, they were so quick, we had an offer 2 days later over the asking price from a cash buyer

I have heard of people putting a note through doors of houses they like asking if they are wanting to sell to let them know first, not really to escape estate agents fees but to be told before the house is put on the market, with a PAG mobile number or a different email address so that you are not giving your personal details out to people you don't know

Also getting on all the EA email system so they let you know when houses come up for sale before on internet, but if you are local to them then pop into offices or ring them regularly. the EA who wanted to sell our house told us they had people looking in our road for an old house like ours so that is what you guys want to be isn't it?

I agree to getting a rented house while you wait if possible that would put you in a very strong position to your new house owners

Good luck, hope you find your new house quickly :)

Good idea about popping a note through our favourite houses. Can't justify moving into rental. We are mortgage free atm and have a one year old, so we couldn't justify it. Plus the kind of house we are after, although few and far between, haven't been selling quickly whereas our type has been, so we're going to have to risk it and just try and be as quick off the mark as possible!

Grr it is frustrating though once you have decided you want to move. I wish it was just like a car showroom where you could go, browse then pick the house you want!

We're in a similar situation - 4 bed townhouse on Beds / Bucks border and we want to move to much larger 5 bed. The problem is that there are so few 5 beds (with enough parking in the right area) that come on the market, only 2 I've seen in last 9 months.

We've been advised to get ours on the market to be in a strong position to offer when one becomes available. Iv'e seen 5 agents this morning and they all said things sell to buyers in their mailing lists without being fully marketed, so there's more going on than you realise.

A couple of agents said in our situation they'd advise a low key strategy, so not putting our on rightmove straight away as we don't want to create a footprint and make it look like it's been on the market for ages. Just to be very upfront with buyers and say we might take a while to find a house.

I'm off to go and declutter a bedroom or two before our valuations next week!

If the type of property you want is rare then presumably there will be lots of competition so the seller will go with a buyer who is already under offer. It coming up to selling season now so I personally think you need to put yours on the market soon. I wouldn't accept an offer from someone who wasn't under offer themselves! If you're upfront with whoever offers on yours that it might be a while before you're ready to move then it shouldn't be a problem. Would it be a nightmare for you to have to move out of it came to it? I just feel you're taking a big risk at missing out if the perfect house does come up. Our flat took 3 months to go under offer. Also, some properties don't even make it onto estate agent websites because the estate agent shows people around even before photos etc. If they know people are looking for that type of place.

Thanks for your replies.
Well it's our type of house that tend to go quickly rather than the larger ones around here, though I know there's no guarantees! Our next door neighbours sold the day they went to get a valuation. There is also no way we could move out now. And I'd feel bad putting it on the market knowing that in a whole year we've not seen one house we like enough, I couldn't ask a buyer to potentially wait that long. It's so frustrating! Especially since we had been planning to rent our current house out rather than sell but it's not doable now with the new changes that are happening with stamp duty etc. Bloody tories!

Could you rent it out for a year and then get the stamp duty refund? Not ideal I know but depends where your cash is coming from!

We're in a similar position. Our house will sell fairly fast (we think) and what we want is a bit thin on the ground. My DH keeps asking if I've found anywhere to Move to yet!! (He's mostly kidding) but I can't see the point in looking seriously until we've done something towards putting ours up for sale. What if I find somewhere I love but then we miss out cos our house isn't even on the market??

It is hard to know what to do smartie .

Potentially huffle although now we're selling, it means we can now look at more expensive properties, which we would have to sell for.

Until recently we were in a similar position. In the end we waited till our rarely available ideal home ( in fact two of them!!!) came onto the market before putting ours up for sale. It worked out perfectly. Ours sold immediately and our offer was accepted. We are now happily living in our dream home.