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Original poster

A 'waiting for viewings and offers' support group?

999 replies

TheWanderingUterus · 17/11/2016 13:24

Not quite ready for the 'in a chain' support group (please please don't let it be too long!), but we have just put our house up for sale and are waiting for viewings. Mostly cleaning and primping and procrastinating, with occasional adrenaline bursts when the phone rings.

Anyone else in the same position wanting to share the angst?

OP posts:
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KondosSecretJunkRoom · 17/02/2017 14:50

Oh god, yes, the floors will need hoovering and mopping and the windows need a quick once over, I was hoping I was being overly dramatic when you first said two hours.

I think I could bribe the older kids to help me out but while the enthusiasm is generally quite high the competence is low.

It's probably too late to ditch them at a kid's club and no-one would take the three year old who is taking far longer than the others to tame.

afromom · 17/02/2017 16:04

Our half term is this week and it's been a nightmare trying to keep it clean! We've got a viewing at lunch time tomorrow so going to have to spend the morning getting it clean again. The kids seem to leave a trail of stuff wherever they go! And the kitchen floor is NEVER clean for longer than 1/2 hr before they've dropped crumbs, drinks and walked mud all over it! Ours are 10 and 12 so should know better!
It's only been on the market for a week and tomorrow will be our 12/13 viewing, I've lost track. We've got loads of interest and they all like the house but not the location (by a dual carriageway, lack of parking mainly). EA says if we could pick the house up and move it, it would have sold by now! Not sure what we can do about that though 🙁 it's only been a few days though so hopefully someone will see past the location eventually!

drspouse · 17/02/2017 20:31

Two HOURS??!

Oh dear there is no way I could spend that! Especially not an hour with the kids in the car!

I've been manically tidying as we go, using the handheld hoover when necessary and wiping the dining room floor after any meal where children were present, and giving everything a once over (including sorting washing etc) before bed and in the morning. This morning just to be on the safe side as we were out all morning, I emptied the dishwasher and popped the breakfast dishes in it, ran the hoover over the cereal on the kitchen floor, wiped under the dining table and put a wash in on a timer (i.e. so it wasn't sitting in the basket) before we dashed out to take DD to the CM and DS to a hospital appointment.

No time to do anything else so it has to be ready the night before!

Everyone takes off their shoes indoors anyway and thankfully though it's been half term this week, we've been out and about, DD has been in nursery, I've been at my mum's with DS and I've been trying to do more taking stuff to storage (so yesterday we did that, did a charity shop run and took DS out for a half term lunch treat with cake).

ChampagneTastes · 17/02/2017 21:15

I am obsessed with putting flowers every where and I send DS around the house with the dustbuster. Grin I generally spend about 2hrs on my 3bed semi. I still can't decide if that's really over the top or nowhere near enough. I'm at least confident that there are no dirty pants on the floor.

Notanotherpawpatrol · 17/02/2017 21:41

Champagne, mine is a 3 bed semi :) I'd say 2 hours is about right!! My kids are 6,5 and 2 with another on the way. Keeping it perfect all the time doesn't work for us, so 2 hours is doable for us :)

drspouse · 17/02/2017 22:26

We do have a cleaner once a week, so that may help.
But I can't see what I'd even do in two hours! I don't think the house would look significantly better if I hoovered or mopped every floor again, more than once a week, a quick go over with the handheld or a cloth does almost as much.

I imagine the family will start to get irritated by me following them round putting everything away though!

Notanotherpawpatrol · 17/02/2017 23:31

I make the house look like a show home! Freshen up the en suite, clear off the bedside tables, put away anything that's been acumalated on the windowsills and put away everything on my dressing table. Make the bed to within an inch of life! Then I do the hall way, straighten up kids shoes, books, toys etc that are on the shelves, take down dirty clothes that they've slung there, freshen up the family bathroom, make the kids beds, hide things like glasses cases, random hairbands, thin out their teddies (they get hidden in the wardrobe!) Make their beds (my eldest is 6, so they do it, but not to a great standard!) Just thoes sorts of things! In the kitchen I put away things like the bread bin, knife block etc. Just thin out the kitchen so it looks bigger. Hide the clean washing in the tumble dryer and the back of my car 🙈 just thoes sorts of last minute hiding stuff. It takes time!!

drspouse · 18/02/2017 04:23

Quite a lot of those things are happening anyway here - I have to make their beds anyway as they are smaller, so that happens in the morning (but DS will tell me if I didn't do it quite right!), clean washing I try and put away night time/first thing, dirty clothes go away before they go to bed.

Some of them we've eliminated (nothing now allowed on windowsills!)

Everything else will have to take its chances - there is no way it looks like a show home, and though bedside table junk goes in baskets, dressing table stuff is neatly arranged by the cleaner so it takes 2 seconds to put anything back that went skew.

Lilmisskittykat · 18/02/2017 12:48

I'm like you paw... trying for show home standard.

Where I am they seem to be main competition especially for the first time buyers and I know from looking on right move the cluttered looking houses put me off. I know your supposed to see through that but unless it's a bargain i don't want to start from scratch like I did with this house

I'm actually really loving my house since a massive declutter And staging.. which is no bad thing as looks like might be here longer then I thought!

Notanotherpawpatrol · 18/02/2017 13:16

One of the things I need is storage space, so to me a courtesy house says there isn't enough! Everything that doesn't add to the decoration gets hidden away! I don't want anyone to know we lack storage space!

Notanotherpawpatrol · 18/02/2017 13:17

Cluttered not courtesy Hmm

loveka · 18/02/2017 13:49

I also do about 2 hours.

It's not helping though... We had an asking price offer that fell through last week. We had a buyer pull out on the day of exchange just before Christmas.

A good friend sold their very similar but a bit smaller house within a week!

It's so frustrating and I am starting to despair a bit.

KondosSecretJunkRoom · 18/02/2017 14:00

Oh Loveka that must be hugely frustrating. I think I'd be apoplectic with rage if someone pulled out on the day of exchange - proper Michael Douglas 'Falling Down' shitfit angry.

littlemissM92 · 18/02/2017 14:01

I think we may of found our house this morn Grin

loveka · 18/02/2017 14:29

Ooh. That's exciting. Why is it 'the one'?

Yes I was full of rage! This time I am just disappointed, as I understand the reasons. The one before Christmas was just a case of cold feet I think. We would have been in our new house now...

Matilda2013 · 18/02/2017 14:34

Has/did anyone consider selling to someone they knew was interested? Our house isn't for sale officially yet and we're just about to get valuations and speak to a mortgage adviser. However if you were going to sell to someone you knew how much extra would you ask for on the house to make up for not having the "competition" of being for sale?

littlemissM92 · 18/02/2017 14:43

Really nice location v spacious 3 massive bedrooms private parking oh and a double garage sold it for my partner haha

KondosSecretJunkRoom · 18/02/2017 14:51

I'd just go with the EA's valuation Matilda. You'll be saving on the lack of EA fee, the cost of dressing the house and the stress of wondering if the buyers were going to pull out at the eleventh hour. (I'm not your buyer, promise)

Notanotherpawpatrol · 18/02/2017 14:58

I think usually Matilda houses in thoes circumstances are slightly cheeper as you're saving on estate agent fees. I certainly wouldn't be adding to the price anyway!

loveka · 18/02/2017 15:36

Yes, cheaper as you save on fees.

Matilda2013 · 18/02/2017 15:52

Should point out we aren't just being greedy! First time selling a house so it's all new to us.

ChampagneTastes · 18/02/2017 17:19

Oh God, people pulling out on the day of exchange is the stuff of nightmares. Why do people do this stuff? Although we haven't sold yet, we have made an offer on the most lovely 1930s place with a fabulous garden. My DS is in love. I'm in love. DH saw it today, saw the workshop and he is in love too. The vendors haven't found a place themselves yet so we're hoping that the fact we're offering the asking price is enough. Should find out at the beginning of next week. I am trying SO hard not to get my hopes up but it is so perfect and I got the distinct impression that I would really like the current owners which somehow made it MORE perfect! Oh God, I probably need to be talked down right about now.

We had two more viewings today; one was a second viewing and the other was a first time buyer. Keep everything crossed that one of them offers on Monday!

Notanotherpawpatrol · 18/02/2017 18:20

Oh, when we were selling our last house, we had some first time buyers who wanted to exchange and complete before christmas, it was down to the wire. We were all boxed up and ready to go, our house was ready to move into everything sorted and on the day of exchange got a phonecall saying we were just waiting on our buyers mortgage but we would be exchanging the following day. That came and for a week it was tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, we agreed to exchange and complete on the same day and that was literally the day the lawyers closed for Christmas. The exchange never happened. We were living in boxes for Christmas with no tree, a 2 year old and a 1 year old. It was hidious. On the 2nd January we got the phone call to say the buyers had pulled out. I was so angry!! It was horrible.
I really really don't want any stress like that this time around.

mamaslatts · 18/02/2017 19:44

pawpatrol house moving seems like giving birth, as soon as you are about to do it yourself you start to hear everyone else's hideous horror stories!
Hopefully this time it will go more smoothly.

we had 3 viewings today, another booked for Monday. Our house has never looked so clean. Grin

Notanotherpawpatrol · 18/02/2017 20:05

Mama, it'll be fine! It was just a bad expiearience Grin house moves go through every day hitch free. We sold again 72 hours later and there were no issues!