Listing, viewings and offers thread 3!

[Fortheloveofscience]

We filled up our old one, hoping I'm not posting out of turn by starting the next, it's the only thing keeping me from going nuts with the endless cycle of no viewings - viewings - feedback - no offer - no viewings - viewings etc!

Hope this is the thread where we all sell and get our dream houses. I'm working from home and doing 'backseat cleaning' - nagging my poor OH who has the day off to do everything for our second viewing this afternoon from the only couple to have shown serious interest.

Ooh good luck booby. Hope they up their offers

That's a dilemma Gizlotsmum - has sleeping on it helped you decide?

My positive vibes are with you boobyooby and with everyone else on this thread.

The market here seems very different to last time we moved 7 years ago. Then we put our house on the market and got a flood of viewings in the first weekend. This time, our house went onto the EA's website on Wednesday and Rightmove on Thursday but we've only had one request for a viewing

So we have a spotless house and I had arranged for all of us to be out all day so that EA could do viewings, but nothing This rather corroborates what the EA said when he said that it would take about 3 weeks to start to get viewings. Anyone else experiencing this?

We had a viewing and a second viewing (prior to being officially on the market) but that couple have decided to keep looking and might come back if they don't see something which suits them better, so I guess that's positive in a way.

We've viewed three so far. The EA's I've registered with seem keen to show us everything they have but I am not interested in this.

Of the three we've seen -

1. FABULOUS garden, loved the house too but on quite a busy road and 2 miles from the secondary school we want. Probably top of my list at the moment.
2. Beautiful grade 2 listed farmhouse. Completely unique. But effectively only 2 bedrooms as the attic room would only be able to be used by a small child (seriously restricted head room). About 500 yards from the secondary we want. DP and DS' favourite. I'm rather wary of the cost and hassle living in a listed building would cause us.
3. Close to an Ofsted Outstanding secondary with a very good reputation. But, although the house was on for 15% more than our current house, it actually had smaller bedrooms than we have already, so the price seems far too high and I think it'll have to come down substantially before it will sell. But what do I know

Good luck to everyone with viewings this weekend. Fingers crossed for successful outcomes!

Ugh not really. It's down to those two...dh has heard negative things about the area of the first one so think his head may overrule my heart...

Yoga drone house 1 sounds like the winner to me. We have rejected my heart house ( for all the right reasons but still a bit sad) and will be putting in an offer for the other one.

Looks like lots of movement suddenly.

Can I ask you all a quick question? We saw what could be The House today, we've been waiting for it to come on for the last couple of weeks after my EA and another one I speak to a bit, said they'd been to value it.

It came to market yesterday (with a dreaded online EA!) 5% over the highest asking price the local EA's had valued it at. It would also break the ceiling price for this estate, if it went for that and whilst we really like it, the bathrooms are the original ones (15yrs old) and it needs updating decoratively. It is on a good plot however.

We viewed it today but aren't sure how to proceed. Should we leave it a while before offering? We were thinking of initially offering around 8% under asking but in reality that would be 3.5-5% under local EA valuations. We could pay the local EA valuation but no more as we'd need to spend around £10k on it fairly soon. I don't think the vendor feels anything needs doing to it though

I'm conscious that it only went on yesterday so they may want to test the waters with other viewers.

We are in a good position though as our buyer is ready to go when we are.

WWYD?

I'd offer. We accepted an offer 8 days after we went on the market for a little bit under asking price ( good positioned buyer and didn't want the hassle if lots of viewings). So you never know. They can refuse and might come back to you.

Gizlotsmum thank you, that's a helpful perspective. It helps that I'm impulsive so it appeals to my 'get it sorted' nature.

One thing, we had an affordability type appointment with our broker (who's conveniently on holiday until Monday) but we have no AIP, although I don't foresee any problems. Will this be a problem, do you think?

We can absolutely afford repayments as they'll only be £100-200 more than we currently pay.

We've decided to go with the enthusiastic EA, not the "rubbish market innit" EA, as we feel we have enough pessimism already and EAs are paid to be Duracell bunnies!
I'm away for work and DH obviously has nothing to do with two small DCs so I've left him to give notice (and ask cheekily if we can buy our very nice photos - has anyone negotiated this when moving EAs, the problem being it is now vacant and the photos were taken when it was lovingly tidied and dressed with our lovely furniture, all chosen carefully to complement the period features) and sign up with the new EA.

Dragonmomma. You should get an AIP fairly quickly so don't see it being an issue. Our buyer offered after they got the aip which was the day after the viewing. Good luck drspouse

I think that makes sense Dr, someone enthusiastic makes a huge amount of difference. I don't think it's coincidence that we'd been trying to sell since April, last week a new agent joins the EA and sells 2 properties on my road within a week.

Saw 15 properties today, was completely mental. But think we've found 'the one', a gorgeous Victorian cottage and chain-free so fits well with our mega-optimistic timeframe.

Question though - it's on at a 'fixed price' amount. Does this mean what it says on the tin (and tbh we wouldn't be unhappy to pay this) or is it expected that we'd make an offer a bit lower as usual?

Forthelove, I think I would go slightly under and see what happens. You can always go up to asking if they say no.

We've seen 5 houses today, my most favouritest on paper is in a dreadfully noise location.

Of the 5, only one stands out but we think it's overpriced: it's a 3 bed for 295k, the last house to sell on the road sold for 250k in September last year, and it was a 5 bed with a garage (same style house but extended). So we're thinking of opening negotiations at 250k - is it too cheeky? We'd happily pay 295k if the 3rd bedroom was a decent size, but it's tiny . Everything else in the house is lovely, but considering what others have sold for, we feel it's overpriced. There was another lot waiting to view after us when we left, and that would normally make me feel under pressure, but two of the estate agents I've seen to value my house said it's a common tactic to book viewings overlapping to put pressure on the buyer to offer, so I'm trying keeping my cool. (Did I mention I think is overpriced? )

Did the other house need a lot of upgrading?

LinaBo where are you looking to buy? Sounds like it's somewhere in the Vale?

That will influence my response as to whether to be cheeky...

Or Porthcawl.

If it's the one on SP then it's lovely but they are clearly being punchy with their asking price.

That town does hold it's prices for obvious reasons but I'd definitely open up at a much lower price.

The only trouble is that these houses do tend to shift over the summer as at first whiff of the sun, everybody thinks it's a great idea to move there. You'd be better placed to negotiate harder during the winter as it can feel a bit ghost town-like although we go all year round!

It doesn't look like it needed upgrading at all by looking at the photos. House was on the market for 328k, so I wonder if they found something dodgy on the survey or if they knew they were trying it on.

That is the one, Dragon. This morning I was sure we would put an offer in tomorrow morning, but now I'm back home and panicking that the house might not be big enough for my furniture. My SIL made it her mission to fill my inbox with as many houses as possible. God help me! 🤣

Are you set on moving to that town? It can be a bit miserable in winter months!

Not really, the only rule of our search was it being 20 minutes-ish from DH's office - being close to the sea is a bonus but not a must. The 5 we saw yesterday were all over the place. Do you have any suggestions?

We went in at £2k below asking. Fingers crossed!

Fx forthelove. We have put in an offer but the vendor is over seas ! So need to wait. So far no one else has offered ....but still early days and our ea sounded v negative about it being metal framed and our ability to get a mortgage. Don't think we are. Ring slow about trying to find somewhere but don't want to rush into the wrong house either

Are being not ring

Morning all. Good luck to all waiting for results of offers today

We decided to make another offer on the house we liked, after some toing and froing they accepted it.

Gizlot it is a metal framed Airey house, built in the 1960s. It was declared defective in the 80s and refurbished with a LA grant. Many houses in that road have been bought and sold with no problems, good friends of ours did so. We have seen the relevant documentation showing it was repaired by licensed structural builders and all should be fine. Our lenders will probably request a copy of the PRC certificate.

Sooo, we're now part of a chain and my head is spinning already! I'm off to make a nuisance of myself on the in a chain thread

AnnPerkins good luck. Hope you don't mind me asking but did you need a big deposit. I am slightly concerned that the EA seems to know less than me! Am desperately trying to find out anything about the particular house but hitting brick (ha!) walls.

We haven't applied for a mortgage yet. We will have a 28% deposit. The brokers I've spoken to today didn't mention deposits in relation to the non-standard build.

Ah good luck.