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.

Good luck then. And don't forget it's 14 weeks plus/minus 2.

Whatever happens you'll cope and have anecdotes to bore the kids with.

How did it go PrettyGirl? Or do you not hear back if they accepted for another day or two yet?

Oh and the other thing I forgot to mention was that the EA didn't seem to realise that 2nd viewing lady was having a 2nd viewing! So we feel confirmed in our view that EA has to go - we are just working out our notice.

I think secretly she wants it but is thinking we'll go "OK we'll knock 20K off the price". There aren't houses like ours in this area (vvv close to station and excellent primary, and actually also v close to 2 secondaries which is unusual) with gardens. They are all either much smaller with no garden either, not period properties, or WAY more expensive. Or they are like ours/the one round the corner.

FX that it all works out drspouse

I am officially fucked off with everyone to do with the house selling industry. Sick to death of this whole bullshit experience...

Not sure if we'll hear tomorrow, but fingers crossed. Went for top of price range they wanted in the end with condition of completion in 12 weeks. My theory is that if we're there long-term it'll have been worth spending a bit more now (compared to cost of moving again in a few years).

What's happened Lazy?

Prettygirlincrimsonrose – We were quoted 10 weeks as the average time to exchange and completion and we had been working on completing in that 10 week timeframe before the buyers pulled out. I think it is doable so long as all work toward that common date.
Have your buyer’s offer been accepted – I hope so! I am living vicariously through you now!

LazyDailyMailJournos – that survey seems to be taking a while. Before our previous buyers pulled out, we had had quotes for surveys which were going to be done in a week. Is this the lender’s survey or yours?

Watto1 – that is terrible. Surely they could have seen from the pictures/description that the garden was not the size they are looking for? What a waste of time.

PickAChew – I am house proud and struggle sometimes when I view homes where it is clear no one who lives cares an aorta about tidiness, or even cleanliness! But if you like the house you see and can see beneath the “décor” to unmask the potential, then you are home free!

Drspouse – I hope you get feedback from the viewers soon. It is quite nerve racking sometimes when there’s been a viewing but no feedback.

LuLloyd – keeping my fingers crossed for you. If it were me buying I would get the survey done even though it is quite new so that I can get the indemnity that comes from the survey company, just in case.

KitKat1985 – chin up, there are buyers our there, it might take a while but they will come. x

As for us, our viewers have made an offer – it is not the offer we were expecting, plus as they have not sold yet it really does not mean much. So we have declined the offer. I expect they will come back with an upped offer at some point but most importantly they need to have sold! I am keeping my fingers crossed for them. The vendor of the house we like, offered on, and was accepted, is still waiting for us to sell (this was done when the chain was complete before our previous buyers pulled out).
I hate being in this position!

What happened Lazy?

Our EA tend to give up on chasing feedback - it's Thurs now and that was a Sat viewing.

Lender's survey and it's the same firm doing the homebuyer's for us. Quickest they can do it is almost a month away and we need to bloody complete by the end of next month. I just sat and cried this afternoon. I am so tired of the stress and constant worrying about money, about trying to get things done quickly and not losing our buyers. I've got 3 different people (the vendor's agent, the lender and the survey booking team) all telling me different versions of the same story, so I literally don't know who to believe anymore

Oh Lazy. Would your EA be able to help chase?

Drspouse - fingers crossed the buyer stops playing silly buggers soon if they want it and just puts in a sensible offer.

Prettygirl - I hope you hear back today about your offer. It would be awful to have to wait all weekend.

Fialor - I hope your potential buyers get a buyer themselves soon and come back with a better offer. It sounds like they like your house so fingers crossed.

Lazy - That's crap. No-one in this process ever seems to be in a rush to do anything quickly do they? I agree with Gizlot - could your EA or solicitor help chase them at all?

We've got a viewing on our house tomorrow so fingers crossed. Helpfully in preparation for this my DD1 (who is 2) has drawn on the panelling in the bathroom when my back was turned and it's not washing off. I'll have to try and bleach clean it later. She's also helpfully tipped lots of milk everywhere so that'll probably stink tomorrow despite my best attempts to clean it up. Sigh. Trying to keep the house clean / tidy for viewings with a 2 year old and 9 month old is an utter PITA.

I spoke to the EA about the fact that it's seems that we haven't had much interest on our shared ownership house, and he said they had actually had loads of enquiries about it but they are screening people before they get the chance to do a viewing, but a lot of applicants either hadn't met the housing association criteria (you're supposed to have a connection to the local area, earn within a certain range etc) or they're not able to get a mortgage due to being self-employed etc. I guess it's good that there's been more interest than I realised but obviously would be helpful if they were people who would actually be in a position to buy it!

KitKat try a magic eraser on the bathroom panelling and bicarbonate of soda is a great deodorant. Surveyor for our buyers is due to be here today.

Our property and the property we're buying are now both officially under offer, although the vendor had the house on with a local EA and an online one and it's still available on the online one. Not sure if there is anything I can do about that? We put our our offer in through the local EA.

Hope your viewing goes well KitKat. I remember trying to sell our last place with a 2 year old scuppering our best laid plans. You have my sympathy.

It sounds as though your EA is doing well filtering and vetting prospective buyers. That's got to be better than just letting anyone and everyone view and worrying about whether they fit the criteria later. Plus less clearing, tidying and cleaning for you!

Congrats LuLloyd I hope things go smoothly for you

We have two viewings booked this afternoon. One tomorrow afternoon and one next Wednesday. So we are gradually picking up some momentum (I hope).

I think I'm overthinking this but we had a viewing Monday evening. the EA finally managed to get some feedback from them on Wednesday. the viewer said that they liked the area, the road, the house. Everything beautifully presented yada yada yada. Then said "but I left scratching my head and thinking that's a £xxx house " (20% less than guide price). I just don't know whether they are being a bit bonkers or I'm missing something. You can't by a house like ours in a good area, school catchments etc... for the price they say. There is nothing on Rightmove that is that much cheaper. In fact houses very similar to ours are on for £35k more Ours was, we thought, priced to sell. So is the viewer being a bit odd or have I missed something?

How can a house be overpriced when, by their own admission, it's in a lovely area, 5 mins walk from local Outstanding primary, is well presented and there is no other property like it cheaper in the vicinity?

DP says just to ignore and it's someone having a laugh but it's niggling me. I get that someone might think it's expensive. I agree. But that's the price for this area and this road and all the things they apparently loved about it. Plus the last two (identical to ours) houses in my road sold within the last year for more than ours is on for (again, realistic for quickish sale). Do people not research an area before they view? I'm just confused

Thanks for the tip LuLloyd. I haven't managed to remove the stain completely but I've managed to fade it massively so you can only really see it if you look really closely, so I think I'll get away with it! DD1 finished off her mornings activities by deciding to 'help' me do a nappy change whilst I was upstairs putting the baby down for a nap. Came down to find he had removed her nappy which she had pooped in and tried to 'clean' herself, with predictable results.

Kitkat - glad you managed to get the stain to fade. Cream cleaner is wonderful at lifting scuff marks and similar from painted surfaces. Go for the supermarket own brand stuff rather than CIF - cheaper and IME more effective! I used on all our walls before our viewing, to remove any stains etc. Rub gently and in a circular motion using a microfibre cloth - keep moving otherwise you'll lift the paint. Leave it to dry (you will see the cleaner and probably some hairs that were in the cloth. Once it's completely dry take a clean tea towel and brush the wall down.

Yoga I can see both sides of this. Your DH is absolutely right but I confess to having thought this myself a few times when viewing places (although I would never be rude enough to actually say it!). It is totally the buyers issue. If they are like me then they have probably been looking in all sorts of areas. By doing that you see a wide variety of houses and you run the risk of setting your internal 'price bar' a bit wonky because it's easy to lose track of the area you're viewing.

So I saw an amazing looking house which I really liked but which was in an OK area. The next place we looked at was in a really good area but the house was much smaller than the previous one - for the same price. I immediately compared it to what I'd already seen, forgetting that the area premium was a factor. That's a really long-winded way of saying don't set too much store by what they have said!!

Lu chase the online people. They are shit - refer to my posts from weeks ago with property number one, which was with an online agent. They are S-L-O-W and you have to chase, chase, chase for everything.

drspouse really sounds like the agent needs to go. They should be all over this - it must be so frustrating.

Apologies to anyone I've missed

Good news from our side. After ringing the survey team and crying loudly down the phone at them they have managed to bring the survey forward to this coming week. So I am now feeling much more positive again! It's a real rollercoaster and I'll be so glad when it's all over. Now if I could just get hold of my solicitor then things would really be looking up...

Sounds like a good result Lazy.

Sellers are considering our offer but can't guarantee timescale. I guess we could change offer to say we'd still like to complete as soon as possible but not specify a date, but we offered top of the range they wanted with condition of timescale. If we have to deal with stress of moving very close to due date or once baby's here, I'd rather reduce offer slightly (although still at higher end of price range). But I guess as they know we can afford more it would be difficult to do that now.

Sounds like you've had a great morning KitKat

Yoga KitKat LazyThe thing with the online listing is that we haven't actually bought/offered on the property through them, we have bought thorough a local EA (it was up with both) The online agent is house simple, so are they technically still allowed to market it even though it's under offer with another agent and no longer marketed by them? I'm so paranoid, it's our forever home and I don't want to be gazumped, we have offered top of our budget and can't get into a bidding war.

Surveyor has just been and I now feel like I need a IV of wine or gin, or maybe both mixed together. He was here for 1.5 hours, can't tell us anything but I did have a snoop at his notes and nothing seemed worrying. I'm still worried though. We won't hear anything now until next week. I'm not sure I can live through the wait

Good news on the survey being brought forward Lazy this moving house lark is not for the faint hearted. I feel your pain, the waiting is agonising and I've only just started!

Thanks KitKat and Lazy - I suspect you are correct. This man wasn't viewing locally so perhaps he'd been looking in other towns too which don't quite have the price tag. I rather wish the EA had asked him which area these mythical properties were in as this would have confirmed this. Oh well.

Oh KitKat sounds like you had a lousy morning. I'm glad I only have to clean up after a nine year old and a very hairy dog! Top tips from Lazy about cleaning though

LuLloyd that's an odd one. I would have thought that once under offer the property should be removed from listings. If the vendor has agreed to remove it from the market that should be in effect for both EA's, whether online or not. Perhaps they are just very slow at updating their records? Although if they are that slow they probably wouldn't be quick arranging viewings either and if they tried to do so the vendor would set them straight.

I hope your vendors get back to you with good news soon Crimson

Good news that the survey is going to be next week Lazy. Gosh the stress just gets worse through the process doesn't it? We've only been on the market for 3 weeks and I'm low level permanent stressed already (and I promised myself I would be cool and calm and go with the flow this time!)

fialor when a house is empty, it's hardly any better because you can see every unfixed crack and sloppy bit of paintwork.

Viewed a house that we loved on paper, last night. The space itself is pretty much perfect but it's so dark. Tiny windows and deep and just dungeon like. No windows in either bathroom which wouldn't be an issue for me and dh alone, but would for the boys who have ASD. One of them obsesses about light at the best of times and the other reacts badly to artificial light in rooms full of shiny white stuff ,- his pupils don't constrict and he finds it painful. We get around that in the. Winter with a camping lamp, but wouldn't want to all year. Could possibly install a light tunnel, but the loft is quite high at that point.

Two more viewings of our house yesterday. One didn't bother turning up . The other really liked it and wants another look next week! Trying not to get too excited but it's hard not to.

Reading all your stories is making me nervous about the process we're just beginning. It'll all turn out ok in the end for all of us I'm sure. What's meant for you won't miss you, as my mum used to say.

So our buyers who were so keen to get moving have only just instructed their homebuyers survey which won't be done till 14th September. We instructed ours last week and had it done this week!

Lu House Simple were the online agent we were dealing with. They were absolutely fucking horrendous. Put it this way, when we pulled out of that purchase, we refused to even view anything that was listed with an online agent even though we were getting desperate - that's how bad they were! I do have the name of one person in the sales progression team though - PM me if you want details.

Sorry meant to say - one person in the team that I dealt with who was pretty good!

Gizlot that is a ridiculous amount of time to wait! Our buyers offered on Wednesday and the survey was done today, they seem really keen to move quickly which is great for us, hopefully they'll keep moving at that pace.

Watto I love your mum's saying.

Oh really Lazy!? Thank you but I'm not sure I can really do anything since I haven't offered through them. . . But with the other estate agent. I'm not sure I have any right to just yet? I'd like to think the vendor will take it down themselves but during the process of offering the EA said they had an offer through the online EA but they weren't proceed-able, my worry is that if it's still online someone else will come along!

We took a week from offer accepted to survey.. it just feels wrong after they were pushing so hard for us to find somewhere ( our EA was calling me daily to see what we were doing.. never mind the fact we both work and have 2 children and that my husbands Nan was dying...)