Listing, Viewing, and Offers Thread 4!

[Nessalina]

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I thought I'd add to the viewings bit.. following my sale in August I'm getting so down hearted. looked at two awful houses at weekend and had two cancellations of viewings this weekend gone. I thought finding a house would be fun turning out to be another dreadful part of the whole flipping process...

Very interested in this Boxing Day theory - do lots people hold back to get listed just before Christmas? I thought it would only start to pick up again February ? I really hope so I've been back home with parents for fours months now - I never expected to not even have a hope of a house by Christmas!

I really hope the house listings pick up soon - There is nothing where I'm looking but what is clearly turning out to be dregs left over from the summer that are over priced and under loved or in bad locations.

That's great news Rebecca!
Lilmiss don't feel downhearted, when your dream house comes on the market you will be in such a strong position and it will be much less stressful than trying to sell at the same time.

OMG catspants 28 enquiries ia a tad excessive. What on earth is next? So frustrating that your solicitors are dragging their heels about this. Gonna have to keep nagging im afraid & get your EA on board to do the same. Make sure that your chain know that it is not you personally holding things up!

Woo! Glad to hear you now have a completed chain KitKat & Orchid on getting your offer accepted. Hopefully things run smoothly now!

Nothing like putting you on the spot is there RebeccaBunch? Wishful thinking, much?

I understand how you feel Lilmisskittykat. The process gets beyond frustrating after a while. There are still a few bits coming on in dribs & drabs, but nothing much. We are lucky our vendor is currently waiting for us to find a new buyer for our house. (Which is not over priced, under loved or in a bad location btw ) You'll always find houses going up for sale, because people always have to move for various reasons, & many sales fall through. If you have a particular area you like then don't be afraid of doing your own research. I've had great success before doing leaflet drops in roads of interest. On 2 occasions we were at the point of negotiating a price with the vendor. It is a great time to do this with a falling market. Vendors can afford to accept thousands of pounds less to secure a buyer than it would cost if they were to go via an EA!

I'm not sure the Boxing day thing involves lots of people waiting to list their house & many new properties becoming available tbh, its more that people might get the idea of moving & start looking at Rightmove to see whats available, which is beneficial to those who are already on the market!

Thanks random and pixie, I know you are both right and it's just a matter of waiting it out, winter is never the best time to look.

I was selling over Christmas last year and it's hard as you know your house is much brighter and your garden more cheerful then it can look in December. I try and bear that in mind when I'm looking now.

It's comforting to think that other people selling their homes view you as being in a strong position when hopefully the right house comes on.

I get what you mean now about Boxing Day... let's hope that also means more homes then start to come on and people look to jump up the ladder.

Good luck ! 2018 will be the year for house moving, buying and selling for us all !

@Pixiedust1973- I'm at that stage where I feel like I've done absolutely everything I could've/should've done. So, on the advice of my husband, I'm going to sit back and see what happens next. Our EA appears to tell everyone what they think they want to hear without any facts so it's going to be interesting to see what they come up with next!

Did you hear anything from the person who'd viewed your property and was thinking of putting an offer in?

Well now you mention it catspants we have just heard from the agent & they have made an offer. Unfortunately it's a ridiculous one which we can't even consider. They're offering 370k. House was originally on at 425k & getting viewings at that price. When our sale fell through we remarketed at offers over 400k. If these people can get up to 390k then that would be grudgingly acceptable, but at 55k below original asking price it's a no can do. We have the companies who offer to buy your house straight away offering 375k, so 370k is indeed a cheeky punt!

I'm hoping they have a bit more at the bottom of the piggy bank to add to their offer. If not we have 2 more viewings tomorrow! At least something is happening now!

Ouch @Pixiedust1973- what CFs!!! I thought ours were bad at 25K below asking for a 2 year old mint condition flat. Get your EAs to talk some sense into them and get them to up their offer. Some people (like our buyers) take the proverbial when they realise a sale has fallen through. Hoping tomorrow's viewings go well for you.

Pixie here's hoping they were just starting low ala Kirsty and Ohio's advice and can creep up nearer to what you need.

The advice that the first offer needs to be a cheeky one has a lot to answer for nerves wise

Phil - Ohio in deed ! 🙈

Yeah ridiculous right? There are houses like ours for sale at around 450k, so our price at 400k is very good & not really open to much flexibility. Trouble is the lady offering isn't local & doesn't realise its already priced very much to sell bearing in mind the circumstances. Im all for trying your luck but not taking the piss. Still, don't ask don't get.

Our previous buyers had offered 389k (36k under asking) & we were never happy with that & only accepted based on the fact that we got the vendors of the house we want to come down a significant amount. We were never comfortable because when you deduct another 7k for the EA who did nothing, there is literally nothing else to look at.

If these people were to come up to 390k then if we were able to buy the same house it would work out fine, but im thinking they probably cant. Their situation is that they were unable to sell their own place & are looking at getting a second mortgage in order to purchase our place. This is something we also considered & it is an expensive process with stamp duty on second homes. Will chase our EA tomorrow & see what she thinks. It helps that our EA & DH are old school friends, so hopefully we will get the true picture!

There's nothing worse that a cheeky offer. Having said that it's not uncommon to try. We made a cheeky first offer on this house and went back with a much more realistic one so fingers crossed they will come back with a more serious one.

Rollercoaster continues! Had viewers this morning. They seemed to like the house & would be a good fit for it & the area, but their own place just went on the market today... Second couple brought his father with them, who is apparently a builder. The husband & dad seemed really keen, actually asked both me & DH separately how they go about putting in an offer & how much we'd accept. The woman was keen to find out about the area & schools, said that this is her priority as they currently live in a dodgy area with crap schools & are desperate to leave.

We sent a text to the owner of our proposed new place, to fill her in & see how things are going & she was happy to hear our news & said that her vendors had lost the place they were buying but were prepared to move in with family, so it wasn't an issue. Result!

5 hours later & no offer as yet, plus nothing more from the lady who offered 370k yesterday & was going to ring the EA again today! Nothing like getting your hopes up & it coming to nothing! Surely something must happen soon?

How is everyone getting on? So much for the rush of activity on Boxing Day that the estate agent predicted we have one viewing booked for Friday and that's it!

We had a viewing today, if no offers by the end of Jan we'll be renting it out.

Well.. we had 2 silly offers at 30k below our already reduced by 25k & cheaper than the competition house. We told them we need at least 20k more but they werent prepared to improve on the offers! I found the Boxing day thing to be a load of crap too Random I could see from my Purplebricks app that there was a bit of interest over Christmas, & we have acquired a person tracking our property, but thats about it. We have one viewing booked for this afternoon, someone who according to the information provided has nothing to sell & needs no mortgage. So they're either cash buyers, or complete time wasters! We will see! Good luck with todays viewing Random & hopefully Wednesdays viewer was the one drspouse

Thanks Pixie and hope your viewing this afternoon goes well.
We've decided to rent out too if we haven't had any offers by the end of Feb. Otherwise we'll be paying a mortgage on an empty house plus paying rent on a new house.

Thanks Random. I can see why renting the house out may be a good option for you. My only concern would be any further falls in the market.

Viewing was good. Genuinely nice couple with 2 kids, currently living in SW London, looking to buy their first place & want somewhere with good schools for the DC. We live in a small town in Surrey & good schools we can do. Its a great place to bring up kids, but of course its expensive so you don't get much for your money. They are looking at another house today in a much larger town in Surrey, so I suppose at the end of the day it depends on what they're after. Fingers crossed its here!

Hi all, need some advice please. Have seen a house for £325000 which is in our price range but it is in terrible condition- think gulley kitchen with units from the 70s falling away, peeling paint and a hideous, hideous layout. If we were to buy this, it'd need some serious renovation work doing to it. Been told there's no upper chain and vendor is not in a rush to sell. How much would you offer for it? It's definitely not worth the asking price. Keen on it atm as its close to family and schools and transport links to work. Don't want to be a CFer when making an offer. Help?

It's hard to say without knowing the area and what similar houses are selling for @kassunamattata Personally I would find the sold price for a similar property that has been done up, then work out the price of getting the work done and deduct that from the sold price. If you get what I mean! I would then offer a little less than that.

@Thisandthat2017- it'd need at least £30-40000 spent on it to bring it up to date. That's my not knowing a thing about anything DIY related estimate.

And what would you expect it would sell for once it has been refurbished?

£385-390000? I really don't know :/

Then it sounds like the price reflects the work needed. Maybe offer 315,000 and ho from there.

kasuna I think the general consensus is you can knock off 10% anyway so I think I'd start at £295...

If it's on at 325k & a done up identical house would sell for around 385/390k then even if it wants everything doing to it sounds like it has been very much priced to sell to start with. How long has it been on the market for? Has there been much interest? Any offers? What does the estate agent say? You have nothing to lose by making a cheeky offer, apart from getting the vendors back up if it's ridiculous, hence you should do your homework first.

Also, please don't underestimate what it's like living in a house that needs gutting & is being renovated while you live there. It's a fucking nightmare, especially with kids! You may even need to consider adding rent for a few months into your budget if it's that bad!