Sellers roll call part 2. Who is still on this treadmill?

[MovingThisYearHopefully]

I thought it was about time to start a new thread as this one is close to 1000 messages.

Who is still here & what is your story?

Heres me: I have been trying to move since April last year. Had a buyer, buyers lost their buyer in October & still haven't got a new one. We remarketed at a low price in November in order to continue buying the house we were at point of exchange with, but were unable to get enough to move on & lost the house in February.

Prices are definitely falling here in Surrey. Realistically we're looking to get 10% less than our original asking price, if we're lucky. Getting viewers has never been an issue, regardless of price. This process has been stressful beyond belief & almost split me & DH up. Surely our luck must change soon?

One thing that seems to be helping us get more interest than other properties is that we have now agreed to go chain free. Is this a possibility for any of you struggling? If offered significantly less than asking price then as far as I see it you are within your rights to say chain free was based on near to asking price & not affordable at a significant amount under! Worth considering perhaps?

We'have 13 days... hope that's not an omen

Yes the BBC has a lot to answer for on this reporting. The modelling they use said a lot, but this doomsday apocalypse scenario gets the headlines.

Im trying to ignore that ToBeClear & hoping that our buyers & their buyers are too.

Auntpetunia Just to cover yourself I'd say to EA 2 to NOT advertise your property at all or answer any queries about it from anyone other than those involved in the purchase! If EA 1 gets an inkling you sold during their contract they'll be billing you for sure. We had a similar issue last year & our buyers stupidly confirmed to ex EA that they were buying our house. I had all kinds of threats & agro. Not worth the stress. Ideally you don't want to officially on paper start the process with EA 2 buyers till the day after contract with EA 1 ends. EA 2 have been naughty here. They don't care because its not them taking the risk to be liable for 2x fees! I feel your pain about ASD DD getting stressed. I have 2 ASD DD's so double trouble lol.

Not long then Yikes. Exciting times!

Not had our mortgage offer yet from Santander. DH has left a message for our broker to see if he has any updates. Will be glad when we have it.

moving went in to ea2 today and had that exact conversation with him. He’s happy not to do anything until we’ve exchanged. Buyer has paid for searches and doesn’t want a survey so is hoping to exchange in 3 weeks! Ea 1s contract says if anyone they have introduced goes on to buy property then I pay them. But this buyer doesn’t use ea1 and hasn’t seen House via them. So think I’m clear.

Gosh 1 asd dd is enough for me especially during this process. I’m hoping the fact she’s been v involved in all stages of decorating the flat and picking everything from door handles to kitchen counters will help her settle nice and quick.

I'm a bit confused Auntpetunia. When you say EA 2 won't do anything till you exchange do you mean on an unrelated sale? There is a process first & exchange is near the end. It is not possible to "do nothing" as EA 2 say, until after exchange. When you sale agree the EA sends out a memorandum of sale with details of all parties concerned on it, if you go ahead now this will be dated from within EA 1 contract period, whereas if you say you want to delay & have it dated until day after EA 1 contract ends & no searches, paperwork etc are instigated then you're covering your arse.

If you have checked EA 1 contact & it definitely states " fees payable if introduced by ourselves" & not "within the contact period" (regardless of who the introduction was made by) & you know for sure that the buyer didn't have any contact with EA 1 about it whatsoever, (ideally they are not on their mailing list) then you should be fine, just be discreet as if they can attempt to claim a fee they will. You could argue it of course, but is it worth the hassle to delay for 2 weeks?

EA 2 have been very sneaky & should have put the buyer in the picture as to your situation prior to viewing your house. They are keen to get paid & will seemingly say/do anything. They have already gone back on their word once. Be very careful. Is it possible you can have a chat with the buyer about the situation & say you need to wait until out of contract before doing anything & EA 2 has seriously jumped the gun? If they like the property enough I'm sure they'll agree.

Another thing worth taking on board is it is pretty much guaranteed EA 1 & 2 know each other & talk regularly about linked transactions, so you would be relying on the unreliable unprofessional EA 2 not to let anything slip. Don't want to worry you, but unless you are 100% sure EA 1 will not be entitled to fees then I would insist on the delay personally or keep a very low profile.

Thanks for all that moving I know what your saying but also know that ea1s contract says and he reiterated it yesterday if it’s someone they’ve introduced or shown round who buys through a second agent then I’m liable. Buyer hasn’t been in touch with them only ea2 , so that’s ok. ea2 doing nothing was in regard to advertising on rightmove , I’d originally asked him not to put it on rightmove until ea1s contract was up. He agreed no he’s not going to put it on until we’ve completed so unless someone from ea1 goes in to his shop or gets emails they won’t know about it. I know what you are saying but I’m comfortable with my decisions and just need to get to Thursday when ea1s contract is up and he will leave me alone. I’m keeping my head down and packing boxes and am just going to let the next four days pass. Solicitors are doing their thing and buyer wants a quick sale so fingers crossed.

If I have to fight ea1 at a later date I will. But I’ve done years in law firms doing sales so I’m happy what I’m doing is ok and he won’t get a penny out of me.

But seriously thanks for putting it all in black and white it helped me work through each bit and check I was still happy with way it’s going.

Good luck to all still on this rollercoaster.

Hello!! Joining because my house goes on the market next Wednesday, my offer on my dream house having been accepted yesterday! Have THE FEAR about selling my place and am decluttering like mad before photos on Tues... Any top tips?!

Hey all. So hoping you lovely people might be able to offer some advice. Our buyer is looking to exchange soon so we need to find a place pretty sharpish! We have seen one. It’s on for 435 - needs a lot of work and has been on a whole year but we think with some investment it could be good. What would you offer? 435 is expensive given its condition but don’t want to offer insultingly low. It would need a new kitchen, bathroom and modernising throughout.

@harriethoyle stage stage stage. Decluttering is a great first step, then remove any personal effects like photos- people don't want to be influenced by who the current owners are. I bought second sets of plain white bedspreads to throw on each bed in a hurry for showings. Declutter kitchen counters completely before a showing. Febreze/scented candles and fresh flowers all the time. Clean windows. Make sure all curtains and blinds are always open. A bowl of green apples or lemons in the kitchen too. Make sure curb appeal is great too - hedges trimmed etc. Google home staging for other tips. Even move furniture etc. No bottles/toothpaste in bathroom- I had baskets that I threw all our crap into and put it under the bed. Good luck!!

Ginunicorn don't worry about being insulting what do you care! With Brexit looming people can't shift their property. If it needs renovation 435 is a lot! Offer at least £50k less - the worse they can say is no!!

Ginunicorn where is it located? Look at prices of other homes that have recently sold there. Never pay something just because that's what they're asking. Don't forget a survey/valuation will always reflect the true value anyway which you'll need to do for the mortgage etc

Thank you! We are in a bit of a hurry and do think this place has great potential. I’m just burned after the last time we offered 15k less for a house that had been on the market a year and they told us they were so insulted they were taking it off the market. (We offered what a neighbor had just sold for!)

ginunicorn sounds like those vendors never really wanted to sell. It's hard for a seller sometimes to accept they're not going to make as much as they hoped. A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it!

No worries Auntpetunia. Hope you didn't think I was interfering. Was just trying to help in my own way but I know I can come across a bit overbearing sometimes. Sounds like it will probably be ok from what you've said.

Welcome Harriet. Talk about putting yourself under pressure lol. Decluttering is definitely the way to go. Remove all items from kitchen & bathroom tops for photos so the area looks as empty & spacious as possible. Most important thing is getting your pricing right though, which is really hard in this current market. Don't forget to pop back & keep us posted.

Hi GinUnicorn. Thats a tough one. Have you asked the agent why it has been on that long? Could be nothing to worry about & just been unlucky. How realistic do you think the asking price is? Has it been reduced at all? Our house started off at a similar level & ended up being on & off the market for over a year. (We were really unlucky.) By the time we got the offer we ended up accepting we were sick to the back teeth of the whole thing & ended up accepting less than we wanted ideally. Thankfully we got a deal on a new build & can just about make the figures work. Our original asking price was 425k & we accepted 385k, even though most recent sale sold for 7.5k more & was a fixer-upper. I'm still aggrieved, but I'd had enough & the market here is terrible! It equates to 9.4% off. We couldn't go any lower. Personally I'd probably look to trying to get the house for around 400k, if it hasn't already been drastically reduced, which is an 8% reduction. Good luck.

Thanks @tobeclear - window cleaner booked and candles will be purchased! Already got two plastic boxes of photos, ornaments etc from the book shelves 😂

I really dont get the whole putting photos away thing! Does it really put people off buying? It always surprises me how little vision people have when viewing houses. We have a huge space for a dining room table but we chose not to have one. it's clear a table could fit there but we had feedback from one buyer that they couldnt see where a dining table could go!

I do agree about the De cluttering and tidy up the front of the house as much as you can.

I think I am a different kind of buyer, we are always looking for projects so really dont care about what the house looks like. We are looking for potential. It feels like at the moment lots of people want new build houses without paying the price tag for them!

twinkydink you'd be amazed how little vision some buyers have. That's why neutralizing paint, wallpaper and decor is always a good thing to do before listing. Why give a buyer one more thing to object to?

@tobeclear I totally believe you I just think it's crazy!

twinky some people are ridiculous I had one lady who “didn’t like the wallpaper” she also didn’t like the Ikea “billy” tower in the hall ...I was like well the paper can be changed and the DVD thing is coming with me! ...

I quite like photos. Makes the buyer seem relatable and I’d much rather buy from someone nice!

Going to chat to estate agent Monday re house. It is really overpriced compared to other properties so will see if they might take a reduced offer.

I don't get people who cant look past the current furniture, or the wallpaper etc. I mean of course you're going to change it!

our valuation survey is taking place tomorrow so should have the results of that weds/thurs.

just trying to find out what came of the valuation survey done on our house.

trying to hurry everyone along, feel like I am doing a lot of the work myself! my step dad has been amazing mortgage wise but everyone else seems to be dragging their feet now even though it was the buyers that initially wanted to be in ASAP!

Eventful weekend - we're SSTC!

aw fantastic news jgm :)

Thank you @flamingofridays , got to find somewhere to buy now - eek!

Been following thread for a while and came on to say don’t give up hope. We went on market July 2017, got an offer but lost buyer as we couldn’t find anywhere to go. Friday finally brought us another offer so we are busy revisiting mortgage advisors and viewing places. There is very little in our area with 4 beds though 😢