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?

Congratulations jgm & Tulips. We had the same problem with finding something to buy too Tulips, literally nothing to look at so we've ended up going for a new build. I hope you both find something soon.

Not sure what lenders you or your buyers are using flamingo but Santander are really delayed for some reason. We had the survey done on our new build on 31st August & found out today that it is with the underwriters now & won't have an offer until Mon/Tues next week, at the earliest! . Have no idea who our buyers (who, like your buyers, also were keen to move fast but are only having their valuation done a month after we went SSTC) are using, but if its Santander I don't expect to get news quickly lol. Your stepdad should be able to check progress on your mortgage application & at what stage you're at before an offer is released & fill you in. I went on the Santander for intermediaries site to check out mine & it gives rough timings. Current average timings for application to offer on residential with them is 14.4 days, so they are definitely running a bit late. I'm in no rush though thankfully!

We've seen two potential houses but both are on for £375k, our max is £350k. Hoping one of them will negotiate (both been on for around 6 weeks with no offers, neither have found somewhere they want to buy yet).

Jgm fantastic news. Happy house hunting.

Flamingo santander were super slow when we got our mortgage last year. Our offer took about 6 weeks to come through

Well I've about given up. We still aren't getting viewings. A house near us a 4 bed semi on the worst street on our estate just sold after 48 hours. It was on at £250,000 and we are on at offers over £264,000. Ours is a 4 bed detached.

Its worth asking jgm. I bought a place a few years ago that was on at 215k & managed to get it for 195k, so around a 9% drop. I couldn't believe my luck. I was just honest & said I really love the house & wish I could offer more but 195k was really as far as I could go. They accepted it & still tried for more, but it was my limit so I wouldn't move on it. A 350k offer on a 375k house is about 6% & a fair offer in the current market. You have the luxury of having 2 options, so can say that this is your only & final offer & if they don't accept you have a backup plan. Everything crossed for you.

So sorry Beautician. Its unbelievably frustrating when things like that happen which make no sense logically, unless that house is within catchment for a great school, or even marginally closer. That can be enough for some people in my experience. Have you asked your EA what you can change?

Moving No the house is no closer to the school. We are slightly closer. We are also in a cup-de-sac and they are in a corner semi on a busy road. We seem to have lucked out with EA again and have another useless one who we just aren't hearing from

I don't get it at all. It can only come down to money, unfortunately. They must have got a stupidly low deal.

Thank you Moving, that's good to know. My gut feeling is that neither has been on the market long enough for them to consider a lower offer, but we can but try. Our buyers have nothing to sell so that puts us in a good position I hope. Actually I like your approach of saying you love the house but just can't offer more, I was going to give my reasons as to why I don't think it's worth more (one of them certainly isn't in my opinion) but I think flattery may get us further!

Beautician hope things pick up with you soon. It could just be something as simple as the way your garden faces, I know some people won't consider anything but south facing for example?

Jgm I think it's probably that our garden is really over looked but unfortunately we can't change that. If we haven't sold by the time this contract runs out I think we will just forget it. It's a shame as we need to build on this to make it our forever home. I don't want it to be our forever home but we won't get another shot at moving.

@jgm how long do you think your buyers will wait for you to find somewhere? There is nothing on the market for us at the moment and I dont know how long buyers are willing to wait!

Carpets cleaned (the GROT that came out was shameful 🤣), decluttering done, excess furniture put into storage, flowers vased, scent leaves hung, windows cleaned and walls given a lick of paint. Photos tonight, on the market tomorrow... and then we'll see!! Am so anxious... luckily am able to accept 40k less than asking price of 350k so hopefully the wriggle room will help. 🙈

Could you rent @twinky? Would make purchase simpler too...

Yes that worries me @twinkydink! How long have you been sold for? I don’t want to mess anyone around but if we don’t find anywhere we’ll just have to accept losing our buyer if it comes to it, we don’t ‘need’ to move so I’m kind of thinking what will be will be.

Definitely not renting, it would be double our mortgage to not be in as nice a house!

We accepted last Monday but officially this couple offered about 4 months ago they have only just become proceedable. Their sale has fallen through twice and we have lost 2 houses because of that so hoping that gives us a bit of room to encourage them to wait for us!

Just read back through your threads twinky, I take it you heard back from the vendors that were taking ages to respond to your offer? I've just made an offer on a property that I'm pretty certain will be rejected but we can't afford to up it so we can but try - hate dealing with estate agents and negotiations!

@jgm yep they have decided to take it off the market because there is nothing for them to move into! same position as us. We have been honest with our buyer and said we are looking in a very small area and properties dont come often. They have said all throughout that we are their dream house so I'm hoping they dont want to look for anything else!

Fingers crossed on your offer, was it one of the ones you mentioned before? how low have you gone? You never know what people will accept. We were on for 575 and accepted 550 after 6 weeks. We have actually ended up much higher than that now but we would have gone with them if things hadn't fallen through.

Yes it was, I offered just below our max so we have slight wiggle room but she said 'do you really want to put that forward, I can tell you now they wont accept it'. It's actually listed as a guide price of 350-375 so I don't think we're being that cheeky, but if they're not in a hurry to sell then I can't see them accepting.

I was so sick of viewings that we accepted lower than we thought we would so don't 100% count it out! The agent has to put your offer forward regardless of what they think about it!

They said no to initial and max offer, as I thought they would. Changed our minds about the other potential house so currently nothing out there suitable .

Be patient, another couple of weeks for no offers for them might make them consider yours. it's frustrating thiugh as we are in exactly the same position and there is nothing you can do about it!

Thank you, I've said I'll leave the offer on the table and if they decide they can work with it to let us know, but meanwhile we will be looking at other properties. Sorry you're in the same position (but also reassuring to know it's not just us)!

jgm isn't your max 350k? and the house is 350-375?

Yes and that’s why I hate guide prices - £350k is ‘too low’. I believe they had an offer of £375k before and they are holding out for that again.

I really dont understand guide prices! if I see an asking price I assume that's what someone will accept. Unless it's a sellers market and you get into a bidding war that's the only reason I can imagine going over.

Me too Twinky, it even comes up in Rightmove as £350k and it’s onky when you read the listing it says the guide price - it makes the buyers expectations different to the sellers.