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?

Viewed another 'guide price' house last night where the vendor made it clear he'd turned down offers below the top figure and was looking for something on or above - seriously people, if that's your asking price then state that, don't put a figure £25k below on the listing!

They're fucking morons I have moving rage

its bloody stupid isn't it! hope you find something soon jgm

FTB man STILL hasn't rang me about booking in this effing bloody damp report. He is making a small fortune out of this and he is still not bloody getting things done. I am in the wrong job.

going to message him again and ask him to pull his finger out!

I am going to be hated by lots of people when this is over with

My house has gone live on rightmove today!! Now I just have to wait... 🙈 my nerves are shredded already!

Good luck harriet!

Thanks @jgm x

good luck harriet hope you get some interest!

I am still waiting for the FTB guy to organise this damp and timber survey, so far it's taken him 2 days.

Following with interest. We’re in north london - a leafy outer suburb. Tried to sell twice now - last year and this year. Dropped price but feedback was “too small, road too busy”. In hindsight the original asking was too high and prices have now dropped. I’m pregnant so we’re going to put back on March ish once baby arrives with a view to dropping by 30k and moving by the Jan school applications deadline.

Next ‘level up’ prices have dropped a bit locally but agree, I can see a lot of people holding out at the next step up which precludes us from dropping further. We’re prime FTB house - 2 bed, end of terrace Victorian cottage, 1 mile from tube and overground station in a v nice area. But it’s small and on a fairly busy road. Sigh - so not looking forward to this next year!!!

@jgm it makes me want to scream!! We are viewing 2 today that are offers over. If we are keen on either I think we will go in with asking price but only come up if there is other interest in the property.

Please anyone putting your house on the market dont market it at 400k if you will only accept 425k. Don't let agents talk you in to it! you have seen on here how much it annoys people and it makes people believe a house is in their budget when it really isn't.

Sorry to rant but it I feel like it is really a waste of everyone's time in this market. It may have worked a couple of years ago in a sellers market but it just doesn't seem right for this market.

@flamingo I'm with you about solicitors. I get that work on a set fee but it really doesnt take much to acknowledge an email. It's not like in most office jobs you are paid per email! Also I find everyone talks a good game about moving quickly but actually putting that into practice rarely happens!

Totally agree twinky. I think the other issue for us is the houses we are looking at have vendors wanting to upsize to huge rural houses, that just don't come up that often. So they are in no rush to sell and no need to accept offers until they see a house they want. Nothing new on the market for us to look at since midweek here. Meeting our buyers again tomorrow, feeling the pressure but going to be honest with them, if they decide to look elsewhere then so be it, we will stay put for now and reassess in the spring.

Meant to say let me know how you get on with the houses you are seeing today @twinkydink, good luck!

survey booked in for Monday (thank god!) I am going to try and get whoever it is to talk me through it a bit, and see if they can tell me what they think whilst they're there!

Good luck with the sale harriet & the house viewings twinky. We had an an EA try to get us to market our house that we'd previously had on at 425k for offers over 375k under the theory that many people would view & bid it up to above the 400k we needed. My arse, they'd just try to drop us further or at best offer the 375k which we simply couldn't afford to proceed at so way were we gambling on their theory! Pricing like that simply wastes everyones time!

Fingers crossed for Monday flamingo. We have our full structural survey being done on our house at 9am tomorrow. The house is a complete tip because we've been sorting out stuff from the attic in preparation for the move, so it won't be easy. I plan on squeezing as much info as possible out of the surveyor too to hopefully put my mind at rest. I'm so worried its going to be game over & we're back at square one again 18 months after starting this farce!

Hope it goes ok for you moving i have exactly the same worry. Let us know how it goes!

Our luck doesn't improve. Had solicitors enquiries today & the buyers are saying that they want us to supply a £750 indemnity policy (due to some covenants apparently) so they can extend the property. I have replied saying that given the fact that every other house in the street pretty much has extended that there was a clear precedent & getting planning permission wouldn't be any trouble. I also made it clear that we were not in the position to make any further reductions or pay for any policies or anything else they may like to have ongoing. Best to put them in the picture straight off or they/their solicitor be wanting the shirt off our backs.

Surely if they want to extend the property Moving then any costs to do so is for them to incur?!

Is there an old covenant in the deeds about extending. My mum House had one about not erecting walks round the gardens, was a 60s build with “open gardens “. Everyone ignored it and built Walls lots of houses sold no problems, when we tried to sell mums had loads of problems over it. Like yours moving wanted us to pay for indemnity..told them to get lost and stop being so stupid (politely!)

Couldn't agree more jgm. I'd say its something like what you said Auntpetunia. Totally unnecessary because next door have extended every which way & it proves that the council simply don't give a shit about what people do here!

Oh moving theyre being difficult arent they! Hopefully they will accept your response!

I hope so Flamingo. As jgm rightly says, that if they want to extend then the costs fall to them. Plus it takes one look in our back garden to see that we are literally one of the only ones in our street & the one backing onto ours, that haven't extended out or up. Nobody has had a problem & what next door has got away with is ridiculous!

Exactly of course it is! Theyre being silly!

If you'd already extended without getting consent then I can see why they'd want you to get indemnity moving, but it's a bit like them saying we want to do a loft conversion so please pay for the planning permission! And you're right that if you say yes now then you're opening yourself up to more requests.

How did it go with those two houses @twinkydink? We've seen another potential one, but they're having an open day next weekend and won't see anyone before then...

@jgm made an offer so just a waiting game now! Fingers crossed! I think there is another offer on the table so I think it's depending on who is in the better position.

It does seem like things are coming on thoigh so hopefully there will be more for both of us over the coming weeks.

Have you heard anything from your buyers? are they still happily waiting?

Great news! Fingers crossed for you twinky that your offer is successful.

Surveyor been & gone. He was a really nice guy actually & said that ours was a "really honest house" as in what you see is what you get & no hidden nasties. We mentioned about the buyers wanting the indemnity policy so they can extend & he agreed that it was unnecessary & not our place to provide it if they did want to extend anyway. Someone else has raised a point though that I hadn't considered, that mortgage companies have apparently tightened rules so it could be them requesting it. I hope not. We have said no anyway. All we can do now is wait for their response to our refusal to pay for their indemnity & any requests for money off based on the survey findings, which we have also already said we can't afford to pay for!