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?

Can I join in please?

Just put my house back on the market after buyers reduced their offer just prior to exchange of contracts. I have found the house I wanted to buy, had the survey, solicitor has done the searches etc so the process was well on its way. But with the reduced offer (which I think the buyers planned all along) I just couldn't afford to buy the house. I wasn't convinced that my EA really did much for me, they seemed more bothered about getting me to accept the reduced offer (so they could get their commission no doubt).

So I'm now back on the market. I've reduced the price (2nd reduction) but it's still on higher than the reduced offer. The owners of the house I was half-way through purchasing have said they will hang on for a while to see if my EA can re-sell my house. That is very kind of them but I can't see it happening if I'm honest so have accepted that I've lost that house and all the money I've paid out.

I'm really not looking forward to having viewings again. I hated it before and now my house is half empty because I'd got rid of a load of furniture ready for the move and it's full of boxes. I just hope viewers can see beyond that, I know some can but some definitely can't.

Feeling a bit battered and bruised.

harriet im going to complain today, I have the email address of one of the partners (he gave it to me because I previously had to facebook message to get a response as nobody was answering the phone - they were apparently all on a jolly to a rewards do - at 2pm on a weekday) so I will send It to him. I am just really disappointed, and its worse because they were recommended as being really good so I just feel let down.

I appreciate the new guy has been dropped in the deep end, and that's utterly shit but I assume he knew he would be taking over several cases. he just seems chronically unorganised! he said on the phone oh your file is on the floor hang on ill get it - like what! get a filing cabinet man!

hi nevermoving that's crap! I hope you manage to find another buyer and get the house you want. The lost money stings too!

wishing you luck! (not that I have any myself I might add!)

Hi, can i also join? My house is going up on Rightmove next week and I already feel nervous! We’re in SE London and noticed lots of 3 beds are up in our area and are overpriced and not selling. I’m hoping what we’ve put ours on for will give us a better chance of selling but who knows? A house on our street is well over valued has been reduced 3 times and just not shifting. We are going to see how the next few weeks go and take it from there... is anyone else selling in London too?

Sounds like everyone is having a tough time of it at the moment. for all.

Really shit situation nevermoving. Are you confident your EA is pulling out all the stops to get you what you need? We were in the situation of losing our buyer (this time last year would you believe? ) We didn't trust the agent who had sold the house so went on with another, who promised the earth but failed to deliver, ended up losing the house we were buying in February, started again in May & eventually got a buyer in August at 40k below our original asking price. I guess I'm saying the key is to find the right agent. If you go back with the same agent it looks like you've been on for a long time. Worth thinking about anyway if you get nowhere.

Welcome Jem.Good luck with your sale. If you are undercutting the competition & presented for sale in the best possible way then you have done all you can. The London market is pretty bad at the moment. I am in Surrey & its the same here. There is a severe lack of new houses coming on the market. Are you looking to buy in the same locality or relocate?

Thanks. We are looking to move out of the area into Kent. We’ve found a house we like but we are seeing what happens. We’ve wanted to move since this time last year when I was pregnant but decided to wait until this year instead. Some ways I’m regretting that decision as the London market has not improved. I’m interested to see what will happen next year. I’ve had some EA tell us now is “very busy” and it gets quiet in the new year and then others say January is when people decide “new year new house” and it gets busier.
What about you Movingthisyear have you found somewhere? (Still catching up on the previous posts!)

Hi can I join? I've had my house on the market 8 weeks now I've had four viewings but no offers. I'm not really sure what to do to be honest as I'm the lowest priced on my road, chain free near good schools. The only feedback I've had is to say he road is busy (lots of parked cars) understandable but not something I can change. I really want it to start moving but I don't know what to do!

I like Kent. Its one of those counties where there are really nice parts & really deprived. I used to live near the Kent Sussex border, near Tunbridge Wells, which is v nice. Moved to Surrey to be with DH & am constantly shocked at how expensive it is! We couldn't find anything suitable to buy when we finally got a new buyer so we have gone for a new build. Luckily now the DC are older schools are not an issue so we can get a better house in an area without the schools I insisted on when we moved here, so I can finally get a decent sized home again after 7 years of living in a shoebox. Not a second too soon!

The market is supposed to improve during September until November when it starts dying off again pre Christmas, but there are still buyers around regardless of the time, just fewer of them & they know they hold all the cards & offer accordingly. We re marketed ours in November last year & still got lots of interest as we priced it to sell at offers over the minimum we were hoping for, but we got offers 25k below, which we couldn't accept. Because we were with Purplebricks our agent wasn't prepared to do her job properly & negotiate. We were realistic, but simply couldn't go that low. We needed another 10k but the buyers refused to budge. The whole thing has been a total nightmare tbh.

more bad news in casa flamingo.

rang Santander to get an updated settlement figure on current mortgage, he included early repayment fees. Questioned it as deal supposed to end in jan and we have a new mortgage with them.

apparently our mortgage doesn't end in jan. but actually ends in april (nobody has ever told me this!) and because we applied in September its more than 6 months (even though new mortgage wont start until end of this month!) and we have to pay their ENORMOUS fees.

Lost my shit with him and then rang my step dad to sort it out.

whats stupid is we will now have to port our mortgage, get the remaining bit on a new rate (probably same as the mortgage we have applied for) and then the fucking original will deal within 5 months of us living there and ill have to pick a new deal, which more than likely will be the same effing rate of the mortgage we applied for and the rest of the mortgage!

it just seems so fucking stupid.

I am also angry that nobody told us the deal ended in april when we applied, and stated it did. On the phone he said oh well you inputted the end date incorrectly. I was like, did you actually get back to us and tell us that? erm… no.

well what fucking use is that then you fucking moron!!

sorry for the big rant but honestly its one thing after another and I have just HAD ENOUGH.

Hi Lulabelle. I feel your pain. When you have something obvious like that putting people off all you can do is sit tight & wait for the viewer who doesn't mind the road. Try to use it to your advantage in some way. Close transport links etc. With our house we had our neighbours doing very major work throughout a long period of us trying to sell, plus what they did is a complete eyesore. We tried to use it as a selling point by saying that the council were clearly flexible on planning, which would be useful for any future planning applications they may make. Only other thing you can do is to reduce the price to accommodate for what blights the house, which ultimately we have had to do. The surveyor who came to our house didn't disagree that the neighbouring work had cost us at least 20k.

Oh no Flamingo. Did your stepdad not know this? At least it seems like there is a way you can get around it, even if it is a bit of a faff!

Thanks flamingo. Wishing you lots of luck too.

Movingthisyear I have no confidence in my EA whatsoever. I think they badly let me down last time and listening to the sales pitch I got yesterday was laughable. But I'm sticking with them for now 'just in case' there is any chance of me keeping the house I was hoping to buy. I guess I just need to know that I did everything I could. Once my vendors say they want/need to re-market theirs, which is totally understandable, I'm going to ditch this EA straight away.

I'm thinking of using an online one, House Simple maybe. Has anyone had any experience with them?

moving no he didn't he obviously thought the mortgage ended in jan (as did I) so applying in sept wouldn't have been an issue.

I am just so annoyed Santander didn't spot that error and think hmm we best let them know that their mortgage doesn't end when they think it does, and instead just let us believe it was correct! I think that's really crap!

yes seems like there is a way around it, I just hope it doesn't result in more credit checks and pissing about.

we bought a car (I have another thread running on it) and its fucked, so we need to get our money back from that, and we were thinking of getting a new car and financing it instead since we have been stung with this, but if we have to have another credit check we cant do that yet! ?(the car is off to the dealers garage tonight so we were hoping to be rid of the bastard thing by the weekend but then we will be car less!)

Nevermoving. Please don't use an online EA. Thats exactly what we did. We thought that nobody could do a worse job than our old EA so we remarketed it with Purplebricks & did the viewings ourselves. Getting & doing viewings wasn't an issue, it was getting feedback & the most important thing of negotiation once an offer was on the table that was the issue. Our PB EA, (who to make matters worse, was someone we know) was unwilling/unable to negotiate on our behalf. We wasted 5 months with them before cutting our losses & going with a real EA.

Doesn't really make sense, does it Flamingo? You sure they haven't cocked it up? Surely your mortgage & product started the date you took ownership of the property? If you moved in January how on earth are they getting April? I'd get them to explain that. If its a genuine error on your part then I guess they think its not their problem or expense & they're happy to get extra money out of you if they can. Naughty though. Your stepdad as your mortgage broker should of clarified all these points though if this is the case & I'd be moaning at him inwardly rather than the bank tbh. If it can be sorted though no harm done & mistakes happen, whoevers fault it is. Sorry to hear about the car. You don't need any more grief at the moment.

we moved in in December, but towards the end, think the first mortgage payment was jan. after 2 years, we signed another 2 year deal and that definitely started in jan, I had literally no idea that a 2 year deal wasn't really a 2 year deal.

I suppose really I should have bloody checked but I didn't think I needed to!

I wish he had made me check it but hey ho. I still think though if a form is filled in incorrectly they should flag it, it could have been a lot worse!

thanks moving you're right I don't, I hope the garage tonight are in agreement that its buggered and then the dealer can have it back.

I just feel like I am having a run of awful luck recently, we've also been having problems with teenage dss so I just feel like I am so stressed out, my hair is literally falling out.

@flamingo wee are in exactly the same situation!

We remortgage in December 2016 so I thought our current deal would end Dec 2018. Completely wrong! doesn't end till April, apparently when you remortgage the deal doesn't actually start for a little while and it's longer than 2 years. im sure its all in the T&cs but like you we thought 2 years was 2 years!

Santander are the worst for ERC, it's doesn't go down at all. My dp had a huge row with them but we have just had to suck it up and accept the payment. It's absolute crap but we have known about it for a couple of month so it's all been included in our finances. If we had known right at the beginning thiugh we probably would have put the house on the market 6 months later!

Our broker did say if you were within 6 months of the deal ending you could try to port and they may waive the fee. Is that an option ?

I would get the Santander to re check that for you then tbh Flamingo. Sounds like their error. I don't see how they come up with April when your first payment was January. I'd be interested to hear their explanation.

Haven't seen your thread about the car, but I hope you can get it sorted. If you're looking for something else I recommend a (low mileage if possible) Japanese or German as being good, reliable cars to buy secondhand. I had a 20-year-old Toyota in perfect working order (but looked a state lol) until someone else wrote it off. I now have a 16-year-old Toyota. No trouble with it & it looks fairly new too. Sorry you're having trouble with teen DSS too. I have 2 teen DD & both are a NIGHTMARE at the moment. I'm hoping things improve soon in that respect for us both!

moving I've heard and read a lot of bad reports about PurpleBricks but I was thinking of going with House Simple. They do a 'no sell, no fee' package which 'should' mean they have more of an incentive to make a sale. At the end of the day, I don't have faith in any of them.

oh really twinky they are bastards aren't they! im kicking myself for not checking but hey ho.

Yes porting is an option, step dad looking into it now. We can pay the fees, but if we can save 2 and a half grand then I would prefer that! like you say they don't reduce over the term either!

thank you re the car, funny you should say that I am actually looking at a Toyota yaris, just don't know whether to buy one outright with the cash we get back from this as per the original plan, or get a newer one and use the cash as deposit and get the rest on finance. The trouble is I can only drive an automatic which makes everything slightly less reliable anyway, apparently!

re the teens, yes I hope so too, sorry to hear you're having a bad time of it as well!

it doesn't rain it pours!

I think technically they haven't done anything wrong in our case it's was just a case of us not reading the t&cs. I think it was something like although we remortgage in dec and they lowered the payments from that point the actual new deal didn't start until April. Lesson learnt to always check ERC and read the t&cs!!

id love to come on here and get some good news from someone!

flamingo I drive an automatic Yaris! It’s been very reliable, I’m not keen on the small boot but otherwise it’s been a great car x

yes I guess its the same for us! hoping we can find a way arounf it!

jgn ha how weird is that I don't know many other people who drive an auto!

yes I have noticed boot is small but generally it will have nowt in it except a buggy which ds wont need for much longer I don't think! definitely not having any more kids so that's not an issue!

I think that may be the way to go...… now to persuade DP!

I have an automatic Yaris too. My old car was its predecessor, the Starlet. Great cars. I only drive auto. Why make life any harder? Easy to drive & park too. Can't go wrong! Can pick up a low mileage model really cheap too!

Can I join in?
We put our flat on the market coming up 7 weeks ago, have had zero viewings. We dropped the price by £12k 2 weeks ago in case that was putting people off and added clearer details about location & transport options (London Zone 3, tube/train/buses - we’ve got it all)... still nothing. The price is inline with what other similar properties have sold for in the area.

We can see it’s getting a lot of viewings on the estate agents site (PurpleBricks) but no one coming to view.

Just at a loss as to what we can do, we’re thinking of having an open home next weekend and hoping we can at least get some people through the door. And get some feedback which were happy to take onboard.

Though I do wonder if it’s just poor timing on our part, our place is definitely for first time buyers - perhaps Brexit nerves have taken hold.

Totally had enough here too, we are in week 9, we've done absolutely everything with our purchase and are ready and waiting to go. Our buyer has been faffing about with their mortgage for the whole time as they're with a 'non standard lender' for people with a hideous credit history they're constantly 'almost there.'

Our current house is leasehold, a couple of weeks ago we had to pay £300 for a 'management pack' couple of bits of paper from the leaseholder, now this afternoon I've had to pay a further £384 to the maintenance company.

Still no sign of this bloody mortgage being finalised and we were going to move next Friday. I have done absolutely everything asked of us within a couple of hours, nobody else seems to bloody care and just continually faff around. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!

Loving the automatic yaris club . I won't ever drive a manual again, love autos!