Sellers/Buyers roll call Part 4 Keep strong everyone!

[alifelessordinary]

Thought I'd start a new thread as previous one had hit 1000 posts and wouldn't let me reply!

@LookingOptimistic why do solicitors have to be so difficult at times? Hope it gets resolved for you soon.

The indemnity policy came through this afternoon, so we're hoping we might be exchanging sometime next week...unless something else crops up!

@WBWIFE done. Thank you

@BeauticianNotMagician81 I know I find it hard to believe too.
Three weeks on market, 3 viewers and no feedbook. Sad times for me! Not even a phone call this weekend.

@thesunshinesupernova can you go multi agency? We are with purple bricks who get very mixed reviews but I've found the whole process so far straight forward and our feedback comes through online within 24 hours of viewings.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 our fee would go up with current agency. We’re selling our first house and have no idea what we’re doing tbh and don’t know anyone we can just ask as most of our friends are still on their first house and we don’t have much in the way of family help.

The house is up for £650k and the fee is 1.5% on sole agency basis. It doubles for multi and we’re tied into a contract now. I think I might just start ringing the agency and becoming annoying client if this continues. I’m quite disappointed. I suppose normal case of I really like my house and can’t understand why nobody else appears to want to buy it

@thesunshinesupernova we are selling our first house also. The first agent we used last year, we complained to. No feedback, no viewings and they didn't even update us. Call your agent a few times a week to get an update and ask why they didn't get any feedback. Get them to call the previous viewers for feedback and ask if the agents showing the potential buyers around got any idea of what they thought when viewing. You are paying them to sell your house. At your selling price I would definitely be making them work for their money. My house is only on at £265,000 and I'm constantly on at the agents

@thesunshinesupernova - 1.5% is quite high. You'll have a minimum contract period - maybe 12 weeks? Check how long and when you need to give notice. Make it clear to the agent that you'll give notice and that should perk them up.

Absolutely phone the agent! Make a pest of yourself if needs be, they are potentially making a lot of money out of you.

I'm sure your house is lovely but you need to emotionally detach from the process (very hard to do) and treat it as a business transaction. There will be someone out there who likes your house just like you did. You only need one buyer and they will find there way to you. I have loved our house but I know there are things that would put people off so we've had to price accordingly.

Our next door but one neighbour is also on the market (effectively same house as us) and they are having a nightmare because their neighbour has a 🦚 and a very messy garden. Not ideal in a London terrace.

@thesunshinesupernova - you could also get one of your friends to do a mystery shop to see what the EA is doing.

@thesunshinesupernova your house being the price it is will be why the viewings are lower I would guess. Not everyone will be looking at houses in that price region. I'm sure there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Brexit has definitely affected house buying. In our area the only house selling are those under £300,000.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 thanks I think we will be nagging them a bit more now, the fee is so high cash wise so we are trying to save spending more on fees.
@sandybayley yes I am annoyed as we had another agency who dilly dallyed so after 14 days I cancelled them. I love the idea of secret shopper. None of my friends are local but I might see if one is tempted to visit my way to check them out.
Annoyingly we are a semi and next doors house front rendering has just decided to completely peel off two weeks ago in a storm leaving a lovely gaping hole to look pretty shabby bad luck I suppose. They have said they will fix it but now they’re saying they will get scaffolding and do whole house which I can only see will delay our sale further. I have no doubt that might affect the sale. But I’m happy to accept price drops and other such malarkey but no viewings since last week does seem a bit slow.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 - will depend on the area though. I'm afraid in our area you would struggle to get a house for £650k. The cheapest houses are probably about £750k and those do sell. The next step up houses are the ones not selling.

@thesunshinesupernova - I'll be you secret shopper if you like! Can I do it in a day trip from London?

Next door neighbours are annoying but not much you can do about them. One of ours is particularly irritating (curtain twitcher and obsessed about 'his' car space). He's actually stuck between our house and the other house which is up for sale. It amuses me to think how stressed he must be to be potentially getting two new neighbours. He's been a pain the arse for at least 10 of the last 17 years.

I feel really naive tbh

So no one has said 'exchange' but we would told to book removals and the mortgage fees were released

@Frogqueen13 who told you to book removals?
It sounds like something an agent would say, not a solicitor.
My conversations with my clients who don't have the luxury of the usual exchange - one or two weeks - then completion go like this: "this is the plan, a simultaneous exchange and completion on Friday. Without the exchange we do not have the luxury of setting in stone the completion date. Any plans you make are at real risk of being for nowt - anything can and sometimes does go wrong on the day. I've had clients on the day of a simultaneous sitting around with paid for removals and then have to unpack the van and repack the house they wanted to sell, all because the bottom of the chain got cold feet".

Sometimes I come under incredible pressure from all parties and I'm bullied into agreeing to a simultaneous exchange and completion. They are very stressful and take over my whole day - my other clients' matters languishing at the bottom of the pile even though they are organised.

Someone else's poor planning has now become my emergency.

I cannot charge anything on top of my usual fee despite the fact it takes over my day, the work I have to do to catch up on the other matters that have slipped underneath this one...I have to take that home to catch up once the children are in bed.

And this is all for £500. It's extremely stressful and I we absorb our clients' stress too. We are always the ones in the firing line.

The clients' stress comes from the timescales. You start the process and the clock starts ticking. For your solicitor, she can only start the clock when she receives the contract papers. That could be ages after you viewed the house. It can get a little skewed.

Some things should take time. Growing a human. And buying a house. When are you ever gonna drop £200k on one thing??

@Frogqueen13 you aren't naive. I dare say I couldn't hop into your job and pick it up.

You've been let down by the professionals here. Who is the firm acting for you? Are they an internet firm? I'd expect it of them - not of a properly qualified solicitor.

I'm sorry x

Its linder myers solicitors and it was the solicitor who told us

Hoping to get some answers today x

Hi everyone . Hoping to join you all we put our first house up for sale last tuesday. We have had one viewing , we also had one booked and they didn't show yesterday.
Hoping to hear from the agent today.
I'm a bit concerned after reading this thread about how much we have it listed for. There is nothing similar locally and we are in a soughht after area. However zoopla is estimating it at £197000 AND we have ours listed as OIRO £220000 . I am concerned now that we have gone too high. We are in no rush as our fixed term mortgage isn't up until end of July and there's nothing we like our there at the minute. Another house at the end of our row sold for £190000 in two days two weeks ago but it needs renovation and is different lay out to ours only had shower roo m we have full bathroom with bath and separate shower etc. However I'm a little worried after reading this thread any advice? This is our first time selling and I feel very naive to the whole process to be honest!

Thanks @sandybayley I may call your forces in if I still have no interest this week as we are 45 min from London.
Off to work now but am definitely going to be calling later and asking what’s going on.

@Allhallowseve is it the same footprint?

Have you got the links for yours and theirs for us to compare? Depends how much Reno is needed and if yours is extremely modern or whether people would go into yours and change a lot as well

@Allhallowseve - DH has done a lot of work comparing sold prices with both our house and the one we're trying to buy. With the ease of getting this info I'd assume everybody else does so take your guide from those figures. You may have done work on yours but to be honest unless it's absolutely top spec many people won't value it to the amount you have paid.

Frustrating about the 'no show' viewing. People are so rude!

Everyone is now aware of the issues with our buyers.
Conveyancers are going to do some prodding from their end.
Out vendors have given us a week to sort it and estate agents are on the case.
Mortgage advisor is being positive and supportive.

Argh feeling so frustrated and impatient here. Seven weeks on the market tomorrow, have lost count on the amount of viewings we have had, it's something like 25 I guess and still only one low offer.

I have asked the EA if there is anything we can do to make the flat more appealing but they think not. It's a great flat in terms of space and amount of daylight, it needs work but is priced accordingly (well below any similar size flats that need less work). Our problem is the area/block as it keeps putting people off but there is nothing we can do to change that. The EA says that as we are geťting so many viewings the odds are on our side, that someone will walk through the door who is happy to overlook the area for such great flat, just like we did when we bought it.

Just want to get on with it as we want to relocate during the school summer holidays. We plan to rent so aren't looking to buy ourselves yet, but wouldn't want to end up in a situation where you have to pay mortgage and rent simultaneously.

Sorry just needed to vent.

Good luck this week everyone.

Thanks for your replies .
I don’t think ours needs changing layout has been changed so that the small kitchen is now a kitchen diner instead of a bigger lounge , and bathroom changed so that it has bath and separate shower cubicle instead of shower room and wc room separate.
Our viewing from Saturday have asked for a second viewing Wednesday... this is a good thing isn’t it??

Good luck to everyone this week.

Hi all, I've name changed since last being on here, and I'm slowly losing the will to live.

We fell in love with a house last Sept, and immediately put ours on the market. The people who were selling the house we want took it off the market to hold for as they're family friends and had already decided they didn't want viewings throughout the winter.

We're now at the point where the sellers of the house we want need to put it back on the market, and will do so in a week or so's time. They'll be marketing it at £575k but have said they'll sell to us at £550k, which has given us more room to drop the price of ours, so we've reduced from £325 to £315, and now down to offers over £300. In the six months, we've had more than 30 viewings, most of them since Jan, and I just need a buyer! Apparently there are three couples that want our house, but none of them have sold, so yet more waiting...

dimmu, like us, just keep the faith. You fell in love with it, and so will someone else, you just need to wait for the right person to walk through the door. Frustrating I know, but stick with it.

allhallows that is a good sign. Good luck for Weds!

@LeopardPrintKnickers Thank you for the encouragement, it's all so frustrating isn't it! Your situation sounds similar to ours when it comes to the amount of viewings, so tried of the constant cleaning!!
Similarly to you, we have reduced the price and are now marketed as 'offers over' following the advice of our EA. I have since read in here that lots of people really dislike the whole 'offers over' thing, and wonder if that was a mistake. Also, I am coming to a point that I would be happy to accept an offer under our 'offers over' limit!!