Anyone just put their house up for sale?

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Ours went on Rightmove today. Just praying that it sells in these weird times!

We put our flat on the market this Monday, just one viewing is booked for this Saturday. I suspect it may be optimistically priced but this is the same price we paid for it three years ago when market was at the peak ( we paid well over asking price) and we made a ton of improvements since then. We will wait and see. There is just 91 year lease left on flat but I don't expect it to be total turn off either.

I was going to start my own thread about this but I am worried our buyer may see it so just burying this on this thread in the hope she doesn't!!

We accepted an offer and found a new build we loved so reserved it. Then EA rang and said buyer had requested a second viewing. We've never sold a house before so our initial instinct was to panic she was having second thoughts but EA assured us she just wanted to measure up for something.

Except what she actually did was walk round my house pointing at our belongings and asking if it was included!! Stuff I haven't even thought about yet like the shoe cabinet (I know we need to declare this on the questionnaire and make good the walls if we remove it, I don't want to end up the subject of a thread on here!)

Anyway, then she points at my fab 2 month old expensive American style fridge freezer and says are you leaving that. That got a definite NO!!! She then started questioning if there was room in our new build for it so I said yes in the garage and she said what a waste, I am going to have to buy one now! I said oh! Just to be clear she was definitely after me including it in the asking price rather than offering to buy it. Had I known we were going to decide to move I wouldn't have got such an expensive one but I won't be able to cope with a little integrated fridge freezer after 14 years with an American style one!

Then she put me on the spot and asked for my mobile number so "we don't have to bother the EA when she wants to come". I was caught in headlights and gave her it but if she's asking to come all the time I will just tell her to go through the EA!

Sorry that turned into a bit of an essay!!

We're on the market too , slightly more complicated as we're selling up a home and business and want to retire and downsize .. but we don't know where
Hoping Covid is meaning people want to move to the countryside, and enjoy the space we have
We're in Wales , and the market is a bit slow ...

@WhatICallMyUsername I would put a call in to your EA so they are aware...she sounds an absolute nightmare ! You're paying the EA so they should deal with her, not you!

@WhatICallMyUsername agree with PP, make sure your agent is aware....she sounds like she could be tricky!

We had a no show for a viewing today. Ran round making the house look nice, rearranged things at work so could be out of the house then the person booked in for a viewing apparently called two minutes before they were due to say they weren't coming. I was so cross at the massive waste of time, EA was annoyed as well. Oh well, at least the house is tidy

@chimichangaz @Pepperwand I was trying to be a bit vague but I think that ship has sailed . It was actually the woman with her who was being pushy rather than the buyer who was lovely. Funnily enough DH said oh she didn't say a word when I showed them round at first viewing so I'll just let him deal with them. In hindsight I should have given his number

I think they are just pushing for what they can get as they originally offered £10k under the asking price and we declined as it had only been on the market for 5 days then she upped it twice more before we agreed £3k under but on condition she waits for our new build to be ready at the end of the year

I would just like time to wander round and discuss with DH what we are leaving rather than being put on the spot! Hands off my fridge freezer

We go on the market tomorrow. Really hope we sell quickly. As does everyone I suppose!

It’s been stressful already as we are moving about 2.5 hours from here and so viewings have meant long days driving. Found a perfect house which had lots of interest and a few offers. We offered over asking price which was accepted. All good. Then we got gazzumped. Big time. A few very stressful days were had but we managed to out bid the gazzumpers and secure the property thankfully.

Last week we had photos and measurements etc done of ours. Photographer didn’t show when booked due to a miscommunication. Then floor plans were wrong - looked like we were selling less than we’d bought! Turned out they missed a floor in the calculations. Still haven’t figured out which floor they managed to miss in our two storey house. [

Hoping the rest of the process goes a bit more smoothly!

@Peridot1 our original EA posting said we had an en-suite when it's actually a walk in wardrobe . Both DH and I missed it when approving it. It's still blue on the plans as they didn't change the colour just the words

We’ve been in the market three weeks. We’ve only had two viewings so far. 4 bed extended detached with parking for two cars and on a private road with only five houses. Not far from London.
My dB has a probate house for sale, lots of offers but they have been rejected as it sounds like everyone wants a bargain. All London buyers, some BTL and those wanting a FTB.
In the meantime I’ve seen lots of nice houses. Bloody typical!

Anyone got any tips for negotiating with estate agents on their percentage? Is 1% the standard in a fast-moving area/market?

@WhatICallMyUsername - I wonder will anyone notice? My DH would - he picked up an anomaly in a clause in the EA’s contract. A contract that the nationwide company had been using for three years! And he spotted a cupboard in the house we are buying that was missed off the plans. He’s a bit of a detail man!

We got 1% because our property is the higher end. My dB is paying 1.2% iirc for the probate property. I sorted that for him as I used to work with EA.

We’ve been onto the EA the details were incorrect in many ways. The room sizes, that it’s been extended, inbuilt cupboards. My dh was furious with them. Not surprised they have a bad reputation if they can’t get the details right.

I had my first valuation done today the estate agent said they would charge 1.5% which I thought was high , I’m in Greater London, the second estate agent is coming on Friday I was hoping for more like 1% does that sound like a lot to you?

We have seen a house we love and as the market seems to be moving quickly do you think we should go straight in at asking price? It’s been online since Friday and they have more viewers tomorrow! This is meant to be our night to sleep on it and I can’t sleep thinking about it! I know normal circumstances you start low but we’re not really in a position to negotiate, our photos are being done on Friday so we won’t be on the market until Saturday/ Monday at the earliest and they have already found where they are buying.

All the agents here charge 1% and have done for years so I haven’t negotiated on that. I guess younask them what the best they can do in commission is and see if you can play them off against each other.

T4Opal I think unfortunately you’re not in a good position to negotiate as not on the market and as buyers have found they will most likely be under pressure from the one they want to find someone able to proceed straight away. I would think you would need to be looking at asking price and they may accept you in principle but not take it off the market.

We haven’t viewed anything yet as agent where we are buying who has a couple of properties we are interested in won’t do viewings unless you are under offer. Meanwhile friend down here so went on day before us last week has been off looking at loads locally.

3 viewings today and the video guy is coming finally. I guess we might get some feedback from last night which was viewing 2.

@T40pal we have just done what you want to do. House went up on Monday, we viewed within 2 hours of it going on market, then put a great offer in three days later and it was accepted despite not having sold ours. We went in with our best and final offer rather than the negotiating thing because we knew they already had an offer and plenty of viewings lined up. Our solicitor told them we had a mortgage in principle, a good house to sell and were all ready to go on the market. It worked and our house should be up tomorrow. Go for it - you have nothing to lose for trying! Though you may have to offer something special in order to secure it.

Thank you both for your replies. Nanny Pear did you just phone up a solicitors and say I want you to convey for me and then ask them to sort the offer immediately?

I think it really differs by area.

EA fees here in home counties were 1.25% but got them to do 1%, just asked what they could do on the fees and they did it without any bother.

With offers, round here they won't even let you view houses until you're on the market yourself and wouldn't accept an offer unless you're proceedable. As we don't have a buyer for ours yet we haven't put any offers in on th the two we like as don't want them to use it as a bargaining chip with other buyers and get into a bidding war.

@T4Opal

Normally I'd say offer asking price but any offer you do is relatively pointless. Have you had any viewings yet?
We had about 7 viewings before we even had our photos done!

Thanks for the replies. I have no idea what’s normal any more!

@T4Opal we've also just done what you want to do and it was fine. Our new house was marketed at offers over £x which was set £50k less than valuation. We offered full valuation price the day after it went on the market. It was initially rejected because there were loads of viewings lined up over the weekend but they came back Monday morning to accept it. Our current house went up for sale Friday the same week and was under offer on the Tuesday after that (so within a week and a half of having our offer accepted). Our sellers already had an offer accepted elsewhere so I don't think they had the luxury of time to wait for more viewings and offers, I think they just wanted the certainty that they had an offer accepted. It probably also helped that our current house is in an area where demand always exceeds supply so it was likely we'd move quick. We're currently at legals and hope to move in four weeks.

What I would say is that our lawyer told us to make a good offer but not to go to our best and final as he fully expected us to be pushed to negotiate as they'd be looking for an exceptional offer to take it off the market so soon after it went on. Given the level of interest, he was keen we didn't show our hand straight away to avoid an EA starting a bidding war. We never had to go to best offer which worked out well for us! Every circumstance is different. Fingers crossed for you!

@T40pal any update?

Our house went on the market this afternoon. First viewing tomorrow at noon.

Any tips on how to keep the house tidy with a 1 and 4 year old??

@NannyPear no tips I'm afraid, I have a 3 and 1 year old here. We moved some toys out of the living room and into their bedrooms but they're just in ikea storage baskets.

I've moved the high chair out of the kitchen and into the garage for viewings just to clear the space but you'd hope most viewers appreciate it's a family home and can see past that!

Well I'd been on the market 8 days and accepted an offer just under the asking price (after a bit of haggling) on Tuesday. Now on a mad house hunt. Seen a perfect one, loads of potential, in budget opposite one of the most beautiful parks in my area, lovely schools nearby - a couple ofstead outstanding. Only negative is it's on a main road. Big driveway infront of the house though, I think I can forgive it because I love the house.