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Original poster

waaah, no one wants to buy my house

265 replies

hoxtonchick · 09/10/2007 21:21

i know selling your house is meant to be one of the most stressful things to do, but whenever we've done it before it's been very straightforward....

we've only been on the market for 6 weeks, had a fair few viewers & 1 lot had a 2nd viewing, but no offers yet. i am the most impatient person in the world, but we need a quick sale as have found dream house & need to sell ours asap as other people have offers on it too.

we're with the pushiest agents, & have already dropped the price by £50k. dp & i were just discussing going multi agency and sacking the first lot if they don't sell it by the end of the week.

all advice/commiserations/gin welcome .

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anniemac · 11/10/2007 19:04

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Blu · 11/10/2007 19:20

HoxtonChick - I have bought and sold 4 times now, and quizzed numerous estate agents about house-doctoring.

imo some suggestions on this thread are way ott. The houses in houise doctor are all awful before that dreadful woman gets going. Yours is not awful - far from it, and you haven't got time to decorate etc.

I was looking at the house and floorplan pretending I was viewing it as part of our last round of viewing and buying. And the two things I thought were 'hmmm - in through the front door and two bedrooms - not into a reception. So I would get them to re-market it with 2 receptions...and breezily say 'oh for a big family the reception could always be turned into a bedroom.

the other thing was that generally houses with 'family room' receptions have a bigger integral kitchen thatn yours. Get photos which emphasis the amount of big family and freinds lunches you can manage in thier...and I would have signs of sumptuous but casual sunday-lunch catering - to demonstrate that it is possible.

Foxtons do nororiously over price...and it's a terrible moment to be selling as everyone is all didgy about will they won't they crash.

Your house is fab...just make it a tiny bit more 'gracious' and a bit less 'family all mucking in'.

Have Foxtons said what the feedback has been, if any?

Blu · 11/10/2007 19:22

And for everyone who goes 'ooh how fabulous, beige paint, just like on house doctor, I must buy this houe' there is another (me!) who sniffs fresh paint and thinks 'hmmm, house doctor, bound to be hiding something well dodgy, and probably over-inflated price, too' and another who thinks 'well I'll have to re-decorate anyway so i'm not paying for thier recent 'improvements'. And all the estate Agents I have asked to advise have agreed with me.

anniemac · 11/10/2007 19:39

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LazyLinePUMPKINJane · 11/10/2007 19:43

Well, hoxtonchick, I would rather have a house like yours over a bland-beige-dullfest any day.

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 11/10/2007 20:38

am liking these recent posts a lot more . and sarf east lunnon mners are a wonderful bunch!

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Original poster
hoxtonchick · 11/10/2007 20:42

oh, & we had a viewer tonight (though it was a surprise as i couldn't hear my phone...) who was making positive noises, but who knows.

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anniemac · 11/10/2007 20:49

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Original poster
hoxtonchick · 11/10/2007 20:52

they're from here. it's just down the road & very funky stuff.

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1dilemma · 11/10/2007 21:02

I agree with Blu!

anniemac · 11/10/2007 21:05

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ILoveDolly · 11/10/2007 21:07

sniff sniff no one wants to buy my house either, husband already gone to new job, small child and no money to redecorate as we are now paying rent on his digs as well as mortgage. i think the market is a bit slow outside london isn't it?

btw i live in devon anyone want a nice georgian flat in exeter - no valances?

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 11/10/2007 21:11

we quite liked the look of exeter dolly!

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1dilemma · 11/10/2007 21:12

sounds lovely dolly
would love it
but I'm not really looking in Exeter sorry

ILoveDolly · 11/10/2007 21:13

if you want a house with grounds etc its probably not for you! but exeter is a great place to live, or live near to, incidentally

charlieandlola · 11/10/2007 23:00

Lovely house, HC. Should you not change your name to Foxtonchick until you sell??( which will be soon when everyone realises that people still need to buy and sell, despite the market not being in double digit growth each year)

1dilemma · 12/10/2007 00:06

Foxtonchick that's great. (sorry HC)

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 12/10/2007 08:47

lol c&l. i tell you, i'll do bloody anything to make it sell....

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bodycolder · 12/10/2007 13:50

I think the beige nightmare of developed houses has had its day and anyone with taste would prefer yours BUT most people are tasteless unfortunately and when I took all the 'props'out of my last place it had suddenly lost 50k in value!Agree gracious but lived in is the way to go!

LoveAngel · 13/10/2007 10:16

hoxtonchick, I haven't read all the replies here (I'm sure there's loads of good advice) but just wanted to say - I think your house is grogeous! Don't do anything to it - a waste of time I reckon, as buyers in that price range looking in London Fields and the upmarket areas of Hackney will want to put their own stamp on it, I guarantee you. I think the price is about right, too. You could consider lower offers, but the guide price is fair for what's on offer. I genuinely think you are just experiencing the slight dip in the market around that area (only a very slight one...just slightly less buoyant than it was over the spring and summer, when it took 4 weeks to sell our very similar property in Stoke Newington). Hang on in there and by all means go for multiple agents if you don't get any offers soon. You WILL sell that house. London Fields is a fab, extremely desirable area and it's a lovely house. have you looked into bridging loans (arghhh, I know, hideous thought!) to get that dream house?

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 13/10/2007 17:18

aha, someone who knows the area. i do think you're right loveangel, it's just terribly frustrating. our agent is taking our most hopeful buyers (the only ones who've come back for a 2nd viewing so far) to see the albion drive one linked to further down this thread as he said it's much smaller & more expensive so they'll think ours is great value .

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bumposaurus · 24/10/2007 21:23

Any developments, hoxtonchick?

MissMitford · 31/10/2007 17:17

Hello Hoxtonchick

I'm a TV producer for my sins and I've worked on loads of those property makeover shows ... I've seen more home makeovers that you've had hot dinners etc - and recently sold my flat in Old Street near you - so here's my 2p's worth.

I think all the suggestions about how to make your house look nice are incredibly on the money - HOWEVER...

  • Foxtons should have done some 'home staging' or at least advised you on this before they took the photos. Are they willing to take more, at no extra charge of course? It is pretty bad that there aren't any of the family bathroom for example. Also - what's the shed thing at the bottom of the garden?

  • It IS a weird time to be selling a house - from tomorrow I think we're going to all be pyschologically thinking of christmas as the next big life event...

  • I get the impression that there just aren't that many buyers around at the moment either - we're looking in Stoke Newington and there's NOTHING.

  • there's a definite feeling that the whole market is really overpriced at the moment I think - as the fact that the valuations you got were £75k apart shows, no?

-What's the situation with the other place - have you made a formal offer?

  • how long have you been living there btw? it's a lovely part of the world.
MissMitford · 31/10/2007 17:26

Sawry - forgot my most pearliest of pearls of wisdom - would think carefully about swapping estate agents - in my experience, 90% of buyers/sellers look at rightmove, findaproperty and all the other websites - and so a LOT of what estate agents used to get their money for is now redundant as all the big ones put their houses on the same portals. So not sure how many new prospective buyers you'd actually get if you swapped agencies.

If you DID decide to call it off until Spring, then you could always go with a different lot though - I got thomson currie in islington to reduce their commission to 1.5% - Foxtons wouldn't budge.

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 07/11/2007 18:36

thanks for that missmitford (love the name!).

am bored of the whole thing now . still no offers, we have another viewer tomorrow. the house we wanted in devon has gone . am quite inclined to take it off the market now, we'll see.

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