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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 .

OP posts:
sallysparkle · 07/11/2007 18:50

Hi Hoxton Chick. We're trying to sell too. House went on the market the first week of January. Accepted an offer last week of July. Were due to move last week and our buyer pulled out between signing the contract and exchanging. So gutted! So the house we love and that I had already imagined us in is now back on the market and we're in a race against time to find a buyer before they do. I HATE this! Nearly a year of upheaval and we're probably going to lose the house we adore... Here's hoping you get something soon because I know how you feel!

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 07/11/2007 18:55
OP posts:
Boogalooblue · 07/11/2007 19:10

Sally,

If they pulled out after signing does that mean that you keep the deposit?

sallysparkle · 07/11/2007 19:43

She had never got as far as paying a deposit. She pulled out before the money was paid citing illness. I feel a bit about it too!

MissMitford · 23/01/2008 11:37

bump

MissMitford · 23/01/2008 11:38

Hello hoxtonchick, did you ever sell your house? We're thinking about putting ours on the market now (madness I know.) We're Stoke Newington, just up the road.

LoveAngel · 24/01/2008 13:53

Ooh yes, hoxtonchick, do tell...?

LoveAngel · 24/01/2008 13:54

p.s. we left Stokie in September@MissMitford. I do miss Clissold Park :-(

MissMitford · 25/01/2008 17:38

Yes, love Clissold. We're going to stay in the same 'hood hopefully, but want a bigger place. Mind you, there are NO houses on the market at the moment - so a case of biding our time I think...

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 27/01/2008 10:55

hello, surprised to see this thread again.

we still haven't sold . we have had the carpets cleaned which i think has made a miraculous difference! bran has seen my house & says it's nicer than the pictures suggest . i have tried to sack the agents but they miraculously produce viewers .

so basically not a lot of progress, it's miserable. BUT there is a lot of stuff on the market in devon in our price range so we'll definitely have something to buy, just need to sell. looking at other local properties we're certainly not over-priced. bloody flat market.

ps went to clissold leisure centre the other day, it was great.

OP posts:
edam · 27/01/2008 11:03

Sorry to hear it's not going well, sweetie.

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 27/01/2008 11:06

thanks edam . i am an eternal optimist, something will come up. but is very dull waiting!

OP posts:
bran · 27/01/2008 11:15

Yes, it is a lovely house. It's much bigger than it looks in the photos as well. (I never said "thanks" for having me over the other week. Thank you. ) I particularly liked the office at the bottom of the garden. It's very much the sort of house that I would love to buy, if only it were in Dublin.

I take it you haven't heard anything from the "prospective buyers" then? I still suspect they are fakes sent to hold you to the estate agency. Have you sounded out other agencies yet? You might be able to get the new agency to agree to not charge or to split the fee with Foxtons in the unlikely event that the couple do make an offer. (I'm sure they won't, it smells like a set-up to me. The timing is so suspect. Why would they wait until the week before their honeymoon to come and see your house when it's been on the market for months?)

spicemonster · 27/01/2008 11:31

I nearly didn't post this as I saw how old the thread was but your last post has made me convinced that I should. Yes Foxtons get loads of people through the door. But you've obviously never been looking with them or you'd know why. They get you in one of their stupid minis and then ferry you about to the place you said you want to look at and then about five more, most of which are either deeply inappropriate and/or vastly out of your price range. They took me to see loads of places which I didn't have a cat's chance in hell of affording (and the one I eventually bought which is the one I'd asked to see). So you're getting the footfall but I'd expect quite a lot of them won't be serious buyers. As a result of that, I'd never register with them again.

So I'd seriously consider changing agent if I were you. Is there a local agent that looks good? Personally if I were buying again, I'd go with a local one because ime they know the area better and won't waste your time showing you stuff that isn't in the right place or doesn't meet the spec.

HTH.

NKF · 27/01/2008 11:34

If people are coming and not buying, then they're either the wrong people (time wasters) or it's too expensive. There is precious little mystique to house selling. Good luck.

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 27/01/2008 11:50

i did kind of suspect that's what they did spicemonster.

it was lovely to see you bran. thank you for lunch .

OP posts:
MissMitford · 28/01/2008 14:15

Oooh god, I think we're going to hold off on selling for now. I covet HoxtonChick's pad... now if you'd like to knock £300k off the price, we could do a deal...!

I'm not sure about changing agents, or going 'multi-agent'. Who doesn't start their house price search online these days? (or is it just me who is intimately acquainted with every possible property in our price range in 3 postcodes!)

Having spent loads of time looking at property websites recently and am amazed at the cheek of the same property coming up in the same search, but for two different prices.

And THIS made me laugh. This flat and this flat (both in my block!) are EXACTLY the same. Ok, they're on different floors, but all the flats are prefab and dimensions are identical! amuses me to see that the little balcony becomes a 'garden' in the Foxtons' one.

MissMitford · 28/01/2008 14:17

Sorry - the point of those two links was to show that 2 identical flats (but on different floors) can be marketed for £120k difference... madness.

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 28/01/2008 14:40

wow, that is a serious price difference . have either of them sold? foxtons valued ours 100k more than any other agent, sigh. and we were stupid enough to go with them. double sigh. we have already dropped the price 50k.

i think multi agency looks a bit desperate. but i suppose we are... and foxtons are already charging 2.5% sole agency so it's not like it will cost us more.

shall we drop the price to 700k? mumsnet decides .

OP posts:
DiamandaGalas · 28/01/2008 14:52

ditch Foxtons... i am sure the new viewins were mates of them!

If I was you, I would take it out of the market until march and cut the price to
£675.

You will sell it pretty quickly

Foxtons alwasy overprice properties.

Did you watch a doc about Foxtons not very long ago> Uhn, i would never instruct them to market my properties.

good luckx

kaz33 · 28/01/2008 15:21

We bought and sold with Foxtons - good service when we bought.

When we sold we failed to sell before christmas, took it off the market tarted the place up and sold in the spring market. Foxtons very pushy, we had two offers and one more potential offers but there advice was sell, sell and don't hold out for more money. They were just interested in getting their 3% fee and then legging it.

hanaflower · 28/01/2008 15:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MissMitford · 28/01/2008 15:24

No - neither have sold. Altought another one (on the top floor, but again another identikit 2 bed flat) sold for £315k about 4 months ago.

Just to bombard you with links - here's another one in my block, this time 3 beds and a parking space, which is still way cheaper than the Foxtons-marketed 2 bed one. Are they actually mental???!

Sorry - am obsessed with Foxtons and their mad pricing.

Is there anything to be said for taking it off for a month or two and then putting on again with someone else? letting the market refresh and all that??

Original poster
hoxtonchick · 28/01/2008 19:08

that is an eminently sensible plan missm, and one i have already suggested to dp. especially as i think things look stale when they've been on the market for too long. dp is against it though, thinks we might lose out while it's off the market.

OP posts:
missingtheaction · 28/01/2008 19:18

Foxtons have a terrible repuation for overpricing - they get as many properties as they can on tehir books and hope a few of them sell. If I Were You (and last year I was in a very similar situation) I would definitely start interviewing other agents asap and give Foxtons notice. (Ask them what their success rate is - they have no idea what it is but it's fun to hear them thinking up a good answer) take Foxtons' board down too and get them to take it off the website, so it has a bit of a rest before it goes back on.

we sold last summer, got the fee down to 1.5% and they paid for the brochure etc (Hamptons).

be prepared for a nasty pricing shock, if it's lovely and clean and doesn't need the hosue doctor it is probably overpriced. but you can get a lot in devon for £600,000+!