Is anyone else preparing to put their house on the market?

[Clettercletterthatsbetter]

I know, I know...we should have done it last year when the market was crazy busy but finances, family circumstances and whatnot meant that wasn’t possible and so we’re looking to sell our house and move this year.

Is there anyone else in the same boat who fancies a support thread to get us through?

We’ve had our place valued by 4 agents, have chosen one to go with and are currently doing a few minor bits to the house to get it in tip-top condition (filling old screw holes, a bit of touch-up painting and a good declutter) before we have photos taken.

Who else is looking to move in 2021?

Well one disaster to another for us. The house we liked is off the market. I wouldn't mind but it's been reserved as if it was a plot for a new house rather than any actual offers being made. We weren't advised by the estate agent that that was even an option so I'm very upset about it.
It's one thing to lose out because our offer wasn't enough but not to even get the opportunity to offer because we didn't have all the facts is rubbish!
Back to the drawing board and finishing things off to get everything ready for market when we find something I guess

normanpricesmother feel for you - when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions - as the saying sort of goes. Hoping to get my property on the market by April - so naturally, after a year of homeschooling with no marks on the walls I'm expecting a child to discover their inner Banksy anytime before Monday...

I had 2 valuations done yesterday, not sure whether to get a 3rd or not.

Planning to book one of them middle of next week for photos.

De - cluttered quite a bit now, I am on a bit of a roll.

A house quite close to me sold for a crazy price in 1 day on Monday, similar style to mine but better. Extended with a nice attic room but still , wow was so shocked.
Another trip to the tip this morning booked.

Anyone found a house to buy? I am briefly looking but think its too early for me but am doing a drive- by on a super teeny end terrace after the tip run this morning.

@d1157959543599b000178 were the valuations similar or quite a way apart? That's good news about the nearby property that sold quickly, it suggests yours can do the same. And yeah, I definitely find doing a quick wander past properties I see online can help to rule them in/out.

We're off today to have a look at a flat. My original plan was always that I'd move out from where I live now to one of the neighbouring but cheaper towns in order to get more for my money. Then I started to think, well, maybe I could justify stretching the budget a bit if I didn't go out of town, as I wouldn't have to think about a commute. And today I'm going full Say Yes To The Dress and trying on a gown looking at a property that's at the stretch price but also out of town. It looks like it's got the space and storage I really want, but it's also been really beautifully done up by the current owners, which is actually quite annoying because it makes it cost more and because clearly I'll love it. And it's by the seaside, which is appealing. I'm starting to question whether the logistics of a public transport commute plus nursery drop off and pick up are actually realistic, though...

@Persipan, the 2 valuations differed in their ranges by £20,000.

The house close by with extension and loft room, nicely done but not a conversion went for £50,000 more than the top range of the higher valuation I had.
My house has capacity for quite a big extension and going though into the garage plus loft conversion.
I am going to have a think today, I was thinking of going for the bottom figure of the higher valuation because then if its pitched too high it wont be far off plus if there is a lot of interest, the higher price sold house nearby could push the price up anyway.
I suppose you need to look at whether the commute and nursery run will be worth it for the location. However babies grow fast, they do get easier and moving is so expensive. If you have the money may be worth looking at the longer term, beach walks,etc with the little one.

Hello, didn't think I'd be involved in one of these for a good while but we had 2 rather - hem - interesting surprises this week. One is that there is a housing development planned which will take in the field behind our house - baseline planning was approved this time last year and with everything else going on in the world we had no idea. The other is that our house has been valued at almost £50k more than we paid for it 4 years ago (and about £30k more than I'd expected!)

So we have decided to go for it and put it up for sale, photos are booked in for next Friday. We don't need to do anything other than touch up some paintwork and deep clean/declutter as much as you can with nowhere to declutter to.

3 bed Victorian semi in rural Lancashire, we will be staying in the same area as DD is in year 10, her dad is local as are most of my family. The plan is to actually downsize, we'd still need 3 bedrooms for DSS1 & DSS2 to be able to visit but they're both at university now and come much less frequently.

Wish us luck!!!!

Ok, decided to go for higher price as that seems to be the way the market. Got estate agent coming around next week to do the photos.

I have been decluttering like crazy. Lockdown has been awful for the state of the house. If I blink, toys are scattered everywhere.

The flat I went and saw was beautiful but the agent ended up inadvertantly talking me out of wanting to make an offer on it - she kept banging on about how good a price it was (which it wasn't, really) and how much interest there was in it, and I came away feeling like in that case, I wasn't interested in getting into a scrum over it. Obviously I know it's their job to try to create a sense of desirability and urgency but apparently it had precisely the opposite effect on me! I also think, on balance, the commute would be a PITA. So apparently I'm leaning towards staying local, where my money will go not very far. Sigh.

I've also seen a house I'm quite interested in. Quirky layout, but I don't mind that. It's on the very edge of town, up a hill, so I think tomorrow I'll literally walk the route from the baby's nursery all the way up there, with him in the buggy, to see how it is. (There's a bus, in extremis, but I'm used to walking everywhere.) The other thing I'm a bit wary of is whether the vendors are particularly motivated to move - aspects of how the property is presented, and getting the viewing set up, made me wonder if perhaps they have rather a lot going on. I think I'll request a second viewing and see how that goes.

I've also booked to go and see a house that's literally just a few minutes walk away. The downside with this one is that the people in it have clearly done lots to it, and I hate absolutely everything they've done. It also appears to have been repointed by an elephant. That said, if it were a bit of a wreck I'd be perfectly happy to consider it, so it seems churlish not to look. I suspect they want more than I'd be willing to offer, though.

I’m beyond despondent now. We’ve seen 4 houses, none of which have been any good.

I got all excited the other day as someone responded to my letter (I sent a few to houses we liked) and said they were thinking of selling. I haven’t heard back from her since, though, so I think it’s time to give up and move on (a real shame as the house was ideal).

I’m pretty sure our buyer isn’t going to wait much longer for us to find somewhere...

Absolute favourite part of today's viewing was the agent showing me the back yard - basically a few paving slabs out the back of a Victorian terrace - and saying 'It has a Mediterranean feel! I can picture a hot tub out here!"

@Persipan

I've been mostly lurking as we have been getting the house ready with little jobs but estate agents coming around tomorrow for valuations. She said that they have never had so few houses on the market for the last 15 years. Starting to feel real now!

Hello all, hope you don't mind me jumping on board! As my username says, I'm getting ready to put my house on the market. Getting a bit nervous as I was selling year before last but chain collapsed and then delayed until now.

Market here is quite strong. More worried about where I'm looking to move to as that's a strong market too and scared I won't find anything I like!

We’ve just had a valuation. 50,000 over what I expected. BUT the estate agent has told us not to sell ...

He said there’s so few houses on the market at the moment and we won’t be able to afford to step up (from 2 - 3/4) bedrooms with what we can afford.

He’s recommending that we wait 4 months until prices come down

The bigger houses are likely to reduce in price more substantially- as a 10% drop will be less for our small 2 bed and more for a 3/4 bed.

An estate agent said this! I’m sure he’s right but it feels odd having an estate agent telling you not to sell your house.

We put ours on the market last week. I didn’t want to but my DH got a really good job overseas and covid meant commuting was out of the question. I loved my house and after 5 years of constant nagging my DH I was finally getting it to look the way I wanted 😭

Anyway it’s on the market, we could have put it on months ago but I wanted to get out of the house first. With my DH away working I was on my own with 3 kids, numerous isolations, tummy bugs and positive covid all going on I didn’t want or need the added stress of cleaning up the house for photos or viewings.

Currently in a rental until we sell and establish a credit history over here.

We had movers come in and pack everything up and although we didn’t take any large items ( no sofas, beds, fridges dining tables) we managed to fill a great big bloody truck. Over a week later we still have about 30 boxes to unpack in the house, not counting the ones we put straight into the garden shed 😬

We’ve only had one viewing but another booked for this weekend. It’s killing me as I want to be there and open all the windows everyday, I’m worried it will get stuffy or even damp if it’s not ventilated. I’m someone who opens all windows every day to let fresh air in regardless of how cold it is outside. I’m also worried the estate agent won’t sell some of the benefits of its location and the area. If I was there I’d be telling prospective buyers how great the neighbours are, older couple next door with adult children, he works from home so is always around, the DD works at the outstanding primary school 200 yards down the road, at the back the old lady who lives there was born in our house and it was in her family for over 60 years, there are always people home so the house feels safe even when we go away. I’d be telling out of Towners about how great the town itself is and the things that happen and it’s amazing community spirit which has shone through since covid. That extra personal touch.

I’m also worried about the price, we put it on for a lot more than we paid, but we have done a lot of work to it, I’m just worried people might automatically disregard it before looking.

When we bought the house my DF spent a lot of time helping us before he got sick and died. i feel like he was with us everytime I looked at something he had done for us, so I feel quite emotional about the whole thing.

Sorry feel I’ve completely over shared here.

I’m hoping that because we aren’t in a chain ourselves it should be fairly straightforward. Given stories I’ve heard about chains collapsing I’d even be tempted to take a lower off with no chain than a hire offer with a chain.

*higher offer that is 🤦‍♀️

Sorry feel I’ve completely over shared here.

No you haven’t. We’ve been needing to move for 7 years and putting it off for similar reasons.

Homes are such complex and emotional things.

It’s been interesting reading this thread. We are putting our house (small 2 bed 1930s semi) on the market in the next few weeks. We are second time buyers but first time round (15 yrs ago) we bought the house with no chain and we had no limits on the rental we were in at the time so didn’t find it stressful at all, the whole process only took 8 weeks.

We had only planned to be in this place for 5 yrs max, but it’s a nice house, great transport links and close to my partners work, he works shifts so has to be in driving distance.

We ended up staying much longer, but now it’s time to move.

I will be working from home full time (formally confirmed by work) and we have just grown out of the place. I’m working in my bedroom, the spare room is full of stuff, and I have grown to hate the downstairs layout. It’s a living room that’s also access to the kitchen so can’t use the floor space available as have to leave clear for a ‘corridor’.

My non negotiables for new place are a room for a study, separate lounge that isn’t a route to another room, not open plan, off street parking and good transport links. Ideally close to a small high street, local shops etc.

We have some maintenance jobs to get done, and waiting for final probate from my partners parents house, his dad passed away last year and we are going to use some of the money from the sale of the house for the new place.

We hope to be on the market end April. I can’t help but look at Rightmove but not going to get too carried away yet as we are just not quite ready to go yet and don’t want to find the perfect house!

Thank you @Dustyboots 💐

Yep, going on the market early next week, seen a house we like but can't view until we're listed, very anxious as a popular village and houses don't come up for sale that often.

We're really keen to move but there is just nothing coming onto the market! It's crazy how little is available. We've been looking for our forever home for about 6 months and haven't seen anything suitable.

We haven't actually put the house onto the market yet, although have all the photos and details prepped and ready. Our agent managed to get us an offer as they had someone on their books who wanted exactly what we had. However they pulled out as we couldn't find the right place to move to and don't HAVE to move, iyswim.

So we're hesitant to actually put it up as we suspect it will sell quite quickly. But finding the right properly for us is proving much harder.

I had hoped that there would be more since the SD announcement last week, but hardly any more.

@allmycats

Looking at going on the market as soon as the covid deaths start declining, we are looking to move to Ireland and need to know when we can go over to search without having 2 weeks quarantine. In this area property is still selling very quickly so don't want to be sold and have to rent in UK, don't mind renting for a while in Ireland, but atm not sure when to start the process. Would like to be gone by July or August.

We’ve done this exact thing, we moved to Ireland last week. DH has been here since November, he found a rental for us, though his company did a lot of the leg work for him, he just had to view the properties. You can reduce the quarantine period by doing a covid test after 5 days. Rentals here get snapped up quickly, our house didn’t even make it to the market as the relocation team at DHs company have a ongoing relationship with agents through the country so get told about properties before they go on the market.

Rental prices here are horrendous ( 5 x our mortgage payments) but we have no choice atm as we need to build up a credit history before we can buy. Plus need our uk house to sell for the deposit. We factored in having to pay rent here and mortgage in the uk, but I don’t want to be doing it too long. Once we can buy the mortgage payments will be less than our rent but no where near as less as our uk mortgage, mainly because we opted for a smaller mortgage in a less expensive area so we had flexibility with paying more if we could afford it.

Do you know where you want to move to?

It's honestly so stressful finding something right now.

I put an offer on the ugly 'Mediterranean feel' house yesterday and am now rather hoping they don't take it because I don't really like it and also don't for one second think I could fit all my furniture in. It would very much be a house of convenience, in that I like the overall style of property and it's very close to where I live now, which is not an area I thought I'd have any chance of buying in, and is somewhere is really like to stay if I actually could. Gah.

@Bid876 it sounds as though the house has so much meaning for you that honestly it may be better to have the agents taking care of things. Might make it a bit easier for you.

@APurpleSquirrel

We've painted the family bathroom from crappy magnolia that comes off when you wipe it to Dulux Natural Hessian Bathroom paint. The difference in colour isn't much, slightly darker, but will be much easier to clean & not offensive to potential buyers. (Before & After)

That looks nice. I like easy neutral colours. I hate looking at houses with horrible colours. I get everyone has different tastes but bold colours really put me off, especially when it’s tiles that can’t be easily changed.