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?

Sold sign has gone up!

@Comps83 how exciting!

We’re still considering an offer but hoping they’ll up it a little as it was a bit on the low side. In the meantime we’ve had another viewing today, with others booked for tomorrow and Saturday. We’re also off to view two houses on Saturday - one of which I suspect could be a real contender but is quite overpriced compared to similar properties that have sold nearby.

Very exciting, Comps!

We've had a few viewings - two yesterday - but no offers yet. One viewer yesterday sounded quite interested, but feedback from the EA is that they're worried that the neighbours (builders) will be noisy. We've never really had a problem with them - yes, they make a noise occasionally, but it's never been enough to be a nuisance - but I don't know how we convince the buyers of that (bearing in mind that they may have a different nuisance threshold!).

Well done Comp!
I’m fed up now and it’s only been a week! Tired of it all and just a big headache about what to do next.
Don’t know whether to sell and maybe rent as we can’t find anything suitable, or keep it, rent it out and get a smaller shittier house in just my husband’s name.

Might start a new thread about it actually and ask for advice.

@ConcreteUnderpants I wouldn’t rent it out - I know too many people who’ve had awful experiences with terrible tenants! If you sell and rent you’ll be in a great position to pounce when the right thing does come up. Remind me where you’ve got to - are you under offer?

Our viewing today was cancelled but the people who offered have upped their offer to the figure we wanted so we’ve accepted it! Viewing on Saturday is still booked in until the agent gets proof of funds/mortgage from them.

Now we just need to find somewhere. We’re viewing 2 houses on Saturday - the first I think isn’t a goer due to the location, and the second has some compromises but I know we will have tock promise on something!

Agent #2 gave the exact same valuation as the first one (possibly a shade more optimistic at getting the higher end, but it's a cheap flat so we aren't talking much). Same commission for both (1%), but the first one had, I think, a more compelling argument about how many properties they sell in this area of town compared to others, so I think they're probably the better choice.

@Persipan that sounds promising. I’d go with gut feeling on the agent.

We’ve had a depressing day. Neither house we viewed was quite right for us and there’s literally nothing else on the market that we want to see, so now we’re just waiting for something to come up. And the local agents are telling us that things don’t often come up in our search area! I fear I’ve become those people I loathe on Location, Location who are totally unrealistic in their requirements vs. budget...

It's really interesting to read everyone's experiences at the moment! We're waiting to have some remedial work completed following an insurance claim that has taken far too long to organise. This should be done in March, so we're hoping to market in April (post stamp study increase boo!) and try to get things moving relatively quickly as I'm pregnant and due in August. Slightly nervous about doing the whole selling/buying thing as never had to do it before.

I've actually found the ideal house that needs some work and is a perfect price, but I know the chances of it still being around in April are slim to none which is a shame. However planning all of the imaginary refurbs has kept my brain occupied in lockdown!

Morning All!
Ok, I’ve decided to take the offer that’s slightly below our asking price.
My worry now is that we still can’t find our new home!
Didn’t really want the upheaval of renting, but need to narrow down an area so as to get the kids enrolled in their new school. I don’t know what to do. Finding it really stressful and it’s setting off my IBS so feeling rough at the moment.
Seems so long ago that this felt fun and exciting...

I feel pretty jaded today too @ConcreteUnderpants - we’ve agreed a sale on our house but there’s nothing on the market where we want to move to.

I’m considering putting letters through doors of houses in the roads we like but is that a no-no in Covid times?

I’ve read on other posts about people doing the letter drop thing, some with success, so go for it if you want. Don’t worry about the covid stuff. People will deal with their post/leaflets in their own way.

Well, I've had the agent round to take photos and measure up for the floorplan, so it should go up soon... He's going to hang on for a day or two to see if it's slightly brighter to get a shot of the outside, though (it was gloomy af here today).

We've accepted an offer on our house (woohoo!) - the viewers who were worried about the builders next door would appear to have decided it'll be fine (which it will). A bit less than we wanted for it, but more than it was originally valued at in 2019 when we first started planning the move, so we're happy enough.

Just keeping our fingers crossed now that it all goes through smoothly - we don't know yet what sort of chain is involved their end.

We’re still not on the market but gradually getting bits and bobs done to the house before getting it valued.

Bad day today - we had an electrician out to fix a couple of floor sockets in our conservatory. Turns out the whole far corner of the floor has rotted away under the tiles and is really damp - even worse, there were no back boxes on the sockets so the plug/connections were just exposed!

It appears the conservatory (upvc, built by previous owners) was built onto a wooden frame which is now rotting away and there doesn’t seem to be proper dam proofing underneath.

We’ve got a conservatory repair specialist coming in 2 weeks to look at it but really hoping we don’t have to rip the whole floor up .

We have about 6/9 months of work to do in the space of about 2/3 to get the house on the market in time 🙈 stressssss

But yeah when the time comes if nothing comes up I am going to do some letters on the roads we want! Have got nothing to loose...

Eek, the For Sale sign has gone up today!

Good luck @Persipan!

@ConcreteUnderpants any luck finding anywhere yet? We’ve seen three houses so far but none have been right for us. They were all very different in style and location though, which has helped us narrow down what we want. Something has just come on in our desired area but at £100k over the top of our budget! We need something similar but semi-detached to come on!

I haven’t done a leaflet drop yet. There’s another thread running on here (not mine) where the posters mostly thought it was a terrible idea due to Covid, and it’s put me off somewhat. I may do it slyly under the cover of darkness!

I’ve put my London flat on the market yesterday. It’s only a one bed flat, with no outside space and zero curb appeal. Its a great flat in terms of living and storage space, I’ve also put in a new bathroom, kitchen and boiler. But I’m not optimistic at all that it will sell anytime soon. It seems I’m trying to sell the one thing no one wants. Which is upsetting as I thought I had bought something that would sell in the future. I’ve never sold property before so I’m new to how long it all takes. I know I need to be patient but I’m a worrier so I can’t help but be stressed out about it.

@Teaandbiscuits000

I’ve put my London flat on the market yesterday. It’s only a one bed flat, with no outside space and zero curb appeal. Its a great flat in terms of living and storage space, I’ve also put in a new bathroom, kitchen and boiler. But I’m not optimistic at all that it will sell anytime soon. It seems I’m trying to sell the one thing no one wants. Which is upsetting as I thought I had bought something that would sell in the future. I’ve never sold property before so I’m new to how long it all takes. I know I need to be patient but I’m a worrier so I can’t help but be stressed out about it.

Can I ask which part of London? We are hoping to go on by the end of March and I'm worried we aren't going to have a hope in hell of selling!

Mine went live today on Rightmove and there's a viewing already booked for Saturday, so it seems like it has some appeal to someone, which is positive. It does look rather nice in the pictures.

Painted our en-suite today - gone from crappy builders magnolia to Dulux Bathroom Egyptian Cotton. Not a massive difference but at least it's wipeable!

Noticed more houses are coming on the market in our chosen area too which is encouraging.

Dog hers the photo - before (top) & after (bottom)

Argh! Why is there no edit button??
Should read 'Doh here is...'

@Persipan where abouts in the country are you selling?

My flat is in SW London near Wimbledon
Flats are selling, just not for massive gains. You can see a lot of people who bought in the last two to years selling for the same price the bought them for