About to put our house up for sale.. anyone else?

[DomusAurea]

We are taking the plunge and it's happening - we are selling our house (and relocating 200 miles away but that's another thread I guess) - anyone else? I could do with a collective handhold!

This is where we are now:

• finishing the last small jobs such as painting a ceiling
  
• having meets with estate agents for valuation
  
• nervously searching rightmove for possible houses in our relocation area (there isn't a lot!)
  

Are you going for sale soon? Tell me how it's going!

(we are in the South East)

[EluneBePraised]

Congrats Volterra! No need to feel bad it's good to hear others are finally getting somewhere in this awful process.

I've created a new thread, here is the link (hope it works):

www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4632935-about-to-put-our-house-up-for-saleanyone-else-part-two?latest=1

[Volterra]

So sorry to hear that @InTheCludgie
Feel bad saying this after your news, we have finally exchanged this morning .

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

Yes please 😊

[LionessesRules]

I'm sorry to hear your news Cludgie.

Anyone want to set up a new thread for the highs and lows of this house moving rollercoster we all find ourselves on? This thread is nearly full!

[InTheCludgie]

Btw @ecochiroptera I was having a little wobble over the weekend about whether we were doing the right thing moving. Our mortgage isn't going to be much higher but there's higher council tax, utilities etc plus the unknown over neighbours. The other house we would be attached to is a bit unkempt looking though our vendor says they arent a problem.

Add in that our youngest has a lot of friends in the street and there will be potentially less cash for holidays etc it's no wonder I've been doubting the move a bit!

[InTheCludgie]

So our buyers pulled out this morning. Can't say I'm totally surprised, considering he dismissed the house on first viewing. So back on the market we go, and no doubt our vendor will be back on too when he hears the news.

[manateeandcake]

Yes, it's interesting to hear about the reductions and lower offers. Sorry you're faced with a tough choice @ecochiroptera but congratulations on the dream job offer -- nice to be in demand, whether you take it or not. Having to put having a second DC on hold would probably be too much of a sacrifice for me, though. Is there any possibility you could make your current place work with 2 DC, at least for a while?

We are selling partly to get a bit more space but the more urgent reason is to be near a better choice of secondary schools for DC who is currently in year 5. We could come off the market and go back on in the spring but that would be taking a risk of not being moved in time. There are obviously schools near where we are but we really don't feel that they are the right fit for DC. We were just talking to an EA at a viewing who was saying that the market is dividing into "might moves" and "must moves" and the "might moves" will increasingly choose to stay put for now.

[Volterra]

Difficult decision @ecochiroptera . We have moved to be nearer family and I don’t regret it though only been here a month so early days. I am a beneficiary of a house that is to be sold, quite a few of us are. It went on market in May and there were 10 viewings in2 hours which resulted in 3 offers. Was on at 450k and 480k accepted.

Sadly the trustee died so have had to get probate. It is back on again, been a couple of weeks. 5 or 6 viewings and an offer of 435k from people who aren’t yet under offer so quite a difference.

[ecochiroptera]

We haven't heard anything from our interested viewer, so have now dropped the price by roughly 10%. Seems like quite a few people on this thread are thinking of or have reduced. Got a viewing booked in today and few others the coming week, we shall see. We wanted to relocate to be closer to family and so we could afford a larger house and have a second child. But I am starting to have doubts if we should stay put. I have just been approached by an old manager to start working with them again (locally) in my dream job. I really miss my team from there and the work was great unlike my current job. But at what cost? My current job lets me work from wherever, this one doesn't. We would have to stay in this house that we have outgrown because we can't afford anything else here and we'd probably have to put a second DC on hold. I feel like if we don't relocate now we probably never will. Anyone else worried they're making the wrong choice selling right now (whether that's for economic or other reasons)?

[Twiglets1]

@manateeandcake

Thanks for your reply, @Twiglets1 DH and I have just had a good chat about it and ended up thinking along the same lines as you. We also feel that if they are like this now, they could be a real headache further down the line. Our house is an Edwardian terrace and the survey is likely to throw up some niggles, though we have no reason to expect anything major.

We've been on the market for just under three weeks. I agree that a reduction by 25k would make sense within the next 2-3 weeks if we don't get any more offers.

Yes an Edwardian house is likely to have some niggles on the survey as you say, it's to be expected but they seem keen to get the lowest possible price. I would say don't say anything antagonistic because you could yet end up selling to them . We ended up selling to buyers who were rude about our property on their 1st and 2nd viewings. In fact it was a shock they wanted a 2nd viewing after what they said after the 1st.
Try to keep the emotion out of it (very hard, we didn't but you should!) Just say that their offer is not one you are considering. See how you feel in a couple of weeks time and if no offers at that stage it may be a good idea to reduce the price to attract more interest. Listen to your EA advice on the amount.
Even if they walk away now it doesn't mean they definitely won't come back in future, whatever harsh language they are using to try to get you to sell at the price they want.

[Ladyofthelake53]

Whippetquick here

Still no buyer so deadline with vendor next Friday hoping for a last minute reprieve but i dont think thats going to happen now. Pissed off to say the least

[manateeandcake]

Thanks @RidingMyBike - it's good to have another perspective. We will have been on the market for three weeks on Monday. Reducing to 950 would be more than 2% so would get us into the alerts.

[RidingMyBike]

We reduced after a month - we'd had quite a few viewings but no offers and the viewings had dried up. We reduced by about 6.5% - it needs to be a more than 2% reduction to appear in the RM alerts and this also brought us to the top end of the price search band below where we'd started, if that makes sense, which meant we showed up in more people's searches.

[RidingMyBike]

Congratulations @SpaceyCake and @DazzlePaintedBattlePants so good to see some more people get there, albeit with loads of last minute stress.

@manateeandcake we ended up with buyers we hated last year - they were patronising and pushy and I'd have loved to go with others but they were our only offer, and that was after reducing by £50k. We'd already moved out so never saw them (DH had met them once briefly when they were considering buying the next door house). But ultimately they did buy it and we got through the sale process fast. How long have you been on the market? Our EA was pretty blunt that we were unlikely to get a higher offer (house had been viewed by everyone on their books who was looking in that price range) and as we were heading into winter with the house empty it seemed sensible to go with it.

[manateeandcake]

Thanks for your reply, @Twiglets1 DH and I have just had a good chat about it and ended up thinking along the same lines as you. We also feel that if they are like this now, they could be a real headache further down the line. Our house is an Edwardian terrace and the survey is likely to throw up some niggles, though we have no reason to expect anything major.

We've been on the market for just under three weeks. I agree that a reduction by 25k would make sense within the next 2-3 weeks if we don't get any more offers.

[Twiglets1]

@manateeandcake

Wow @SpaceyCake I can't begin to imagine the stress. So glad you got in and can relax now!

We had a mini roller coaster yesterday and are still no closer to where we would like to be. Our EA had gone back to the couple who made a v low offer on our house on Monday and said we were disappointed with it but were very much open to dialogue if they wanted to come back with something more serious. He also told them that we would like to hear by Friday as we were going to be viewing properties ourselves this weekend.

We were/are booked in to a view a house this morning that looked like it ticked more or less all our boxes -- an area we like, good school catchments, great layout and high spec all round. I tried not to get my hopes up as obviously knew there was a good chance we wouldn't get it, but I was convinced we would at least be making an offer on Monday. DH and I discussed that we would probably accept a still low offer from interested party in the service of giving us the best chance of having our offer accepted and everything going through, particularly as they are FTBs (with mortgage AIP) so no chain below.

Talk about a lesson in not getting ahead of myself... DH thought the asking price of the property we were planning to view seemed slightly on the low side and mentioned it to our EA, who looked it up on the bit of RM that only EAs can access and saw that it had been on the market last year for 8 months at 100k less and didn't sell. Photos available and no major difference but rather bizarrely the kitchen had been replaced since despite not needing to be. DH did some googling and discovered that the street has flooded badly twice in the last two years - as in some level of water in the ground floor of all houses. Judging from the timings, I would guess that the last time it was on the market, the sellers had accepted an offer from a buyer who pulled out after it flooded. They may have replaced the kitchen due to damage. We will still go to the viewing and talk to the EA as we are in the area to view other properties (not as nice or well located, but dry) anyway but I can't see anything that could convince us to buy on that street.

Meanwhile, as DH was updating me on all this while I was at work, we got an email from our EA with the new offer from our interested party. They've only come up by 10k so still 65k below asking. The tone of their email, passed on by EA, was both bullying and patronising -- saying that our expectations were "unrealistic", making incorrect assumptions about our financial circumstances, "explaining" the economy (DH's field, sort of) and threatening to reduce their offer if we don't accept by Monday. I know I should keep my emotions out of it but they REALLY rub me up the wrong way! At the same time, we have no viewings booked this weekend and no other offers. Really don't know what to do. Sorry this is so long but hoping the bit about the flooding might be helpful as a reminder to do your research!

They sound like bullies. Obviously they like your house so it’s ridiculous for them to say they will reduce their offer by 10k if you don’t accept by Monday.
If they are serious buyers they won’t reduce their offer by 10k on Monday. If they do they were never that serious and would have beaten you down even further on price after survey on any excuse really.

I would ignore the offer & threat and wait for EA to chase you on Monday. When they do just laugh it off and say you didn’t take their offer seriously. You’re not in a desperate rush to sell (especially now the house you like seems out if the running) and they are playing nasty games.
I don’t know how long you property has been on the market without an offer. If it’s more than about 6 weeks you could consider reducing the price to get more interest - but not by 65k probably more like 25k ( ask EA for advice on amount).

[manateeandcake]

Wow @SpaceyCake I can't begin to imagine the stress. So glad you got in and can relax now!

We had a mini roller coaster yesterday and are still no closer to where we would like to be. Our EA had gone back to the couple who made a v low offer on our house on Monday and said we were disappointed with it but were very much open to dialogue if they wanted to come back with something more serious. He also told them that we would like to hear by Friday as we were going to be viewing properties ourselves this weekend.

We were/are booked in to a view a house this morning that looked like it ticked more or less all our boxes -- an area we like, good school catchments, great layout and high spec all round. I tried not to get my hopes up as obviously knew there was a good chance we wouldn't get it, but I was convinced we would at least be making an offer on Monday. DH and I discussed that we would probably accept a still low offer from interested party in the service of giving us the best chance of having our offer accepted and everything going through, particularly as they are FTBs (with mortgage AIP) so no chain below.

Talk about a lesson in not getting ahead of myself... DH thought the asking price of the property we were planning to view seemed slightly on the low side and mentioned it to our EA, who looked it up on the bit of RM that only EAs can access and saw that it had been on the market last year for 8 months at 100k less and didn't sell. Photos available and no major difference but rather bizarrely the kitchen had been replaced since despite not needing to be. DH did some googling and discovered that the street has flooded badly twice in the last two years - as in some level of water in the ground floor of all houses. Judging from the timings, I would guess that the last time it was on the market, the sellers had accepted an offer from a buyer who pulled out after it flooded. They may have replaced the kitchen due to damage. We will still go to the viewing and talk to the EA as we are in the area to view other properties (not as nice or well located, but dry) anyway but I can't see anything that could convince us to buy on that street.

Meanwhile, as DH was updating me on all this while I was at work, we got an email from our EA with the new offer from our interested party. They've only come up by 10k so still 65k below asking. The tone of their email, passed on by EA, was both bullying and patronising -- saying that our expectations were "unrealistic", making incorrect assumptions about our financial circumstances, "explaining" the economy (DH's field, sort of) and threatening to reduce their offer if we don't accept by Monday. I know I should keep my emotions out of it but they REALLY rub me up the wrong way! At the same time, we have no viewings booked this weekend and no other offers. Really don't know what to do. Sorry this is so long but hoping the bit about the flooding might be helpful as a reminder to do your research!

[Twiglets1]

What a rollercoaster @SpaceyCake but congratulations, you’re in!

[Volterra]

Oh my goodness @SpaceyCake , how stressful that must have been, what a nightmare! You are in though so really good news. What is your new garden like ?

Completion proposed for 22nd. Really feel for our buyers, her father who is moving in with then is ill and this must be so stressful for them all. We are fortunate that we are here already but can’t do any work on the house until we complete and I am not fancying the single paned Windows in the living room or bedroom much this winter.

Friend was gazumped on a house she had offered on the other day.

[SpaceyCake]

@Volterra Argh that sucks. We had a week of failed exchanges. It's horrible when you're waiting for news all day and it gets to 5pm and that's another day wasted. I hope you get there next week! When's your proposed completion date?

[SpaceyCake]

We're in! I didn't think it would end well but I was surprised. We waited until around 1pm only to be told that more solicitors had told fibs about various things and also our buyer's solicitors hadn't transferred the funds. We had all of our stuff in the van and the removal guys said they needed to start unloading everything by around 2.30 and it looked like we had no chance. In the end our solicitor did some absolute magic and the removal men were kind enough to wait (not for free though 😂) and we got a call at 3.45 that we could collect keys to our new house at 4.

Gosh, it was so flipping stressful. I have to admit I spent quite a long time crying and panicking. It's just been a tough and complicated road, and trying to come up with a frantic plan B was awful. I'm never doing this again! Haha. But I'm chuffed that this is the end now and I can spend time in my new garden. 😍

[Volterra]

Failed exchange for us today, one of the solicitors was out of the office.

[dottypencilcase]

@SpaceyCake

Well it's not looking good! 0/10 would not recommend. 😠

You've still got 15 mins... it might happen...

[InTheCludgie]

Congratulations @DazzlePaintedBattlePants ! Hope the situation has turned itself around @SpaceyCake and you have managed to move too

[DazzlePaintedBattlePants]

Ah crap @SpaceyCake , what’s plan B???