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)

My vendor I remarketing so I've offered a bit more money to see if they will wait a bit longer......waiting for reply. Their estate agent called me this morning, stupid but I could feel myself getting a bit teary, I'm emotionally invested. I know its the worst thing you can do but it's hard not to be. I'm having to sell my husband passed away suddenly and I'm struggling with finances. I love my house and it needed to be something special for me to move

@Whippetquick I hope they accept and wait around a little longer. People like to say house buying/selling is just business, just a transaction but it's not. You are buying a home. And your circumstances are very sad, so of course you will be emotional. It's not the worst things. You are only human - be kind to yourself today

Oh @Whippetquick I am so sorry, really hope they wait. They might when they think about it, I will wait for ours if the chain breaks as the Dad has the same cancer my Dad had earlier this year and I think the house will work well for them and they don’t need the stress of losing it on top of everything else.

Apologies im not sure how to reply directly, investors were buying and pulled out saying due to ‘risk’. EA says there is no risk, shoddy company etc which is what we feared from the beginning.

Sorry to hear about your circumstances leading to your house sale @Whippetquick 💐. We are now in the same boat as our vendor has also remarketed today, I guess he's maybe been getting pressure from his own vendor. His EA has advised he would still prefer us to get the house, so if we can secure a sale it's still ours. Have a viewer on Sunday so wish us luck!

@Whippetquick I'm sorry to hear about your husband. Of course you're emotionally invested -- buying and selling a home is bound to be emotional even at the best of times.

Yesterday DD (9) was having a go at me because she doesn't want to move house. It's hard telling the DC that we are selling, plus the disruption of viewings and having much of their stuff put away out of sight, but not being able to tell them where or when we are moving. And knowing the uncertainty will go on for a lot longer.

Good luck for your viewing on Sunday @InTheCludgie We have one on Saturday. I'm a bit disappointed we don't have more lined up but hoping it's still end of holidays slowness.

Thanks @manateeandcake , we are now up to three viewings on Sunday so it's looking a bit better on the interest front.

I know what you mean about having kids toys etc put away, my DD is fed up with all her things being hidden away and I've lost track now of where some things are 😳

@InTheCludgie We are up to three as well, for Saturday, including one second viewing.

I've definitely "mislaid" a few things that I've tidied away, including DS's piggy bank which luckily he found himself today! Ah, the life-changing magic of stuffing things into cupboards 🙄

Thank you everyone that has replied to my earlier post. Good luck to all those with upcoming viewings.

Well my offer of more money to wait was accepted but on the proviso the situation is reviewed in 2 weeks. So i have had a viewing today but they have other properties to look at so it's the waiting game again.

Vendor let me sweat on their answer until this morning, it's tainted it all a bit for me to be honest and part of me wanted to tell them to get stuffed but I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

So ive thrown all i can at it, I certainly can't afford to go any higher now so i can only hope i sell in the next 2 weeks

Good luck @Whippetquick with getting it sold, are there any parties that were interested last time it sold still searching?

Had some good news this afternoon that our offer was accepted! So for now we have a buyer and a house to go to, we k ow it can all be a house of cards though and early days so trying to not get as invested this time until further down the line. Have got mortgage appointment tomorrow so can submit our application and lock in the rate before any further rises.

@manateeandcake @InTheCludgie

Good luck for your viewings this weekend let us all know how they go fingers crossed will get offers.

@SquashSqueezee Congratulations on having your offer accepted! Great timing, and I hope all goes as smoothly as possible.

@Whippetquick wishing you (and everyone else!) lots of luck with upcoming viewings!

@manateeandcake Oh yes, our house looks spotless but I can't find anything! Normally everything has its dedicated place, but now most things just live stuffed in a cupboard somewhere.

We were about to drop our price massively this week and then we had a viewer who was really keen. EA says he wants to do some drive bys during the weekend to see what traffic is like before making a decision. Lucky for us, traffic is really minimal weekends and nights. It's mostly rush hour traffic. He viewed 9am on a weekday, so can't get much worse than that. I'm really hoping he makes an offer. I just want to get going and not be in limbo anymore. We're relocating and right now it feels like I can't commit to longer term plans at either end because I don't know if we'll still be here or already be there. Unfortunately, I guess that limbo remains until the day of exchange - sigh.

Good luck @SquashSqueezee ! Hope it all goes ok. 😃

I'm still not entirely convinced we'll get there, but I've been told that the solicitors have set up a provisional completion date for next week. No sign of exchange though, which makes me think it's not happening next week. It's really stressful because our agent advised us to pack everything up but it seems like a pointless task if there's still a chance things could go wrong. Of course we're going to pack so we're ready for the move, but I'm still doubting the whole thing until contracts have been exchanged. 😕I think there's still a missing bit of paperwork somewhere that needs to be chased so I can't see this exchange happening anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong though!

Well the house is now listed and live, seems like a mammoth effort to even get to this stage! And i know there is still such a long way to go and the stress hasn't ended begun.

Two viewings for next week which is at least a start.

I don't know how it is in your area, but prices of similar houses seem a bit higher than I anticipated, I think my house is reasonably priced for the market but am quite surprised at some of them. Time will tell I guess. Lots coming on in my city (far SW so not alot in between) in last few days but not so many in my very local area.

Good luck for everyone's viewings, I thin I'll be spending alot of next week in my car hiding.

Welcome to the viewings shenanigans @Positivelypatient! I'm so ready to never have to tidy my house again.

Our very interested viewer wants to come for a second viewing next week with a mate who is a builder. I think he's interested in further sound proofing/energy efficiency. That's a good sign, right? I just hope the builder doesn't decide our house is horrible and says not to buy it (can you tell I'm an anxious person?).

@ecochiroptera I would say that’s a very good sign! I certainly wouldn’t do that unless I was very serious about a house.

Thanks @ecochiroptera it's good to finally be at the viewings stage.

Id say yes that's a good sign if the builder is coming for improvement works, let us know how it goes! I'm eager to read anything house selling related right now, this thread has really helped me prepare for the ups and downs ahead.

We had a call from our EA after the viewings today -- he had conducted the last one of the three while a colleague did the first two. The last viewing was a second viewing for this couple and apparently they had brought along one of their mums, which seems like a good sign. In a nutshell, EA thinks it's quite likely they will make an offer on Monday but it felt like he was trying to prepare me for this to be well below asking price. I was slightly expecting this as EA's colleague had forwarded me part of an email from this potential buyer after the first viewing which included comments suggesting they liked the house but thought it was overpriced. However, the comparisons he made to cheaper properties showed a lack of understanding of the area. EA colleague assured me had replied to this highlighting what is different about our house and street.

The couple had apparently also just viewed another house very close to ours (actually visible from our front door), similarly presented but with slightly smaller rooms and imho not as nice, which has just been listed at £10k more than ours by rival EAs. A few months ago, this firm sold our neighbours' house - v v similar to ours - for this price (which admittedly did seem high to us at the time). Apparently our interested couple suggested to EA that this was a "fluke". I know it's pointless getting my knickers in a twist about this when there isn't even an offer yet, but I'm worried EA is going to encourage us to accept a lot less than asking. I did enquire about the earlier viewings had gone but EA just said that his colleague wasn't very optimistic about them but of course they will follow up etc.
Sorry for the massive download -- I suppose I am trying to get my head around all this!

Ugh, what a pain. I wonder what ‘well below asking price’ will mean. How long have you been on the market and what of the other two viewers today - maybe they will offer?

Tbh I have no idea what they are minded to offer, if anything, and think I went down a bit of a negative fantasy rabbit hole. On the other hand, I didn't like the way the EA was so dismissive of the first two viewers based on I don't know what. I know I just need to stop overthinking it, sit tight and see what happens.
We've been on the market for nearly two weeks and have had six viewings including the two by this couple, no other offers but no negative feedback either.

All these people who are pulling out at the last minute, surely they’ve paid out for searches and surveys etc? Do people just have money to throw around?!

Indeed @sorrynotathome you wouldn't think we were in the middle of a cost of living and energy crisis! Or maybe that's why people are pulling out?

Hope you get some good news on an offer @manateeandcake and it's not as low as you think 🤞

DH went back to clear out our loft yesterday and the house is empty after the tenants left. He said after so much negative feedback he was actually surprised by what a lovely house it really is. I hate how dragged down we got with so many viewings and so much criticism which is, after all, mostly based on the needs of a viewer rather than the qualities of our home!

Good luck with these second viewings and I hope the offers aren’t as bad as hoped if they arrive on Monday.

Sunk costs fallacy maybe? They've paid out a few £1000 probably in searches and solicitor costs but continuing would cost many many more, including stamp duty etc which maybe they can no longer afford if their circumstances have changed?

Saw one come back on the market yesterday that was on twice last year - it switched EAs and then sold but is now back on again. It appears to have been bought in quite a state (probate maybe?) in 2021 and developed and updated. It's been done beautifully but not to everyone's taste.