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)

ThisMustBeMyDream, my goodness that sounds really tight! Any chance of rescheduling the viewing day?

Does having the house “finished” matter that much for a valuation? I’d like to think a decent EA would be able to see past the few final things that needed doing. Or not so few in my case.

Mine is only going up now as it needed major remedial works that I only got building regs approval through for in December. I made a big mistake in not doing other things whilst this was going on so that I’ve had two months of weekends to finish off everything else

@ThisMustBeMyDream you don't need to get all that finished before the valuations. EA will be used to seeing houses in varying states, they should listen to what you're planning to get finished before selling and value accordingly. They may also be able to offer advice about whether something is worth doing.

It needs to be finished before photos taken. But we've viewed one that wasn't quite on the market yet and where they hadn't finished the work on it.

Joining the thread with mixed nerves and excitement. We've been in our small 3 bed for 16 years and now we need something a bit bigger, so we're biting the bullet. The market where we are is very buoyant, very much a seller's market, which is great for the "selling" bit, but not for looking for a new home to move into! To make matters worse, I've been looking at rightmove to see what's out there, and I've accidentally fallen in love with a property that's likely to be snapped up in days, when we can't realistically get on the market for another month 😫 so I'm steeling myself to get my heart broken!

Our house went properly on the market at the end of last week after some ‘soft marketing’ beforehand. 28 viewings in what we’re told is a buoyant market and nothing. The agents have been pants communicating with us. I think they assumed it would get an immediate offer as we’ve had to chase on every basic thing since it failed to sell on day one.

It’s a house with some quirks but we’ve really tried to price it to reflect that. I hate this bit! We reduced from the soft market price so the online price was meant to have been ‘tested’ through feedback but the agents barely got any feedback.

If anyone wants a lovely house in a very nice bit of SE London, let me know.

@Paddingtonthebear

Those of you about to go on the market- can I ask why now and not before? We’ve been looking for so long and I’ve been convinced that not many people are selling anymore as most people would have moved during the reduced stamp duty period!

The stamp duty saving didn't matter so much as we're in London so prices higher.

We waited to know how things would shake out with wfh after covid. Didn't want to go a long way out and then be stuck commuting back in 4-5 days a week.

Seems now to be settling at ~2 days a week so we can go fairly far but still need to be able to commute.

Paddingtonthebear
'Those of you about to go on the market- can I ask why now and not before? We’ve been looking for so long and I’ve been convinced that not many people are selling anymore as most people would have moved during the reduced stamp duty period!'

Redundancy put paid to our moving plans during covid. We were ready to list just before the first lockdown and then 3 months later our jobs weren't looking secure. So we decided to stay put until things had settled and I got promoted in the mean time. So we're in a better financial position than before although not payingstamp duty would have helped.

I've cried all evening. I came home, the decorator had finally been, the tiler came, and it was all looking so promising. Except for the god all mighty mess left by them all. Plaster all over my freshly jet washed drive AND up the brickwork by the front door, my brand new pots and even on the leaves of the fucking new bay trees.
Then there was the tiler. Oh boy. He is the reason I am still awake now. Horrific. Just awful. Mess and grout absolutely everywhere. Every cupboard, every appliance, the sink, the floor. Just horrendous. It has finally cleaned, but it took me over 2 hours!!!
I am so glad it is finally over. Just the final fixes to be done now.
Here's a before, after and a pic of the sink to demonstrate the mess I've just dealt with.

BTW the blue on the extractor is just the protective covering! I'm not taking it off until they have all fucked off and finished!!!

Valuation today and very pleased with the target. I'm not in a hurry to sell so won't put it on the market for a while. There's quite a bit of decorating and mending required first. This has been our family home for 26 years, so I felt quite emotional when we talked dates. I'm downsizing as children have all left home now. But I think we all need time to adjust and a last Christmas here. This is also the only house I've bought and I've never sold, so very interested to learn from others' experiences here.

@ThisMustBeMyDream

I've cried all evening. I came home, the decorator had finally been, the tiler came, and it was all looking so promising. Except for the god all mighty mess left by them all. Plaster all over my freshly jet washed drive AND up the brickwork by the front door, my brand new pots and even on the leaves of the fucking new bay trees. Then there was the tiler. Oh boy. He is the reason I am still awake now. Horrific. Just awful. Mess and grout absolutely everywhere. Every cupboard, every appliance, the sink, the floor. Just horrendous. It has finally cleaned, but it took me over 2 hours!!! I am so glad it is finally over. Just the final fixes to be done now. Here's a before, after and a pic of the sink to demonstrate the mess I've just dealt with.

I imagine you are shattered (don't understand why workmen always see to leave a mess) but it looks great! Such a transformation. Am sure you will be thrilled - when you have had time to recover!

I hope you don't mind my asking but where did you get your kitchen from and was it expensive? The Estate Agent has suggested that my flat will sell quicker with a new kitchen but I don't really want. to spend a fortune...Yours looks fab!

@ThisMustBeMyDream
Looks great, love the colour of the new tiles. I think new, clean, grout will make it look really fresh.
But why do some trades treat somebody else's home like that? Its a disgrace. Could be worse, imagine having to live with somebody like that. Lazy sod.

The kitchen was from DIY kitchens, cost £1700 for units, sink, worktop, handles.
Flooring £160 plus £80 fitting.
Tiles £70 plus £300 fitting.
Decorating £120.
Builder fitting kitchen, plumbing sink, ripping out old kitchen £1400.
Electrician £60.
Paint, grout, adhesive and other consumables came to around £250.
New hob and extractor (kept other appliances) £200.
I think that's it. So just over 4k in total. Should add 10k value to house. Hopefully!

@sessell

Valuation today and very pleased with the target. I'm not in a hurry to sell so won't put it on the market for a while. There's quite a bit of decorating and mending required first. This has been our family home for 26 years, so I felt quite emotional when we talked dates. I'm downsizing as children have all left home now. But I think we all need time to adjust and a last Christmas here. This is also the only house I've bought and I've never sold, so very interested to learn from others' experiences here.

We’re further along this track. We’ve had the last Christmas and bought the flat to downsize into. Decluttering has been quite refreshing, so much stuff accumulated over 23 years that we either had forgotten we had or easily decided we didn’t need. Boxes of photos reduced to albums of good pictures, never used kitchen gadgets all charity shopped, clothes ruthlessly sorted etc. it’s cathartic. Now we just need to sell.

Mine went on the market yesterday.

The positive spin the EA will tell them is I’m downsizing. I won’t be showing them round myself as I would probably just cry, I so don’t want to have to move :(

Chose EA who sold my last house. Didn’t even bother getting any other valuations.

Just want it sold quickly although there is nothing for sale in my price range/area!

We’re selling now because we’ve had tenants in and were living overseas before so would have had to pay extra tax. Had a chat with our agents yesterday after lots of negative feedback on our house and feel really upset. They have been so slow, not proactive, and show very little enthusiasm about the house. Yesterday they told me that no one with small children will buy my house because the garden is terraced (although we did, the previous owners did, and our long term tenants with small children were happy there) and insinuated that we were taking the piss by describing our fourth bedroom as a bedroom - the current tenant is using it as, apparently, a ‘make up room’ and no one they show round believes you could get a bed in there. But we used it as a child’s room as did our tenants. I’m not saying that the feedback isn’t real at all but they sound so negative about my house and I worry that they’ll put people off in advance.

We’ve relisted as a three bedroom with study - or rather we were meant to, as they seem to have instead totally removed it from the platforms. I’m so unimpressed with them.

Hi there all :) I am on my lunch and will read back later - but this is just to say - OMG the amount of sass that the estate agents gave back to me when I said no to them!! One of them reacted more badly than my ex boyfriend when I split up with them. One even went for the undercutting technique - totally not impressed. I really don't like how they put on the guilt trip to the potential client when one says no to them.

Anyway - nerves of steel and elephant skin!! :)

will catch up with the thread later.

Just quickly add to welcome all new people to the thread :)

Update on our sale, went to best and final, had 5 offers in total, 2 under asking price (time wasters), one for the asking and 2 over. We'll go with the highest as small chain and those prospective buyers have sold to a FTB who is living with parents. We'll make 12% on what we paid in June last year. Pretty pleased with that! We're already in the (separate) process of buying a doer upper and that has to be ready for us to move into before we can complete on our sale. I just hope all goes smoothly!

Just had an estate agent round and really liked him and what he had to offer. Got one more to see!

@parkrunner1977 that's great news, congratulations! Fingers crossed it goes smoothly!

Can i join in! Hello all....

About to go on the market here too!....

Estate agent a good friend of ours so valuation done quickly last week which we are happy with, going with offers over to test 🤞

Photos being done at 10am tomorrow, had a declutter (& stuff shoved away or in cars 😂) at the weekend so am currently having a top to toe clean this afternoon.....I’m like a woman possessed in this afternoon heatwave! 🥵

Property in our area selling fast......downside is we’ve not seen anywhere yet..... 🙏.....

@Doublerasberry
I would clear the 4th bedroom and put a childs bed or cot in there and if there is any room, dress it as a 4th bedroom. Let people see it can be used as a 4th bedroom. Ask the Agent to take some more photos, including one of the 4th bedroom dressed as a bedroom. Good Luck

I've been contacted by an agent claiming to be acting on behalf of a buyer and looking for a house like ours.

Not one of those mass door drops but a specific contact via linked in asking if I'm the owner of the house.

I've told them to contact the agent but what's the deal? Are they trying to take over the sale or get 2 cuts, one from us and one from the buyers?

Trying to bypass another agent is so unethical, can't believe anyone would want to work with them!

Anyone else had this?

Ah, he's wanting me to pay him for introducing his 'buyer'.

Bullshitting to try to get me to ditch the agent we have. How unethical!