Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Has anyone actually sold their house recently???

59 replies

jenniepanda · 17/01/2008 22:17

We have been on the market from June and all was going swimmingly with some lovely buyers and a purchase on a lovely house...but then our buyers buyer pulled out and we lost the house we were buying...that was in October and we haven't have a single viewing since.

Everywhere I turn I read about how bad the houseing market is blah blah blah and all I want to do is sell my house!

We are relocating 200 miles away and are desperate to move, but unable to rent due to several pets.

Anyone else having any luck?

OP posts:
Domesticgodless · 17/01/2008 22:24

I am going to watch this thread closely jennie. I need to relocate from London- however dh is issuing dire warnings daily about an imminent property crash.

I did some research the other night and a lot of net 'experts' were saying everything would be OK, just flatten out and recover totally by 2012. I was reassured until I realised that ALL those sites were supported by estate agents, surveyors, or various other professional bodies with vested interests in high property prices. All the really independent commentators are predicting at best a complete stagnation of the market which means a loss in real terms as you would pay less renting over the same period and avoid transaction costs, interest rate fluctuations etc.

Apparently property is 30-40% overvalued (makes sense if you look at the disparity between rent and mortgage payments and the massive gap between average earnings and average house price). So if there is a crash we will be in negative equity here (SE London) since were desperate enough to buy in summer 2006 (d'oh- we'd have been better off using the 'gain' from our previous house to rent something here and just saved the difference between rent and our massive mortgage payments!)

Have you lowered your price yet- I fear it may be inevitable that people will have to start doing that.

I have to say that despite owning an overvalued house I think it is high time the loony property prices in this country went down. It must be causing misery for so many people as well as being a source of insufferable smugness for over 40s who bought in 1993.

LynetteScavo · 17/01/2008 22:28

Anything will sell at the right price. Have the agents sugested lowering the price? Even a drop of o few thougsand will mean they can market it as a price reduction.

noddyholder · 17/01/2008 22:30

Prices are dropping but not drastically-yet.i sold last year and we completed in august and have been renting and looking and i think if you make the house a bargain it will sell but not as easy as previously.

smallwhitecat · 17/01/2008 22:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

S1ur · 17/01/2008 22:33

We completed in Sept. But I think we were at the end of faster house salez. I've seen houses still on the market that we looked at in August...

I'm in Sheffield though and I think it is different here than other places, and I think London can be just plain odd

Domesticgodless · 17/01/2008 22:37

Problem is if the bottom falls out of the market, i.e. first time buyers who are being squeezed as never before, things will not improve until salaries catch up and houses are actually affordable by normal working people.

There were only 300000 first time buyers in the entire UK last year. Think about it.

Sales in the last 5 years at least have been largely fuelled by 'fantasy money'- excessive lending, raising prices so that the bottom end is squeezed to the max. At the same time the buy to let market (often using equity release on properties already owned by the investors, etc) has inflated the price of the properties the first time buyers wanted, thus squeezing them further.

Our chain when we bought this stupidly overpriced house I am sitting in was entirely local & fuelled by a family 'downsizing' from even more overpriced Clapham. All the others in the chain were only able to buy because of the overvaluation of their own house (that includes us).

So money has been coming in from the top in London, from City buyers and investors, thus pushing everything up for normal human beings under 40. But that is also drying up.

As I said, I don't see anything wrong with that. The property market is grossly distorted and unfair to most of the population.

Original poster
jenniepanda · 17/01/2008 22:38

We haven't dropped the price yet...we live on a new-ish estate and there are 3 other houses identical to ours that have been on the market longer and for about 15k less, plus we are moving from lancashire to cambridegshire so need every penny we can get!

OP posts:
Domesticgodless · 17/01/2008 22:40

but wouldn't less cash in the hand be better than extra months or years languishing on the market...

If dh would let me put this house on the market I would probably accept a lower price just to get out of here but then I do particularly hate London!

Swedes · 17/01/2008 22:42

My sister has just sold her house in London for the asking price - took only about 3 weeks. And a house she was interested in - in NW Herts has gone to sealed bids.

noddyholder · 17/01/2008 22:43

Every house I ahve viewed since september is still for sale.A few price drops but not significant yet.I offered on one today very cheekily and it was refused and they took an offer from a few weeks ago which was 3k more so still low.We offered 15% less so substantial

Domesticgodless · 17/01/2008 22:48

interesting Swedes

my experience (looking halfheartedly in Staffordshire and the Midlands) since August is that only about 10% of what was on the market then has shifted.

Some stuff has also gone off the market and come back on because chains broke down. Which takes you back to the first time buyers- the money has got to be there at the bottom for people to trade in the inflated value of their property for a slightly more inflated one.

I was just looking at a big house in Bedford last week. The owners are asking for a price higher than ANYTHING which has EVER been sold in Bedford before!! And they are certainly not interested in taking an offer below 5% off! So people's inflated expectations of what their property should fetch is part of the problem here I think.

LynetteScavo · 18/01/2008 00:13

Realisicaly, if there are 3 other houses, all at £15,000 less, no one is going to bother viewing yours.

Lauriefairycake · 18/01/2008 00:23

Put ours on last April for £275, then accepted an offer of £250 so massive reduction - they still pulled out after being spectacularly useless.

We deliberately took it off in October so that its off now and we will put it on again in March/April and it will look 'fresh'.

I think it is much deader than they are saying.

I would recommend taking it off, even for a few weeks and remarketing with another agent/different photos

lalalonglegs · 18/01/2008 06:56

If it's any comfort, I don't think it is that surprising that no one has viewed it for a couple of months - one big chain of estate agencies has sacked more than 200 staff blaming a downturn in transactions of 40% over past 12 months. Only people who really have to move, will consider it at the moment - everyone else is waiting to see.

If you are moving to rural Cambs, I am sure that there are landlords who would consider renting to people with animals. If you are unable to rent in Cambs, have you considered remortgaging your current house as a rental in order to move? Is it in the sort of state that people might want to rent it?

noddyholder · 18/01/2008 08:50

I don't think re marketing is going to work this time,The only way for prices is down as the whole economy is faltering and no one is buying,Chains falling through as mortgages are more expensive and harder to secure and surveyors are down valuing.

Swedes · 18/01/2008 09:55

My sister's house was valued at slightly more than she put it on the market for. Her agent told her the market was static to falling so it was best to get "underneath" the true value. It makes sense. She is upgrading and can use the falling market to her advantage. If you are upgrading to a more expensive house then it is much better if prices fall as much as possible - a 10% drop on your £250,000 house you currently own is OK if the £350,000 house you are buying has also had 10% knocked off its value. PLus you pay less in stamp duty. If you are going up the property ladder - you should be talking the market down.

allgonebellyup · 18/01/2008 09:57

mine has been on market since nov, only had 4 viewings and no other interest either!!

allgonebellyup · 18/01/2008 19:16

ooh, having said that, just got a call and have a viewing soon from a first time buyer!!

kerala · 19/01/2008 23:08

Selling for the first time - put officially on the market yesterday already had 6 viewings so fingers crossed one will result in an offer...

Hoping that Swedes is right and if we dont get what we are asking the house we eventually buy may also come down in price (relocating from London to South west). Whole thing is scary though esp if you are a control freak as it all seems so random ie that a particular person with the money will want to live in your house.

GrinningSoul · 19/01/2008 23:47

we have been on market since june, had a keen buyer but they pulled out in october. so we lost the sale we were pursuing. we've finally secured another buyer, at a price 5% less than we were offered before, and the house we wanted is still on the market and has finally accepted a 5% drop from us, though we really had to call his bluff.

at the 11th hour, though, i had two different second viewings today and a subsequent call from the agent asking what we'd take it off the market for so i'm secretly hopeful we might be back at our october price soon.

my feeling is that things might be warming up again, at least in london....

daydreambeliever · 19/01/2008 23:56

Mine has been on the market with no interest and hardly any viewings. I have been shitting myself TBH as I no longer live in that area, its rented out and I rent myself. Tenants were about to buy elsewhere and move out, so I would be paying rent and mortgage, which I cant afford. But- i just got news today that the tenants house purchase has collapsed. So at least for me have still got tenants. And if as I suspect the tenants house deal collpased cos they got cold feet, then Im pleased for them, because I think its a bad time for first time buyers and they would have been ripped off. And yet here I am trying to rip someone else off sell my own home.

Twinklemegan · 19/01/2008 23:57

Ours went on the market in August and we sold and completed in early October. We did drop the price though after a couple of weeks as we were in a hurry to sell. That was in Yorkshire.

daydreambeliever · 19/01/2008 23:58

i mean rip someone else off

serves me right for being a self serving capitalist landlord, even my punctuation has revolted against me.

Fimbo · 20/01/2008 21:00

My parents are selling in Scotland - they have had 2 viewers since end of October.

ruddynorah · 20/01/2008 21:02

we completed on 21st december. sold within 6 weeks. 3 others idential on our street also sold within about the same time. we actually did part exchange to buy a new build, but it was back to back with someone buying ours.