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

[InTheCludgie]

Hi everyone here is the new thread for those of us who are about to, or are currently trying to, sell our homes!

So we are now back on the market and have a viewing tomorrow morning, plus one for early next week. This week is a bit tricky as it's DS's birthday so have had to say no to a couple of suggested times for viewings.

How is everyone else getting on?

So yesterday's viewer was a no. Reading between the lines of the EA feedback he came across as a bit cocky. Glad we didnt do the viewing! He said he didn't like the area (fair enough but there is this thing called 'research'), parking was tight (agree on that point) and he was just going to wait for house prices to drop. Good luck to him I say.

@InTheCludgie thats disappointing. I agree do your research before viewing. Fingers crossed you’ll get another one soon. What’s going to happen with your purchase?

Buyers solicitor seems to be telling them that they are ready to discuss completion dates now. Unfortunately our purchase and the outstanding enquiries is holding things up

Exchange and completion planned for Wednesday for us! Mad dash to get contracts signed/witnessed and off to the post office tonight as a special delivery to try and get the documents there despite the postal strikes!

@InTheCludgie oh how rubbish, all of that would have been something he could have known before hand with some research!

@Disco123456 oh my, what a tool he is!

@FigandHoney that's so frustrating. Fingers crossed for another quick offer.

@manateeandcake what is wrong with your sellers £8000 for curtains. What on earth is wrong with people. Did you get the house for a £100 and they are trying to make up the money 

@thunderouslug hope you find something soon but this is why we are going into rental. Although rentals are also few and far between or extortionate.

@Disco123456 £30 k off. My goodness what on earth was his reasoning? I hope it all goes through for you. We will all be alcoholics at the end of this.

@Karmatime we sound in a similar position to you. The rental market is awful at the moment and we are getting pushed to complete before Christmas.

@InTheCludgie so just a complete time waster. Maybe he gave all the negatives to put a cheeky offer in.

@123deepbreath eek hope everything runs smoothly.

So we are only 3 weeks into the process and already the first lot of enquiries all 25. Nothing too bad just building regs etc. They have asked for an indemnity but it's for a restricted covenant put in in the 1800s. I don't even know what it is but very much doubt it's still in place it wasn't picked up when we bought. Buyers are hoping for a pre Christmas completion. Surely lot? We have always had a horrendous time when buying and selling.

Listening to everyone is making me ever so nervous about buying and selling right now! We are contemplating holding off to the new year when we think there will be more buyers but maybe the price would need to be lower. Who knows at this point.

We have started watching Moving Home with Charlie who in all honesty is very pessimistic about the market but seems to have good reason with what he is saying. He's actually got an episode on YouTube tonight about selling prices so we will be tuning into that.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 I wish 😂

Thank you to everyone who replied. He was a prick right up until the bitter end but we exchanged today to complete on the date we wanted, we complete on the 7th.

I'm obviously relieved but it's going to take me a long time to recover.

@Disco123456 at least you don't have to worry about hoovering.

Someone posted on another thread about their sellers taking revenge. The DH was nothing like as bad as your buyer but a ruthless haggler. They moved in to find a bonfire of furniture in the garden, toilets full of shit and prawns hidden strategically around the house.

Did you know you can buy dandelion seeds online quite cheaply? You could sprinkle them in the garden so that when they grow they spell TWAT.

I've been keeping myself sane by thinking of all the things I could leave behind or remove 😀.

Unfortunately I am quite easy to find online with just my name so I'll have to be happy that there will be enough small surprises that will be super annoying or cost unnecessary money for him without me actually having to do anything but move out👍😀.

@Disco123456 congratulations! I am loving idea of dandelions 😀

Good morning everyone

@InTheCludgie I am sorry you had to deal with a complete time waster. Very frustrating. Definitely things he could have realised before hand with some research. I am with @BeauticianNotMagician81. Think it might have been a strategy in case he wanted to put in a low ball offer.

@Disco123456 Glad you exchanged and are due to complete soon. It will all be other and done with soon enough.

@123deepbreath Hope your paperwork gets through OK.

@manateeandcake I mean bespoke curtains depending on the material and size can be expensive. My mum was aghast when I said I would give away the ones our vendors left in the livingroom. She said they are worth about 2000£. But 8000£ seems excessive. The whole built in shelving system more so though. Really would have assumed that was part of the deal.

@Disco123456 so pleased you have exchanged. I think once that happens no matter what stresses the process has caused you automatically feel relaxed. You can just leave and move on with your life now. Hope the move goes well.

We had gone on at £220k just about a day before that fucking Kamikwazi budget, so obviously no bites - had reduced to £215k the day of the really random walk by viewing and accepted £209 for a cash buyer, no chain and wanting to move relatively fast (and they seem to have found very speedy solicitors to be fair!) - we'd needed 200k to get the numbers to add up for where we wanted so we jumped at that offer!

We just offered full asking on the place we wanted because she's had it on the market ages as she didn't NEED to sell (she's just downsizing because her kids have left home and she's not using all of the house anymore) and was just waiting it out in case the right buyer came along - and what she was asking is pretty much bang on market value for the street and the house is just perfect. I think she would have just noped out at daft offers and she'd waited out for us to find a buyer as well (think she liked the idea of another family's little girls growing up in the house).

Incidentally both the houses up for sale in our street (very much a combo of starter home territory and buy to let because of it being in walking distance of good transport links) both went up as sold the other week - so the starter home element of the market is definitely moving again - the overpriced bigger house at the end of the street is still on the market and has been since before we went up for sale - but it's overpriced, the parking is shitty and the current owner's a knob-head (plus it has the most hilariously "staged" right move photos going).

My buyers mortgage has (finally) been approved! Hopefully we'll exchange tomorrow or worse case a few days. Honestly, I'm so on edge so need all the positive energy.

@Disco123456 yay! So pleased you’ve exchange and the knob of a vendor will soon be history!!

@CoffeeWithCheese congrats on finding the house and having offer accepted - hope all goes smoothly for you

@buyingandsellingwithmn fingers crossed for exchange tomorrow

good luck to everyone who is about to or already has their house up for sale

Great news for all those edging one step closer to the unicorn-like completion part of this eviscerating process (dramatic? moi?!), keeping everything crossed for everyone that we get to where we need to get to.

My house went back on the market two weeks ago for the third time since March. A couple of viewers since and one who came back for a second look but now radio silence… 🙄

This whole thing has been a relentlessly hard lesson in acceptance but I’m so over it now, just want to move on with my life. Sorry, rant over… 😳

I'm just starting the selling process now. The For Sale sign went up yesterday and the photographer came round for photos which is exciting and nerve wracking. Unfortunately I had to be in the office while the photos were done and DH was left in charge. He'd been out for a work event the night before and only got home 10 minutes before the photographer with a raging hangover (he'd stayed in a hotel). I tidied as much as I could the night before but there were a few last minute bits i'd asked him to do which it sounds like he didn't. Things like moving the litter trays before photos were taken 🤦🏻‍♀️ One of my colleague kindly reassured me that almost every house he has looked at for a relocation has had something WTF in it, so ours doesn't sound like a disaster. I'm still a little annoyed and apprehensive about the photos though I haven't told him.

@Melminiani sorry your rant made me smile because it’s so flipping relatable and the unicorn reference is spot on! Hope you get some viewings soon

@superdupernova good luck and I’m sure the photos will be fine. We had de cluttered a lot and removed personal stuff before viewing but the photos guy was amazing and literally thought of everything. The photos turned out brilliantly.
ive seen a couple of houses come on the market recently that look like no one has even thought about how to present for sale overflowing bins, clutter, unmade beds etc etc and always makes me feel better about my own house 🤣🤣

"a relentlessly hard lesson in acceptance" sounds exactly right @Melminiani

@superdupernova I wouldn't worry too much about the photos since you did a basic tidy up. The house we are hoping to buy had some really bizarre things in the photos, like one included a pushchair that they or the photographer could easily have moved out of the way! But ultimately it was the right house in the right location so we were not going to be put off by a couple of odd photos.

Our buyers had their specialist damp survery on Thursday. Luckily DH was in and was able to have a chat with the surveyor, who was apparently nice and said the issues were minor. Sounds like they will be recommending some damp proofing but only one small bit that would require replastering. Thing is, that is in the front of the house and in the 10 years we've lived here, we have never seen, smelled or felt any evidence of damp there and there is certainly no sign now. Has anyone heard of or done damp proofing in a case like that?

Well I was worrying for nothing. The photos came out looking lovely and didn't include the litter trays. The other things I wanted put away aren't even noticeable. It just looks like someone lives in the house but is good at being tidy (I'm really not 🤣) DH has approved the brochure and advert with one minor change so hopefully it goes live soon.

We did a drive by on a house we asked to view a couple of weeks ago. It looks like the tenant who they said wasn't responding has left so hopefully the agents will call this week. We did have a naughty peek at the garden (there's no fence/wall from the front) and it looks much smaller in person. I think a better look, rather than a very quick run up and down the driveway, will help us put it in perspective. It looked massive in the photos so although it's smaller, it probably isn't as small as it seemed.

We've booked in two viewings for next weekend. Both with lovely big gardens but not rural like our favourite. I have a feeling I might fall in love with the one that only has one parking space and is much more expensive.

We have finally found somewhere we want to put an offer in. It's in the village that was top of my wish list but nothing was coming on in our price bracket. This one is back to the market after their chain collapsed (no issue with this house). It's everything we want except it's not modern but from the 1920s. I fell in love with the big rooms and high ceilings. It looks in good condition but I am worried about maintenance and heating costs, especially because it's double the size of where we currently live. My FIL also said we should be concerned because it's close to some small council flats, which to me just sounds snobbish and presumptive. Is that something people worry about? I don't think I care but thinking about resale down the line.

The EPC should show you the current energy performance rating and it's potential. You can also fill in a questionnaire on the gov.uk website about potential energy improvement measures and their cost. Depends a lot on whether it's had cavity wall insulation, got good double glazing and has loft insulation.

I'd agree with your feeling about the flats - seems a bit snobby. You can get an idea of any local issues by joining local FB groups and then searching for the road name. Or Google 'road name + anti-social' 'road name + crime'. My 'road name + Mumsnet' produced some interesting early threads about anti-social behaviour that was no longer a problem!

You could visit the area at a few different times of day to see what it's like. The council flags wouldn't bother me. We live in a village with 2 blocks of council flats down the road. We didn't notice them when we viewed because they're set back and we were too excited about seeing the house. In the 6 years we've been here we haven't seen or heard any anti-social behaviour at all. In summer a lot of the families hang out on the large grass area at the front enjoying the sun and it has a nice community feeling about it, more like a park than the front of a block of flats. There are lots of teenagers living there and they're just living their lives not bothering anyone.