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Anyone else trying to sell their house?

555 replies

Permanentlyfrazzled · 28/07/2023 14:52

How many viewings are you getting?

Fourth time on the market in 9 months due to multiple chains falling through and feeling very disheartened. This time we've gone on at a 50K reduction from our previous asking price (which we achieved multiple times) but we recognise that the market has changed.

Despite a massive reduction viewings seem really slow. We've had 4 viewings in just under four weeks and one second viewing, but no offers.

How is everyone else getting on? Is it just the market at the moment? I'm trying to tell myself that it's the mortgage rate rises and the summer holidays.

We can't afford to reduce again as we won't be able to buy. House prices in our area aren't coming down as quickly as we've reduced.

We are in Surrey. Thank you!

OP posts:
citygirl1234567 · 09/08/2023 19:07

Potaytoe5 · 09/08/2023 11:53

Does anyone knoe how lwng does it take to build single storey extension?
I'm just put off by any building work, but financially it's becoming more and more feasible, despite the increasing cost of extensions!

6 weeks or so

Potaytoe5 · 09/08/2023 19:29

@noodles20 We can afford a nice house if we can get about £20k off their current prices. There are a few that are nice, we haven't viewed them yet, just rightmove lurking!

paddingtonbear1 · 10/08/2023 13:52

@Potaytoe5 fingers crossed for you!
@Permanentlyfrazzled how's it going?

We had another estate agent round yesterday. He looked round our house and said there's nothing really wrong with it, and the price is not unreasonable - we've mainly been very unlucky with the timing when losing our previous buyers. If we really want to still try and sell it now to reduce the price by another 25K, and if we get any offers to try and then negotiate with the onward purchase (if it's still available). He didn't really even try to persuade us to go with him instead! But we liked him so we've reduced the price, given our existing agents notice and if it's still unsold after a month go with the new agent. Fingers crossed...

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 14:19

Update from our viewing on Tuesday ... the man loved the house!!! Only concern is the garden is smaller than he'd like :( As he has a dog.
But EA says the viewer has since called up to say he is still thinking about it because he really, really likes the house. :)
A bit of positive feedback is nice. Even if he doesn't go ahead, it puts our faith back in our lovely house.
Seen so many stories in the news today about slashing house prices and houses not selling and the market not moving ... I get a bit despondent.
How are you all getting on @Permanentlyfrazzled @paddingtonbear1 @noodles20 @Potaytoe5 ?

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 15:20

We accepted the offer, we're sold STC 😱! Let's hope we can afford to buy something nice now...

paddingtonbear1 · 10/08/2023 15:24

@Jacquel666 That sounds hopeful! Fingers crossed for you!
We've reduced our price again today in the hope of generating more interest. If we do get any offer we'll try and negotiate with the onward purchase (if the one we're interested in is still available)..

JusthereforXmas · 10/08/2023 15:24

Be careful believing what estate agents say, some are good but some are not.

A estate agent phoned to ask about a house we viewed (only one viewing as they have been impossible to deal with, wouldn't let me book would only take a booking from my DH even though I'M the one buying). I simply said sorry its over our budget so unless it comes down in future its not an option even though we think its a nice house.

Then he said he personally valued it and we 'wont find anything cheaper' (LOL already looked at a dozen cheaper) and ask our budget and why we 'randomly' picked that number. I said:

A) its what we actually have to spend (cash buyers - cue them again trying to pressure us into a mortgage we don't want)

and

B) The house we are about to offer on which is better for us is that price we gave as our max

Estate agent flies into a rant about how crap the house we are about to offer on is and:

How its not comparable because its a shit part of town no one wants to live in (er... we do, the location is one of the MASSIVE selling points. Its right in the center next to the highly sort after school).

How its not the nice street their house is on (I also LIVE on the same street as they are selling on and know its a PITA because its a massive steep hill and the main road into town so trucks revving all night to get up and awful in bad weather. We also know it over valued because we know the street prices as I have been watching the for the last 15 years and live here myself... they are asking over £50k more than any other house on the street including recent sales).

How its way smaller than the one they are selling (the one they are selling is 3 bed with an unofficial conversion making it dodgy 4 bed with no outdoor space. The one we are offering on for £45k less is a proper 5 bed townhouse with a yard big enough for a deck and driveway).

All that without him even knowing which house we are actually offering on because I never said, I simply said the name of a vague area of town.

Its funny how this estate agent knows what we want better than ourselves... You would have though I personal dug up and slapped his beloved grandma the way he reacted. I love being told 'you don't want to live there' and 'you don't know what your talking about' when we have researched it and searched for a house there for 4 years.

If this house we want falls through that would have been our back up house (I know its going to be coming down in price) but now I don't even want to deal with them. They have been rude every step of the way and its a shame because the owner is lovely but the estate agent shes with have way over priced her and are failing to book viewing and insulting people.

JusthereforXmas · 10/08/2023 15:25

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 15:20

We accepted the offer, we're sold STC 😱! Let's hope we can afford to buy something nice now...

Congrats.

paddingtonbear1 · 10/08/2023 15:26

@Potaytoe5 great news!! Hope you manage to find somewhere you like and things progress more smoothly!

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 15:59

@Potaytoe5 Whoo hoo! Congratulations xx Good luck with your house search. How exciting.

FloydPepper · 10/08/2023 16:01

So, almost 3 weeks on the market here and one solitary viewing. I’m considering a price reduction as we need to firm up another offer for the one we want to buy (they are refusing to consider lowering).

@Potaytoe5 great news 😀

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 16:01

Thanks @paddingtonbear1 . Wishing you every luck with your sale.

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 16:09

@FloydPepper things are a bit stagnant at the moment. Give it at least 8 weeks. We get a viewing every week but some haven't been proceedable or under offer.
EA suggested taking a marketing break until mid-September and see what happens. Then we'll probably be reducing and getting re-listed.

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 16:10

Thank you all! Now let's hope we can get a reduction on our purchase.

@FloydPepper We were in exactly the same situation, dropped by 7% and got about 6 or 8 viewings after that.

Omgwtafisthat · 10/08/2023 16:40

Well done @Potaytoe5 and good luck on getting your next purchase! You got this 👍🏻

Skipskipperroo · 10/08/2023 17:13

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 15:20

We accepted the offer, we're sold STC 😱! Let's hope we can afford to buy something nice now...

Congrats! I bet you feel relieved!

Skipskipperroo · 10/08/2023 17:16

FloydPepper · 10/08/2023 16:01

So, almost 3 weeks on the market here and one solitary viewing. I’m considering a price reduction as we need to firm up another offer for the one we want to buy (they are refusing to consider lowering).

@Potaytoe5 great news 😀

Before you lower the price, look at your advert and see if it needs adding to. I changed ours from 'offers over' to a fixed priced and added that the house had new electrics/ heating/ bathrooms / boiler and we had 3 new viewing requests that morning! Might be worth a try.

noodles20 · 10/08/2023 17:25

JusthereforXmas · 10/08/2023 15:25

Congrats.

Great news! Best of luck with your onward purchase 🍀 let us know how you get on

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 17:35

I'm slightly fretting we shouldn't have accepted such a low offer.
But hey ho let's hope we can find something to buy.

If we had new boiler/ electrics we might have mentioned that, but we don't 😅! Worth trying @FloydPepper

noodles20 · 10/08/2023 17:41

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 14:19

Update from our viewing on Tuesday ... the man loved the house!!! Only concern is the garden is smaller than he'd like :( As he has a dog.
But EA says the viewer has since called up to say he is still thinking about it because he really, really likes the house. :)
A bit of positive feedback is nice. Even if he doesn't go ahead, it puts our faith back in our lovely house.
Seen so many stories in the news today about slashing house prices and houses not selling and the market not moving ... I get a bit despondent.
How are you all getting on @Permanentlyfrazzled @paddingtonbear1 @noodles20 @Potaytoe5 ?

It's definitely nice to hear some good feed back for a change. I actually heard on the radio today mortgage lenders are starting to slash the interest rates. Hoping that makes it a bit easier. We had another two viewings today but haven't heard back yet. Another just booked Saturday morning.

XVGN · 10/08/2023 17:43

Potaytoe5 · 10/08/2023 17:35

I'm slightly fretting we shouldn't have accepted such a low offer.
But hey ho let's hope we can find something to buy.

If we had new boiler/ electrics we might have mentioned that, but we don't 😅! Worth trying @FloydPepper

Congratulations. Don't fret. The greedy home owners desperate for a few k more will regret not taking offers in the current market. Good luck and I hope it proceeds smoothly.

For other people looking to sell. If your home is on for realistically good price (market definition - not yours!) then you can get ahead of the curve by getting your solicitor all lined up, paying for searches on your own home to show the vendors, and even thinking about a survey on your own home. It could turn out to be the best £1K ever spent in the scheme of things.

Jacquel666 · 10/08/2023 18:11

@noodles20 oh good to hear you’re getting viewings! Just heard we have another who wants to view on Saturday.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed 🤞🏻

Twiglets1 · 10/08/2023 18:30

Don’t fret @Potaytoe5
Accepting a low ish offer does mean you will have to be strict about getting a good deal on the house you buy. But that may be possible in today’s market and you have made yourself an attractive Buyer.
Getting deals done seems so hard in the market right now & you have achieved that.

maxi2100 · 10/08/2023 18:47

JusthereforXmas · 10/08/2023 15:24

Be careful believing what estate agents say, some are good but some are not.

A estate agent phoned to ask about a house we viewed (only one viewing as they have been impossible to deal with, wouldn't let me book would only take a booking from my DH even though I'M the one buying). I simply said sorry its over our budget so unless it comes down in future its not an option even though we think its a nice house.

Then he said he personally valued it and we 'wont find anything cheaper' (LOL already looked at a dozen cheaper) and ask our budget and why we 'randomly' picked that number. I said:

A) its what we actually have to spend (cash buyers - cue them again trying to pressure us into a mortgage we don't want)

and

B) The house we are about to offer on which is better for us is that price we gave as our max

Estate agent flies into a rant about how crap the house we are about to offer on is and:

How its not comparable because its a shit part of town no one wants to live in (er... we do, the location is one of the MASSIVE selling points. Its right in the center next to the highly sort after school).

How its not the nice street their house is on (I also LIVE on the same street as they are selling on and know its a PITA because its a massive steep hill and the main road into town so trucks revving all night to get up and awful in bad weather. We also know it over valued because we know the street prices as I have been watching the for the last 15 years and live here myself... they are asking over £50k more than any other house on the street including recent sales).

How its way smaller than the one they are selling (the one they are selling is 3 bed with an unofficial conversion making it dodgy 4 bed with no outdoor space. The one we are offering on for £45k less is a proper 5 bed townhouse with a yard big enough for a deck and driveway).

All that without him even knowing which house we are actually offering on because I never said, I simply said the name of a vague area of town.

Its funny how this estate agent knows what we want better than ourselves... You would have though I personal dug up and slapped his beloved grandma the way he reacted. I love being told 'you don't want to live there' and 'you don't know what your talking about' when we have researched it and searched for a house there for 4 years.

If this house we want falls through that would have been our back up house (I know its going to be coming down in price) but now I don't even want to deal with them. They have been rude every step of the way and its a shame because the owner is lovely but the estate agent shes with have way over priced her and are failing to book viewing and insulting people.

I just assume eveything they say is a lie and take it from there.

XVGN · 10/08/2023 18:53

maxi2100 · 10/08/2023 18:47

I just assume eveything they say is a lie and take it from there.

I couldn't possibly comment. But I'll just leave this here

https://www.fastcompany.com/90775564/the-dark-side-of-the-sales-industry-its-filled-with-machiavellians-narcissists-and-psychopaths