Anyone else trying to sell their house?

[Permanentlyfrazzled]

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!

We aren't accepting offers from non-proceedable buyers. That we've been clear about. But almost everyone who has come to view currently has something to sell/is currently on the market themselves. This a symptom of such a slow market where it's taking much longer to sell.

In such a bloody tough market I'm still going to be pleased about having offers from people that have their own houses on the market. Especially when these are at or above asking.

I know you want everything to be at least 10% off asking as a proceedable buyer yourself and are encouraging sellers to drop their prices. But you have to understand that the people on this thread and indeed out there selling still have onward purchases to fund and/or a minimum price that makes moving viable. As you said if that isn't achieved they will just take their propriety off the market.

If we don't achieve our minimum price in the time frame we need we will end up pulling it. But I'm hopeful that with two potential offers now that we can't be that far off. Let me be happy, it's been a bloody miserable time on the market!

Ah @CharlOctober I feel for you. Bad timing indeed. I hope things move for you soon.

@Potaytoe5 I agree with you...an average of 58 days to sell at the moment. It's a cold market...it is what it is. To be fair I don't think it's EAs being incompetent, it's just the market at the moment compounded by the summer holidays.

Our EA says summer holidays always v.quiet compared to rest of the year but not usually quite this bad. There's another EA on the thread who feels summer holidays are mostly to blame as mortgage rates actually getting better. Either way, it's slow and it sucks for those of us currently trying to sell!

Really wish we'd put ours back on the market soon, terrible timing...

@Permanentlyfrazzled thank you! That's really positive that you have 2 people willing to put an offer in!! I'd kill for that right now haha so definitely let yourself be happy! You never know, one of them could sell theirs tomorrow and be ready to go! Fingers crossed for you

@Permanentlyfrazzled Our house went up on the market days within the rate increase in June!
When will you know if interested parties put any offers through?

Our second viewing is tomorrow, I think they like it a lot but I feel it is out of their budget still. I am wondering what is the lowest we should go for, but we thought 200k sounds about right.
We wouldn't have dropped it over 7% if we thought all offers are taking further 10% off tbh. No way we are selling for 180k.
Neighbour sold a few months ago for 230k!! Only a slightly better house. I don't think the value dropped that much yet.

Thanks @CharlOctober, I really hope so. We really need to move, our son has cerebral palsy and it's so hard getting up the stairs now. Hoping we get things moving at a price we can still afford to move 🤞🏻 Best of luck to you too, it's lovely having this thread of other people in the same boat! X

Well this is it. You've already reduced to get ahead of the market. You're not going to accept another 10% off that!

Fingers crossed for your second viewing tomorrow. Is this the FTBs that put in 180K?

Op This f you won’t accept offers from buyers unless they are “preceedable” are you a preceedable seller?

buyers still selling won’t pressure if you still need to find somewhere.

@FloydPepper that is a good point, if you don't have an eye on the next property, having someone pressure you might be stressful, Frazzled!

@Permanentlyfrazzled Yes it is the first time buyers offering so low. They probably know they have an upper hand being first time buyers... but more than a half of our viewers were first time buyers as well, so they are not that special. Other than they actually bothered to put in an offer, that is! It is very good you have more than one interested party.

@FloydPepper the problem we are in is that our son is having very significant neurosurgery in November.

We accepted an offer from a non-proceedable buyer in March who said they would do everything they could to sell in 4 weeks or buy ours as a second property.

Five months later they haven't sold their flat and now won't buy ours as a second home, insisting they have to sell their flat first, so we've had to go back on the market.

We wouldn't take that risk again.

We are now getting very tight to sell in time for our son's operation. We NEED to be in an accessible home by then with a downstairs bed and bath and would happily move into rented to break the chain if need be.

@Potaytoe5 positive they are coming back to look at the property though, it sounds like they might have more to offer? Let us know how it goes!

@Potaytoe5 we were viewing/offering on properties whilst we were waiting for our buyers to sell, but no-one wanted to accept an open-ended chain. To be fair I think we offered on 6 - 4 of those were bidding wars where we offered over asking, 1 under asking, 1 took their house off the market.

We decided to stop viewing until our buyer's sold and we competed the chain our side, but they never sold. We gave them 5 months in the end. They still haven't sold how bless them.

So pleased for those of you who got offers accepted before you sold, we weren't able to. The area we are looking in is very popular though, still lots of bidding wars and property going over asking. Which is why we really can't afford to drop our own price any further...

Understood, and hope you get all sorted soon

Thank you @FloydPepper. Trying to juggle all of this with caring for a child with severe disabilities has been...challenging! It may be that we end up just staying put and trying to put a downstairs bed and bath in here, but we only have two rooms downstairs, and we are still a 1.5 hour round trip from his special school so it's far ideal.

Honestly I just want to cry I'm so fed up. Let down by buyers three times who have no idea how much they have of an impact they've had on our lives.

Still I'm keeping our local wine shop in business 😉

@Permanentlyfrazzled This sounds so very difficult, I am so sorry you are going through this! I'm sending you some positive energy that hopefully will attract some reliable and proceedable buyers 😉.... I would be furious at your previous buyer tbh, people shouldn't be allowed to keep changing their mind like that, what an unnecessary stress.

We're going to have to look at our finances again as I'm not even sure what we can afford anymore. We were hoping to move into a done up house, as we spend 7 out of 8 years here doing it up. Don't think we can go through this again, not with two small kids. We were hoping to sell for about 210, then for 200, if we sell for 190 and the interest rates increase even more, no way we can afford a house we like 😫

I'm really sorry you're in the position 😔 Do you absolutely have to move now or can you wait until things settle down a bit? Hoping your FTBs come back with a better offer...

Thank you for the positive energy. Yes we were upset with our buyers, especially after waiting for them for five months. They knew our personal circumstances and that we had a tight time frame to move. Especially after being messed around so badly by a cash buyer in January! Their offer is still on the table though.

Hoping to get 4th time lucky and have a reliable buyer walk through the door!

I hope those that are trying to sell get the offers they want or, more to the point, are able to proceed to completion (more of a challenge than getting offers). Your situation sounds horrible stressful @Permanentlyfrazzled

I agree with some of the other posters that things are unlikely to pick up significantly in September. The market is cold because of the huge reduction in affordability because of various factors (not just rates) not because people are on holiday. This isn't going to suddenly improve in September and is v likely to get considerably worse.
Individuals may be lucky and get good offers but overall prices will fall more in the second part of the year and onwards. That might suit those who are moving up better if those prices start to fall too and become more relatively affordable. I expect a lot of people who want to move but don't need to may withdraw their properties but the prices will be set at the margins by those who do need to move and are willing to accept significant reductions.

@Permanentlyfrazzled We've been thinking about moving for years, but it took us time to finish off the house. Had DC2 in meantime. We'd really use more space since there's 4 years between the kids, DC1 at school and needs good sleep, DC2 still wakes up multiple times in the night. DH works from home, taking up space!!
We could do one of those garden rooms or an extension, but it's like putting a plaster on a broken leg really. We could move later, but it will still require us moving area and DC1 school. I'd rather not put it off for years. When will the market improve?
With the cost of extensions, it might not be worth it financially either. I don't think the house value would improve by as much as we spend on it.

We could accept the low offer and try to get a lot off our forward purchase, but it might not work. In this case we'd just pull out. Might be a bit mean towards our buyers, but their fault trying to get a good deal I guess!

If I were you @Potaytoe5 I would look into the cost of extending your current house, assuming you like it/ area/ schools.

The other option is negotiating hard on your onward purchase which a lot of people are doing. The 'good deal' is subjective and when affordability has fallen 30% for many it won't seem like a good deal to many potential buyers which is clearly why they are not rushing to buy at present.

I reckon extension would be in region of £50k, but would not add £50k to the value of our house.
It would also not solve the problem of third bedroom being a box room, we can't easily make it bigger at all, so we would have to move eventually anyway.
Plus, I am not liking the idea of all the building work with 2 little kids!
DH is checking today how much we could use from our savings D:
Might ask for actual quote on extension, but I just can't imagine anything worse than more builders.

@Permanentlyfrazzled I really feel for you. The house we chose to buy had an annexe which we were going to use as accommodation for our adult daughter, who has some disabilities and will struggle to live fully independently. She had seen it and was quite excited about it. Our buyers messed around for weeks and then finally pulled out :( I would reduce our price again if I thought it would help, dh isn't so keen. I don't think our onward purchase would reduce much (they took a week to accept our asking price offer, and the house is 3 people's inheritance).

It doesn't sound ideal if it wouldn't create a house you could live in long term but still worth getting some quotes (and adding some £ on top).

Perhaps higher prices properties that you like will start to come down in the next few months.

So we got an offer today! Unfortunately it was a cheeky one. Ours is offers over 150k (valued at 165k) and they offered 151k 🙈 They haven't even viewed the house which is odd. Good news one of the couples who came yesterday were quite keen. They have a mortgage in place, are ftbs and just looking for the right place so fingers crossed. Someone else's mortgage advisor also got in touch with the EA and just waiting to hear back. Another person came this afternoon and after only making the appointment this morning. Also likes the house but has two teenagers with double beds and she's not sure if they'll fit in the 3rd room. I dont think it will either but she's gone away to check measurements. So no concrete offer as yet but I am feeling more positive than I was the other day 😁

Sending positive vibes and fingers crossed its 4th time lucky for you! Its stressful enough without the added pressure of your sons health issues 😪

@noodles20 That's great news!!
Still, better to get £151k on offers over £150k, than what ours are trying on, £180k on offers over £200k (valued at £215!) 😩
I am going t back to cleaning, they are coming here in a couple of hours, although I feel like I don't really care!!