Taking our house off the market. It’s too annoying.

[sellotape12]

I’m fed up of having to leave the house every Friday and Saturday, or estate agents turning up early. Or then being super loud and waking the baby from his nap. I’m fed up of having to frantically tidy with five mins notice. This whole process has made me re-fall in love with our existing house.

FYI we live in a pretty popular neighbourhood of London and have a modernised mid terrace. We’ve had 41 viewings, no offers, all feedback has been “we’re thinking about it”. Everything we look at to buy as onwards is being price-pumped to try offset the falling market. Or it looks ok then you realise it needs some renovation work and with 2 year waitlists and spiralling costs, it’s no longer a good deal to renovate.

The reason we wanted to move was a busy street but tbh the volatility of this market and lack of options has made us realise our current place has more of good thing about it. So solidarity with anyone else who’s thinking of coming off the market!

Sounds like you need a break and that’s understandable.

Who knows, maybe one of the people who are thinking about it will reach out to your EA over the next few weeks even with your house being removed from the market. Crossing my fingers for you.

Totally understandable reasons. If you think you’ll be relieved and happy after taking it off the market then that’s your answer.

I don't blame you. Trying to sell at the moment is utter hell. I'm ten weeks in to an horrific cycle of cleaning, tidying ... and no offers. I'm on my knees. I feel as if I have to prepare the entire house one more time, I'm going to scream.

Your estate agents shouldn't be expecting to do a viewing with just a few minutes notice, OP. Ours gives us 24 hours notice.

I think after 41 viewing I would be over it too. If you don’t really need to move, I wouldn’t do it at the moment.

I feel for you @Time40 ! Do you need to move? We don’t. We just fancied a change. But we haven’t found anything better tbh and in any case, hearing other people come into our house and say “they haven’t done the loft?!” Or “why is their kitchen wooden UGH” or “their garden is north facing and we simply could never live with that” is annoying and has made me very protective of my lovely little house 😂😂
But I really do sympathise with other people who need to move, perhaps due to downsizing or family circumstances. It’s tough out there.

Literally there is a viewing in my house right now, a young couple from Clapham and I just heard:
”I’m not sure I can justify a move to somewhere that doesn’t have a wood burning stove”😂

get a grip Clementine and Cuthbert

People actually say these things out loud? Good lord. Whenever I want to point something out to the other half at a viewing, I ask for a second walk round without the owner and silently point to the thing, with a thumbs down.

What arseholes.

@sellotape12 Whether or not we need to move is a difficult question to answer, OP! No, we don't really need to move, in one sense. In another, we really do need to move, because we're done with this place, after many years, and we desperately want a big change.

@KievLoverTwo this is because you’re normal

@Time40 yes that’s a real emotional bind. Maybe give it a few weeks and then have a heart-to-heart with yourself. I do try and live by ‘everything happens for a reason’. 💕

We haven’t had ours on the market but are thinking about doing it next year. Will need more space as the kids grow but it’s not pressing for us to move.

Now we’re sorting out all the annoying repairs, electrical compliance and starting some long overdue decorating etc I’m starting to like and appreciate our house a lot more and your post has confirmed what I suspected, that there’s a lot of tyre kickers out there!

There is a house we were potentially interested in, haven’t viewed it (as we’re not proceedable yet) but it’s been on and off the market. Once we’re in a position to move we’ll probably put a note through the door if it isn’t for sale then. I imagine any of your viewers who become proceed-able would do the same.

I would definitely take a breather and enjoy Christmas without moving stress in your position!

That would give me the rage, it's so rude.

Besides, no one needs a wood burner in London!

You're doing well to get to 41 viewings without going totally postal tbh

@sellotape12 I understand your pain- we rent lovely houses but even when we move I feel defensive when I hear people spouting such stuff.

To be honest I suspect you will struggle to find anything much better that hasn't got a downside or two about it. I would stay put if you don't need to move

@sellotape12 Thanks!

The stove people are bonkers - and very rude.

I don't blame you at all. Take it off the market and have a nice relaxing Christmas in your home. Reconsider in the new year and decide whether you are up for trying again or not. My sale fell through and I have not put the house back on the market yet for various reasons, but have since been approached by someone who viewed it previously, so it does happen.

I agree that some viewers are so rude. Mostly I managed to be out of the house, fortunately. I can't bear anyone criticising my house either!

With 41 viewings and no offers I'd be changing agent. They are wasting everyone's time. When I was last buying the estate agent trip to 'alternative properties' gave me the rage. Send me the details and I'll let you know whether I want to view, if I'm specifically looking for a freehold house then I'm not interested in a maisonette

Oh god the rage I would get when they’d try to drag you to see something totally unsuitable.

Do not waste my time to try to get your viewing numbers up on a listing!!!

Well good luck given London is all a smoke control area. And it's totally unnecessary in a city.
Honestly, it took us 10 months to sell last year, with two buyers pulling out for flimsy reasons. We only perservered because we absolutely wanted to move (London flat to house in a Sussex town). But I hated it. Save yourself the angst and money, and do what you need to re-love your home.

I get that you’re done with it but I don’t think it’s that unusual for some people to want a fire in their home - cost of fuel and convenience in a powercut etc, I would personally never buy a house without one. BUT I would also not view a house I knew didn’t have one!
Take it off the market. See how you feel in the new year

Wood burners more costly for heating than gas boilers, study finds | Air pollution | The Guardian

41 viewings is a lot to not have a single offer. Have you had any second viewing or constructive feedback. Is there many comparable a on the market?

I don’t blame you at all, viewing stage is very stressful. I have a couple of friends that have taken their properties off the market, and will try again in Spring. It’s a challenging market atm. If you don’t need to move, why put yourself though it? Good luck OP, wishing you all the best for the future.

I feel you, we're going through the selling and buying to up-size now and it's a rollercoaster. We're sale agreed with a buyer on our current house and sale agreed with our sellers on our new house so we're past the viewings stage thank goodness but it feels like there's a new hurdle to deal with every single week.

Most user feedback is useless and is better understood if 'for the price/at that price' is added to end of it.

I mean I had near 40 people view and some of the things are plainly obvious from the photos, ie

'garden not big enough', 'box room too small', 'kitchen not modern', these were some of the more reasonable ones.

So 'thinking about it' is just a polite way of people saying they don't think it's worth it at the price. I mean, if it was £100k less would they be still thinking about it?

Taking it off for Christmas and putting it on again at the same price next year (absent any big changes in the budget), most likely going to be getting the same thing again, lots of viewers, lots of excuses.

I found cutting the price suddenly caused the excuses to dry up and it was only a couple more viewings until I sold.

Yes we have already changed agent. The price is reasonable and has also been cut. If we cut any more we can’t move onward. Anyway I’m just not interested. I think a lot of the people who came round are chancers wanting to nosey. We did have quite a lot of young families too but they’re (understandably) indecisive.
The point is I’ve come to realise we’re not that bothered about moving and the inconvenience of it all is taking up our weekends. We have realised that whilst our place isn’t perfect, nowhere is anyway, and there’s still lots of life left in it.
just wanted to share my experience. Selling is an emotional drain. We’re going to open a nice bottle of wine and celebrate staying.