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!

@KennedyClan Yep I said the same below about photos. It even happens in rentals- one lovely looking 4 bed house we went to view- clearly the photos were from several rentals back before some scuzzy family had turned it into a shitpit. This was in Hove.
Ceiling in bathroom was virtually coming in- mould in places - agent busily telling us it would all be done before someone moved in- sorry mate , I'm not signing up and taking that as gospel!!

Sympathies. I'm still scarred by my buying experience.

Bloody Foxtons had their agents working in price bands. I somehow got hooked up with woman working at the bottom of my price band so I could never see anything more expensive than her upper limit (which would still have been affordable for me) Including one in the building I eventually bought in that had a roof terrace and mezzanine I was very interested in!

I ended up buying from someone else. I did wonder if the sellers realised what a shit job they were doing. It was just mad as I thought you tried to get people to buy more than they could really afford.

Mezzanine flat never sold! Is still owned by same person and run as a BTL.

OP you are totally U.

I wouldn't even think of asking for a viewing at a property that wasn't vegan, organic, and net sustainable. And dog-friendly.

If you do the viewings yourself you can dictate when they happen and no one will turn up at short notice.
If people really like your house they will view it,
Arranging the viewings with more warnings also means there are fewer ‘ tourists’

I was in the same position, over 50 viewings, a lot of people saying they liked it but it was smaller than thought, that’s down to the agents photographer making it look bigger than it is, one person wanting to buy but not sold hers. After being in the market for weeks I just got fed up so have taken it off over Christmas and will go back in in the Spring, it’s not a good time sadly to be selling

In smoke control zones, you've already got to have a DEFRA-approved appliance as it is.

I'm thinking of getting one as power cut insurance because gas boilers need electricity for the pump and controller. It wouldn't get used much though.

Dd2 and her dh bought a house on a busy road, it doesn't seem to bother them but it wouldn't be for me. I suppose it does have a bus stop very nearby but if you need to park there are double yellow lines everywhere! They didn't really like the house either but were desperate to find somewhere and found viewings very stressful. They are now basically rebuilding it, before moving in. If I were to buy another house I'd want it to be practically perfect.

For price of stamp duty on the next property + EA fees on this one + moving fees - solicitor’s fees you may be able to do your basement.

If it’s a standard London Edwardian terrace with a ground floor back extension, you should be able to get a decent size family room, utility room or study, bedroom and bathroom if you dig the whole footprint.

If you don’t already have an extension just extend instead.

I have every sympathy, OP. When we were last trying to sell, I eventually told the agents that I wasn’t a naturally tidy person so needed at least two hours’ notice!

Plus I got seriously pissed off with them bringing people round who hadn’t even seen the particulars, room sizes, etc. so we’d have people saying, .g. Oh, we were looking for a much bigger kitchen, etc.
A complete waste of everybody’s time - theirs, the EA’s, and mine.

Don't blame you. Housing market is definitely at a standstill around here, houses are not moving and falling out of chains as well. Cambridgeshire

Are you in the house while they view? That's not the norm where we are and I find that so off putting!

We were on 11 months, our last cash "buyer" just tried to gazunder us £50k on a £375k agreed price, the buyer before that the bottom of their chain fell through. We've been through 50+ viewings with a 2 now 3 year old, although I made the agents give us at least 24hrs notice or I refused to let people round. I've probably bought and (mostly) killed over £200 worth of house plants and flowers dressing the sodding place. 😅

I've not fallen back in love with our house, although I do love it, we've just outgrown it (it was perfect when we were a childless couple) but I don't have to move and I'm mortgage free. I'm spent, dunno if we'll go back on in spring or in a couple of years but I really am done for now.

That child free FTB I was 10 years ago didn't know they were born, selling to buy, especially with a small child is probably the most stressful experience of my life.

In case no one else has mentioned it (haven’t read the whole thread), as electric vehicles get more popular, the noise/pollution elements of a busy road will fade a bit. You might find your house gets better and better!

We have just taken our house off the market too, the market seems so strange at the moment. We have a 2 bed but were hoping to move to somewhere with a bit more space to start a family. Put it on in August and no viewings at all 😔. Hoping to try again in the Spring xx

Drop the price. It is always the price.

I haven't read the whole thread, but! Why not do an open house? Everyone departs first thing and comes back end of the day.All viewings happen in that time period.Less hassle all round?

Op, you are so right. I had similar comments after we have re-roofed, put on a new double garage roof, made parking for six cars, a new heating system, new oil tank, new flooring, carpets, new fencing, planting. Our Agents, or rather the woman who wanted to manage our property sale, was awful. She passed on comments with no filter whatsoever that were at times hurtful. She had no concept that this was our family home of 25 years. She checked no-one out so we had regular "tourists".

The final straw was a weekend when we found people stood in the garden who said they were deciding if their horse could fit on there. My DH told them to just bring it round. Complaints about trees when we live in a woodland area. A lady who turned up late, stayed 1 hr 20 minutes and insisted I accompanied her through the village to check for noise in case the nearby old folk's home was having a grime weekend. She then wanted to know who would take in her parcels. The elderly couple who turned up early and told me my house needed a full and complete renovation and update. I rang the agent and took it off the market. I offered no explanation nor did they ask for one.

Apparently most road noise is actually tires on the road rather than engines, although hopefully it might improve a bit. Xx

@Manthide me too given the price of renovations and extensions these days

The massive biggie at the moment too is interest rates for many

Unless you are lucky enough to get a buyer who doesn't need a mortgage then your purchasing power may almost have halved at the moment. A friends mortgage has gone up from £1600 to £2600 -

Whilst this may not be such a big issue in cheap areas and smaller flats and houses it's very big deal indeed on mortgages of £250k plus

41 viewings no offers means there is something wrong with your pricing or presentation. Do you have a dog? (Who smells but you don’t realize) or misleading photos? Change agents or ask for seriously honest agent feedback. And definitely not wise to move with a baby so wait a while if you can anyway.

Yup took ours off a few weeks ago.
Maybe think again in the New Year.
Too traumatic

41 viewings and no offer, I think I’d be wanting a break too op it’s so stressful isn’t it

Suck it up and stay where you are.

If you're in London moving at £1m then you're throwing away £41k in stamp duty, maybe £20k in agent fees, another £3k in legal fees, 2k on a survey, then £2k to move plus £XYZ on immediate things you always find you need to do.

That is about £70k plus or 7% of the home's value because you don't like the colour of the wallpaper.

I've somewhat recently moved into a place I bought 18 months ago which I could have bought cheaper today and which isn't as good as a place down the road which came to the market at a serious bargain and which needs a shit load of work doing to it but you know what, tough.

It is what it is, it is the last UK property I'll have and its a penthouse apartment overlooking the woods where they shoot movies like Gladiator etc. and very quiet. I'll just live with the "what if"and "only if" scenarios and get on with life.

Agree with that - I hate it when I’m buying and the property owners are in the house, it’s very awkward & off putting.

When I’m selling I always make sure the house is clear of my family & other animals and let the EA earn their commission by showing people round the house.

Sorry to read everyone’s experiences about house selling, some of them are truly horrific 🙁