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!

I won’t look at anything without knowing the square footage and don’t understand why properties in the UK are largely valued according to bedroom numbers. Estate agents photographs can be so misleading particularly with gardens. Bizarrely, most agents don’t state garden and hall dimensions and many don’t state bathroom sizes.
Anyone who has had 41 viewings should seriously question why their house hasn’t sold and not blame the lack of a sale on nosey chancers. The likelihood is that it is overpriced for the current market.

Anyone who has had 41 viewings should seriously question why their house hasn’t sold and not blame the lack of a sale on nosey chancers. The likelihood is that it is overpriced for the current market

Absolutely, 41 viewings without a credible offer? Unlikely to be the agent at fault, or that someone hasn't produced a (fairly worthless) AIP.

It's almost certainly down to price expectations being too high.

We definitely had people having a nosey - a neighbour from our street came for a viewing 🙄
also other interesting ‘complaints’ from people viewing our place:

• ‘ there are trees on our street’
• ‘it requires work to bring it to a new built standard’ (our place is 120 years old, with period features, wooden floors, very much a retro feel and not advertised as modern luxury)
• we live in an area of London with a villagey feel, but the village centre is 20 min walk from us. We are at the opposite end of the village centre. Man viewing commented that he is looking for a place in the centre of the village, so he’s not really interested, just came to have a look what’s in the area.
• ‘There isn’t an allocated parking space’ - this is London pal, you are viewing a place without a driveway. places with driveways start from £2m round here.

Funny enough we also had questions about a wood burner

We had accepted a good offer after first 4 weeks, buyer pulled out a few days before exchange. Now back on the market, had maybe 20 viewings in total, but thinking of packing it up till next year.

Not sure what you mean by price agreed. You can receive multiple offers at different prices, you will only accept the one that is most attractive which isn’t always the highest bid. It’s a cash offer you will be asked for proof of funds before the seller accepts, otherwise anyone could just offer cash and not follow through - happens all the time.

Unfortunately anyone putting their house on the market has to accept that there will be some negative comments. The man who said he’d come to have a look what’s in the area was not being unreasonable. It’s only by viewing properties that a buyer can get a feel of the market and establish their priorities.

Can I have your property and run with it please? My gosh so many period properties are being ruined by new built standard 😭😭😭 Instead of restoring them people rip them out! I feel like last dinosaur trying to find one myself. And I don’t mind it needing work, but since they’re so rare nowadays, sellers seem to put quite a bit only premium on. So not only it is expensive, it needs so much expensive work, some we simply can’t afford.

We sold our last house a couple of years ago. It was built in the 1980’s and a typical four bedroom detached of the time. We had replaced the kitchen and bathroom probably about fifteen years previously, yes it was a bit dated but otherwise fine. One prospective buyer told the estate agent that they would have to move into rented accommodation until it was made habitable.

Mines been on the market almost a year. Not one single viewing. We have decided to keep it but don’t want to pay the large fee the agent is insisting on when we don’t feel they’ve done any work. So we’re currently in a stand off with them.

Yes, this. If you need to sell your property to raise the cash you are not yet a cash buyer. Once you've sold you are. Most buyers would consider someone whose house was under offer, but would clearly prefer a real cash buyer.

Surely there is either a contractual obligation to pay the agent a fee, or there isn't? Not really something that should be ambiguous.

I've always worked on a "no sale, no fee" basis, but I realise there are different contracts out there.

@Lindle he was being unreasonable. She cleaned & prepared & vacated her property especially for him. Would probably never bothered had she known he was just window shopping.

How can she expect to sell if she doesn’t want what you describe as window shoppers to view her house? Have you never purchased an item when you were supposedly window shopping?
I know from experience that after an actual viewing a prospective buyer can change their opinion of a property.
The property market is currently stagnant and prices are falling; despite which many sellers persist in overvaluing. Serious sellers should price right and get as many viewings as possible.

Eh? Surely you only pay the agent if they sell your house and it gets to completion? In the U.K. at least 🤷🏼‍♀️

Still a fee to pay if you pull out with ours ,Uk, assume it’s to cover advertising costs.

It's probably not the best time to move anyway. I love our house but it is not an especially attractive area. However, I think if you are generally quite happy where you are it is not worth all the worry and disappointments that usually accompany selling a property.

I think you are making the right decision.

And terrible for your lungs and CV.
Never understood the attraction..

I hate viewing a property when the seller is there too. I would also never show anyone round my home, that is what you pay the agent for.

How long is your contract with them? That sounds highly unusual and a terrible deal if that’s what you signed up for ! Most contracts are 3 months and don’t require payment of a fee in the event of no sale.

I wish I’d know that! I just assumed that was normal. No maximum length just says the fee is payable if we decide to take it off the market. I’m hoping they’ll get fed up when they next have to pay for more right move advertising and just wave the fee.

Are you using PurpleBricks (or similar) or a proper estate agent? It would be very unusual for a proper estate agent to have in their contract that the full fee was due if a vendor withdrew from the market.

As for Rightmove, agents don't pay RM a fee to list each property individually, it's a fee per office regardless of how many properties the agent puts on the site. (although there are different price bands to an extent, depending on the size of the office/company)

It’s a proper one. It’s a £400 fee if you withdraw. That’s interesting about right move though, now the fee makes even less sense as they’ve done literally nothing other that make the original listing. As I say, not one single viewing, minimum contact so no work at all really…

You poor thing @Cottagewitch - is there any way you can get some legal advice re your position if you withdraw, eg the legal support through house insurance? It’s outrageous that you should have to pay for such bad service.

I’m going to look into it further as most places seem to say withdrawal fees only apply if you pull out in a certain time frame, I guess if you list it then change you’re mind soon after. We’ve given them a year so that’s not the case here. I don’t think £400 is fair when they’ve done literally nothing other thank take some photos on an iPhone and write a description.

Yes I’d love to see them try to challenge your decision to pull it off them.

But if a contract has been signed that states there will be a £400 withdrawal fee if the property is withdrawn from the market, then that is what is due.

Having said that, not a single viewing is remarkably unimpressive, but does suggest an issue with the price as much as a problem with the agent.