Selling your house in 2024? Join me in house sprucing!

[Yemelade]

Been scouring for a similar thread, but not seen one so far!

I'm planning to get my house on the market this year, hopefully by May 2024. There's a couple very noticeable things that will put people off straight away if we don't sort out prior to listing (fascia boards/uPVC drainage near roofline is broken and has holes in and looks a mess, plus also no hand rail on the stairs) But also some cosmetic things we need to spruce up to improve curb appeal, as well as the need to declutter.

Tasks on my list also include sanding and reoiling our oak worktops (not been done since they were fitted in 2019) as well as finally getting around to putting a door back over a cupboard opening. The biggest one is sorting out our garden and putting gravel in the driveway that we lined with railway sleepers and membrane last year but never filled with gravel!!

Anyone else care to join me and list what you're hoping to achieve prior to sale? Part of me thinks "I'll just list it as is" but I know not doing these things will go against us financially, plus I'm keen to see how mortgage rates change in the next few months so I'm not in the biggest of rushes!

Please join if you're in the same boat 😊

We had the surveyor round to value (shared ownership) and will hopefully go on the market next week. We need to prep for pictures and measure for the floor plan too. Lots to do!

How are we all doing?

We have BAFO (Best and final offers) for Wednesday and have multiple over asking price offers on the table already. Husband feels very sure a family who viewed for the 2nd time today and spent their weekend in the local area will be submitting an offer at the fabled "magic number" this week.

In the meanwhile, due to being unwell I've been unable to see the property we are interested in buying but we have managed to schedule this for Wednesday. I'm really excited - by the end of the week we might have accepted an offer on our home whilst having an offer accepted elsewhere! Eeeek.

@Yemelade exciting times!! I hope the house viewing goes well and you accept an offer you are very happy with tomorrow. I hope you are feeling better now too.
@DrawersOnTheDoors I hope you are managed to get everything done ready for pictures! Surely the estate agent will measure for the floor plan though?

We had a viewing on Saturday which the estate agent said was 'very positive' but they were seeing a lot of others that day so not holding out too much hope as haven't heard anything yet. A couple more booked in for this week and then a few more possibilities that will hopefully book viewings for the weekend. There's been good interest but estate agent is sticking to people in a good position at the moment and I think things are moving pretty slowly around here at the moment so no one feels too much urgency (and neither do we!)

We are nearly ready for photographer tomorrow - few more things to sort this evening. House and garden looking loads better but we are completely and utterly shattered!

Hi everyone, how are you all getting on?

@Yemelade Sorry you've been so unwell - I hope you're feeling better now? I think you were going to BAFO today, is that all done now? And how was the property you viewed?!

@ItsCrazyItsParty Hope this week's viewings have gone well and you have some more booked in.

@DrawersOnTheDoors Have you had your photos done yet?

We had the photos done this morning (plus measuring up for floor plan)... the house and garden are so tidy and it has been SO much work! I'm absolutely exhausted now, the kind of comedown you get after cramming for an exam The listing will probably go live early next week, and we'll see what interest we get. I hope we can block book viewings and not do dribs and drabs, because it's all so much work!

We are going to see a house on Saturday, it's at the top of our budget but looks lovely and in a location we haven't viewed in yet (we are looking at two possible locations and have only viewed houses in the other) so it will be interesting to see what that's like.

I'm wondering if we need a Mortgage in Principle before we make an offer. What have you all done?

Hey @OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared - and all! Boy do I have updates to SHARE!!

• BAFO was today. We got our "magic number" !! The family also sent us a really sweet letter, though they did ask to keep our american fridge freezer, which tbh is possibly better for us because it is plumbed in and wedged into the space so I'm not entirely sure we'd get it out again :D So we are sold pending all the stuff in the background happening! They want to be in by end of August to get settled before school begins and get into the local primary school, and have already sold their home/have the cash whilst they stay in rented just now. So it works well for us!
• The property we fell in love with we visited for the 2nd time today. We continued to feel like it was the one for us despite finding more issues with it today haha. We put an offer in 15k under asking which we knew was cheeky. It was declined. We then upped it by 7500, added to our offer that we would be happy to allow him to leave any rubbish he doesn't want (he's retired and just moved in with girlfriend and told us himself he wasn't looking forward to the move!) and he accepted!!! We feel like we are walking on air. It was originally listed 30k above our affordability, reduced it by 15 recently, but we got it for 7.5k less than the reduced value so we are absolutely thrilled. We've sent off ID documents, mortgage in principle etc all day to get things moving.

@OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared we didn't need a MiP to make the offer, however to be able to make the listing show as "Sold STC" we needed to supply our MiP and ID documents to make this happen. I'm unsure if that's all estate agents or just this one!

It all seems to have happened very quickly today. Unsure how usual it is to agree a sale on your house whilst agreeing a sale on the one you want to buy all in a day but we managed it!!

For those of you just entering listing phase, I promise you all the hard work and tidying and DIY jobs etc will all be worth it in the end and you will soon be able to relax! Though if you decide to buy a fixer upper like I have you might then spend all your evenings on DIY.com and wickes for kitchen inspo!!

Brilliant update, congratulations!

Btw I went to Travis Perkins the other day and was surprised to see they have some nice kitchens, I wouldn't have thought to look there... love a bit of kitchen shopping!

@Yemelade that's amazing - congratulations! Exciting and busy times ahead. I hope it all proceeds smoothly. Sounds like not much of a chain either which should make tihngs easier!

@OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared well done on getting ready for the photos. I feel like that is the hardest bit done. Keeping it clean and tidy seems like less effort. Hopefully you will get lots of interest once it goes live! We are emigrating so don't need to worry about mortgages, etc at the moment but I feel like if you have a mortgage in principle arranged it must put you in a stronger position when offering? Hope the house viewing on Saturday goes well and it is 'the one'.

We have 2 more viewings this afternoon and one of them apparently told the estate agent our house was her 'dream house' so I'm hoping these go well!

How is everyone getting on? How were the viewings, @ItsCrazyItsParty?

My house has just gone on Rightmove, at last! Feeling strangely nervous now.

We liked the house we saw on Saturday but decided the location wasn't quite right. Still looking, worried the market will go quiet over the school holidays, but we'll see!

Exciting times @OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared! I hope you get lots of early interest. Have you found any other houses you want to look at yet?

Viewings have been going well, lots of positive feedback but no offers yet. One person decided it wasn't the right location for them, one couple were too tall for the loft extension, one has offered on another, bigger property. Another one is waiting for the results of his survey before deciding whether to make an offer, and we've heard nothing from the one who said it was their 'dream house' (although I know they wanted to move before the start of the school term and that's not possible for us). Only got one more viewing booked in at the moment but hopefully we'll get a couple more for the weekend. Things are just very slow around here...

Oh man someone wants to view it on Thursday. Looks like we'll be doing a lot of tidying and cleaning tomorrow! (It's already got messy and dusty in the space of a week, gah)

Haven't seen anything else we want to view yet, no. There doesn't seem to be huge amount in the location we want sadly. We'll have to be patient I think.

Good luck ItsCrazy, hope you get an offer soon.

@OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared yes, keeping everything looking nice for viewings is a pain. It's good if you haven't seen anywhere yet really, less pressure to sell yours for now. I think patience is the key in the market at the moment!

Keeping the place in optimal condition for about 3 weeks was really hard work for us. My husband and I often work conflicting schedules and typically get to housework every couple days with a bigger clean on weekends. But throughout this process it was hoovering twice a day, washing and drying early morning so that the machines weren't clunking about during viewings, dog walks early so that the floors could be hoovered and washed etc. I found it very difficult to cope with and lots of time needed everyday to devote to tasks that aren't usually taking place as regularly!!

Hopefully it's not long for you.

I received a letter from a company this morning telling me they saw our property on Rightmove and were prepared to pay us in cash, swiftly, as part of a private sale. Didn't expect that! Though it indicates the asking price and of course we are already part way through the process of selling to our soon to be home owners!

As we are buying a fixed upper, we spent all night yesterday trying to figure out whether to go for a full/level 3 home report, a level 2, or a specific structural survey. We went for the latter as my understanding is the other two will just tell us any visible issues and that we will need specialist input, however we are already planning to rip everything out and get a new roof etc. The only thing we are worried about is a crack in the smallest room, though I think this may be caused by a nearby window which has a slightly different lintel to the rest. I'm hoping it comes back ok as otherwise it was a costly survey for no home!

Wishing you all lots of golden house dust in your property selling journeys!

Thanks both!
We did tell the agents we wanted to block book viewings and to be fair to them, that's what they've managed to do. We have 4 tomorrow and so far 3 booked for next week (all on the same day). So I'm hoping that for those two days of tidying and cleaning, someone will make a reasonable offer!
I panic-bought some house plants today and love them, why didn't I make my house nice years ago?!

One of the people who viewed today made an offer straight away, at guide price but we were hoping for a bit more, we'll see if anyone else offers. I think after the second day of viewings (next week) we should hopefully be able to accept an offer.

Still need to find a house but this is the first step!

Any more offers @OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared?

Things are moving at pace for us this week, mortgage offer prepared, searches about to start and waiting on a final report back from a structural survey. Fingers crossed a lot of this is completed in the next couple weeks and no big concerns re. The structural integrity of the new house!!

Glad things are progressing for you, that all sounds good 👍

Thanks for asking, we accepted an offer today! We had 6 viewings on Wednesday, and 3 separate couples who put in offers and then all increased their first offer. We got slightly more than what we were hoping for, so we've been lucky. I'm relieved all the hard work paid off!

I'm not feeling hugely excited though, just because we haven't found a house we want to buy yet. Nothing has come on the market in the last few weeks; I'm guessing because of the election - so maybe it will get a bit busier afterwards?! Or maybe not - the summer holidays are approaching fast! We'll see. I'm actually going to do a leaflet drop in the streets we like this weekend.

Frustratingly we can't use the conveyancer we wanted (who we've used before and is good and fairly priced) as she is too busy, so I've been researching and getting quotes today which has made me a bit grumpy!

it is a big relief to have no more viewings though. I was tidying and cleaning in the boiling heat this week and am glad to be able to relax now!

Ahhh amazing! Great news. Yes, the relief of not having to keep your house pristine is very real!! That being said, our buyers have been here twice post sale now... Both times to take measurements and each time told us about how they've applied for local schools and jobs etc and are excited to move in so I'm trying to not be too paranoid that they're going to pull out at the last second 😂

Have you had any more luck with available properties since you last posted? The market is definitely slowing where I am now.

It's a shame about your conveyancer. We were emailed by our solicitor yesterday with only the boundary of the house, and not the 100+ sqm garden that drew our initial interest!! I replied immediately to say something is wrong and they need to look into that! Still also awaiting our structural survey back, but have had confirmation we will receive it by the end of the week! Fingers crossed it's ok and continues to be proceedable!!

How's everyone else getting on?

Mine sold after 7 viewings and 4 offers. Took the one who was ready to go, only slightly lower than the other offers who had property to sell. Got a survey next week on the house I'm buying, once that's done we should be on the way, contacts have been signed. House is packed up mostly so just need a moving date!!!

Oh goodness... HELP!

We just received our structural survey back. Within it, it says these words:

The building exhibits masonry cracking throughout internal and it is uncertainty due to the finishes as to whether this is also external. There are uneven internal walls and jamming doors throughout. This is evidence of potential differential settlement and subsidence.

There is a recommendations section, but all of it pertains to what a home owner who is already in the property should do, e.g. checking again in 6 months etc.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I am totally devastated.

Thanks,

Oh, eek @Yemelade is this for your current house or the one you are buying? I have no experience in this area but bear in mind that surveys generally give the worst case scenario and very much hedge their bets (e.g. potential - it's not saying there is subsidence). It does sound like either way, it needs investigating further?

We are a month on the market, 10 viewings, positive feedback but no offers. Fed up of cleaning and tidying now! EA reckons things might pick up post-election but maybe in about a week we might change the price it is listed at (guide price the same). He says people seem to be prioritsing size over location and ours is very much a location over size kind of house...

I'm happy for others that have had offers accepted and things are moving along for! I hope everything is going smoothly :)

Keeping your house clean is absolutely one of the worst parts! My home never felt like "mine" the whole time either because of the traffic of visitors!!

The survey results relate to the house we want to buy. We've managed to book an appointment with the surveyor for this Wednesday morning to discuss further. I am so upset 😭

@Yemelade I would try not to panic until you've spoken to the surveyor (easier said than done I know!) It might not be as bad as it sounds.