Handhold? our buyers just pulled out on exchange day :-(

[MissCherryCakeyBun]

just had a call from the agents and our buyers have pulled out.... I feel sick 😥
we were due to exchange today and we have already moved into our new house so have been playing a juggling act to cover everything and now this.
7 months since we went on the market and everything was fine and this just out of the blue. The female buyer (Married couple) has decided she isn't sure about the neighbors.

if I put up a link could you have a look and see what we could do to make it more appealing?

Worth noting its now totally empty of furniture in the house so those photos are a bit different and we have asked for new Garden photos to be taken showing it in the summer

We don't have the funds to dress the house with furniture and we had all the walls repainted and the carpets cleaned after we moved so its all fresh....Its also more expensive than others locally due to new wiring/heating floors etc. in the last 5 years and the very large home office/studio in the garden

I have some nice pots with plants and flowers to go by the front door for more curb appeal too.

sorry for the rambling post just needed to vent
Original Listing.... check notes above about changes :-)

You've had some harsh comments about the house. lol at the one who said it needed gutting. The link you did post is an example of a house that does need gutting. Yours is not. If you can afford it I’d pain all of it in a white or cream - the colours could put people off. Otherwise I think some new pictures and better ones of the garden plus some potted plants would be good. But as you had a buyer before it’s probably priced okay. Mention the no chain and the boarded up loft too.

It's an excuse they've found somewhere else. I'm hoping you have a buffer for your bridging loan

Where is the damp? Is it the carpets? Because I don’t think that’s damp.

I'm really sorry that happened to you OP, your buyers explanation just doesn't feel like enough of an explanation, does it? I think buyers often lie, unfortunately.

With the absolute abundance of outside space, I'm sure it will sell again quickly.

To get it back into people's inboxes, your agent is going to have to either decrease the price by 2% or more - or - INCREASE it to then decrease it to get it back to its current listing price. 2% is the benchmark amount to trigger it going back to the top of the 'for sale' list and back into inboxes via Rightmove.

Now, I don't know your agent, but they have the same logo as William H Brown. I've come across them a few times over the last year, and that particular company seem to systematically overprice houses. So have a good look at the pricing and see if you think it really is realistic.

Best of luck finding some better buyers.

Just checking out your house. Yep it's a doer upper. But it's cheap. Yeovil looking on Google maps is 43 minutes to the coast otherwise it would attract second home owners.

Its also more expensive than others locally due to new wiring/heating floors etc. in the last 5 years

I get that you’ve spent a lot, we did with ours putting in new heating, double glazing, new kitchen and bathroom, but you just can’t expect to recoup all those costs though. You did all that to make it your home.
You bought for £155,000 and sadly there are houses that are better value. It’s always the price.

I would look at yours and plan to split the main bedroom into two rooms. Maybe add something about the potential for that - if the measurements work out.

Agree it’s awful- special place in hell for people like that! I would-
spend a bit on neutral paint and give the whole place a fresh lick of paint;
paint the exposed pipes in the loo and utility and paint the tiles in the main bathroom (the floor is nice but the rest looks dated)
sort out saggy curtains and remove junk like traffic cones etc
Sort out garden front and back, the garden is a real asset. Front give it some curb appeal- even if just for the photos
Spruce up home office so it looks like a great wfh space

Then I’d get the photos redone and maybe a few digitally reworked with nice furniture (living room and bedroom) to get people through the door. Then if no offers in 2-3 weeks you’ll definitely need to look at reducing the price.

It probably isn't damp, but the photos make it look as if it is. The photos do not show the house well.

Sorry this has happened to you. Very bad of the buyers to pull out so late. Some valid ideas here, of what you could do to give the house the best chance of selling quickly, and as someone else, said, go through the posts, make a list and do what you can to make the suggested changes that are possible to do.

I agree with others, that you should make a big visible hi-light of the separate office space and the Garage which people will see without having to scroll through everything to get all the finer detail. Also the fact that the loft has had boards put down.

Also see if the 2 upstairs bedrooms can be photographed in a different way to make them look bigger? Neither of them look that big - especially the smaller one.

The house looks like it has a lot of potential, for the right buyer, but the decor will not be to everyone's taste with the dark colours and fancy wallpaper and it does look like it will need quite a lot of cosmetic work done on it, if nothing else.

I hope you can relist and sell it again quickly

It does look like it needs a lot of work to be honest. For a house that supposedly had a lot of work done on it the bathroom looks dated, the kitchen looks dated etc

And what's with the neighbours? Do you agree with the concerns of the buyer who dropped out .....honestly?? You could spend another £20k on the house but not much you can do about the neighbours ....

I wonder if it’s nothing to do with your actual house and that the buyers have found out something about the road or the neighbourhood. When we were house hunting we did a drive by and I ruled out a house because I realised it backed on to the house of an ex boyfriend 😆

its happened because the OP jumped the gun and bought the new place BEFORE contracts were exchanged - "exchange" refers to the exchange of contracts and deposits - the final stage is called "completion", and that's when all the money is transferred along with keys

It looks a little dated to me. The picture of the kitchen could be better too. I do however love your downstairs wc.

Put a door on the utility room and make sure the garden office is on the floorplan, with SQFT with and without the outbuilding

The house has good bones, but does need a brighter 'smile' and staging, so may be worth enquiring about someone who can do that and it could make all the difference. Agree re. the jet washing, as it can really impact on the first impression and the pictures are not selling the property well and I can see beyon that, but a great many people can't- think about the comments on programmes like Location, Location, where they say they saw a property on-line, discounted it, but when they saw it in the flesh thought very differently about it. I think your buyers found more for less money, which can happen with the time lag and bedrooms do matter. Blaming it on the neighbours is an easy excuse to give.

OP, estate agents can do A.I. furniture staging these days, for your info. They have to put a disclaimer in the advert.

when i was selling my dads house the buyers were a poain in neck,asking extra viewings with family a lot etc,on exchange day their buyer puller out this was after they told me i was holding it up.i could not believe the cheek of them,they went back on market open house type viewing sold next day only hold up a few months good luck

What a nightmare for you, sorry you are going through this as I remember just how stressful my last house sale was.

The neighbour thing sounds like a bit of a red herring, it’s a lovely house. The only thing would put me off would be the potential cost of modernising the kitchen/main bathroom. MIL had a similar kitchen and painted it with Annie Sloan chalk paint. It completely changed the look and was easy enough to do.

Far too expensive? Where do you live? In some areas that wouldn't buy you a one bedroom flat.

Remove the curtains, they are very ugly and a weird length. It looks messy. Remove the sofa. Use a pressure washer on your patio.

Sorry about your dad, it is just awful.

Maybe the OP's house would be reasonably priced in those areas.

Where it is, it's overpriced.

I am really sorry to hear that your sale did not complete. The potential buyers should have given you more notice of their intentions !

Personally, I would live there & I like the office & garage

Please be aware that you will probably need to pay on the unsold property
House insurance
Council tax
Possibly utility bills

I agree, have some some new summer time photos taken
Sell at a reduced price (to balance the payments for the bills above)

Good luck

Why does it need gutting? Is your house nicer than this? Maybe you should post photos as well so people can be snobbish!