Anyone else making a SECOND attempt at selling their house?

[rosemarycait96]

We attempted to sell our house last year - after 8 months on the market, our buyer pulling out, 2 different agents and a lot of stress... we took it off the market in November so I could give birth to DC2 in peace. We decided we'd spruce up the house and try again in early 2025.

We can't afford to do one big job - replacing the railway sleepers and astro turf in the garden, it's thousands we don't have and I'm hesitant to take out a loan for it in case we do sell as it might affect our borrowing for our onward purchase? Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Other than that, we're:

• painting walls that have unwashable marks on
• Repainting the front gate which is desperately weather worn and chipped
• Weeding our depressed driveway
• Making the smallest bedroom look like a bedroom rather than a blank canvass
• Massive declutter
• Damp proofing our back wall from outside - our thick stone walls cannot be insulated and the damp has penetrated through to the paint, causing it to flake in a couple of spots

Staying isn't an option - we are determined this time!

Anyone else doing this? What are you prioritising? Or are you just waiting till the winter is over to try again?

Sounds incredibly stressful! Did you get multiple offers or just that one buyer? 8 months on the market implies it was priced too high and the market isn't any better now so I'd say be careful to go back on at a competitive price. Check your local area and avoid comparing house prices with other houses that also aren't selling. It's a good idea to go on at a competitive price to hopefully get lots of interest and competing offers, if you go on too high/have to reduce your price, you're far less likely to sell.

@JoyfulSpring yes, I think I nearly perished. Cleaning off viewings while heavily pregnant and chasing round a 1 year old pretty much finished me off.

We had 5 offers in total, 3 at asking price, 2 under. Only 1 buyer was proceedable so we went for it. She pulled out a week later.

We definitely went in too high at first - the final price we reduced to was probably in the right ball park. We can't go any lower or we won't be able to afford an onward purchase.

This backs up what I'm saying.

Also remember if you have to take a hit on your property the onward purchase is probably in the same boat.

Check out 'moving home with Charlie' on YouTube. He's really helpful!

Did she say why she pulled out?

No, we did ask but no reason was given! We've had to assume it was a simple case of buyer's remorse/cold feet.

We tired to sell our house last year, market was slow, put it on under valuation, accepted an offer after 5 months, only to lose the buyer 6 weeks later due to them losing their buyer. We changed estate agents after a while and accepted another offer in October, we are due to move next week. If you had that much interest, I would say, save your money for your next house. Whatever you do in your current house, will be undone by the new owners. Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Massive declutter, go extreme. Post photos here for more advice.

The market is very slow and unstable at the moment. Don't lose heart, remember your onward purchase should have also fallen in price.

We tried to sell last year and gave up after 9 months on the market.

The estate agents told us not to bother redecorating to make it more beige and told us people would look past the wallpaper/paint (nothing super outrageous). We had barely any viewings and no offers.

Two houses the same style as ours sold for £20-30k more than we were on for (they went on after we came off the market), so in our case it wasn't the price itself that was the issue.

So now we've neutralised all the decor and done a load of patching up and perfecting. I'm not expecting to sell quickly, but we are committed to just staying on until we do this time.

Congratulations, hope the move goes well for you!

Yes interest wasn't the issue for us, we had at least 1 viewing every week with a couple of dry spells around the election and Autumn budget.

@TwirlyPineapple solidarity, 9 months is such a long time to be in limbo for.

Our house has seemed unsellable at points - all 3 of the previous owners have had to remove it from the market and renovate before remarketing.

If you are determined to sell, you might have to accept less than you want to and compromise on the next purchase. Any buyer is not going to be concerned that you need a particular figure for your purchase; they’re only going to offer what they think it’s worth.

Keep stress levels down and use one local agent. If no sell remove from internet but keep it available in shop window; you never know when someone who actually wants to move to your area might enquire. Repeat this cycle until sold.
This way it's actually never off the market but you get a fresh internet listing now and then.

Detached 4 bed. Tried market summer 2023, satelitte market town 35 miles SW of London. Very obviously a transitional market with Covid housing market highs disappearing before EA overpricing eyes. For us it is a lifestyle move, so absolutely no pressure to, so came off once realised what was going on (7 viewings, a downsizing couple who wanted to offer but had no offer on their place).

Now, still see some price reductions happening, many without any impact and many stale unreduced properties too. Stock levels rising but quality and location disappointing (for us). I believe competitive pricing is key to generate offers. Still convinced that serious buyers will overlook paint/kitchen/carpets (within reason) but bigger repairs (cracks, boiler, radiators, roof, gutter, damp/rot) will need negotiation and rightly so, it's not just the cost of trades and materials but the your inconvenience to have to repair/replace...put up with interruption, dust, etc.

Trying again later this spring but not at all confident presently. I keep property clean, fresh updated, but I want to spend-spend on next 'forever' house and not this one. Feeling quite trapped in a sense, as want to move on with life.
I think the OP is doing everything right in the main as presentability is very imp. but it's how desparate you are to move which dictates prices and compromises. No one could have predicted the market's staying so sluggish for so long. Good luck and go and view houses in the flesh to motivate yourselves. Take kids too (it doesn't cost anything to view!)

I think all the ideas on your list are sensible. Mainly make sure you declutter as much as you possibly can and tidy up the front, weed the flower beds, etc to make the house look well cared for.
A couple of other posters have already suggested pricing it realistically, rather than going in with an aspirational price at the outset. It sounds as if you have a minimum price in mind that you would not move unless you obtained. Perhaps price it as offers over that figure. On the other hand, you may find that you can accept less if you negotiate your onward purchase. Generally, most markets seem to be slow and prices slowly falling. I think there was a bit of a bounce at the end of last year, maybe this month for FTB type properties because the SDLT is due to expire soon but larger properties don't seem to be moving well at all in lots of places. If anything, prices are likely to fall later in the year/'26, possibly faster than they have been because of the economic situation.
The only thing that puzzles me is why, if you received 5 offers last year, you didn't go with one of the other buyers if the one you accepted pulled out almost immediately. Five offers is a lot in the current market so it sounds as if your house is desirable.

@BethButton good luck, it's a very odd time right now for selling. We had endless interest from people who couldn't sell their own property, therefore couldn't reasonably offer on ours despite wanting to.

When we were on the market, we went to view many houses and weren't taken seriously as viewers at all as we hadn't sold. Nice to see what was going though!

To answer another poster's question- the 4 other offers weren't proceedable buyers ie they hadn't sold their houses. We provisionally accepted all of them. When our serious buyer pulled out, they had all found other houses by that point as it had been months since they had originally offered.

Oh no we’re due to go on the market next week! We want to relocate to a new part of the UK.

We live in a popular area and I know we’ll get interest but I’m more worried about buyers pulling out and surveys coming back stating things need to be sorted (when they don’t!)

I hate our conveyancing system. I so wish we could do part exchange but we’re selling and buying properties for the same price.

I read on Reddit that the number of enquiries raised by solicitors have increased since Covid.

Edited to add- we last attempted to sell 2 years ago but the market was a mess!!

Me!

We decided we wanted to move last spring. Took us a while to get the house ready and it went on the market in June, got lots of viewings and a bidding war and accepted an offer that exceeded our expectations. The buyers were renting and hoping to move before having a baby - I did ask the agent to make it clear to them that we may not be able to find a house in time, but she said they were aware and ok with it. In hindsight, I wonder if we should have gone with someone else. Unfortunately we couldn't find a house to buy We had a near miss in July that we are still gutted about! But nothing else we wanted to offer on, apart from one house that was taken off the market as the vendors changed their mind about moving. Our buyers kept asking the agent for updates and eventually pulled out just before Christmas.

So we are back on the market... I don't think January is the best time (I think late Feb to April is probably the sweet spot) but I didn't want to risk not having a buyer in case we miss out on a house. We still haven't found anything. But need a buyer first. I just hope we will find a house to buy in the next few months so we don't lose our buyer for a second time!

@Buymyhouseplz I love your username btw, my feelings exactly... Good luck! Living in a decent area hopefully means luck is on your side! We live in a small village near sandwiched near the M5 where nothing ever seems to sell. We have no bus, no shop, nothing really going on at the community hall (except chair yoga or knitting), no amenities at all. I'm not surprised no one wants to live here. We wanted the quiet life, but this is too quiet!

@OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared 2nd time lucky eh! That all sounds very stressful. Is moving into rented an option, if there isn't anywhere you can move to at the time you sell? We've considered it as the city we want to move to has a really competitive market where sealed bids tend to be the norm. Just need to actually bloody sell the place.

We have considered renting but we have two cats so it's tricky Also want to avoid moving twice if we can. But we might have to start seriously looking at rentals if we don't find a house to buy within the next few months.

Anyway, best of luck selling yours!

A number of years ago we put our house back on the market after 1 unsuccessful attempt. Only had 1 couple view the second time, but that was ok as they loved it. Good luck.

@rosemarycait96 How bad are the railway sleepers? Would a good paint in a deep coloured wood paint just tidy it up enough to improve matters enough that the actual state isn't so immediately visible? Or can you paint and then plant some trailing plants that hang over and detract the eye from the sleepers?
As to the astroturf, if a small area can you not replace with actual turf, which always looks better? I often see rolls of turf offered free on Markeplace where folk have ordered too much

I think it's mostly about the location tbh. Obviously the house and garden need to be uncluttered, tidy and well maintained, but I don't think you need to overdo it. People might want to get rid of the brand new stuff you've just put in!

Technically she didn't get 5 offers as 4 were not viable proceedable offers so she really only had the 1. It's still a good sign that the house got interest though.

That's true. It was only one actual offer from @rosemarycait96's response.
It's a shame all the others had moved on by the time they got their one realistic offer but, as you say, it does suggest a good level of interest last time.