Is there a new thread for “Anyone putting their home on the market in early 2025”?

[IWasBornIn1989]

The other thread is full 😏

Quite a few on the market, mostly moving very slowly. The odd house sells quickly, but most are taking a few months.

The two we were interested in had been on the market for months and reduced their price (twice in one case) without selling. Just my luck they’d go now!

@MadameSzyszkoBohusz Yes, definitely a huge amount of choice for buying houses and the odd one here and there sells within days, but it does seem like they're mostly staying on the market for some months now. Reducing the price used to be a rarity, but now it's happening so often as sellers are trying to get some/any interest rather than none at all.

I have my ninth viewing booked on my house this Thursday. Just hoping they like it enough to make an offer.🙏

Sellers solicitor ready to exchange ☑️
Our solicitor ready to exchange ☑️
Buyers solicitor ready to exchange ☑️

So what's the hold up? Transpires the buyers have a sale which needs to go through before exchange and that's delaying everything else. News to absolutely everyone in the chain including the EA 🤦🏼‍♀️

oh no @notanarchaeologist ! thats shocking.

we are ready to exchange, below chain ready to exchange. Up chain - not signed papers yet - but apparently otherwise ready. urgh.

Sorry to hear people aren't having much luck with offers/viewings we only had 1 interested party and their previous purchase had fallen through so I do think it was just good timing for us.

We are right in the thick of the waiting now. Searches have been requested on our onward purchase. We have our mortgage offer done. Not really sure where we're at with regards to selling ours.

Still all feels quite fragile to me. I'm not sure I'll believe its going ahead until the process moves on a bit.

Can anyone advise me please? I instructed an Estate Agent five weeks ago to sell my parents empty property, I am executor of their wills, they sadly passed recently.

It isn’t even marketed yet, just delay after delay. Took a week to get the instruction to sell contract to me. Then a further week for the photographer to come out. They wanted a lot of I.D. from me which I understand, I got it to them within hours of request. They took five days to verify it.

I told them from the start that I want it marketed quickly. I’m spending hundreds a month on utilities, council tax etc.

So, my main question is, is five weeks reasonable from signing instruction to marketing. EA told me I should get draft particulars to approve end of this week. I actually booked initial valuation last week of May. I’ve since had notes through the door from potential buyers.

I’m getting frustrated. Please advise. Thanks for reading.

You say they passed recently (and sorry for your loss) - do you have probate yet? Some agents won’t market without probate, which can take weeks / months to sort, depending on estate complexity.

Although if that was the case, they should have told you.

Thank you, yes have had probate granted, EA had Grant of Probate certificate over a month ago. They have had all the need for weeks. Thank you for replying @ScoobyDoesnt .

It took two weeks from the estate agent initially coming around to value our house to it appearing on Rightmove, and I thought that was slow.

We appointed them the day after the valuation, the photographer was booked for the following week and the estate agent was here at the same time taking details, measuring etc and getting the contract signed. It then took another week for the online brochure to be produced and as soon as it was approved by us - in minutes - it appeared on Rightmove.

Thank you @MadisonAvenue . I’m considering sacking them off, but don’t want to be unfair. Really dragging their heels. It’s hard being the only child and executor, still processing the grief etc, so it’s hard and I just want it sold. Very good price, no chain obviously, and sought after area. Just have a bad vibe about them, so need some outside perspective.

In that case they have no excuse! My house was photographed, details completed and signed off, and on the market in about 2 weeks (and that was only because I couldn’t accommodate the photographer earlier!)

I would be reluctant to proceed with them. If this is how long just marketing has taken, how proactive are they going to be with viewings?! Ours was listed within 2 weeks and would have been less but I wanted to do a deep clean and declutter a bit more before photos.

@StrawberryThief1930 I know 😭 I've been super chilled throughout this experience so far, stressing felt senseless so have been going with the flow and only really focussing on the areas within my control. But this has certainly created a whole new level of uncertainty and worry today.

@Hermioninny , thank you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I got a big skip the week before it was valued, a gardener for a day and pressure washed patio and huge drive. Son and I worked our butts off!

The past month I’ve been there twice a week, deep cleaning maintaining the garden. If they worked half as much as we have I’d be thrilled.

Thank you @notanarchaeologist for redirecting me here from the buyers and sellers thread.
I've been working to get my house on the market since last September. Unfortunately I can only be there during school holidays but my last two visits were cut short by family bereavement so I'm really behind my plan A timetable.There are a handful of DIY jobs still to do and two rooms need carpeting.
The house isn't empty but my friend who lives there can't do much to help other than keep an eye on things due to her work commitments.
I'm finding it very stressful but trying to be practical.
I want to make the house presentable ie finish getting rid of clutter (80% done) but not do anything major.
Do you have any advice from your recent experience?

We are supposed to be exchanging contracts early this week. We’ve booked the movers and paid the deposit on a rental. Sounds mad I know, but this is the third ‘sale’ in as many years and we just decided to go for it - bit of a gamble. The house always sells within a month (lovely big bungalow, all up to speed, with a 1/3 acre private garden, very quiet cul de sac but a 15 minute walk to town, big Tesco, doctor, school etc.) I really don’t understand how the English system staggers on. Wish us luck that this time it all goes through!

@Middlemarch123 That is terrible! My EA were booked in on the Wednesday to take photos and measure up and it was live by Friday. They only wanted to see my passport (but I guess if yours is a probate property it may be more complex). I would sack them off tbh I think you are right if they are shit at this stage it does not bode well for the future. I want a helpful proactive agent only as buying and selling is a nightmare at the best of times.

Hoping to complete before end of July but still waiting on local authority search, it’s taken over a month 🫤

Thanks @screwyou , I agree. Appreciate your response. Yes it is a probate property, but it was granted last year. So legally it’s mine.

We’ve slowly progressed since I first posted: photos taken last Monday, draft details sent to me early Thursday, god knows why that took 3 days, I approved within an hour. Went on Rightmove yesterday. Got a viewing booked for Tuesday.

I’m tied in with this agent for 28 days. Am emailing the Director tomorrow to give notice and have all the dates and delays to give her, so she knows why. Obviously if they find a buyer in the notice period I have to pay them, but as they make a snail look speedy, that’s unlikely. What pees me off the most is that I kept reiterating that I need a speedy sale, they assured me it would be on the market quickly, then delayed and delayed.

Agree that at best this buying and selling stuff is a nightmare. Hope your situation is going well.

Does anyone know how long the conveyancing process takes at the moment?

I'm selling as an executor, the buyers are fully aware I'm at currently the mercy of HMRC and the Probate Court in terms of time, but it all seems to be going well. Solicitors have been instructed so that exchange of contracts can happen once I have the grant.

We are in a chain of 3 houses and the chain became complete/memorandum of sale was issued on 7th May. I think we are waiting for final searches to come back, I think all enquiries have been completed across the chain but not sure.

Our solicitor said 6-8 weeks to exchange from draft contracts being issued to the solicitor, after that the searches are instructed, enquiries etc and that seems about right for us. We only have FTB, us selling and purchasing a house with no chain. Some might take a long time to come back on enquiries so that would slow things down. It really does rely on both parties taking action what they are asked to do in a timely manner and of course the solicitor too!

Our buyers have confirmed that the survey on our house is fine (they did it backwards and got the survey once they had the contract to sign!) they are returning their contract signed in the coming days so we are pretty much done on our sale and ready to exchange. We are just waiting for our solicitor to send our contract/pack for our purchase. Finally feels like we may actually get an exchange/completion date soon! I try not to get too excited as I know until it's all done you never know. I feel once we found this house it's all been fairly straight forward but still somehow stressful! Next up is confirming removals once we have a date, then the packing can start.

Our buyer has pulled out 😭

@Middlemarch123 I think you’re right to change agents and wise to give them notice now, but bear in mind that if they introduce someone, who then proceeds through another agent, you’ll be liable for the first agent’s fees too.

When we changed agents, we made them aware of the names of people who had viewed through a previous agent, so wouldn’t accept viewings from them.

Thank you @Bluevelvetsofa , yes I’m aware of potentially paying two agents. Am going to take your advice about taking names of viewers for the next agent, brilliant advice, so thanks again.