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

[IWasBornIn1989]

The other thread is full 😏

My buyers have lost their buyer. Am giving them a bit of time to find someone else. Last time they got an offer quickly and it took me forever so I’m keeping everything crossed they find a new one fast.

Oh no gutting 😥hope you find a new buyer soon

@IDontDrinkTea oh no. Did they explain why?

@jay55 that's such a pain for you too. Fingers crossed they find something soon.

Someone I know, where I live, has said they’ve been waiting over 9 weeks for local searches to come back. Ugh!

I was lucky then! My local searches were back in 24 hours, and all searches were done in 9 days!

All my paperwork is now signed and with my solicitor, and we’re just waiting on the vendors solicitor to answer the final enquiries.

So I’m still hopeful of completion end of this month.

We had all searches back within a week on purchase, was very surprised as my partner's chain took weeks to get local searches through. The solicitor there does seem slow, the update for the past 3 weeks is that they are reviewing the response to the enquiries. Started to get frustrating now.

Sorry to hear that some of you have had issues with chains collapsing, hope that people find new buyers soon 🤞🏼

Bit of a weird experience with a couple of viewings yesterday. Had a viewing arranged for a few days and then the agent called yesterday and asked if we could do another straight after. It was in the evening so I did it rather than agent.

Property is a big project. First viewing was a woman and her partner. She seemed to like it, was talking about what she'd do with it. All fine. Second viewing was a single man. He immediately said that he is the ex partner of the first woman. He spent a lot of time slagging her off, saying how she'd been with the boyfriend 2 weeks and he was the third this year. He apparently renovates properties and had done one like this recently. We had a discussion about the price we'd likely accept. He said he'd be making an offer.

I don't know what to make of it really. Very odd. Nervous about agreeing anything with the man in case he's just trying to piss off his ex and will later pull out.
Just need to wait and see if there are any offers I guess.

Urgh the people who we had gone backwards and forwards with around making an offer and who had generally given us the runaround have now pulled out and are buying a house literally around the corner. The agent is now pushing us to reduce the price. Don’t think we will be able to move if we reduce anymore. Off to scream into a pillow.

@AhBiscuitsthat sounds potentially very messy, though a bidding war to spite each other could work in your favour.

We put our 2 bed flat on the market end of May and got an offer within the first 10 days which we accepted at beginning of June.

We have been struggling to find an onward purchase, in Harpenden area where it feels like for every house there are 5-10 buyers. Only a handful of houses come up in our price point, and they get snapped up sometimes before we can even book it on Rightmove. I also noticed that they are going for higher than they would a couple of months ago probably due to inflated demand.

We still have a bit of time but will need to cross the sell and then rent route, which is painful given its hard to find short term rentals. To make things more complicated our daughter starts reception in Sept so will need to make in-year application if we moce, and I may be made redundant in the fall. Difficult to time it all.

But have been waiting for a few years for job/market to settle, and it never has so need to move with life and manage risk accordingly.

Probably a silly question but Google didn’t come up with the answer.
The survey we had done on the house we offered on has come back. It does mention a few things that need actioning, but I was surprised how often the report mentions how dirty the house is. I mean, I’m not surprised because I’ve been to the house, it is dirty 😂 but I thought surveys were more about structural problems? Is it normal to comment things such as “the bathroom suite requires cleaning with appropriate detergents - this does not appear to have happened prior to the surveyor visit”

We’ve never had that before. I checked the level 3 survey we’ve had done for the property we are buying and the closest comment was:

“Internally the property is in good condition and it is well presented with no signs of any serious wear or tear. Some minor redecoration works may be needed once the owners items have been removed”.

Thanks @IWasBornIn1989 thats the type of comment I was expecting - maybe occasionally mentioned. This one literally lists every dirty item 😂 says the carpets are so dirty they’re probably beyond even a professional clean and we should budget for replacement. I would be mortified if this was my house and I read it - there’s a couple currently living there and clearly they don’t think it’s that bad!

Yes we are but wondering is the market good enough... what are people doing with their properties to get them ready?

Any tips/staging/pricing ideas...

How best to get the right fair value for your property please. There is A LOT of discussions in our house at the moment!

We went under offer back in January. We sold in 4 weeks and I do think the market was better then. We had a lot of feedback about how tidy and clean the house was. Like that was a bit of a novelty! I guess some people just don’t do that. We paid extra for the professional photos, we decluttered, cleaned and vacuumed before each viewing , touched up paintwork, tidied the front and back garden, made the house smell nice, removed the weeds on the pavement outside. House looked airy and in good condition, even in gloomy January. It’s an average 2 bed terrace nothing fancy but we had a few other offers too. Our kitchen is neutral white, not new but decent condition and neutral bathroom suite. The windows, carpets, shutters and fences are just 2 years old though so that probably helped. Nothing looks like it needs a lot of work. We accepted £5k under asking and hopefully about to exchange soon.

I have read quite a few posts on here of people saying houses they viewed were disgusting, so I think it does make a difference.

We sold within 4 weeks in March and I agree the market was probably better than now, we also live in a fairly desirable location as near the hospital. We didn't touch up any paint work but we did make sure it was clean and tidy and clutter free. I took items out and then put them back once sold. I think it does help.

I would always look for a local estate agent that is actually selling properties well in your area. It's good to track the market for a bit before committing. I am also really impressed with how good our EA is at chasing up paperwork etc and giving updates after the sale has been agreed, it makes all the difference.

Feeling very unsettled at the moment, not for any real reason other than no big updates. We're still waiting for our report on title to come through.

Seller's agent keeps mentioning to me 'early to mid August' but given the top of the chain is going into rented and hasn't sorted that yet I'm not sure how achievable that is. Also our buyers are in rented and their two month notice period keeps being mentioned 🙄

I want to start sorting bits and pieces but I'm the kind of person who thinks if I do that I'll jinx it and it will all go wrong 😂 (don't ask).

Why do stressy things always happen just before 5pm on a Friday?

All paperwork is now complete, and my solicitor was today going to be reviewing my sale and purchase files to ensure all is done, and they can start talking to the other 3 solicitors (my buyers and their buyers, plus my purchase) about exchange and completion, although informally all parties have said end of July is good

Then at 455pm a call from my estate agent. My buyers mortgage company have instructed a valuation on my house and was next thursday ok?

Hang on - surely they had a formal mortgage offer for me to be able to accept their offer? No valuation was ever done (offer accepted end of march) so I’d assumed the mortgage company done a drive by / desktop (as has been done for my purchase). My buyers chose not to have a survey of their own - their perogative; her dad came around to view with them, who is a builder.

Apparently my buyers were unaware of this requirement, as was their mortgage broker - and of course at that time on a Friday, not a lot anyone can do.

It appears (I’m told) a lot of mortgage companies are reviewing valuations. Great, with an anticipated completion now less than 3 weeks away.

I’m worried. I don’t think they’ve overpaid / over-offered - an identical layout house 4 doors down sold at £4k less than mine 3 months ago; I have the advantage of a larger corner plot, new kitchen, bathroom and en-suite - theirs was a little more dated, although they’d had new windows. Prices for similar sized houses in the area (and this is a good market around here; I sold after 3 weeks although that fell through, then to these buyers after 8 weeks). I also accepted nearly 5% below asking.

Plus, not sure how good it is, but zoopla and Rightmove ‘value’ the house at above what I accepted - and my agent said the market here is still good, and if they were putting the house on now, it would the same price it went on for originally. Although they’re bound to say that!

Any words of encouragement and hope?!

@Littlebeausheepish I spent ages getting ours looking its best. Filled in noticeable cracks, painted tired walls, added plants and mirrors, got fresh flowers in, hid air fresheners around the place, sorted the garden (though it was winter so wasn't a lot I could do! Bought a few early flowering things to make the front look nice), de-cluttered, took out any pictures of us and replaced them with more arty things or just left it so it looked more spacious, opened the windows for a few hours on the morning of viewings so it was fresh, we even put bread in the bread maker so it smelled blooming marvellous! Had a professional photographer who made the place look like something out of home and gardens. Even I was astounded and I live here!

Honestly though I don't know how much difference it makes, if someone loves the house then decor and art isn't going to change their mind as they'll be bringing different things with them! But I'd rather do something than not do it, so I went all out.

We got more than £20k over asking though and sold within a week. So maybe it did make a difference ! Quite a few houses on my road have sold this year, one went for what ours was on for but don't know the final prices on any of the rest. Does suggest ours was competitively priced. We went with the middle suggestion having met with about 4 estate agents. Think we were just very lucky!

Saying that we've not completed yet so am not counting any chickens.

We’ve only be up for sale for a week - had too viewings - one a landlord who offered 30k below and another who hasn’t sold theirs but said loved the house but garden too small. Both viewings a bit pointless in their own way but I guess we have to grit teeth.

It’s very slow here at the moment and also there’s nothing we desperately want to view either so I’m not too fussed at the moment.

10 weeks later, our searches are back! 🥳. We are ready to exchange on both our sale and purchase but now waiting to hear what’s happening with the last house in the chain.

That's good news, hopefully won't be too long then 😃

The 8th of August has been suggested by the people at the top of our chain as a completion date. Everyone seems on board, but this is all through one of the agents so the solicitors need to confirm this is achievable. Still won't believe it until we exchange!

Similar position to you - everything is sorted at the top of chain - where I am sitting - just waiting for the FTB to get their mortgage offer extended as it timed out. Which I am told will be this week. Sold the house on the 25th February and been a lot of delays around the enquiries. Dreading my conveyancing bill as there were a lot of extras around buying a house on a new build estate. Hoping to be in by August.

@IWasBornIn1989 hope the final link in the chain is sorted ASAP.

We have a completion date of 31st July which is so near now. Should be exchanging end of the week I expect. Apparently our buyers deposit is with the solicitor. We have all signed the paperwork now on both houses.

We viewed the house we are buying again today and met the vendors. They showed us the boiler, hot water etc. as the house is vacant. We took my 4 year old and he liked it but was definitely overwhelmed. He now thinks we are moving tomorrow 😆 it's hard managing their expectations.

I’ve not slept for 5 nights worrying about this bloody valuation tomorrow. And the fact it's happened so late in the process - so close to potential exchange and also moving 31st July like you @OtiMama (congrats btw!).

I’m told the valuation will be back with the lender within 2 working days, and the lender will issue relevant paperwork within 2-3 working days. Then should be able to exchange, but also of course relying on their solicitor to check all the mortgage paperwork as well.

As long as all ok tomorrow, I can see a slight delay in exchange / completion, which is fine with me if it’s just a few days - the irony is it has been my buyers all along that have been pushing hard for 31st, and now the delay is down to them!