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Original poster

ANyone care to join me in a mutual propping up thread for those attempting to sell their houses?

71 replies

nickytwotimes · 10/02/2009 10:05

For whatever reason?

Ours is on the market and we are desperate to move. Unfortunately, all the people who would be interested in our house can't sell theirs...

[sob]

COme, join me in a mutual whinge.

OP posts:
SamVimesIsMyHero · 18/02/2009 17:08

Ta Daaaaaaaaaaa!
Actually, there is a CMOTDibbler too I think. We are infilitrating, soon we will turn them all

AllyAlly · 18/02/2009 20:04

We have been on the market for about 3.5 weeks & only had 2 viewings so far - but now have a couple coming back for a 2nd viewing. Also have 2 viewings booked in for this Friday. The Estate Agent marketed it at £X price but said to expect realistic offers at £10k-ish below that (we are in a 2 bed cottage). In this market I doubt anybody achieves full asking price. I am stressed out already & just wish it would SELL.

TheRedSalamander · 18/02/2009 21:09

Ally I can feel your pain! Have you found somewhere else yet? All I can think about is "our" next home, I close my eyes and can see how I'm going to decorate each room/what the garden will be like in summer/having family & friends round

SamVimesIsMyHero · 18/02/2009 21:34

LOL RedSalamander, you sound just like me! Every time we have a viewing I get my hopes sky high (despite promising myself not too) - in my head I've moved in and re-decorated the house I want. The reality is it's unlikely the the owners will accept the low offer we would have to make . Still, I can dream

smellyeli · 18/02/2009 21:44

Our estate agents told us at the start that it's an average of 15 viewings to 1 offer in the current market. We've had 3 viewings in a month.

We have a really tight timescale - my new job starts on April 20th, I only got it at the end of January, and we want to avoid renting if we can (renting this one out, really - the thought of other people trashing it and it still losing value and having to maintain it from afar) We've gone for a part-exchange with a building company on a new build. It's not what we had in mind but it will do the job and doesn't need anything doing once we move in. They offered us 30k less than our asking price, but knocked 35k off theirs (they are desperate to sell as the house has been built for 18 months) so we're going to be able to manage a 15% deposit.

But have you seen the mortgages available to people who don't have big money to put down? We are going to be paying 5.79%! With a base rate of virtually nothing. Outrageous. THIS is why the market is so slow, I think (or one of the many Pestonic reasons) and why so many people are holding out for the asking price.

FeelingOld · 18/02/2009 22:29

I am in a different situation, I split from my husband just over a year ago (I had to leave with the kids cos he wouldnt even though he was having an affair) so I am living in a rented house while our marital home is on the market so am paying rent on this place and half the mortgage and our house has been on the market 1 year and sold once but it all fell through. We have reduced the price drastically but if we reduce it anymore there wont be enough to pay off the mortgage and estate agents etc.

I just need it to sell but dont hold out much hope just yet.

SamVimesIsMyHero · 19/02/2009 09:10

Sorry FeelingOld, that sounds like an utterly shite situation

TheRedSalamander · 20/02/2009 15:29

Estate agent finally put board up yesterday...in a place that can't be seen well from the road

They'd be dangerous with a brain!

SamVimesIsMyHero · 20/02/2009 17:07

We had a viewer this week. Just heard they aren't interested, apparently they think our house is too small (didn't they look at the floor plans/room dimensions before they came?)

PuddingChops · 20/02/2009 17:30

SAmVines - i know how you feel. In the past weve had people reject our house because;
Its not on the end or in a corner.
The drive only holds one car (the main photo on the sales blurb clearly shows this!)
Even one who said - its not in the 'right area'! WTF. Bloody time wasters. I feel like restricting viewings to people who have at least got the info from the agent. Ive got to the stage where I am NOT interested in agents feedback - it just upsets me. My house is as it is and where it is - end of. If it sells it sells - if it dosent well - we'll see. Im just lucky that im not in a rush to sell/move.

SamVimesIsMyHero · 20/02/2009 18:07

It's sh*t isn't it PC? I wonder if some of the people who look round haven't tried to sell themselves and so don't realised how much each viewing means. One lot recently didn't even bother to feedback to the estate agent. I definitely need to take a HUGE step back!

LOL, did notice that I am frusrated though, obviously the stress is getting to my spelling!

If what smelly says is right 'Our estate agents told us at the start that it's an average of 15 viewings to 1 offer in the current market' then we've got a way to go

SamVimesIsMyHero · 02/03/2009 18:36

How is everyone doing? Any offers? Any exchanges? We've got some interest but no firm offers yet Has everyone been getting more viewers? We haven't really despite the 'spring bounce' that's supposed to be (temporarily) going on in the market.

RedFraggle · 04/03/2009 18:34

Our would be buyers have instructed solicitors so we are just awaiting a request to come and do the survey now. Fingers crossed!

How about everyone else?

SamVimesIsMyHero · 05/03/2009 15:35

We have an offer (albeit a low one) so we've placed an offer on the one we want. The estate agent is very doubtful they will take what we can afford though so we may be in the tricky situation of having buyers and having nowhere to go . Not sure I can face renting...

SamVimesIsMyHero · 05/03/2009 15:36

Oh and everything crossed for you Red Fraggle. I can understand now why people say this is one of the most stressful things in life!

faraday · 06/03/2009 08:16

Trouble is at the start of the month, last month's figures come out- if they show an upturn (Jan) the market responds by apparently picking up in tandem- good news breeding good news or, in this case a bit of courage by buyers and confidence in sellers, BUT Feb's figures are NOT good (for vendors) thus we may have seen the end of the Spring/Dead Cat bounce for now. Offers may well dry up as the maths apparently indicate that prices will fall further.

noddyholder · 06/03/2009 08:22

I think the low interest rates and flood of money are going to create a bounce of their own.Now is probably as good a time as any to sell.I really think anyone who doesn't sell between now and the summer will see further price falls in the next 2 years to real lows.

TheRedSalamander · 06/03/2009 23:59

Glad you've got offers Sam and Fraggle!

we've had 1 viewing and thats it

SamVimesIsMyHero · 07/03/2009 09:07

Keep the faith Salamander We had ours on the market for 6 months before we got an offer. Another friend had hers on 2 weeks before she got an offer! You never know, the next viewer could be your buyer.

LoveLoveLove · 07/03/2009 19:59

Ours has been up for sale for 9 months with not a single viewer until the last 2 weeks when we've had 3!! The one today has no chain and seemed very keen so i'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed this will be the one!

IlanaK · 07/03/2009 21:43

Can I join you?

We have been trying to sell on and off for a well over a year. We are in a really tricky situation. Central London flat in highly sought after area. Really large square footage etc. The problem is that our building (large mansion block) has enormous service charges (so enormous that if I told you the figure, you might faint!)due to years and years of major works. We had to move out for 7 months while the pipe work was all redone and a central heating system was put in.

So, people love our flat, but don't want to buy in the end.

We had a viewing today that went well and the people want to do a second viewing. The first question asked by the estate agent is always "Do you know about the service charge issues?" This woman apparantly knew.

IF we ever get an offer, we are unlikely to be in a chain that may fall through as almost everyone who looks around is either foreign and buying it as a second home, or has already sold and is renting.

Our problem is that we can't find anywhere to move into. There is so little stock on the market that there is nothing we like.

noddyholder · 07/03/2009 21:44

Rent!!!!!!!

IlanaK · 07/03/2009 21:46

I really really don't want to rent - for two reasons.

We just lived with my mother for 7 months while all the work was being done. The stress of moving twice in 7 months was enough. I want to move somewhere permenantly now.

Secondly, we have no mortgage (just crippling service charges!) so if we rent we would be eating into our capital.

noddyholder · 07/03/2009 21:49

we rented and prices fell in that time but did have interest on our money which covered the rent.You will be in an excellent position to negotiate with cash..We had 9 other people interested in teh house we bought but all needed a mortgage and so the seller too our v low offer as he couldn't wait.Start looking and let the agents know you are cash buyers It really helped us xx

IlanaK · 07/03/2009 22:04

But there will be no interest on the money at the moment - that's a huge problem. When we first put our place on the market, we planned to travel abroad for a bit on the interest and wait for prices to fall. Now, we would have to eat into the capital.