To those selling in these difficult times

joshiesaunt

Hi all
we are just waiting with baited breath now to exchange early part of next week - just heard from our solicitor that contracts signed and their deposit money being transferred.

Thought you might be interested to hear about a conversation I had with my EA who is actually being really proactive on our behalf in a difficult market - ours is the only property that is likely to be sold this month! this is normally a busy EA in a fairly pricey and popular area of SE london and as our house is 'only' being sold for £320,000 I dont know how our commission will keep their office of about 5-6 staff going! (although they have a lettings dept too which must be subsidising them). She said that this time last year she was selling 8-10 properties per month and her salary at the moment is 75% less than it was last year. I actually felt quite sorry for her because she said a lot of vendors just dont believe that prices are sliding in the way they are (attitude of 'it cant possibly happen here) and houses are just stuck at high prices with few viewings and offers. I can believe this as I was gutted to have to 'reduce' by £45,000 all told but it's only real money when you have it in the bank and this spurred me on to take the hit on the chin!

Davesnave

joshiesaunt wrote: »

I was gutted to have to 'reduce' by £45,000 all told but it's only real money when you have it in the bank and this spurred me on to take the hit on the chin!

You did OK, believe me, with 'only' a 12% drop. I have gone further, but like you, I'm not keen to read it in tens of thousands. Instead, I use Nethouseprices and work backwards through time. At present, I'm negotiating around July 2005, which makes me feel a lot better!

PS. Next year, we will both feel good about doing this. Fortune favours the brave.

pawpurrs

Lisa, I would be very wary of this senario, unless she is prepared to be honest with you as to the reasons she wants this senario, it could be that she is waiting for a divorce settlement, inheritence or some such, which is fine, but if something like that is the case then I would want a Large non refundable deposit to show that her intentions are good.
That way it protects you against further falls in the property market, should she pull out.
But it also delays things for you, and your intentended move. Also I would get everything done so that you can complete asap.
I would have thought that she is waiting for money from somewhere.
What is she offering?

I have had three viewings this week,one booked in tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

brummybloke

pawpurrs wrote: »

Lisa, I would be very wary of this senario, unless she is prepared to be honest with you as to the reasons she wants this senario, it could be that she is waiting for a divorce settlement, inheritence or some such, which is fine, but if something like that is the case then I would want a Large non refundable deposit to show that her intentions are good.
That way it protects you against further falls in the property market, should she pull out.
But it also delays things for you, and your intentended move. Also I would get everything done so that you can complete asap.
I would have thought that she is waiting for money from somewhere.
What is she offering?

I have had three viewings this week,one booked in tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

i was offered the same sort of deal, the buyer has bonds which mature on december 1st, she wanted to rent the house and for the transfer to go through the same day her bonds were cashed in. i was tempted as it is for more than the price i am selling at but having agreed a price with a 1st time buyer already, i thought it would not be fair to them if i went with the rent/buy offer. my solicitor told me that it would be very difficult to actually have such a contract anyway.

pawpurrs

Some positive selling stories here.

So have we all got weekend viewings booked in, is the house clean and tidy fin anticipation of the hundreds of calls we will all get this morning?

lisa-loves-cats

pawpurrs wrote: »

Lisa, I would be very wary of this senario, unless she is prepared to be honest with you as to the reasons she wants this senario, it could be that she is waiting for a divorce settlement, inheritence or some such, which is fine, but if something like that is the case then I would want a Large non refundable deposit to show that her intentions are good.
That way it protects you against further falls in the property market, should she pull out.
But it also delays things for you, and your intentended move. Also I would get everything done so that you can complete asap.
I would have thought that she is waiting for money from somewhere.
What is she offering?

I have had three viewings this week,one booked in tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

good luck with the viewings pawpurrs....

and thanks for you opinion, much like my own thoughts on it all really... she is offering well under the asking price, but the EA said this was because I would be getting rent for 4 months, though, it doesn't really work in my favor to have the rent, I'd rather just have a sale and the equity in my property released asap to proceed with the purchase/offer on the place we want. There just seems to be to many variables in this scenario.

Thanks guys for all your opinions on this, this really is a great place to get a wide sweep of views :T

pawpurrs

Having thought further, Lisa, I would (if it was me) thank her for her interest, and say that you wish to continue markerting the property, however should the property still be available when she is ready to proceed (ie in 4 mths time) then you would be willing to talk again then.
Unless she agrees to put a 50k non refundable deposit down, or such and comes up with an offer that you are happy with. The tennancy agreement would have to be watertight too, as it wouldnt be her house untill completion, although if she was buying it and living in the property she may feel that its hers and start making alterations or some such. But I dont think I would be happy with this just too many variables.

Davesnave

pawpurrs wrote: »

Some positive selling stories here.

So have we all got weekend viewings booked in, is the house clean and tidy fin anticipation of the hundreds of calls we will all get this morning?

Yes, we're in the middle of something....which seems to be working out, but having been SSTC 3 times already, I'm not hanging any flags out!

pawpurrs

Well done Dave, you kept that quiet! Fingers crossed for you.
Got the sol bill through for my aborted sale, it seems so unfair that buyers can just pull out for no reason, and we have to pick up the expense.

It sounded like you had a sale from things you said, but you never said.
Are you still taking viewings as back up?

Davesnave

pawpurrs wrote: »

Well done Dave, you kept that quiet! Fingers crossed for you.
Got the sol bill through for my aborted sale, it seems so unfair that buyers can just pull out for no reason, and we have to pick up the expense.

It sounded like you had a sale from things you said, but you never said.
Are you still taking viewings as back up?

Things are well-advanced, but I'm not jumping up & down because so much can go wrong at the moment. We haven't told anyone. I'd still show people round (after all, I'm used to it!) as back-up, though as my buyers are known to me, I have less concern about them than others in the chain.