To those selling in these difficult times

Davesnave

We did a 300 mile round trip to see a house today which, according to the agent, needed some 'finishing-off,' but in reality the requirements were a little more drastic than that. Now, you might expect a house being renovated by a plumber to have a central heating system, or at least some pipes & drains to the en-suites, but in this case you'd be wrong!

It was clearly a situation of 'run out of money & enthusiasm,' but this guy also lacked one other vital attribute of the successful developer: skill. From the badly-laid Chinese slate floors to the dodgy looking home-made fireplaces, my mind was telling me, 'That'll have to go, that'll need to come out, that's repulsive...'etc Then we discovered the only way to get upstairs was through the (non-existent) conservatory!

I won't go on. The roof and walls were OK and he'd bought decent windows, (no doors!) but that was about it. We smiled, said we liked the situation & locality, (which was true) and beat a hasty retreat.

I just thought I'd add this account to balance those about 'no shows' and the viewers who are 'a waste of time.' It can be equally infuriating as a buyer to traipse across six counties to view a 'gem' like that one.

shirlgirl2004

I think I'd be more than a bit annoyed at wasting time and money doing a 300 mile round trip because an EA couldn't stop him/herself from talking up a property. Did you find something else to do in the area whilst you were there?

thifty

Hi we are about to put our house onto the market, have instructed an agent so no doubt i will become really annoying and start asking lots of basic questions so I apologise in advance! Am feeling really apprehensive about selling as am sick of people telling us its a bad time to sell.

First newbie question: what sort of things did you do to get the house ready to put onto market?

baileysbattlebus

Davesnave wrote: »

We did a 300 mile round trip to see a house today which, according to the agent, needed some 'finishing-off,' but in reality the requirements were a little more drastic than that. Now, you might expect a house being renovated by a plumber to have a central heating system, or at least some pipes & drains to the en-suites, but in this case you'd be wrong!

It was clearly a situation of 'run out of money & enthusiasm,' but this guy also lacked one other vital attribute of the successful developer: skill. From the badly-laid Chinese slate floors to the dodgy looking home-made fireplaces, my mind was telling me, 'That'll have to go, that'll need to come out, that's repulsive...'etc Then we discovered the only way to get upstairs was through the (non-existent) conservatory!

I won't go on. The roof and walls were OK and he'd bought decent windows, (no doors!) but that was about it. We smiled, said we liked the situation & locality, (which was true) and beat a hasty retreat.

I just thought I'd add this account to balance those about 'no shows' and the viewers who are 'a waste of time.' It can be equally infuriating as a buyer to traipse across six counties to view a 'gem' like that one.

yes, I agree. We've viewed "gems" like that too. One in particular was on a private, very nice road. We thought - that'll probably be the one - only needed a competant DIYer, it needed a bit of finishing, the EA said.

The bit of finishing included all downstairs ceilings, there were none, every downstairs room was open to the joists with light fitments pinned to the joists. Then there was the non extistant kitchen which had a sink and 2 taps - units had all been ripped out. And there was the brick skin of an extension to the kitchen.

It had great back garden that had been used as a run and toilet for 4 german shepherds and had not been cleaned for years - the owner told us that - because we had 3 young children.

It needed a very competant multi skilled tradesman or a team of builders and probably several tonnes of topsoil for the garden.

It's absolutely amazing what some estate agents will say. If we'd known the state it was in we would never have gone to view it.

Nikki

littlemissfrugal wrote: »

Hi - the people buying our house have used a Broker and a legal panel and have got a mortgage with the Abbey, the survey was paid for over three weeks ago and they have only just booked with us to come and do it on Tuesday - apparently this is the way Abbey do things, everything else in order then the survey ?? Our buyer is as frustrated as we are at how long this has taken but is under the impression that we could still aim for completion by the end of May - Is this feasable?? Our Solicitor was against being optimistic last week this was before the survey was booked so surely May completion is out of the question now?? We have obviously not booked removals or anything as we had no firm date and it would be too short notice to do it now. There has been no date set by any of the Solicitors so should we assume our buyer is just wishful thinking - Any insight would be appreciated thanks


did post this on the Mortgages thread but had no response as yet

Our survey was done on our purchases (one vendor pulled out after survey and searches, so we had to find another purchase) before we'd even paid the fee and this was also with the Abbey, report was delivered within days of that. Whilst the end of may is feasable, it may not happen best thing is to keep asking your solicitor how things are looking.

shirlgirl2004

thifty wrote: »

Hi we are about to put our house onto the market, have instructed an agent so no doubt i will become really annoying and start asking lots of basic questions so I apologise in advance! Am feeling really apprehensive about selling as am sick of people telling us its a bad time to sell.

First newbie question: what sort of things did you do to get the house ready to put onto market?

Our house isn't even on the market yet but we've had I viewing. We decluttered, took down children's drawings etc except in the playroom, painted 2 rooms (DSs) which were originally painted dark blue and british racing green, did a few little jobs that had been outstanding like where a piece of trim had come loose raround the edge of a door.

We feel as if we have done loads and TBH I feel as if we could do more but the estate agents described the house as immaculate so I think when you live there you see every little thing. Whilst we are on the market we will probably go around and freshen up the white paintwork but as it's a large house we wouldn't do it all before going on the market or it would never happen. You need to try to stick to things that don't cost much money unless you are buying something that you can take with you. Concentrate on getting the kitchen and bathrooms looking great because these things cost big money to put right if they look like they need replacing.

4Chickens

A non-update from me

We still have not exchanged contracts. My useless solicitor told me on Friday that we should exchange contracts by Wednessay.

I need to hire a moving van, tell Virgin Media to bug ger off and do my mail redirection but I don't think it is safe to do any of this until we exchange contracts. Our completion date is still set for 29 May. This is sooo frustrating.

shirlgirl2004

cindiedunkley wrote: »

A non-update from me

We still have not exchanged contracts. My useless solicitor told me on Friday that we should exchange contracts by Wednessay.

I need to hire a moving van, tell Virgin Media to bug ger off and do my mail redirection but I don't think it is safe to do any of this until we exchange contracts. Our completion date is still set for 29 May. This is sooo frustrating.

Oh dear things are getting a bit close for comfort. I guess if you have problems getting a van etc then others in the chain will too so the date will have to change.

pawpurrs

Hope you exchange soon CD.
Any one had any exciting news any offers? Viewings? Movement?
Still waiting for things to move here, and still anxious!

Beki

We had another viewing on saturday. Two ladies, one was the purchaser, the other a friend.

I didn't stay for the viewing (had food shopping to do) but i briefly said hello and they seemed really nice. My dad did the viewing and said they were both lovely, so at the very least we should get a 'no' from then rather than being left hanging for weeks not knowing how it went.

Dad said they really liked the house, and said that it had just the right amount of land. Also that the house was really deceptive and it just went on and on inside, but didn't look that big from the outside.

We'll see. Fingers crossed. I'm feeling so despondent right now, can't seem to get my hopes up about anything