To those selling in these difficult times Part Deux. AKA sellers support network!

kitty123

Davesnave wrote: »

I think it was suggested to you back in July that you sell first and then rent. Would you still consider that as a worst case scenario?

We managed to lose three lots of buyers in that same city, so I know how you feel. Mind you, none of ours had such a good excuse for failing to go through with it as your buyer did!

When our fourth buyers looked serious, we'd already decided to rent. While it was far from fun, we knew, like you, that it would take some time to find what we wanted. There's certainly a dearth of good properties, particularly with decent gardens and no traffic in you-know-where, so again, I appreciate why most of those coming on the market won't excite you.

We were, however, looking elsewhere and, as you can see, we found what we wanted. Having the cash in our hands and no problem with quick completion demands meant we secured something better than expected. In the end, it was a brilliant pay-back for the hassle of moving twice and having a shoddy landlord and letting agent. (PM me if you want to know who to avoid!)

I hope you can hang on to the one you have hopes for by finding another buyer soon. We lived in the A*dl*y Park area and loved it; level and beautiful walk through the park into town!

Hi,
Yes your are absolutely right - we were advised (and intended) to sell first and then buy. However, the house we are in the process of buying reduced significantly in price, came into our radar and it was an offer too good to miss. As things worked out, we then accepted an offer on ours in the same fortnight.

One of our problems with renting is that we have a cat and to find a place in this city with a suitable location (no main road, cat flap, pets allowed etc.) is really hard. Not that it would be impossible I'm sure. So it could still be a possibility as much as we would probably hate it as much as you did!

Having looked on RightMove, I can see that many of the houses in the same price range as ours have sold in anything between 1 and 3 months. Obviously that is no guarantee that ours will too, but it gives an idea. Ours was valued a few months ago and is now fairly well priced compared to those smaller newer houses in areas on the outskirts of the city. We are in quite a popular area (OFP), close to town, in a cul de sac where houses never come up for sale as noone ever moves! Unfortunately it is ex local authority which doesn't make the house look as attractive as the typical victorian terraces. Also it is off the beaten track and not visible to any roads, so the for sale sign will only be visible to those walking along the cut through into town.

So we are going to give it a few more weeks and wait and see...If needed we will consider renting our place short term. The new house needs total redecoration, so at least we could go and do it up gradually.

My husband is very switched on about financial issues and would not make any decisions without knowing what we can afford. We have a back up plan, so we will just have to see what we are faced with over the next few weeks.

Davesnave

Hi Kitty,
I'm sure you have more chance of selling now than we did last year.
Give me an ex-LA Parker-Morris standard house any day over one of those terraces (and yes, I've lived in [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE]two!)

Cats aren't that much of an issue when renting; agencies often say 'no pets,' but are more flexible face to face when they see how sensible you appear. We have two cats, and of the properties available and large enough, within the city boundary, we had a choice of three, two of them in cul de sacs.

kitty123

That's useful info Davesnave, we will bear it in mind, thanks.

On another note, we don't think the estate agent's photos do our house justice on Rightmove. Originally we took some photos of our own and emailed them to the EA. They said they couldn't use them for Rightmove because they were the wrong specifications. Then we sold the house so didn't need to worry.

I now want these better photos put on - they were taken in the summer so the garden looked nice etc.

Does anyone know if the EA could just alter the size before uploading to RM, or do they really need a special camera lens??

I want to do everything possible to make our house look as attractive as it actually is!

ukmaggie45

Hi Kitty,

kitty123 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the EA could just alter the size before uploading to RM, or do they really need a special camera lens??

Ask the EA what size of photo they need. There's a nifty little programme called Irfanview that you can use to resize pictures.

Hope you manage to sell soon.

Maggie

Edit: Forgot to say that Irfanview is free

Davesnave

Agree with Maggie; any good photo program will re-size to whatever spec they need. My first agent wouldn't use my shots, but with the next one I provided the main picture and Photoshopped it to improve the sky.

kitty123

Thanks. We are more than happy to provide our own photos, so I am surprised estate agents are so funny about it - all the hard work is done and they just have to upload them!
At the end of the day, the better the photos, the more interest is generated and the quicker the sale for the EA! (Hopefully).

I will call them tomorrow and ask.

vbt

I haven't posted for a while - it's been a bit of an up and down month. We had a viewer within 24 hours of going on Rightmove and they came for a second viewing the following Saturday but decided not to proceed because they wanted private parking not contract parking. A week or so ago we had another viewer but nothing came of that one.

We've only been on the market since 9 September and I know i'm being unrealistic but i'm so desperate to move now that i've mentally moved out!

This is the first time i've sold anywhere (i bought my flat as a FTB 5 years ago) and people keep saying not to expect any viewers until January now, is this because people are likely to be busy with sorting Christmas out etc?

We haven't been to see any houses, there are a couple on Rightmove that we'd look at if we accept an offer on ours, but the plan is to not rush in to anything and stay with family until we find something we love.

Sorry for whingeing - I know a lot of people on here are in much worse situations and have been on the market for much longer and have suffered sales falling through etc, I just find the whole process so frustrating.

goldbyron

I just wanted to ask whether it is normal in parts of the UK to pay upfront marketing as I saw someone said a resounding no to this. I live on the outskirts of London and all the EA's here just collect commission on sale. However my partner's late mothers estate (another selling nightmare!) is on with EA's in N.Yorkshire and they executors instructed an agent with upfront fees. All the EA's in the area seem to charge marketing fees upfront which amazed me! Is this common in some areas and should vendors negotiate as it seems it could act as a de-motivator for the EA's who collect these fees as opposed to others who work all out as commission is the only fee.

I was also going to say...I know it goes quiet at Xmas however wouldn't it give a vendor a slight advantage to sell their property over this time as people are still looking (more so FTB's) and there is less competition as everyone else pulls their home off the market? I know I found my first ever flat in December (2 weeks before Xmas) so other people must still be looking....

I,_Geek

asajoseph wrote: »

What's the form with these things? Presume I take 5 mins to show the guy around, and then let him poke his nose into whatever he wants until he gets bored and leaves?

Take him back to the best room in the house to discuss things like council tax band/maintenance costs if you're in a flat etc... Some people ask and some don't, but it's worth mentioning stuff like that so they leave with as much info as possible. It won't feel so much like information overload when they're standing in the room that really sells the house.

I,_Geek

goldbyron wrote: »

I just wanted to ask whether it is normal in parts of the UK to pay upfront marketing as I saw someone said a resounding no to this.

My grandparents went on the market about a year ago and were told that upfront marketing costs were now the norm. They went with a well-established, respectable agent in Durham city. I remember my grandma saying every agent that had come round had mentioned this. I think (but don't quote me on this!) that it was seen as a deposit towards the fees when they sold. If they had pulled out without a sale, they would have lost the marketing costs. I think it's understandable, as long as EAs are upfront about charges, when you have to pay them etc... Don't get me started on an EA we went with who asked for marketing money when we took ours off the market, who was apparently "no sale no fee" :mad: