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

eventer

Just want to vent.

Our place went on the market in June. Someone offered in the first week about 7K under asking price. We said yes. Transpired they had offered on 3 places over the same weekend. Morons. No money spent on our behalf though.

Footfall through the place is great - had another couple of weeks of viewings and the end of July had another offer, higher than the first, 5K under asking. Brilliant. Place off the market, found somewhere to buy. Spent money...and our buyers pulled out because they thought interest rates were going to hit 12% so they could not afford it. Great.

Back on market, end August accept another offer, similar to last one....we are now 2 weeks away from completion and their buyers pull out because they basically get cold feet in a falling market - seriously, do people think this is some game of playing house? How can you not make your mind up that you are serious until 2 weeks before completion. We are now 1K down having spent out on everything needed for the place we were buying, are going to lose the place we wanted, I have found out the EA systematically lied to us (which they got an earful about and we are getting a fee reduction) having told us to accept this offer because they had not only sold their place but were ready to exchange - meaning we turned away someone who was not in a chain and wanted to view - and I think we will now have to give up until 2011.

I think we've had about 40 viewings and 3 offers over the 4 months so I don't doubt it is priced right and will sell, but I think we're now too close to Xmas.... *head...wall....head....wall*

harz99

eventer wrote: »

Just want to vent.

Our place went on the market in June. Someone offered in the first week about 7K under asking price. We said yes. Transpired they had offered on 3 places over the same weekend. Morons. No money spent on our behalf though.

Footfall through the place is great - had another couple of weeks of viewings and the end of July had another offer, higher than the first, 5K under asking. Brilliant. Place off the market, found somewhere to buy. Spent money...and our buyers pulled out because they thought interest rates were going to hit 12% so they could not afford it. Great.

Back on market, end August accept another offer, similar to last one....we are now 2 weeks away from completion and their buyers pull out because they basically get cold feet in a falling market - seriously, do people think this is some game of playing house? How can you not make your mind up that you are serious until 2 weeks before completion. We are now 1K down having spent out on everything needed for the place we were buying, are going to lose the place we wanted, I have found out the EA systematically lied to us (which they got an earful about and we are getting a fee reduction) having told us to accept this offer because they had not only sold their place but were ready to exchange - meaning we turned away someone who was not in a chain and wanted to view - and I think we will now have to give up until 2011.

I think we've had about 40 viewings and 3 offers over the 4 months so I don't doubt it is priced right and will sell, but I think we're now too close to Xmas.... *head...wall....head....wall*

Ouch; makes me glad I'll be selling under the Scottish system where buyers dropping out is far less likely to happen once their offer has been put and accepted.

As you say, the price must be right as footfall is good, so I wouldn't give up just yet. Good luck.

eventer

harz99 wrote: »

Ouch; makes me glad I'll be selling under the Scottish system where buyers dropping out is far less likely to happen once their offer has been put and accepted.

As you say, the price must be right as footfall is good, so I wouldn't give up just yet. Good luck.

Ouch indeed. It is a complete pain, circumstances mean we can't sell in November, so unless they find us a buyer in the next 3 weeks we are stuck until December....at which point it is too close to Xmas to be worth bothering.

I keep repeating that we are healthy, solvent, no CC debt, no loans and know we can get a mortgage (because it was in place for the house we wanted to buy - more cash down the drain), so in all honesty it could be worse, and we'll just keep on keeping on, but it does make me want to scream with frustration!

Grimbal

kymie wrote: »

Grimbal cant you look at a bigger area?

We're looking in about a ten mile radius of where we are now. Doesn't seem much, but roads (apart from the one A road) around here can be quite slow.

eventer wrote: »

Ouch indeed. It is a complete pain, circumstances mean we can't sell in November, so unless they find us a buyer in the next 3 weeks we are stuck until December....at which point it is too close to Xmas to be worth bothering.

I keep repeating that we are healthy, solvent, no CC debt, no loans and know we can get a mortgage (because it was in place for the house we wanted to buy - more cash down the drain), so in all honesty it could be worse, and we'll just keep on keeping on, but it does make me want to scream with frustration!

Oh, that's just rubbish! did they say why they got cold feet?

eventer

Grimbal wrote: »

Oh, that's just rubbish! did they say why they got cold feet?

By the sounds of it, they went on holiday and when they came back they saw other houses in the area they were looking had dropped in price. They'd already beaten our buyer down from 180K to 160K, seems that wasn't enough

Interestingly the person we are/were buying from is now trying to speak to the people at the bottom of the chain (the ones who got cold feet) to offer them a cash incentive to complete, so maybe that will 'reassure' them and warm those toes up?! Who knows, all hope is not yet lost I guess, but I'm not banking on it.

When I hear other people's horror stories of negative equity/no viewings for months and months etc I feel awful moaning about it, as we know ours will sell, there's never been anything wrong with ours in terms of decor/price/location and everyone has been v positive about it. It's just infuriating because we seem to be attracting all the flaky people who just haven't thought it through onto our chain, makes for a bit of a rollercoaster.

Squish_21

Been on since June. Had 2 viewings both liked it. 1 stupid offer.

Have dropped the price 5% so far. Plan to drop again in Jan 2011.

Lost the will to live!:(

howler_2

Squish_21 wrote: »

Been on since June. Had 2 viewings both liked it. 1 stupid offer.

Have dropped the price 5% so far. Plan to drop again in Jan 2011.

Lost the will to live!:(

House prices are falling - if you want to sell you need to cut your price quicker and further than the falling market.

I dont think a 5% drop will do it. That stupid offer might look generous in a few months time

Grimbal

what do you do though when a seller refuses to acknowledge the market conditions? We have found a place we love, got a chain free buyer ourselves, and he has point blank refused a 90% offer! Ludicrous.

jw2003

Grimbal wrote: »

what do you do though when a seller refuses to acknowledge the market conditions? We have found a place we love, got a chain free buyer ourselves, and he has point blank refused a 90% offer! Ludicrous.

I refused a 90% offer but we were on at a ruddy good price to begin with (over 10% under our competitors) but accepted a 95% offer

Leave it on the table for 2 weeks and give them something to seriously think about

Grimbal

jw2003 wrote: »

I refused a 90% offer but we were on at a ruddy good price to begin with (over 10% under our competitors) but accepted a 95% offer

Leave it on the table for 2 weeks and give them something to seriously think about

I think we might do that. I estimate that, to keep our buyers happy, we have about a 10-14 day window in which to secure our onward property. If we can't get it for the price we want, we'll have to rent I think. From chatting to EAs, the problem we have here in my neck of the woods is that the market is mostly of "would like to sell" owners rather than "need to sell" ones. i suspect that this guy is definitely the former & will hold out for his notional price that he thinks his house is worth