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

arachne

SazM030306 wrote: »

We've been thinking, seeing as it's so slow, and it's getting colder and darker, that maybe we should take it off the market for now. We are not double glazed nor have a combi boiler, so we might get both these things done, enjoy them ourselves over winter then remarket at our original price sometime next year. (£84.950, currently £79.950)
Any thoughts? Is this a wise thing to do? The other option is do nothing and keep hanging on!

Just a comment that my Dad has a thing against combi boilers and keeps advising us against houses that have them. It's not something we have a problem with but googling them I can see they're not everyone's cup of tea so it might put some people off. But then if your boiler is old and decrepit then that will too. Not sure what an EPC costs these days (I had to get full HIP) but it may be worth getting a new one to reflect the improvements if you do them - boiler should add 5 points and DG 1 if it's like mine. See my previous comment on this thread re. double glazing - personally I wouldn't bother unless your windows have something wrong with them. Otherwise, a nice gloss of paint and some thicker curtains should acheive the same for a fraction of the cost. Good luck!

tyllwyd

My OH was against combi boilers too but we ended up getting one installed about 3 years ago and to be fair if you get a decent modern one they are great - plenty of hot water, which arrives as quickly as from a hot water tank and no worries about putting the boiler on before you have a bath, and in the summer with the heating off the bills just for water are absolutely tiny. Don't know about long term reliability, obviously, but certainly in the short term there is no problem.

Whether it is worth replacing your boiler depends a lot on its age & condition - do you think buyers will be looking to change it when they move in, or could it stagger on? Same with the windows really - do you think buyers would pick them up as something to change?

I'd be tempted to get the work done to make the house more attractive, but there is a danger you would end up investing yet more money in a house that isn't really suitable for you for much longer. Difficult decision!

whysitallsocomplicated

Hi
Just thought I would join in, have raised my stress levels so much reading what can go wrong with a house sale/purchase on this site and others!

we put our house on the market at the end of September and had a viewing the day after we instructed the agents. The next day they made an offer only £1.5K under the asking price. We spent the next two weeks running around looking at houses and were lucky enough to find one we loved and had an offer accepted £10K under the asking price. All was going well.

Our buyers had a survey done but we didnt hear anything and chased the agents who said everything was fine, no problems. We spoke to our vendors agents every couple of days and were so pleased when they found a house and had an offer accepted. Then 2 days latter our venders vender had an offer accepted on an empty house. Perfect complete chain.

Then our buyer came onto the agents stating they wanted £3K off the offer price due to issues with teh survey. We tried to discuss and said we would meet in the middle but only once we had seen a copy of the survey. they refused. The agent then couldnt get hold of them for a few days even though they left messages saying we wreally wanted to sell so at what price would they proceed. Our agents ended up calling the buyers agents who were selling their house to be told " havent they told you, he has been made redundant and cant proceed"! i understand that things like this can hurt someones pride but why not just tell us.

Anyway our house back on market, our vender agrees to give us two weeks to find another buyer but the other houses above us go back on the market. Not a good time.

I rang the agents every ten minutes it seemed like discussing how we could get people interested etcetera. All powere to them within 3 days we had a viewing by a first time buyer, agreement in principle and a big deposit living in rented with the lease expired and on one months notice period. He seemed to love the house but siad as daddy was a builder and coming up with most of the deposit he would have to view before an offer was made. 2 tense days latter daddy views and loves the place!! Offer is made but it is low. we had put the house back on at the same price as the previous offer we had accepted and our new offer was £7K below that. this made things very tight.

We were honest with our new buyer and showed him a copy of the survey the other buyers had done. It was a gamble but we said that we wanted him to raise his offer by £1.5K and that his offer was made in consideration of all the points raised in the survey so no more money to be had on the back of his own survey. He agreed.

I then spent the next 2 days negotiating with our venders agents and the agents above them trying to get everybody to take a bit of the shortfall we now had to get the chain back in place. Everybody agreed to take £1K less so our new house was now £3K cheaper at £207K. so we are now back to where we were before our first buyer pulled out but now the chain has 2 less transactions with a FTB below us and an empty house 2 moves above us.

it all seems to good to be true though and we keep expecting a call anyday to say he has pulled out. My biggest fear is that he will still try to come back after the survey and ask for some money off even though I have told him I have already got the money out of the chain and there is no more to be had!!

all we want to do is be in our new house by christmas but I wont be comfortable untill I have the keys in my hand!

The moral of the story is keep talking to everyone. Since we started selling our house and as the chain has got in place, fell down and then rebuilt itself all I have done is try to form a relationship with everyone involved. I have been honest all the way, kept everyone informed and done everything I can to make things work. It was that which meant I could work the chain to get things going again.

anyway enough of my life story! I hope all goes well for everyone else either buying or selling and dreaming of being in your new home for christmas. keep your fingers crossed for me!

westlondonbuyer

Good post whysitallsocomplicated, and great for all the other vendors in your chain that they had someone as sensible and motivated as you driving it.

tinyteeny

Also joining in. Our property has been onthe market for 15 months. Viewings have been few and far between and we have dropped the price four times. Finally had an offer on Monday. Considerably less than we had hoped for when we first put our property on the market. We thought it through carefully and accepted. We didn't expect them to come back with an improved offer because of the stamp duty bracket, they are first time buyers and we looked into possible properties that we would be able to afford. So felt happy with things and looked forward to viewing proerties ourselves.

Then yesterday our EA calls us stating that our buyers had reservations about the area because her friend had told her it is not a good area. I was quite miffed by this as it is a good area and why would someone put in an offer on a property if they were not sure on the area in the first place. The EA said he had tried to reassure the buyer but she was not listening to him and she wants to come and speak to us this weekend. I have agreed to this although finding it all a bit strange and obviously slightly dubious about the offer now.

Oh well at least we finally had an offer and we now know we can drop our price further and get what we want (we are moving out of the area). The price drop should hopefully make us a lot more attractive as we will be in the lower stamp duty bracket and quite honestly there are no other detached properties on the market in the town for that price except one in what is perceived to be a not so good area. The Estate Agent will amend the price from Monday.

harz99

tinyteeny wrote: »

Also joining in. Our property has been onthe market for 15 months. Viewings have been few and far between and we have dropped the price four times. Finally had an offer on Monday. Considerably less than we had hoped for when we first put our property on the market. We thought it through carefully and accepted. We didn't expect them to come back with an improved offer because of the stamp duty bracket, they are first time buyers and we looked into possible properties that we would be able to afford. So felt happy with things and looked forward to viewing proerties ourselves.

Then yesterday our EA calls us stating that our buyers had reservations about the area because her friend had told her it is not a good area. I was quite miffed by this as it is a good area and why would someone put in an offer on a property if they were not sure on the area in the first place. The EA said he had tried to reassure the buyer but she was not listening to him and she wants to come and speak to us this weekend. I have agreed to this although finding it all a bit strange and obviously slightly dubious about the offer now.

Oh well at least we finally had an offer and we now know we can drop our price further and get what we want (we are moving out of the area). The price drop should hopefully make us a lot more attractive as we will be in the lower stamp duty bracket and quite honestly there are no other detached properties on the market in the town for that price except one in what is perceived to be a not so good area. The Estate Agent will amend the price from Monday.

I would hold fire on the price drop until you know exactly what your prospective buyer is doing, as you are simply asking for them to come back with a reduced offer and start the uncertainties all over again.

Also don't give them a hint of what you are considering when they visit. Hear them out, do your best to answer their questions and reassure them about the area and let them go away to think about it - get your agent to chase them on Monday before any hint of a reduction, don't forget if people like somewhere they will always offer and 8-10% below asking is often the level of first offers.

tinyteeny

Thanks Harz99 that's what we are planning to do. We are meeting them at some point this weekend I am waiting to hear back from the EA about when. If it's a no go after that then we will remarket at the new price which will be above £250,000 in order to achieve £250,000. It's a bit of a bargain at that price but wished we had not been so stubborn and done it earlier. The stamp duty threshold has been a bit of a pain for us as it is worth more, about £265,000 according to the searches I have done. However it was dropped to that price a couple of months ago and only generated two viewings so obviously not.

My husband has lived in the area since he was 8 and I am amazed I am managing to move him out (this is our second house in the area and his family home was 2 mins walk from where we are). i personally think it's a lovely area and very villagey. We need something a bit bigger which we can't afford here now that I am no longer working and I want to be a bit nearer to my family and property is cheaper near to them which is good for us.

Anyway fingers crossed for the weekend and then we'll go from there.

Jackinbox99

Well, been on the market now for 6 weeks and only had 2 viewings. First couple loved the place, couldnt stop praising it up - but they have plenty of others they are viewing still.

2nd couple, didnt seem sure of what the wanted. They currently have a newer house and I think were worried about moving into an older house. But, they also kept commenting on how good the house had been renovated and how it was perfectly presented.

So, it looks like those who see it like it, but im getting fedup with the lack of interest atm, so have asked the estate agent to drop the price by 8k to see if that generates some more interest. Will wait and see!

goldbyron

Well our buyer has offer, survey and searches. Enquiries outstanding relating to freeholder queries which should be received this week. Our purchase - offer and survey completed. Very basic enquiries outstanding (vendor sent yesterday back to sol) and searches sent off 1-2 weeks ago. Vendors purchase (end of chain) survey completed no mortgage required. Couple of enquiries sent off and searches sent off 1-2 weeks ago. Very keen buyer, very keen vendor and we are very keen. We are only 4.5 weeks from offer on our sale, 4 weeks from offer on our purchase and 3.5 weeks on vendors offer on her purchase. I must say it is the quickest I have ever known but I never believe it until exchange is completed. Everyone wants to be out before Xmas and judging my our buyers third viewing this week they love it and have even ordered furniture already and brought the kids and mother around. Fingers very tightly crossed and won't rest even if there are several weeks until Xmas. The solicitors are the ones to keep tabs on!

Squish_21

I have a viewing this evening. It is NOT through the EA though, its a friend of my Dad who wants an investment property.

Everything crossed!!!