Viewings...

lessonlearned

DaftyDuck wrote: »

One way of thinking about it is: viewings can be the best paid job you've ever had. A buyer, he gets three viewings out of you, he goes ahead. For that few hours, you get your house sold. You get all that money to spend, a few weeks (months) earlier than might have been. You may get an extra few hundreds - thousands even - for the effort of cleaning up... just for a few hours, a good house clean, a cake in the oven, pot of coffee on the side.... Now that's a wage worth having!

Seeing Lessonlearned has posted,... yes, I always sell, move into rented, then buy. I believe the rental-plus-extra-move may cast an extra ten thousand pounds, but I get that back on a better selling then buying price, plus I never feel pushed into accepting or making an offer I later regret.

Never take things personally with house buying/selling. The first house I sold was the one that sold twice straight away. Whoohoo! Obviously, my taste in houses was perfect... second time around... nobody but nobody liked what I'd done. It took a while to stop taking in personally, and realise I just had a commodity to greatl.

Spot on - easy money:D. Great post.

JimmyTheWig

lessonlearned wrote: »

Get smart and just play the game. Learn the rules and play to win.

I agree, mainly. But to play devil's advocate it is a choice that needs making.
To what extent are you prepared to put your life on hold for probably months on end? How much are you prepared to inconvenience yourself?
Even though you are selling it, while this is all happening it _is_ your home, your family's home.

Some people may decide that some of these suggestions are a step too far. That's fair enough if that's what they think. Will it mean they will never sell their house? No. Will it mean that they will end up taking a lower offer than they would have done if they had followed all the "rules"? Quite possibly.

So, doing a third/fourth viewing or knocking £2k off what you expect to sell for? It is a choice that can be made. Which way you choose will depend on your circumstances.

HariboJunkie

Dips toe tentatively into this board.

We're hoping to put our house on the market in march (subject to a few more weather dependant DIY jobs being completed by then) so I've looked at this thread with interest.

I have no problem with someone viewing my home 3 or more times. It's really a small price to pay for a potential sale and the ability to move on. We will undoubtedly rent for a while until we find the house we want but that doesn't present a problem to us.

Re. Cheeky offers... I thought they were expected in today's climate. i certainly expect then from buyers and will be making a few myself when we find the house for us.

Another point is that I would be suspicious of viewing a house that was occupied if the person that occupied it has instructed an EA to do viewings in her place. The only places I have viewed with and EA are those which are unnoccupied at the time.

Moneyistootighttomention. I have seen your posts on another board about your house sale and move and I have to be honest and say that for the good of your sanity I think you need to chill out a bit and not be so cut and dried in your opinions on the whole process. You have said before that you have no intention of renting but are looking to buy a house in a place you have never even visited but have "virtually walked up and down the streets on google maps".
I really don't see how you will be able to arrange the sale of your current house and organise a move to a new house in an unknown area without considering renting for a while. I would worry that this will force you into buying a house quickly in the new area which could leave you just as utterly miserable in that new place as you are in your current home.

lesson learned has given you some excellent advice and I would agree with it all given my limited experience of buying and selling 2 houses in the last 20 years.

lessonlearned

As Dafy Duck says - 30 minutes to get your house ready for sale - it's not that difficult surely. Unless of course you normally live in a pig sty. :rotfl:

Not available Saturday morning because you want to do something else?? then just be available in the afternoon, or Sunday morning.

Negotiate for goodness sake.

It's not rocket science. How difficult is it to check your diary and work out a mutually beneficial time for viewings.

All this talk of not putting your life on hold indefinitely. It's not necessary - just be flexible is all.

Don't complicate things - you can make it easy or difficult. Just get organised and it's a doddle.

And before you say it, yes I have moved house with two babies under the age of 2 and a husband who worked away from home.

Piece of cake.:eek: :rotfl:

DaftyDuck

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I agree, mainly. But to play devil's advocate it is a choice that needs making.
To what extent are you prepared to put your life on hold for probably months on end? How much are you prepared to inconvenience yourself?
Even though you are selling it, while this is all happening it _is_ your home, your family's home.

Some people may decide that some of these suggestions are a step too far. That's fair enough if that's what they think. Will it mean they will never sell their house? No. Will it mean that they will end up taking a lower offer than they would have done if they had followed all the "rules"? Quite possibly.

So, doing a third/fourth viewing or knocking £2k off what you expect to sell for? It is a choice that can be made. Which way you choose will depend on your circumstances.

Agreed. You might get considerably less for showing a crowded house with three kids' stuff all over the floor and two dogs on the bed... or you might get lucky & find a like-minded family who think "heaven" when they see it. You need to decide what you are prepared to do, and what offer you will take before you market, with a pre-fixed time ("we'll think again in five months if no real progress"). Write it down so, when depressed you don't say "darn it all, we'll just have to take that low offer; I can't stand this pressure any more"). Just like going to an antiques auction for the first time; take a cash sum & no cards, and know what you want to buy, and for how much.

It's not always easy, but the route to sanity when selling/buying houses is to know where you stand, and to remain calm and in control where possible. It is NOT always possible to remain so detached :mad: however carefully you plan!

HariboJunkie

lessonlearned wrote: »

And before you say it, yes I have moved house with two babies under the age of 2 and a husband who worked away from home.

Piece of cake.:eek: :rotfl:

:rotfl: I'll see this and raise it .... Sold and moved to rental property with 6 month old twins then moved to current home when they were 9 months _pale_. All while my husband was working. The removal men were lovely though and refused to leave before building the cots for me.

DaftyDuck

HariboJunkie;

One advantage of letting a good estate Agent do the first viewing is the potential purchaser may feel less embarrassed asking questions, poking around, and even being honest in the first five minutes with a "oh my God, this is horrid... get me away from this hideous house" or the like. I have had people feel obliged to spend best part of an hour looking when I showed it, only to tell the agent it was too big/too far from where they wanted/'orrid etc.

I would always do a second viewing (etc) if I could, and make it clear by having the teapot full that I was in no hurry whatsoever. I'm quite happy to do the first if the agent advises, often because he thinks I'd like the viewer, and vice versa.

There are one or two agents good enough to do viewings but, it looks from this thread, as if one of the two just retired from the business

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

Yes I agree some of the posts on these boards can be alarmist. Try not to take them too seriously. There's nothing to be scared of.

However, moving house doesn't score 25 on the stress-o-meter for nothing. It can be a tad trying. Which is why it pays to learn how to play the game.

Re "asking prices and eventual selling prices".

People are currently settling for a discount of around 10 to 15% off the asking price. An investor ie BTL landlord or property developer will be looking for 20%. This is more or less across the board and is down to market conditions. Even "hotspots" are not completely immune from the need to discount.


Re - presentation.

Obviously it's up to you how much effort you are prepared to expend. My view?? Dish drainers and washing up cloths are not decorative objects so best to hide them for photos' and viewings. .

.;)

Actually the comments that scare the wits out of me most are those that imply EVERYONE has to take a large discount off their asking price - without the person concerned saying what area of the country they are in and implying that the whole country is like this. Much of the country is, quite possibly, like this - but I do stamp feet with frustration that they don't "tell the whole picture" - ie that it ISNT like that in some other parts (like mine for instance:D). But...hey...I just say "no" to anyone who has read those posts without realising that it doesnt apply to our part of the country...its just the frustration element of getting a "read this forum and take no account of this part of country" would-be buyer turning up (but hopefully they will have exhausted themselves already trying that on several other houses here and realised what level of offer is appropriate round here and I won't be one of their "exhaust themselves trying it" houses for any of them - fingers crossed and think positive that they will have got that out of their system elsewhere first.

Floorcoverings are automatically getting thrown in and most of the house has the "final mid-price range neutral" carpet/laminate/etc - so they will be getting something rather worthwhile without question to start with. The curtains - I will leave one set that are specially for this house at an awkward window "to suit" on this. The rest are mine - so will come with me. Light fittings - standard cheap...will be staying here. Garden (back yard to be accurate) storage cupboard staying. A couple of large posh plants in back yard staying. (So thats probably around £2k of freebies thrown in anyway).

Don't know about estate agents generally doing the viewing as to whether its the norm hereabout - think it probably is. I did specifically say to my agent that, being a woman on my own, I would feel safer anyway having an agent doing this and was this something they automatically do. She said it is a service provided to all buyers as part of the service. To me - that is worth just taking her (reasonable I felt) quote of their fees and accepting just as it stands, rather than trying to haggle it down a bit. I'd rather she was a "happy bunny" that I'd just automatically accepted their standard price - as she's more likely to put herself out and do the job of selling well for me. One reason for choosing her too was she's positively (genuinely) charming and friendly.

No chance of throwing anything anywhere much in a laundry basket to get it out of the way. No garage/shed/conservatory/utility room in this place. Its too small a house (from my pov) to have anywhere spare to stash things out of the way. Its full of my stuff already - hence part of the move is to get a bit bigger house.

DaftyDuck

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Actually the comments that scare the wits out of me most are those that imply EVERYONE has to take a large discount off their asking price - without the person concerned saying what area of the country they are in and implying that the whole country is like this. Much of the country is, quite possibly, like this - but I do stamp feet with frustration that they don't "tell the whole picture" - ie that it ISNT like that in some other parts (like mine for instance:D). But...hey...I just say "no" to anyone who has read those posts without realising that it doesnt apply to our part of the country...its just the frustration element of getting a "read this forum and take no account of this part of country" would-be buyer turning up (but hopefully they will have exhausted themselves already trying that on several other houses here and realised what level of offer is appropriate round here and I won't be one of their "exhaust themselves trying it" houses for any of them - fingers crossed and think positive that they will have got that out of their system elsewhere first.

Floorcoverings are automatically getting thrown in and most of the house has the "final mid-price range neutral" carpet/laminate/etc - so they will be getting something rather worthwhile without question to start with. The curtains - I will leave one set that are specially for this house at an awkward window "to suit" on this. The rest are mine - so will come with me. Light fittings - standard cheap...will be staying here. Garden (back yard to be accurate) storage cupboard staying. A couple of large posh plants in back yard staying.

But if I said I'd buy your house for £XXX, which was an acceptable price, but I wanted the curtains included, would you be ready to be flexible? Are you prepared to work out what the next offer might be (it may well be lower) and when it might come (it might be weeks or months away)? How much are the curtains really worth - and is it worth losing a sale over them. It may well be, in your case, but I'd doubt it.

I'd still worry about your mindset - that your carpets are "they will be getting something worthwhile without question to start with". If they are included, I'm paying you good money for them; you aren't doing me any favours by "throwing them in".

Just semantics maybe, but it is a mindset that either sells houses at a profit rapidly, or leaves your house as the "second choice" on buyers' lists for weeks - and months - to come.

hazyjo

Was about to ask the same thing, Dafty.

My buyers wanted curtains. tbh, I'd already said I was including most of them and all blinds.

Jx