DIARY OF A HOUSE SALE - in a "static" house price part of the country

ellie99

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Thanks.

I think maybe I might "flaunt" another statistic as well - my fuel bill. I have told the estate agent that I think £55 per month for both gas and electric (by someone who doesnt ration their use either) is probably pretty darn good as a fuel bill compared to a lot of houses - so a casual comment chucking that fact in by the agent on viewings might not go amiss..:rotfl:

Just a thought - if you want your estate agent to tell viewers what your utility bills are, I hope you've got one of those very rare agents who learn a bit about the property they're selling.

I've viewed a fair amount of properties, and NOT ONE agent has known ANYTHING about the property they were selling, they were basically there to unlock the door and let me look around. No point asking about heating systems, nice neighbours, etc etc.

The last flat I bought...the agent was so knowledgeable she insisted I'd come to see the flat next door which was also for sale...I insisted I knew what I wanted to see...she tried the keys in the wrong door...then admitted I knew where I was going, a good job one of us did!

Of course a buyer can decide whether a house is for them without a viewing with the owner, but a viewing providing all the information only the owner knows, can leave a positive impression.
I know you don't want to do your own viewings, I'm just saying you won't know what your agent is saying (if anything) to viewers, and you can't guarantee he'll pass on all the good points.

moneyistooshorttomention

Point taken Ellie and obviously the thought has crossed my mind of being there (in my case in order to pick up what "vibes" I could about whether the viewer is someone who would stick to any agreement they made or no and if I looked at them and alarm bells rang - I'd make sure I kept right on marketing the house just in case....).

The down side though is I've got such an easily readable face (possible to see exactly what I'm feeling a mile off I'm told:rotfl:) and such high standards as to what I expect that I'd feel guilty as heck about any little problem (even if others could easily pass off a huge problem and think nothing of it) that I simply don't trust myself to be around iyswim and that's part of why I don't intend to be there. In my case a non-perceptive viewer (ie a lot of them) would register me feeling alarmed about a Problem Scale 1, when someone who has a Problem Scale 6 with their house would probably charm the pants off a viewer and they would ultimately wish they had bought my house instead.

ellie99

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Point taken Ellie and obviously the thought has crossed my mind of being there (in my case in order to pick up what "vibes" I could about whether the viewer is someone who would stick to any agreement they made or no and if I looked at them and alarm bells rang - I'd make sure I kept right on marketing the house just in case....).

I did the viewings for my brother when his house was for sale (about a dozen). I found it was pretty much impossible to tell who would offer, who would stick to the agreement, who was financially ready to go. IMO the only reason to consider being present is the extra "sell" you can do as the owner.

lessonlearned

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

) that I simply don't trust myself to be around iyswim and that's part of why I don't intend to be there. In my case a non-perceptive viewer (ie a lot of them) would register me feeling alarmed about a Problem Scale 1, when someone who has a Problem Scale 6 with their house would probably charm the pants off a viewer and they would ultimately wish they had bought my house instead.

Money - I'm a tad confused.

Are you saying that you are aware that your property has issues that could affect the outcome of your sale and that you would prefer them not to come to light.

Or I have misread or misconstrued that last bit.

SavvyStudentSaver

lessonlearned wrote: »

Money - I'm a tad confused.

Are you saying that you are aware that your property has issues that could affect the outcome of your sale and that you would prefer them not to come to light.

Or I have misread or misconstrued that last bit.

My understanding of this is that Money thinks they'd over-react to everything. Say the viewer says that the door is a bit creaky, Money might react in a similar fashion to how someone else would if a viewer commented the door was falling off it's hinges. And by comparison, the viewer might think there's something to hide because Money seems a lot more nervous then a typical seller would be about little problems.

I might be mis-understanding though- it's very late, and I'm on my pre-sleep wind-down from University work, and for some reason I choose to relax by reading about people buying houses, lol.

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

Money - I'm a tad confused.

Are you saying that you are aware that your property has issues that could affect the outcome of your sale and that you would prefer them not to come to light.

Or I have misread or misconstrued that last bit.

Every house has issues of one description or another at one level or another - be it views, neighbours, the house itself. I am someone who feels bad about things being anything other than totally perfect - so I'd feel bad about downsides on any house I was selling. So - on a scale of 1-10 - with a very very good house being 1 and a total disaster of a house being 10 I could see me feeling bad about something that rated as 2 or 3, when someone else could quite happily not mention an issue that was that bad that it rated as a 6 on the scale iyswim.

One of my house issues is a very nosy, intrusive neighbour for instance - and I would probably land up mentioning them and the would-be viewer would probably just register "nosy neighbour" and not register my next words of "and they are so old and ill they won't be there much longer one way or another". In other words they would probably hear the message of "problem" - rather than the one of "nothing to worry about - will soon be gone. They've already mentally retreated into the shell some people do when the end is imminent and arent doing the nosy/intrusive nearly so much as they did".

Hope that makes it clearer.

EDIT: Thanks Savvy - you got it in a nutshell. I do know myself well enough to know that that's exactly how I am. When I was younger and still recognised myself in the mirror I knew full well that other people would comment approvingly about my figure/eyes/skin - but what would I do? Yep...thats right - I'd point out about my awful hair....so I can see me being exactly the same about my house....

lessonlearned

I see, I understand.

I realise that you are very nervous about selling your property and face to face dealing with viewers. I just wondered if there was an issue with the property and it was something I could advise you on.

Now I know that a lot of people would disagree with me but I actually do think it's a very good idea to disclose the negatives of the house as well as the positives. However I know a lot of people think that's crazy - personally I just think it's fair. And it has always worked for me.

As you know I've just sold my house. I put in on the market middle of October. My house backed onto open fields. Lovely views.

A week after putting it on the market I received notification from a developer that he would be putting in an application to build 250 houses.:eek:

Well you can imagine my thoughts. I was resigned to the fact that my house would not sell. I would just have to ride out the contract with the EA and forget moving.

The viewers started coming. They loved the views (of course). I told them about the planning bombshell.

Now I needn't have because the planning application was not scheduled to go into the local council until January. Any Local Searches would not have picked up any planning issues because permissions had not actually been applied for yet.

A Purchaser would have bought my house in all innocence and then a couple of months after moving in would have received the bad news once planning had been applied for.

There is no way I could have done that to someone.

As it is, my purchasers bought my property in the full knowledge of what was about to happen. Planning may of course be refused but I doubt it. At least my purchasers had their eyes wide open. They were able to make an informed decision.

Re - the noisy neighbours. There's not much you can do.

The legal position is this. If there has been any form of dispute or any formal complaints regarding noise or anti-social behaviour then you are legally obliged to disclose this on the pre-contract enquiries. If relations with your neighbours are generally ok but they just irritate you with their noise levels then you are in the clear.

Again this is something that may not bother your new purchasers anyway. They might be noisy too. Don't forget you live alone and are used to peace and solitude. Your purchasers may have a child or a barking dog or just not notice extra noise anyway.

I shouldn't worry too much about this one. If this is the only thing that might be an issue then you should be fine. Just allow your EA to do the viewings as you had planned.

moneyistooshorttomention

Errm...the neighbour is nosy not noisy...you name it and they will snoop around about it...:cool:. But, thankfully, now they're in the mind mode they have gone into they don't snoop quite as much as they used to (and boy did they snoop a lot:eek:).

Fields at back - most peoples dream and certainly mine personally. Where I am going there are a lot of properties with fields at the back and I am looking at them thinking "Nice, nice...I want" and then putting my sensible head back on and thinking "Better not - never know what will happen to those fields. They might stay nice fields/nice setting/me a happy bunny on the one hand. On the other hand - they might get developed". My main fear about a field at back would be developers getting their mitts on them. I would also worry about what fertilisers they might use on them and whether there were ever likely to be anyone squatting illegally in them.

Sighs...resigned to other houses at the back then...at least I'd not worry about those things then.

You are quite right about horses for courses obviously re different ways of looking at the same house by different people. What to me is "No flippin' garden - how on earth are people supposed to manage without a garden" would register with some people as "Easily maintained courtyard garden - thank goodness I don't have to do any gardening".

phoebe1989seb

See my comments in blue below -

lessonlearned wrote: »

I see, I understand.

I realise that you are very nervous about selling your property and face to face dealing with viewers. I just wondered if there was an issue with the property and it was something I could advise you on.

Now I know that a lot of people would disagree with me but I actually do think it's a very good idea to disclose the negatives of the house as well as the positives. However I know a lot of people think that's crazy - personally I just think it's fair. And it has always worked for me.

As you know I've just sold my house. I put in on the market middle of October. My house backed onto open fields. Lovely views.

A week after putting it on the market I received notification from a developer that he would be putting in an application to build 250 houses.:eek:

Well you can imagine my thoughts. I was resigned to the fact that my house would not sell. I would just have to ride out the contract with the EA and forget moving.

The viewers started coming. They loved the views (of course). I told them about the planning bombshell.

Now I needn't have because the planning application was not scheduled to go into the local council until January. Any Local Searches would not have picked up any planning issues because permissions had not actually been applied for yet.

A Purchaser would have bought my house in all innocence and then a couple of months after moving in would have received the bad news once planning had been applied for.

There is no way I could have done that to someone.

As it is, my purchasers bought my property in the full knowledge of what was about to happen. Planning may of course be refused but I doubt it. At least my purchasers had their eyes wide open. They were able to make an informed decision.

Very honest of you Lesson - and something the vendor of a house we almost bought in 2011 should have done, but didn't.

We only found out by chance - after we'd had our offer accepted on a rural period house with gorgeous garden overlooking fields - that PP had been granted to build two detached houses directly behind 'our' garden. When we approached the EA he tried to wriggle out of it by saying they were going to be small bungalows, when a quick look at the online planning portal revealed they were two storey four bed/three reception houses, that not only ruined the view but towered over the garden potentially casting large shadows. We swiftly withdrew our offer and the house in question took a further 18 months to sell......at a greatly reduced price (more than £200k less than original AP!) So it just goes to show how in Lesson's case honesty was rewarded!

The legal position is this. If there has been any form of dispute or any formal complaints regarding noise or anti-social behaviour then you are legally obliged to disclose this on the pre-contract enquiries. If relations with your neighbours are generally ok but they just irritate you with their noise levels then you are in the clear.

Money, didn't I read on another thread that you've had issues with anti-social behaviour (graffiti?) in close proximity to your house? Hopefully nothing that's involved formal complaints/disputes with paper trails etc?
.

lessonlearned

Money - Sorry about me reading noisy for nosy. I am currently in the middle of one of my periodic migraines and my vision gets a bit wonky at these times.

I understand about buying a property that has neighbouring properties already in situ. At least you know what you are getting and can work out things like light and shadows.

The recent changes and relaxation of planning rules means that a lot of green belt could be risk.

Phoebe - no I've not had issues with neighbours or graffiti. Must be another poster. Actually my previous neighbours were lovely. I've met my new ones and they seem quite nice. Friendly but not "in your face" ifyswim.

You had a lucky escape there. How awful of the Vendor and EA to try and hide something like that.

I'm not naive and I know that sometimes people try things like this. I think that kind of behaviour is truly dreadful, unethical and morally bankrupt.

Just goes to highlight - there are a lot of sharks out there - just ready to bite the unwary.