Selling a House

[etccarmageddon]

I've had my house on the market for a couple of months now and so far it's been a bit of a farce due to the unreliablity and attitude of buyers.

So far 5 people have viewed it plus 3 who have failed to keep their appointments - is this normal? Has house hunting changed cos last time I sold a house people kept to their appointments? There does appear to be a pattern though - the ones who make an appointment asap and to fit in with my availability are the ones who turn up!

Anyone else selling a house right now or recently sold one? and if so what experiences are you having?

Should I change estate agent?

[Silent Wings]

We are in the same boat.........been on the market about the same time as you and people had let us down too.........I have even taken time off work to fit in with viewings only for a call from the agent to say they've cancelled so now they'll have to fit in with me........

We are also getting people around who really don't know what they want had a guy the other day who said the garden was too big now thats a first

anyway best of luck

[etccarmageddon]

I've made that mistake in the past - taking time off work. One of my no-shows was a bloke coming from 50-100 miles away who had to be here no later than 6pm - so I changed by working hours and skipped lunch plus cleaned for an hour at 7am. and the git didnt turn up - and wouldnt return the estate agents calls.

[Silent Wings]

I do feel the whole system of selling property needs reviewing, the fact you can't out an offer on a property until you have sold.......you end up missing out all the time.

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

I've had my house on the market for a couple of months now and so far it's been a bit of a farce due to the unreliablity and attitude of buyers.

So far 5 people have viewed it plus 3 who have failed to keep their appointments - is this normal? Has house hunting changed cos last time I sold a house people kept to their appointments? There does appear to be a pattern though - the ones who make an appointment asap and to fit in with my availability are the ones who turn up!

Anyone else selling a house right now or recently sold one? and if so what experiences are you having?

Should I change estate agent?

Yup!

We've been on the market for about 6 weeks. We have had 4 viewings, but so far all of them have turned up! Last Saturday's was a bit too keen and arrived 10 minutes early, while the kitchen was in the kind of appalling mess that always seems to happen just before you finish tidying it.

No offers so far...we're not too worried, as the process of buying is taking a while, so we're not in a big hurry, and remember it is the summer hols. Nobody's really interested in moving house just now. It'll pick up in September.

If your estate agent is getting people through his door, he should be managing to get people round to you. If no-one is coming into the office (as ours claims is often the case just now) then it's no real reflection on how good he is. You could always send some spies down there, posing as buyers looking for your kind of house, and see what kind of effort he makes to push yours.

As for buying ... try simultaneously buying in Scotland while selling in England if you want to know what complicated feels like!

[TheBlueRaja]

Shut up the lot of you...

You want to try being a First time buyer - its a bloody nightmare - especially in Scotland where you have absolutley no idea just how much your going to have to pay to get a house and you need to survey just to find out how much its worth so the offer you put in dosent go over the value of the house.

Even then you need to go over the survey price in order to get what you want sometimes, which leaves you with less money for a deposit on a mortgage because you have to make up the shortfall.

And all that time your wondering - is it all going to fall apart around you and get you into a mountain of debt.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by theblueraja

Shut up the lot of you...

You want to try being a First time buyer - its a bloody nightmare - especially in Scotland where you have absolutley no idea just how much your going to have to pay to get a house and you need to survey just to find out how much its worth so the offer you put in dosent go over the value of the house.

Even then you need to go over the survey price in order to get what you want sometimes, which leaves you with less money for a deposit on a mortgage because you have to make up the shortfall.

And all that time your wondering - is it all going to fall apart around you and get you into a mountain of debt.

and i really feel for you , i hope you get where you want to be , i would hate to be in your situation

[Nikko]

The good thing about being a first time buyer, is you only have to do it once

[Julian]

As the quote under my name says... I have been very frustrated by the house selling process.

I will relate the story but I have just returned from a lovely meal HERE and will have to do it later.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

and i really feel for you , i hope you get where you want to be , i would hate to be in your situation

Well the thing is - you think - do i try and get on the ladder now - coz if i miss out thats it - im stuffed and i cant afford a house if it goes up much more.

But then if i do buy - i will be thinking - god help me if the house prices start to fall.

Lady luck needs to come a calling if im to have any chance.

[BBKing]

Just been considering that question too, being potential first time buyers - but for one thing we can't afford anywhere and for another prices are definitely starting to come down (if there are no buyers for people's places as mentioned earlier this suggests things are definitely slowing). People are starting to get places for less than the asking price too.

All of which means that it's more sensible to clear your debts and start saving a whacking deposit for a year or two's time when thing will hopefully be a bit more affordable.

when you put your house on the market you get the initial flood of viewings but these tend to be people that the estate agents have had on their books for a while and are unlikely to make an offer. Once you get past these people your more likely to get offers.

The important thing is not to feel that you need an offer immediately. If you havent found somewhere to go then you dont need an offer.

We had our house on the market and sold but couldnt find anywhere we really liked enough to buy(dont just take any house because you have a buyer). After 3 months when we eventually found our ideal house we found that our buyer had dropped out without telling us. However the estate agent sold our house again within two days. But as we had found a house it was more important for use to sell this time so the price wasnt so much an issue. In the end we only lost £500 on the first buyers agreed price.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by theblueraja

Well the thing is - you think - do i try and get on the ladder now - coz if i miss out thats it - im stuffed and i cant afford a house if it goes up much more.

The only thing that is certain about house prices in this country is that they will always go up in the long term (even the medium term). Yes, there will sometimes be 'blips' but in general they will always rise. Five years ago people thought that prices were as high as they could reasonably be expected to go but they have almost doubled since........

[ian@huth]

Having bought and sold many houses in my moves around the country it can be a harrowing experience. At the moment many people are playing the waiting game to see how the increases in bank rate are affecting house prices, but this varies a lot by area.

A good estate agent can help by vetting prospective buyers and rooting out possible time-wasters. One has to be careful though if you think about changing agents as you could possibly end up paying both agents for the same sale. Check your contract with the agent before going elsewhere and preferably get the agents written acceptance that any sale after a certain date is not a sale that they can claim commission on. It is usually best to give your current agent notice in writing that they have say a month in which to get a suitable buyer or else you will end your contract with them and find another agent. The thought of losing the commission from your sale can spur them on to miraculously find the buyer they couldn't find before.

I have found that probably half the viewers that we have had over the years have never had any intention of buying or making an offer on the property. Some come just for a good old nosey at what your house is like inside, other come for decoration ideas for their own property, some have their own similar property on the market and are looking at what their opposition is like and, no doubt, some are casing the joint to see if it's worth a nocturnal viewing. Quite often you are expecting people for a viewing but they do not turn up, probably having just driven by and not liked the area or the exterior of the property so didn't bother coming to the door.

Best of luck in finding a buyer, you will probably know the right one within minutes of them coming through the front door.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Silent Wings

We are in the same boat.........been on the market about the same time as you and people had let us down too.........I have even taken time off work to fit in with viewings only for a call from the agent to say they've cancelled so now they'll have to fit in with me........

anyway best of luck

Thing to remember is you pay a 'lot' of money to the agent to sell your house.............so get them to do some work ie showing people around !