Moving House, ain't it fun!

JimmyMac

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
10,221
Reaction score
11,493
Points
3,679
So its taken 2 1/2 years but we finally had an offer on our house on Monday which we have accepted. During that time I had been pestered by the estate agents (we changed a few times) to lower the price as it was too expensive and such but I held my ground and it seems it was worthwhile as the offer was very close to asking.

So now the fun begins of looking, and its already a nightmare! Initially we saw three properties we were interested in. One of them we found was under offer and the one we were really keen on was taken off the market yesterday by the owners, so we are now down to 1 which we are viewing on saturday. If thats not the right one then we are going to have to wait until something comes on the market!

Gutted about the one that was taken off the market as it looked perfect from the pictures and the price was great. It was also smack in the middle of the location we want to be in!
 
Is it worth asking why the one you liked was taken off the market?

You could say you've admired from afar awaiting an offer to come, which it finally has, and see if the agent will ask them.
 
Did you find out why the house you liked was taken off the market? It might be possible to contact the owner to do a deal.
 
I did ask, they said that the current owners had been looking for properties themselves and can't see anything that they are interested in currently and would have nowhere to move to if they found a buyer, seems they are waiting to see if something comes up they like.

Of course, the real reason could be completely different for all I know but I have asked to be kept updated if it comes back on the market again
 
If this other property isn't any good, could you rent for a while until something else comes up? At least that way you're not in a chain and might even be a good negotiating tool
 
Yeah, we are ok, if we need to move out then we can move in with the mother in law indefinitely so we shouldn't effect our buyers.

Shame really, in all the time we have been trying to sell we have kept an eye on rightmove and theres been many properties we like, now we come to look properly and currently there's one!
 
As I say, we can move in with the wifes mum which is fine so thats not an issue. I was merely stating the fun and games of seeing properties you like and then finding they are no longer available
 
How have property prices fared in the last 2.5 years? Getting close to your asking price now may actually leave you worse off if they have increased unless you are trading down. When I sold many years ago, walking into estate agents looking for a property to buy having already sold elicited almost no response. Perceived wisdom is to sell first, but it depends on how fussy you are as a purchaser.

Flats are always a compromise and in the end, we just ended up upderpinning the property and extending down. Given the increase in value, even the significant costs were well worth spending.

If you think property prices are going to rise in your area, renting may not be a good idea as you will miss out on the rise. Hard one to call. Horrible business though.
 
On the whole prices look to have dropped really, initially we were told to put our house up for £149,950, however looking back now it was massively overpriced, when I checked similar properties in the area they were close to £135k, I think the estate agent was just trying to make me feel happy with the price to get me on board as there are about 7 estate agents in this area.

I dropped the price about 6 months in to what I though was a more reasonable price of £140k which was about what I wanted anyway, around that price would give us the equity to upsize comfortably.

Over the last year or so prices seem to have been reducing as a whole, one of our neighbours got theirs valued at £165k, theres is detached and a larger plot than ours, others went up nearby of similar size at around £130k. I stuck to my guns and we have accepted an offer of £137k.

Looking around we do seem limited in choice, but thats literally just personal choice, theres plenty of properties and a 4 bed detached is around the £190-200k mark, 2 years ago I was looking at around £220k
 
On the whole prices look to have dropped really, initially we were told to put our house up for £149,950, however looking back now it was massively overpriced, when I checked similar properties in the area they were close to £135k, I think the estate agent was just trying to make me feel happy with the price to get me on board as there are about 7 estate agents in this area.

I dropped the price about 6 months in to what I though was a more reasonable price of £140k which was about what I wanted anyway, around that price would give us the equity to upsize comfortably.

Over the last year or so prices seem to have been reducing as a whole, one of our neighbours got theirs valued at £165k, theres is detached and a larger plot than ours, others went up nearby of similar size at around £130k. I stuck to my guns and we have accepted an offer of £137k.


Looking around we do seem limited in choice, but thats literally just personal choice, theres plenty of properties and a 4 bed detached is around the £190-200k mark, 2 years ago I was looking at around £220k


A bit bizarre that you got more now in a falling market, but that may be because there is so little around. I guess if property is falling in value, people are probably not looking to move.

But until it is a done deal, it is all academic really. I don't envy you!
 
A bit bizarre that you got more now in a falling market, but that may be because there is so little around. I guess if property is falling in value, people are probably not looking to move.

But until it is a done deal, it is all academic really. I don't envy you!

I was fairly surprised myself, we were already planning to use savings to make up the difference and drop the price but I wanted to hold out a bit longer in order to get as much saved as possible. We had plenty of viewings and almost everyone kept saying its was a lovely place but too expensive.

In the end the current buyers are retired, have no mortgage and are downsize, there was no haggling, they came straight in at that price so I can only put it down to them really wanting the place and with having no mortgage being in a place to pay a little over the odds for a place they wanted

As you say, until its a done deal its all academic, however they have their house sold and are ready to go, no chain above them and it looks like things could move quite quickly.
 
Yup, the difference in prices is pretty big, I used to live in the south west but with my parents at the time, still have friends there. One of them wants to move but has no equity, lives in a mid terraced 2 up 2 down and his house was valued at being more than our 3 bed semi, ours has nearly twice the space that his has!
 
To give you an idea on the prices, the house we wanted thats gone off the market is only a couple of doors down from this one and they would have originally been identical.

4 bedroom detached house for sale in Starbeck Drive, Little Sutton, CH66

however there had been quite extensive work done on the other property which made a massive difference which is why this one isn't on our list to see
 
The thing is people who need to move usually do it through distress in a falling market and a cash buyer will always trump even a better offer. I'd sell and rent if I was you.

A two bed flat is over £400k in London suburbs, so enjoy it while it lasts!
 
Jimmy

I sympathise with you man.
My wife and I sold our flat of 10yrs back in 2011.
Our buyer wanted a quick sale so we tried to get it done within 1 month. As we were trying to buy our now current house from the Budhist organisation. We were told it was all do-able as long as there were no issues and our lawyers kept on top of things.

Our lawyer never kept on top of things and with about a week to go he discovered that the budhist had used their "budhist" names rather than their real names. So for all intense purposes they had signed legal documents with names like Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, La-La & Po.

Could not believe it or make it up (wish I was because that tele-tubbies joke was one I made up and re-tell as part that story) and it can become very stressul. We got there in the end but not before we had a serious hard time from lawyers, despite it being, in part, their fault for not doing their jobs correctly.

Good luck dude and constantly remind each other "it is all worth it in the end!".
 
Thanks everyone, we are really lucky with the costs too. My aunty does conveyancing so solicitors fees are next to nothing and the brother in law is a structural engineer and has all the qualifications to so the surveys for the price of a bottle of red :)
 
Ok, being from the South 190k for a 4 bed house seems a cheap as chips

Tell me about. My brother sold his 3 bed EOT for £237,500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A 'needs gutting' 3 bed semi is ~£175,000 in some areas.

Kent.
 
so we are now down to 1 which we are viewing on saturday. If thats not the right one then we are going to have to wait until something comes on the market!!


feel for you, we sold our house for asking in 1 day ( couldnt beleive it) in the few weeks that followed, we couldnt find a property, rather than lose the sale we sold and went in to rented, sods law within a week of renting we have found our "perfect" house and complete in a few weeks (meaning ive got to pay mortgage and rent for 3 months...................... )
 
feel for you, we sold our house for asking in 1 day ( couldnt beleive it) in the few weeks that followed, we couldnt find a property, rather than lose the sale we sold and went in to rented, sods law within a week of renting we have found our "perfect" house and complete in a few weeks (meaning ive got to pay mortgage and rent for 3 months...................... )

I expect something similar, properties come up all the time, we are now viewing 4 at the weekend so things are looking better :)
 
Not that I want to rub salt in the wounds but when my Wife and I bought our current house 6 years ago we had two properties to sell.
I had a one bedroom flat and she had a tiny 2 bedroom house. My flat sold in 1 week and her house sold in 4 hours. Both were sold with the same estate agents who were running a competition at the time to win free Estate agent fees, and guess who won?
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom