Never been in this position before...

Good luck with the sale Ariadne. Horrid time - will you be showing prospective purchasers round or will the agent?

Well, either. They are happy to do it if we're away, and they've arranged an "Open morning" which they will run. So we'll see. I just want to get on with it now, and am hoping that, because we're in commuting distance from London, it should sell.

Good luck, ariadne. I've never been in that position, even when selling a house. It was always warts an' all with us. Didn't seem to make any difference, thankfully.

Well, given the market, thought I'd pull out the stops! But hey, ho, look at all the time I now have today to chat!

(Honestly, you'd think I did housework every day, the way I'm going on. But my mother, she of the rubber gloves and clean dusters, would be proud of me. She actually lived like this!)

lol Ariadne, at least you'll have the photos to prove to others how everso Hyacinth B you can be! Good luck with house, it does pay to make an effort in present market.

Is this the beginning of your migration Devonward Ariadne?

Best of luck Ariadne. I know that things could be slow at the moment but a mate of mine works in an estate agency and has told me that they are painfully short of properties to sell at the moment - so you never know - could happen quicker that you think
Open mornings are a good idea except that a number of oglers are likely to pitch up. It would be fantastic if you got a sale from yours because it's such a trial trying to keep clean and orderly for a number of months.

GOOD LUCK

Best of luckAriadne hoping you get a quick sale and to many "browsers" its the best time of year to put property on market after the dark dismal winter,everything nice and gleeming.

Thank you all!

ga yes, this is it! Westward Ho! (How apt is that?)

Ariadne if you're having an open morning I would recommend that you advise your estate agent that only people who are in a position to buy should be invited. There really are people for whom house sales are just an excuse for a few hours of indulging curiosity.

should read "not to many browsers" ^^ sorry !

We have sold 6 houses in the last 47 years and have never sold via an estate agent. Always done the advertising, showing and ultimately selling ourselves. We decided to sell our present house in March after 9 years here, told all our friends and hey diddle diddle, the daughter of one of them asked to see it and has bought it! We hope to complete in the next 4 weeks. I am not a fan of estate agents at all and we have saved thousands by doing it ourselves. Once you have an agreed offer it's over to the solicitors to do their stuff anyway and you are better at showing your home than any estate agent!

Good luck Ariadne - we are in the midst of sorting "stuff" which seems to have taken up residence all over the place and I am being ruthless in getting rid of it! I am sure you will be doing the same!

We have done it! Now have storage unit full of all the stuff we didn't discard. Where does it all come from? Why does he need to keep 5 bikes when he hasn't ridden one for at least two years (Bless him, he was quite a serious and successful cyclist in the army!)

Why have I got at least 3 boxes of academic texts...

Ariadne....ooooh be brave......if its not missed for 12 months - donate, sell or get shot of....its really quite liberating.

Well Ariadne we only have four bikes so you are one better than us! But my DH does actually ride his three - he's getting over his peritonitis op on 30 March really well and has managed two short bike rides now - says it's easier than walking! So we are definitely taking all our bikes with us!

I still have to tackle some cupboards and the loft. DS says he will come and help with that. The removals chappie has also said they can help if I need it so I think we shall cope. I keep taking boxes of stuff to the Charity shops and passing on other useful stuff to willing recipients. It actually feels quite refreshing and unencumbering!

We were persuaded to let the agents show our prospective buyers round, while we made ourselves scarce for half an hour - they were a dead loss; in spite of my having furnished them with a list of dates when various works and fittings were carried out, and other information, we had at least two viewers come back to our door to ask questions they should have had answered by the agents. We went to see a property with an agent, and he hardly knew anything about the place ("Oh, I'll look that up and get back to you!") In the end, with our property, we took over the viewings. We had one chap there for an hour, most of which he spent outside - I couldn't get him out of the garden! The people who actually bought the house spent about twenty minutes looking around it and made a good offer the next day. I wish you every success, Ariadne! If you've walloped on plenty of the old magnolia, you won't go wrong!

Oh yes, Artygran, though I have been reminded, as I cleaned, that we aren't actually marching out!

Old habits, etc!

When you said you'd never been in this position before, I was thinking things like standing up in a hammock, or well, never mind. (My husband used to be a sailor...)

So did i

Good luck with selling your house Ariadne. Funnily enough my DS & DIL have just looked at a house in Westward Ho!, love the area but the house needed to much doing. They've just got a sale on their property and have made an offer on another house near me and have 'Sale Agreed' but the sellers have lost the property that they want and will only sell if they can find something they really like. It's a nightmare all this buying and selling, so glad we've never moved

Looks likely that we may have lodgers for a while in a couple of months time until they find somewhere.

Yes estate agents don't seem to do a lot for the money they charge do they.
Well done with the big cleanup. I did this once. Watched Housedoctor a lot of times while on the couch ill. DECLUTTER seemed to be the message. I did and it sold very quickly.

We decided that we would sell and then rent for a few months while we bought the next place, so doing one thing at a time. And we are mortgage free, so that helps (And how, in many ways!)

JessM Good morning! I too watched a lot of "House Doctor" when I was having chemo and could do little else, and have acted upon what I learned. The interesting thing is that they say that, as you depersonalise, you begin to detach emotionally from the house, and I think I'm recognising that now.

Anyway, it's still remarkably shiny, so my cleaner will have an easy time tomorrow. Apart from the ironing...

Yes it was repetitive and strangely soothing. I had a chest infection at the time.
Interesting that depersonalising thing.
Hope you get some interest.