House on market and I'm a bit lost

Chinesecrested - Open Days are a thing of the past. When it was a sellers market. They used to have these days then ask for sealed bids to put in. Was very good for sellers, but disheartening for would-be purchasers. I know a young teacher who offered on over two dozen properties, always being beaten. She was withdrew from the buying market and rented, and I have recently persuaded her that it is her time and she now has a good offer on a flat accepted and she is very excited.
I can remember the gazumping period in the early 1970's when would-be purchasers would queue down the road when a property came on the market, with their cheque books in their hands.
Even as a seller I would not like to return to those times, but do think that the law in England regarding sale/purchase of property needs revising - just bring it into line with that in Scotland.
I have had people viewing and then saying how much they would need to spend on extensions/alterations and wanting to take that amount of asking price - I say to them that I am selling the house 'as it is now' - 'not how they think they want to make it'.
When me and my new hubbie bought our first house, we had to take a lodger and rent out the garage (we had no car), just in order to pay the mortgage - no thoughts of changing things - just wanted to get on that housing ladder.

I've just read this thread - good luck and Bon Courage to all who are selling and rebuying.
We moved back to England from France in Feb. last year, having signed the commitment to buy the previous Sept. Bought our new house here a year ago. We had intended to move straight back into the house we'd left rented, but the tenants wouldn't leave. So we were sofasurfing for 4 months.
Originally we'd planned to bring our dog and cat back with us, but this didn't work out - just as well, though we still miss them.
The whole move cost us a lot. financially and healthwise. But we're glad to be 'home'.
It's a major thing at our age.

Thanks for the Open Day idea Chinesecrested, I did suggest that to the EA and I can't remember why they refused.

So, I got home late this afternoon to an email saying the buyers have offered another £5K, not the £10K I asked for, and are meeting their mortgage advisor tomorrow morning.

I am sure that the EA told me he was a cash buyer, it was part of the excitement of him coming when I was away. The buyers also want to come and see me on Friday morning for ten minutes to check a few things, I wonder what they''ll ask me. I hope the kitchen mouse doesn't decide to put in an appearance! The EA thinks the price is fair and are glad it is going to a family again, rather than the viewers I've had who want to turn it into an Airbnb etc.

I have a heavy heart as I'd hoped for more money, thank you to those of you who have shared your reluctant 'losses'. to cheeky offers. The reality is that I cannot stand the thought of another winter here, and worst case scenario could end up having to finance the roof renewal during the wait for another buyer who might only offer a few thousand more. On the positive side once I'm freed from the huge bills I have here, I will have more money. It is a fantastic house, they are getting a real bargain, and it's going to be a happy home to a young family again which is lovely.

Thanks for all your support, I do appreciate having you to talk to. I'm dreading the upheaval of a survey and hope they don't want to go under the floor as most of the trapdoors are nailed down!

meeting their mortgage advisor tomorrow morning is good going mosaics, they obviously want to be speedy, no messing about. Obviously finger crossing time, if they can get a mortgage then it sounds as though you are home and dry. At least they have arranged this right at the start of the process. You should have a little more certainty very soon

I completely, 100%, understand and agree with your need to be out and warm before winter. You are being very brave mosaics, you will get through.

Do you think I should accept it though craftyone? £55K under the asking price - £105K under the original price. My son thinks they are trying it on and would pay more if I refused this offer. I can't decide what to do.

mosaics, I think you will understand me when I say that I would have given my house away, I was so ready to leave and just wanted shut of the whole sorry business. When hubbie died then money and savings tbh meant nothing, as long as I could have a warm cosy home and enough to pay the bills and for decent food. You are the only one who can do the sums. If you can afford to spend the rest of your life on your income and if you can afford to get some smaller cosy home somewhere, then do it. Draw that line across and get on with the rest of your life. This is what I did.

Oh Mosaicwarts - all that family advise! Its easy for them to talk about calling bluffs, but they have the luxury of being a little more detached from the situation. You are the one living in this big old house, not them.
How many EA's valued your home originally and did they explain the figure? Ours needed no work and its conversion was still within the NHBC 10 yr period so the EA just said X is the value if you are willing to wait 6 months....then he quoted 2 other prices reflecting how quickly we wanted to go...that was the only variation. Were you happy with how your home was valued? Was the initial price actually ever really achievable, its not unknown for the EAs to inflate prices for various reasons. Some being optimism some inexperience and some more about them getting the contract!
All I can say is I am so happy we bit the bullet, sold and are now in a new build from a small diligent builder who has had an excellent after sales service. We are spending some of the released money on having some lovely hard landscaping done to make a proper herb and rose garden with a seating area in the middle. There will be so much less to do and both DH and I are sleeping so much better and planning our new hobbies and trips without the worry of the other place hanging over us.
You know what you want to do - you are not betraying anyone or anything, you need to let go and go to the next stage, somewhere you are not drained by responsibilities and worries. Somewhere you can be snug and content in with a few roses to look out on. Good Luck and all my fingers are crossed.

How many other offers have you had and do you have on the table.? If the answer is none then I’m you don’t have any bargaining room really.

The thing with such an individual property is that it’s very hard to value. The EA may have thought it was worth a shot at a high price in case that one person who would want your house and no other was out there.

Me, I would take the money and go. But that’s because I reckon that the time I’ve got left to enjoy myself is worth more than the money?When I moved from my big house my outgoings were so much less anyway and you might have some very big bills if you stay.

No other offers, it is my first, hence all the excitement I think. I do feel as though I've lost it tonight, my mind is in a turmoil.

I had four estate agents round - one said £350, one said £450, and two said £600. The EA I chose said £600, but I pointed out that I knew at least £100K needed spending on the roof and windows so they agreed to market it at £500.

After many viewings and comments being made about the project being too big, they recommended I drop to £450, which I did about six weeks ago.

I think the bottom line is that they have made me feel like a desperate vulnerable old lady and I feel angry about it. I feel as though they could be taking advantage of my situation - I am alone, widowed and fearful of the money that needs to be spent here as well as the hard work involved keeping warm in winter . Information from the EA has also been so garbled - they are not cash buyers as I was led to believe, the buyers didn't phone back on Friday but turned up on my doorstep on Saturday. That they only increased their offer by £5K instead of the £10K I asked for has really irritated me.

In addition, the EA has never had the 'minimum offer' discussion with me and I'm suddenly discussing an offer of £390 being increased to £400 -in my mind I was hoping for a minimum offer of at least £425.

Having written all this, I think it is all to do with my late husband who worked his socks off to pay the mortgage. Accepting such a low price feels like an insult to his memory.

Thank you for your support, I'm going to open the wine the nice couple gave me for collecting their newspaper, I'll send you all a virtual glass!

Mosaicwarts
Have sent you PM.

The EA who valued your house at the highest price was touting for business , the others were realistic , sell and get out to a more comfortable place xxx

I completely agree with aggie. Those EAs have tried to sweep you along mosaics, no matter what heartache it caused you. Those people making the offer, have they sold their home? Very important to check that, if not thenpotentially accept their offer but stay on the market and ask the EA to aggressively market your home. It seems as though chains are inevitable

I got 400 for my house and that enabled me to buy a smaller, brand new cosy home, built by a very good builder, one of only 10 similar houses. I had enough left to pay for everything, including selling expenses, built in wardrobes and shutters and flooring and an upgraded multi fuel fire. I have enough left from that for a holiday and best of all I now have a 10 year guarantee and a cosy low maintenance home. So forget the advice thrown at you by well meaning family and friends, forget the `what ifs` and live in the present, which is far too much work and finance for you on your own and that is what counts. You need to make that decision asap because end of june the market stops until mid september and that means another freezing dap winter

Thanks for your advice and support, I'm feeling so confused about it today. I spoke to my solicitor who said he thought it was too low as well, but it's the only offer I've had. My other friend said bite their hand off!

I will ask if they've sold their house, and thanks for the heads up about the market being quiet after June - I thought this was the start of the busiest time.

Lots of love and laughter to you all today, I'm off to the beach with my patient sheltie who's been waiting since 6 am xx

You need to work out how much you will need to purchase whatever you want to buy. Then do remember to take into account up to another £15000 to cover all the expenses of removal (EA fees, (plus VAT) Solicitors, purchase fees, stamp duty on purchase, removal, etc). Once you have worked out how much you are going to need yourself, and if that is covered by the offer, then go for it.
Due to my own foolishness in the past, I have to give half the sale price of this house to my ex. He has never lived here, not ever paid a single penny towards it - but it was an agreement I made many years ago, when I needed him to sign the papers to sell what had been our family home.
So, it is very important to me to do those sums very carefully.
Provided, out of my 50%, I can still have enough to buy a flat, then I am happy with the sale price.
You really cannot take into account how hard anybody worked to pay a mortgage in the past - it has no bearing whatsoever on the selling price now.

Those top offers seem very out of kilter with the others. Its always been a rule of thumb (my DH is a retired surveyor who had links to large EAs) that you ignored the lowest and the highest.
Franbern's careful assessment is the way to go. Its hard to forget the years of family happiness and how hard your DH worked and view your house merely as a tool to fund your new life but its really the only way to preserve your peace of mind. It must be so hard to be the one left 'to fight the battles'.
DH's Father left it too late, we had had 'the talk' several times once he was widowed but he could not see the cold hard facts that his charming home was now a huge liability. We found rooms that had not been gone into for years and maintenance problems that he could no longer see, it was as if he had been wearing blinkers and just looking past the crumbling walls and leaking roof. Forcibly making him move was the worse thing we had to do and nearly broke my DH.
You have the luxury of being totally in charge, albeit rather overwhelmed but this move will be all about your choices.
I am sorry to say that the housing market really is in an unusually slow sate. Where we are there are several smart homes that would have been snapped up in a matter of days a couple of years ago.

Franbern, so sorry to read your tale. My Mum was in exactly the same position and I was too young to really understand the impact at the time. Hugs to you. I'm finding it so hard to work out my costs as I have only got as far as looking at renting locally, so I can travel down to the south coast to see what is available. I do regret every penny I've wasted!

The EA has just written and said she understands I want time to think it over and if I accept the offer the buyer would be told it was my lowest, and the price would not drop any further after the survey.

Apparently they are majority cash buyers 'dependant on the sale of their property' and the mortgage is a top up for renovation costs. How do they know how much it's going to cost? I did give the EA my survey in the early days but then read the small print and asked them to destroy it.

Now I know it's a chain and could end at any time if their buyer pulls out, I feel even worse.

Sheesh....it really gets my goat that EA's spin the term 'cash buyer'. To my mind a cash buyer has access to money there and then. We were cash buyers, it was tied up in investments from a legacy but after a few letters and phone calls we managed to round it up after a couple of weeks. Must admit at one point it was all sat in one bank account awaiting the transfer and I was doing by worse case scenario of 'what if the bank collapses over night?'....seriously until it was in the developers hands I was a wreck.
A cash buyer does not need to sell a house or get a mortgage....that's just a 'buyer'.
A mortgage for renovation might be along the lines of a ball park figure that is then released in smaller amounts as its requested. I believe that is a usual arrangement.
Accepting an offer along the lines you state might leave you wriggle room to say you will not actually remove it from the market. I believe this is an accepted strategy in the face of a less than satisfactory arrangement. See what your EA says about that.

If I were viewing houses I'd look favourably on
tidy packing cases as they would mean that the seller intended to move out asap. But I'd hate the garden rubbish.
I'd favour a house that smelled nice, no candles just fresh air and maybe baking (not kippers or curry) or coffee.

No garden rubbish now, you can visit any time you like

I've just calculated the costs of moving to a £300K house and it's about £10K, thanks all for sharing your costs. I'm definitely going to sell my furniture now rather than 'freecycle it', even a few pounds will help.

We sold a few bits via Gumtree!

You do realise that once they have a survey and see the list of things that need doing they offer either a much lower price or potentially walk away.

so the property stays on the market until after the survey and a buyer paying for a survey shows some degree of commitment. My `cash` buyer only had a quick survey for a mortgage and right at the end of the buying process, 12 weeks after making the offer. The survey was pretty superficial, to see if the bank would get their money back

I've just had a long email from my EA asking about my health and encouraging me to go for it.

Will be replying tomorrow, after speaking to my lovely very experienced friend who works for a competitor.

xx

HildaW I have a hilarious Gumtree story. About ten years ago I advertised an art deco type ornament cupboard, they type our Grandma's had.

Nice man rang, turned up - in the smallest car I've ever seen. I helped him carry down our 18 stairs, we wiggled and we woggled and it was never going to go in his boot!

I offered to deliver it in the end, he was only local - and when we got to his house a woman came running out and said 'I'm going to paint it and sell it on ebay'. Not 'thank you for delivering it'! Didn't do Gumtree after that!

mosaics we wait with bated breath, we have everything crossed as you approach the next step and get some peace of mind