House on market and I'm a bit lost

Hi, we have sold our house, no problems so far, we should be exchanging contracts in about 3 weeks.The house we are buying, we loved straight away, only small, but not much work to do with a lovely garden, we offered the full asking price, as there had been lots of interest, and they had already had two offers .We've been messed about by our surveyor, and it's taken 3 weeks to get our report back, only to find the house has been undervalued by 10% .Were so dissapointed, but don't want to pay the full asking price now, in case we need to move again in a few years.I'm going to ring them tonight, what do you suggest I say, not looking forward to this at all.

Mosaic I'm sorry to hear about fears for the winter, including being alone. I hope a buyer comes along soon. It makes me glad I'm now a manageable tiny house, with a postage size garden. I am glad you are being kind to yourself.

Trying to sell our house at the moment so we can downsize. There are so many properties on the market at the moment, we have a buyer but they can't sell their property so we are sitting in limbo. It seems to be a buyers market they seem to have so many to chose from. Good photos are a must, don't swop estate agents unless they are completely useless, if someone is looking for a house they will probably go on Rightmove or On The Market, and they won't care who is selling it. The worse thing is keeping tidy much of the time, I think getting the estate agent to do the viewings is the best way, I get very defensive of my home (not that I have had any negatives) but it is a very trying time. Hope all goes well.

Sorry haven't read them all so will simply give you my opinion as someone who has moved many times.

1 Look on Rightmove at houses in your price range and see how they compare, try looking at them as if you were a buyer not a seller.

2 If you are in the London area house prices are still dropping so you may need to be realistic about price.

3 I think the people we bought our house from probably put some of their furniture into store before putting the house on the market, it was quite minimalist. I think you should do that with your boxes unless you have room to stack them tidily in a garage. Possibly some furniture too.

4 Make the house pet free before viewings, pets put people off.

5 I think houses which are perfect with all the latest trends sell for more than they are worth and houses which need complete modernisation and are priced accordingly also sell quickly. Its the ones in the middle that don't sell so well.

6 Try to find an agent who will be straightforward and tell you what is good and what not so good about your house. Ask them not to be tactful. Ask them what price you can get, not what price you should put it on at.

7 If you change agents it might be a good idea to take it off the market for a couple of weeks and then put it on again as a new to the market property.

8 If you are in a position to move out quickly ensure that 'no onward chain' features highly on Rightmove.

Good luck

mosaic good about the rewards, it turns something very very stressful into something a bit better. Oh my dear, I am thinking about you, its one hell of a horrible journey, bad enough with two.

mosaic Be extra nice and kind to yourself.

Moving house is 3rd on the list of the most stressful things we do in life, after bereavement and divorce. Take care.

Thank you for all your suggestions, it's been very helpful.

I have dropped the price by 10% and am hopeful I might attract a buyer this summer. I am scared of being here for another winter alone, I find it so hard bringing the wood up the 18 steps and my knee is definitely getting worse.

It's a large house and garden and I feel quite exhausted by this hamster wheel of cleaning/clearing I don't have any friends or family to help, it is just me.

I'm going to start planning some nice things to do for me, as a reward after I've done a horrible job!

Have a great weekend!

Any house will sell but at the right price, yours may be too high.
After 7 months I would be looking to move agents.
Winter is not a good time to sell, the season is now SO.
Your home should be absolutely spotless, tidy and uncluttered inside and out.
If you have too much furniture move some pieces out untill you sell, make your home look as spaces as possible.
The rubbish in the garden needs getting rid of buy in annuals for the garden and hanging baskets and show a lovely frontage as people come to the house.
Your ageny needs to tell you the truth about why it didn't sell.
It will sell but you may have to reduce the selling price.
Best of luck

I left out the bit where the first agent agreed to put the house up for sale at £550,000 for a quick sale. A few weeks later the new chap was telling me it was only worth £450,000.

I had my house on the market last year and I was so traumatised I cannot get over it. I have a large detached house(2,000sqft) set back from the other houses at the end of a cul-de-sac with no traffic and a clear view of the field hedge opposite the kitchen window (other houses have houses opposite them). I have the sun all day and from the upstairs window a view over fields. I know know just how they treat widows when it comes to getting their mitts on a house without paying the value. I checked online the names they gave me of viewers and each one had something to do with property management, and some of them did not have the money to buy it anyway. I got a valuation from the agent of £575K - £625K Within a month someone offered £450K. I refused. The agent I signed the contract with left the agency and a new chap came along who I had never met, who had never seen the property. He also had a property management company on the side. When I refused this agent shouted at me, telling me I was deluding myself into thinking the property was more than it was. I had to ask him to leave. I looked him up in companies house and discovered he just got a mortgage on property to prop up his new company and had money problems. I am very wary now. I think it is shocking. When the contract ended someone vandalised the property at the back. The only access was over my extension flat roof from the house next door. I cannot get anything done about that unless I have CCTV.

My house has been on the market since Christmas, it’s a lovely place in a very desirable location and yet I ve only had one viewing. I ve just today written to get it taken off the market and have decided instead to do it up as I don t think anything will change until after Brexit, it’s putting people off buying and selling

I have bought and sold 13 times, although admittedly not in the last decade, and I do think that the property TV programmes such as Escape to the Country and Location, Location, have made people far more choosy.

However, I used to air out the house and then put a couple of drops of vanilla essence in an ovenproof dish of hot water and leave in the oven on a low heat - lovely smell of cake-baking throughout the house, not too intrusive, but sold it every time!

Just a thought ....

I agree with David1968. Pet smells can be off-putting and you have probably become used to them and don't notice.
You have no idea whether the viewers are pet lovers or not so it's best to assume not.
Don't mask the smells with spray as that will make it worse and insist that the agent gives you feedback from every viewing. Honest feedback is essential. Sparkling windows and the smell of freshly brewed coffee or baking bread are known aids to selling.
It's usually the woman you have to appeal to.
Good luck.

It's ALWAYS the price. Think about it - if your house was for sale at £10,000 you'd have them queuing round the block. Find the right price and you'll sell it. Some people don't like making offers so tell your EA that you are open to sensible offers and ask him/her to encourage people to make one. Also, as said previously, ask for people's comments. We couldn't sell a house once, couldn't understand why, asked the EA who told us it was because the dining room was being used as an office. People have little imagination. We bought a cheap dining table and chairs and immediately sold the house.

Mosaic you mentioned "pets" in your original post, but you don't say what they are, or how many, etc. Is it possible that there are off-putting "pet smells" or "pet presence"? This can be a real deterrent when trying to sell a house. Just asking!

Don`t be there when the viewers come, you are paying good money and many viewers did not want the owner there. Yes scent and freshness are very important, I made sure there was a lovely scent, even if just some lemon oil dropped on a cloth in a slightly open drawer. I used a little zoflora in water several hours before a viewing, down any drain, bath, sinks etc and someone has mentioned neutral bedding, I did that, bought a cheap pack from qvc, the fabric I would never sleep in but it gave the bedroom a sumptious look

What put me off most was a dirty shower and animal scents

What did eventually sell my house was the price drop, first 6% then 5%. I had many viewers and several offers at the higher price but the political situation made the market dire, so I had to bite the bullet. I feel for you MW I really do

Have you a friend or neighbour who has a trailer and is willing to cart your garden rubbish to the nearest dump or recycling plant?

Getting rid of it is a must, otherwise you will feel embarrassed when people come to view and they will take one look at the piles and think, "No way, this garden is too much work."

How many boxes do you have standing about? If less than ten, put them all in one room and say, "The spare bedroom (or wherever) is a mess as this is where I am packing boxes". If there are so many that they make it difficult for viewers to judge the rooms, look into storing them in a container or storage facility until the house is sold.

Most people cannot look at a cluttered room and judge its potential, they only see the clutter.

Making your house look easy to run, should encourage buyers.

Photos. Photos. Photos. As others have said, poor ones can wreck your chances. My DH took the photos of a flat we own when we rented it out because the ones the agents took were so poor. Made it look dark and pokey and it isn't.

And try not to despair. The housing market has been in the doldrums for a variety of reasons and it still hasn't picked up. So I think this rests on how desperate you are to sell.

I would go multi agency. And tell the other agents you are going multi agency. Nothing like a bit of competition between them to give them a kick start if they've gone a bit stale.

If you are desperate and can afford to drop that is the best thing to do. I would also advise taking it off, then putting it back on at the lower price. I think it's off putting if a property has been on the market for a long time and you read reduced. First thought is 'What's wrong with it?'.

If you can't afford to drop, bide your time but rest it now and again for your selling chances and your sanity. Try not to go running around tidying up for viewers that either don't turn up or if they do, they will look past the odd thing (as long as it's not a complete tip).

Try to relax. Breathe, take a step back, and realise in the overall scheme of things, it's just a house move and you are more important.

Good luck.

I’ve been a buyer for the last 9 months and only looked at properties that ticked my boxes, so every viewing was a potential sale for the vendors, though I accept some people are just time wasters.

These are the things that put me off:

Inaccurate floor plans. Like the bungalow that was actually on three levels with steps from room to room. Or the garage that had been shortened to make the utility room.

Poor maintenance. All the little jobs that the owner has just learned to live with but that I would want put right like the radiator that doesn’t turn on or off or the cracked tiles in the bathroom. Old dirty carpets, redecoration needed in every room.

Smell. I actually couldn’t go any further than the hall in one house. If I say why I’ll get shouted at. Other people might be more polite than me but think it all the same.

Big expenditure. The crumbling conservatory or garage. The rotting window frames. The holed and sinking driveway.

Clutter. I’m pretty good at seeing past that but it makes a house so depressing. It gives it a general uncared for feel.

Price. None of the above things will matter to some buyers if the price is right. Buyers will buy the best thing they can get for their money. Any property is always competing with what else is(or might be) on the market.

We moved 7 years ago and it was a long process. We often just sat in the car during Agent viewings, if they left in under 15 minutes we knew they didn't like the house! A lot of buyers didn't like our downstairs bathroom (it was the only option unless you sacrificed a bedroom), others wanted to extend or make alterations and expected us to lower the price so they could afford them! Thankfully we only did a few viewings ourselves as I found it impossible not to show my annoyance if they criticised my home of nearly 30 years. We took our own photos as the agents photos were abysmal, he even asked if I would take photos of another house for him.

But for every house there is a buyer out there somewhere, you just have to hang in there, and make sure that your agent is really working as hard as he should be for you. There's a lot of helpful advice here from GNetters. If you are unable to clear the garden rubbish yourself perhaps the agent could arrange its removal, it's in his interests too that the house and garden should look its best. You will be paying him a lot of money, make him work for it. Good luck, stay optimistic.

mosaicwarts, I too was an estate agent and worked in New Homes too. If you wouldn’t mind putting a link to your house on here perhaps we could give you some help to sell your home?

Hi, are you sure it’s on the market at the right price? We had a house a few years ago and when we put it on the market the agent explained that it was priced , by the other agents, at the wrong price Too expensive for some, too cheap for others. New agent promptly put it on the market for£20, 000 more and it sold within a week. The people who bought it thought that had a bargain! I hope you have a buyer soon.

People rarely tell the truth as to why they don’t like a house.
Serious buyers will have done the research on the Internet beforehand and will know exactly the distance from stations et cetera.
The floor plan will also give the exact dimensions of the property.
I suggest you get your most honest friend to appraise your home, sometimes simple things can make all the difference for example felling trees to allow more light or a serious de- clutter.
Make sure the agents are aware of any good schools in the catchment area and transport links, it is surprising very often how little an agent may know about a particular village or area.
Look at reducing the price and if you change agent reduce the fees on a sliding scale to focus the agent.

My house sat for 5 years. In the end I lowered the price and bought neutral bedding .I hope you have planned what to do when it sells for my buyers wanted in almost straight away.

I also put my house up for sale at the same time as you, we had loads of viewings, loads liked it, did all the things they advise to do, as you have. It was spotless, smelt lovely, well maintained, good decorative order etc etc. It wore me down and in January I got depression. I noticed on Right Move , properties WERE selling, even horrible properties! It was down to price, eventually we decided we either keep going, living in limbo 'hoping' someone will pay top dollar, or drop to a realistic selling price. The market has changed in the last 5 yrs, I have sold/moved 3 times in the last 5 yrs, and this has been a whole new ball game thanks to brexit compared to my last couple of sales/moves. If your house is priced right it will sell, it just depends how long you want to drag it out for. Something is only worth what people will pay. It is all relevant, whatever you buy will also have dropped price. So it all boils down to whether you have had enough living in limbo, in a show home and wish to move things forward. We dropped price and sold our house within one week. I am feeling more optimistic again about our fresh start, I just could not keep going living with uncertainty, unable to make plans for the future. Hope you sell soon!