Hi all just fancied a bit of a rant
When we started the process we thought getting the visa would be the hard bit, but after getting it I read many threads and thought getting a job must also be the hard bit, after many emails I secured a job offer.
GREAT we thought just the house to sell.....................
What a nightmare this is turning out to be, estate agent seemed very good and assured us there'd be no problem selling house very nice area, nice house, sought after location ................................... 11 weeks on, 4 viewings lots of promises dropped price and nothing.So we thought not to be disheartened maybe think about renting, Lined up a tenant(friend of a neighbour) great. Went to bank to tell them and ooooooohhhhhh thats classed as buy to let and for that you have to pay an extra 1% per month plus over£100 charges.The rent we were charging was not for profit but just cover the mortgage payment but with the extra 1% the pprospective tenant won't be able to afford this.
Now stuck, don't know what to do, meant to start work in end june and don't want to lose good job offer but i'll be buggered if i'll give up for the sake of a house and greedy banks.
any ideas? Andy

I know exactly how u feel, we put our house on 5 weeks ago estate agents said the same to us. They must all have the same patter to get you on board. Full of promises and set your expectation high just to let you down :curse:. We are thinking of going down the rental route but we will wait another week or two. We go on the 20th May and hope to sell. All our fingers and legs are crossed. Good luck to you anyway and i hope you get that sale!!!!

annkc

Seems reading on here that there are loads of us waiting to sell our houses
Our has been on 9 weeks with 1 viewer!! EA's, friends & neighbours have all said our house is the best on the estate but still nothing :curse:
Mind you nothing else round here is going either, its not good.
We don't really wanna rent it out cos we don't want any ties here & if anything goes wrong its a long way to come back to sort things out. Just gonna sit it out & wait

We let our house when we first moved over and weren't charged any extra (I think a 100GBP one off charge). Tell them it's not "buy to let" - it's your main residence! Just say your going overseas temporarily for 1 - 2 years and say you'll take your business elsewhere if they can't accommodate you.

Good luck!

well im just starting my visa application but can cast a bit of light on this subject...but thats the good news

you wont need reminding were in a bit of a downward spiral where mortgages are concerned. and 100% of applicants which would of been approved 12 months ago only maybe 40% would get the same amount now and none on the same deal.

depending on which agent believe me it makes a difference. they will tell you what you want to hear and sound like your best buddy and will then be the best buddy to all the prospective clients. this is not all agents and i wont go into names.

the days when you can name your price for your property fell through the floor about 8 months ago. 18 months ago there wasnt 1 2 bed terrace unsold within a 3 mile radius of me and i live in a primarily terrace house area.

sales are still happening but buyers are looking for bargains as its an obvious buyers market.you may be looking at taking upto 15% less for a sale or wait to see if the market levels out.

but that said some houses are still moving but its more luck that a buyer will want a house in your specific location.

but good luck m8 and hope it does come off for you.

you think 11 weeks is bad, try 9 months and only 1 viewing. we have a nice house in a good area, but nothing here is moving. frustrating would be an under statment. lol. but yes, it is hard to keep the chin up.

scratchey

A frustrating time to be selling in the UK for sure. The credit crunch continues to be a big factor as it becomes harder for 1st time buyers to secure a mortgage.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3665985.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3688540.ece
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...8&refer=europe

There is some solid, savvy (but probably unpalatable for some) advice in the following article that may or may not be useful.
http://www.saveborrowspend.co.uk/art...ing-yourselves

"Part of the problem is that rocketing house prices have been seen as a right over the past ten years, not an investment that, like any other, can go down as well as up"
"Sellers also need to take note of recent figures which showed the average number of unsold properties in estate agency windows is rising. It’s reached a record figure of 67. This time last year it was only 11. So the experts are advising sellers to get smart, price their property realistically and where possible undercut the competition."

A tough 12 months ahead for the UK. Just hang in there and best of luck.

getting the visa is the easy part, actually moving and starting your new life is where the hard bit starts

We rented our house out for 2 years in the UK - we kept our original mortgage with HSBC and changed to interest only. They told us that as long as we only had 6 monthly contracts and not 12 months it was ok.

Obviously things could have changed since we left in 2005.

We were for sale for 10 months before we left. We sold our house in Jan this year after being on the market again for 6 months!

For us that was the hardest part as it was out of our hands - also our tenant moved out leaving us to cover the mortgage until it sold, which meant we lost a fair amount of money! Still haven't brought over the piddling amount left after we had paid off our debts as the interest rates are so pants!

Nikki
x

When lots of houses are slow to sell it means that asking prices are too high.

Not true.

If the market starves first time buyers of easily obtained ( lets say straightforward ) mortgage, then its like the M25 on a friday arvo, traffic builds up..

The momentum needs to be focussed on 1st time buyers, as they are the basis for the entire chain.

Ste