Kapri

We are about to put our house back on the market.
It was on over summer but the market was dead. We've made some more improvements in the meantime and will reduce the price a bit.

I've decided not to submit my visa application until I get an offer on the house.
It's ready to go off but we can't afford to go unless we sell the house so no choice really.

JAJ

It surprises me that more people (both buyers and sellers) don't just treat offers as simply indicative (which they are) until contracts are exchanged.

In other words, as a seller you should not feel any moral qualms about looking for other buyers as a fall-back if the sale falls through. Same goes for those buying property.

No-one should be surprised at the number of house sales that fall through under this system. And unless the system is changed to remove the option of freely pulling out of a purchase or sale (except for specific reasons like finance or survey problems) nothing is going to change.

sammyg

So true!

JoolsB

I house doctored-freshly painted, new white towels and piles of flannels topped with new soaps/designer products in bathroom, special 'viewing only' designer cushions and throws, large bowls of exotic fruit and fresh flowers, a gorgeous rug that only went down for viewings.
OH would call and tell me when viewer on way and I would madly dash around like a loony swapping all my "dog-scented" everyday stuff for the viewing only bits I also washed the floors half an hour before every viewing so all was spotless & sprayed rosewater & Mr Sheen in the air.
Then I would vacate the house with dogs in tow leaving some nice music playing. Agonising but worked a treat! Got the price I wanted from a cash buyer and all went smoothly. She came back 5 times in between offer and competion with various family & friends so I had to keep the pretence up but it was worth it!

Good luck to everyone still selling-it really is worth putting in that extra bit of effort if you have the time & energy!

Fly Away

That explains why I'm not selling then! I use my everyday stuff.

Elaine & Nigel

Hi All

The housing market is the same in Northern Ireland ..........dead! We put our house on the market middle of uly have had a few viewers but no offers dropped the price 5k but still nothing.

We have to validate our visa(when we get it ) b4 April so its just a case of living in hope .....between watching the inbox waiting for email about visa and waiting on phone to ring from estate agent I am nearly housebound

Good luck to everyone

Elaine

Dan the Plumber

Good thread!
We have been on the market a week had one viewing booked but didn't show. Like you we have extended and really done the place up , oak flooring etc, it would pain me to let it go for a ridiculous price just because we have to go. We could let it out but wouldn't be able to buy in Oz and don't know if the rent would cover the mortgage?
I know a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay but no way I would sell too low - rather take off market and wait!
Dan

GinaUK

If the buyer hasn't had/accepted an offer their house yet, the seller can keep his on the market.

But if the buyer *has* accepted an offer on their house, they will then go ahead with instructing a solicitor and pay for the searches on the seller's house, as well as getting the mortgage and survey under way.

In a falling market, a seller cannot then get another buyer: another buyer (buyer no 2) would not be willing to pay out money for searches and surveys, knowing that someone else is already doing so as well and if buyer no 1 carries on, buyer no 2 would not succed with the purchase.

So, it's a nice theory and I definitely wouldn't have any moral qualms about it, but in a falling market it does not work.

Gina

emelems

We're in a bit of a bind too... we were literally about to sign the paperwork and our buyers buyer pulled out... everything was done and everyone out of pocket..

We have given our buyers some time to get themselves back into a position to buy our place (either get finance in place or themselves another buyer)..

At the moment I can not even contemplate what to do if the house isnt sold and we have to leave... we have until May 08 to arrive, so have a bit of time.. but honestly that will just fly by so can't rest on our laurels..

Looks like we are going back on the market at the end of next week and fingers crossed we'll get another buyer.. we hadnt booked our flights to Australia (although our buyers have bought a sofa for the lounge!!!) but we had booked our flights to Ireland (visiting MIL/FIL) and then Dublin to Rome (visiting Rome and my parents prior to going) which will now be going spare.. we only booked them as they were going very cheap.. but even so

*sighs*

I am sooo pee'd off.. tho that bloke (sorry can't remember the username) who wrote the post about the Americans and Philip (with one L) did make me laugh! (which is pretty neon impossible at the mo!).. hallarious post!

Em x

dubstar

God this brings back awful tear jerking memorys, we "sold" our house 3 times and they buyers pulled out, We were deparate to move OH had a job waiting for him I was'nt working and we had given the kids school a letter saying they would'nt be returing after the 6 week holidays.

We had no viewers for 6 weeks, then a buyer came along, made an offer 40k under the asking and we had to accept as we did not know when another buyer would come along. We booked the packers, After 5 weeks we started to worry, the estate agents rang and said he had pulled out, we later found out that he had no money in the first place and was renowned in the are for doing this, we did not know! the packers had taken all our stuff and it was on a ship.

We were now living at my MIL and FIL, only one income coming in.

A week later another arseole came along, the estate agent kindly told him that we were desparate and emmigrating. he offered us 80k under and again we accepted in desparation. By this time the 6 week holidays had finished, and I asked school if they could take them back and they said no there were no places!. The paperwork was going well, we booked the flights, the day before he was due to sign we had a phone call saying can we reduce by another 15k cos the driveway need retarmacing otherwise he is quite prepared to pull out. FFS

So that was our dream of a mortgage free house gone and in total it took 12 months to sell.

When we moved to NZ we got a mortgage approved in 24hrs. Signed a contract that we could not pull out of for a house and moved in 2weeks later.

Skittle

This is exactly the position we found ourselves in. The day before we were both leaving work, our buyers buyer pulled out. Everything was in place - the flights booked and paid for, the shippers booked and paid for. We felt we had no option but to carry on with our plans and go.

Soon after we arrived our buyers resold their house so it was all systems go - few weeks later on, the chain collapsed again!

This week we have resold again to a different buyer this time, who have in turn sold to a first time buyer, sooooooooooo fingers crossed it will be 3rd time lucky.

We were lucky with our neighbour and my parents as they have been looking after the garden etc making sure it doesn't start to look neglected.

There is always another way to look at it - if you don't like Australia at least you have a house to go back to!

Karen

ashwood

Don't get your hopes up! Given the current market, these companies are offering only 70-80% of the "market value". HOWEVER, their assessment of the "market value" is not the same as the price you decide to market the property at! They word it something like "our assessment of what price the property is likely to sell at within 3 months".

We put ours on the market at £187,500 (the middle range of several estate agents estimations). After no interest, dropped it to £179,500. After still no interest, contacted these companies who were prepared to give us between £130,000 - £145,000 Needless to say, the property is still on the market because we owe the bank £159,000!

Red_V_Roger

We had to leave it because my company wanted me here.

While we were still in the UK, we had two offers over 10 weeks, which we accepted only for the 'buyer' never to even get the survey done.

Now we've had an offer another £5K below the minimum we were hoping for, £10K less than our original price and probably £20K less than what it would have gone for a year ago.

But the offer is from somebody with no chain - actually its somebody who works in the Estate Agents thats selling it - so we are reasonably happy that it will go through this time.

I'm not sure if a house is better empty or lived in....I think an empty house is a blank sheet for a buyer and they can clearly see that there is no chain. BUT I agree with the other persons comments that instead of seeing the chairs, TV, fish tank etc, they start to see marks on walls, slight cracks above doors, etc.

We were in the lucky position that we have a very low mortgage compared to the value, so negative isn't an issue for us - we've still made a lot of money in 6 1/2 years of being there.

BTW - before I left, I went to my solicitors and signed a blank sale contract, did the fixtures and fittings list, questionnaire, etc. So when they got the sale info from the Estate Agents, the contract was at the buyers solictors the same day - no messing about sending stuff to Oz for signing etc. Advise you to do this...

spartacus

The whole system is just ridiculous. We put our house on the market at the beginning of this year and we had an offer on it pretty much straight away. The problem came with the solicitors just not getting their arses in gear and exchanging contracts. My solicitor telling me it was now 'common practice' to exchange contracts, complete and move all on the same day. Ludicrous. There was no chain, just us and the buyer. I insisted on exchanging contracts previous to completing, what became a month before we eventually moved. So glad we did. We left the house on the Friday, arrived in Oz on the Wednesday and had only been here a fortnight when our old neighbours called to tell us the house was back up for sale, the buyer had a job lined up elsewhere, and so needed to move. This was six months ago and its still up for sale now.

Try and screw your buyer down asap. Offer a discount for early exchange of contract etc. Do not under any circumstances make it apparent your emigrating, just that your jumping off the property ladder while you explore new areas or something. You're all at the end of someones chain, that is a position of strength. Try and use it to your advantage.

All the best

Andy

Halo

Its normally a condition of offer that the property is taken off the market.

If you accept an offer you should make it conditional on exchange within 1-month, and survey within 1 week. Once a buyer has had a survey he at least has some skin in the game - it might only be a few hundred quid but he will have wasted it if he pulls out. This cuts out the time wasters. If its a buyer claiming to be a cash buyer or who has a buyer for their place already etc., ask your estate agent to obtain proof before you accept.

Also remember that Oz property prices are going up, and exchange rates are going down, so it might be better to bite the bullet in selling in the UK - you could still be better off in the long run.