Alexandra

I feel that I've had enough. House just isn't selling, I dropped the price, still not selling, the realtor keeps feeding me one excuse after another... It's funny: when we were signing papers she kept telling us that we'd have no problem selling the house, how great it is and all that. Few weeks down the line and one great things disappears after another. The realtor keeps persuading me to drop the price even further. What the hell is going on? I find it very difficult to trust anybody these days. An example: we needed to do real property report update, because we've finished the fence in the backyard. OK, about three hundred dollars later, we have it. Oops, it needs compliance stamp from the City Hall (another 75 dollars). Fine, off we go. Then they say that there is a problem: a garage is too close to the property line. Helloooo! I didn't move the garage and you guys approved the development and the building way before we bought this house. No, they have to 'look into it'. Everything I touch these days turns into bizzarre problems.
All I want is to get back to England, where everything is how it should be (well, maybe not everything, but at least there is logic there, at least some logic).

dotty

Think of me, sitting here in the hottest country in the world yet the weekend I want to get outside and paint a house its pouring with rain I have mountains of paperwork but I just cant face another day chained to the desk, so I have decided to pop down to Brisbane for a bit of shopping, going to stock up with nice winter jumpers I can dream of wearing on my return.
That will keep me going Cheer up you will get there

Merlot

Sorry to hear you are having such a bad time of it. I am in complete empathy as been on that roller-coaster of moving back home.

I have had LOTS of tears and frustrations yet this last week in Oz is going without too many issues in the "getting there" side, everything that has been booked is booked, etc. Fly on Thursday 25th March and breathing a big sigh of relief!

It is these challenges that make the getting home all the more better and I know I will appreciate every minute of it!

I wish you the very best of luck
Merlot

Alexandra

Thank you, girls, made me feel better. Although I really don't understand the deal with my realtor. Sometimes I think I should change realtor, but on the other hand, I don't feel it would make much difference anyway, they all know each other after all. Oh, to be back home! Can't wait. I hope your flight will be easy, Merlot, don't forget your vanity case with all the skincare goodies (really helps during longhaul flights, you know).

Pants

Hi Alexandra

Any chance you can sell the house yourself withour realtor??

We have had 3 house valuations on our house and the difference from one to the other is amazing. Between the lowest and the highest there is a difference of $50,000..big difference wouldn't you say. So stuff them we are going to sell it ourselves.
We are going to use one of those websites to advertise it etc for a fraction of the cost compared to the real estate fee's. Anyway we will see how it goes...house due to go on market in April..ekkk more stress.

Don't get down Alexandra..think positive thoughts. It will sell.

Good Luck

Pants

bondipom

Where is your house. Maybe you need to make a donation to the local party and change agents.

Alexandra

I think selling it ourselves should have been the way to go, I really regret that now. Our realtor (the one that helped us buy this house initially) promised us low commission, clearly overpriced the house, managed to get us to sign six-months agreement (honestly, that's entirely our fault, we should have been less trusting, but we thought that we know her and she was a realtor of many of our friends as well, so we just agreed, stupid, I know). The thing is the way it is here if you sign agreement, then break it off and sell the house within two months or so, you still have to pay realtors commission. Oh, well. Something will work out, I guess. I talked to my half today and we decided that we have to stay positive, after all we've made the right decision.

Bella

Best of luck Alexandra, I really empathise. When I was selling in UK to move to Oz it was so stressful & sometimes I thought it would never happen, I vowed I would never sell again! But it all went through eventually & I've almost forgotten how much rage I had at times! I reckon house buying & selling is a nightmare, full stop!
Bella

janeyray

I know how you feel Alexandra! Although we tried to sell our property ourselves.

We had lots of people coming through the 'Home Opens' but no one made any offers or gave us any feedback. We decided to go with an agent three weeks ago.

Since then he has been bringing people through ever week and we have had lots of feed back and even an offer (far to low!) our fingers remain firmly crossed that this will be the week we sell it!!!!!

It is frustrating when we can't make any firm plans to leave Oz untill it sells, patience is an awful thing when you want to move on. Sit tight and it will happen.

Alexandra

janeray, I am in the same situation, we have to sell the house first. However, my half is already in London, he had a chance to go back to his old job and took it, so I miss him a lot. I've made a lot of friends here, they are very supporting, but still I wish I'd be back with my husband rebuilding our lives. Anyway, got to persevere. It's funny, not far from our home here there is some Ukrainian culture centre, or something, and they always post a sign Virtue of the Month outside. Guess what, this month it's PERSEVERENCE.

HiddenPaw

Hi Alexandra, keep at it, things will come good soon. Hopefully it will only be a relatively short time before things move on. I'll keep my fingers crossed that things move on soon. Will you see hubby for a visit?

Have you had viewings on the house? (I had some great practical tips for selling a house....too much time on my hands watching real estate progs and reading books on selling a house!!) Where is the bottle neck at the mo? Have the estate agents offered any practical advice or are they doing nothing?

HP

Alexandra

That's the thing, there are viewings, just nothing seems to come of it. I think the realtor severely overpriced the house initially (just to get us to sign on a dotted line, no doubt), and we have lost some potential buyers. Plus, there is a huge difference in a property market, compared to UK. In UK, if your house is on the market for, say, 200,000, the buyer might try to offer you considerably less, say, 180,000 and see whether you are willing to accept it. Here they don't go lower than about 5-7000, they just go by a listing price. I find it also annoying that people seem to buy a 'hotel for three years or so' rather than the house. Strange.

1skydive

How about trying a different Realtor? I've worked in real estate for a few years in the past and what I noticed is that listings get 'old' after a while. Listing it with another Realtor essentially gets it back to the top of the list so to speak. I've seen houses sell for more money with a new Realtor after being listed for months with another agent.

Good luck.

Alexandra

That would have been a great advice, had I not signed a six-month contract with my realtor. I know it was totally dumb, but we knew her before and trusted her.

dotty

Crikey The longest you can sign in OZ (well QLD) is 60 days, recent change that one.

Right, you need to talk to the agent, explain your situation and request that you mutually agree to cancel the agreement, I am assuming this can be done in Canada, of course you need to check first. If so get a fresh agent. But first spend half a day or so, "as a purchaser" viewing what other houses are in your price range, say your house is $220 go and see others 200 to 240 and see honestly how you compare. If a house has the wrong price it wont sell so you need to sort that one out, not nice but you need to move on.

Good luck, you will get there