Rosiebear

Neighbours can be cheeky buggers! The simple fact at the moment is that the market is nervous, we know what people want to buy, like you we have put it all away, chucked it out or painted it cream. But you can't make someone buy. What has really irked me is that houses for a similar price in a worse area have sold! They never even looked at ours... A girl I see at the school gate is selling an almost new detached with all the ususal requirments and up until last week we were level pegging with one viewer each! Now I'm winning with the aforementioned viewers, and, as you say what do they want for the money! The worst thing about hanging around is that it gives you plenty of time to focus on the things that worry you about going to NZ, I make up for these troubled times by lowering the international gin lake, so at least I'm doing something useful whilst waiting for no-one to buy my hovel! Keep your head held high, sometimes, as in our two instances, the property is so wonderful that ordinary people just cannot see themselves living in such luxury......!

weebossyboots

, thanks for that, and don't drink the lake dry, leave some for the rest of us!

The (other) worst thing is, you're right, all the wee niggly things about emigrating start to loom larger, and if the house had sold within MY timeline, i would be in NZ by now and wouldn't now be having doubts.

i'll try and focus on the fact that if the house had sold, we'd be there and these worries would be irrelevant - and then i'll dive in and go for a swim with you in that gin lake

ginabridget

Hiya, we had two houses to sell and put them on the market in April 2007, the house we were living in sold in Dec 07 with only 2 viewings and one change of agents, the other house was tenanted and paying it's way while we were selling the house we were living in, had quite a few viewings on it and one offer (which in hindsight was very reasonable) that we turned down. Now our main house is sold we've moved into said tenanted house, painted it, dressed it and re-marketed it, thought we'd sold it 2 weeks ago to a bloke that wanted to complete in 8 weeks and I though WAHOO NZ here we come But then he had a problem with his mortgage (he was doing a let-to-buy) so now he's put his flat on the market and now has to wait for his to sell before he can buy ours, so we're back on the open market.

Had a viewing this morning, seemed to go well, but they were definitely viewing all the other houses for sale in the area.

I'm now desperate to just get it offer and done with and be in NZ, it's like living in a kind of limbo at the moment.

Having read this thread it makes me feel a bit better that we're not the only ones going through this. Fingers crossed that something will happen for all of us very soon

Good luck everyone
Gina

Stoof

oo - we've got a viewing booked for monday night - 3rd one in 5 months...

fingers crossed for third time lucky?!

daveandjue123

Here we go again!!!

All I can say guys is "what is a crash"

In the late 80's with the MIRAS boom everyone desperate to buy a house the market was crazy. Then the estate agents kept increasing the values at the same rate but everyone had got there house and NO More Tax Relief, but they carried on increasing values!!!

Same thing now, prices have increased yr after yr and agents keep increasing them. At some stage weather, it is the US situation or the Northern Rock (same thing I know) or another reason, the market says NO!! that's enough. But agents don't take account and continue to keep increasing the value of every house taken on their books. It's just the way they are.

Unfortunately what everyone doesn't realise is that the value of the home / house actually stopped increasing at that rate probably 6 or even 12 months before that. So when they say the market had dropped it hasn't!!!!! I'ts just stayed where it should have been when it reached max value but the "POFESSIONALS" didn't quite understand that!!!!! as it would not increase their income (yes a tad cynical but true, trust me).

So all I can say to you all that are selling house's is, think back 12 mths! what was your house worth then? if you get an offer somewhere close except it as times are tuff and that pobably what its reallt worth. But and here's the big one....... if you can wait 2-5 yrs you may get much more (sorry I know everyone needs to seel NOW).

The reason I say that is I've got to know a few polish and other immigrants in the uk. Initially they came for money, but now they are looking for investment but can't quite afford it yet. In 2-5 yrs when they can they will all be going for houses to live in and to rent. Not hard to work out but there are the odd 1 or 2 in the UK.

This is just a personal observation from someone who's been in property for more years than he will admit.


Anyway, sorry for ranting big time but it's just my little view on things. Bad news is I want to go to NZ in early 2009 so will miss out, bugger!!!!

good luck to you all, and keep the faith it will happen

Pastor Flaps

I completely agree with the last reply.
Have a good hard look at the price you are asking. How much do you need to clear your motage, cover your debts and costs to get to NZ.
Ask youself is it worth it. The answer may probably be NO, on paper. What you cant put on paper, a spreadsheet or chart is the great things you will get from your new life in NZ.

Also put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. What would you pay for your house if you were buying. Be honest with yourself. We knew our house wasnt worth the original price, but held out because we were locked into our mortgage for another 7 months or pay 2% penalty. That was not a good strategy because we lost more than that.

Also thinking about what the previous person said, the price we accepted was the same as the price we were offered 12 months previous, so there is certainly some truth in it. We would have lost money, but would have gained the 12 months mortgage payments we had to pay.

Its not an easy one, but as I have said before, review the price, reduce it, get it sold and move on with your lives, or take it off the market, dont move to NZ, but put all that positve energy of moving to NZ into something in the UK.

Good luck.

Rosiebear

With hind sight (crappy invention) we should have sold up two years ago while this was still a renovation project. I suppose we just thought it would sell faster when complete, but folks seem to prefer buying where they think they will make money on any improvements they do. The sad truth is that often the project will eat money anyway.

Well we had a viewer on Sunday. Very nice people who ponged of dog! Turned out they had three large ones, never mind, what else could I have done with my Sunday, I love polishing and shining, cleaning, tidying up, sending the kid and the hubbie out to McDs.....there's a picture of the garden in the schedule, they could get three large smelly dogs in if they get them to line up and stand to attention! Arghh! Has anyone had an offer yet? The Gin lake now has a visible tide line!

Scottish Family

Well I think we've finally done it, after 8 months on the market and a new conservatory! We've told our solicitor to conclude missives with our purchaser, who has been messing us about a bit with dates of completion.

We started clearing out and re-painting and dressing our house in June 2007. We put it on the market with an agent in the next village who came under the Glasgow district, even though we were in East Kilbride. We thought the property would reach a wider market. Wrong - people in the Glasgow district tend to want to stay in that district - in our case we were competing with Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Busby and Carmunnock. We did get viewings but no purchasers.

We changed agents to a new one in an East Kilbride suburb on the recommendation of a neighbour. Whilst we were still in Scotland the agent sort of did what NZ agents do and arranged appointments all for Saturday and Sunday around a two hour time slot. The feedback from 9 viewers in a row was that they expected a house this size (4 beds plus office or bed 5) to have a kitchen dining area rather than a separate dining room.

So we took the hint, took the house off the market at the end of July and with the help of some family and a friend of a friend conservatory guy put on a conservatory (just under 8 square metres - so we didn't need planning permission) off of the kitchen to create a kitchen diner / morning room space. It was put back on the market on the second week of September with everything done and we were now 9k lighter for our trouble.

But the 2nd week of September was time for the pre-arranged packers to come and pack up all our goods into a 40 foot high cube container and that took all of the week. With the house now empty, we hired some tables and chairs and a buffet and had a leaving do. That was our first and last time of using the new conservatory. Our flights were booked for the 25th Sept. 2007 and out we came leaving the house unsold in the UK and power of attorney with my husband's brother.

Once we'd left the UK there was a distinct silence from this second estate agent. Eventually, he called us with an offer which was 10k less than the property's value but since we'd heard nothing we assumed this was the first offer he'd received for our house. It turned out that he said he had had two other offers that he had turned down without even telling us about them and that this latest offer was from viewer number 12. When we asked for the buyers name and circumstances, the agent struggled to come up with anything, saying it was irrelevant to us! We thought this was a bit odd. When we said we would accept the 10k less offer, lo and behold, the mysterious buyer had disappeared and 'no longer wanted to be considered'. I don't know if its just us but we were left wondering if he ever existed in the first place. So due to the communications breakdown we changed agents again.

This time we went with a mainstream agent that everyone else seemed to be using, from the town centre. By now we were into December and things really slowed down with virtually no viewers coming to the property. In mid January viewers began to come out again and we had an offer that was 50k below the valuation from July last year. We refused it. The people came back to us with an improved offer that was now 30k below valuation.

We were now in NZ and had been paying rent over here and a mortgage in the UK for 5 months. The house had been on the market for 7 months and the whole sub prime debacle had raised its ugly head. The estate agents were saying that it was going to be a really soft year for them with properties being on the market for a long time before selling and that sellers like us were having to drop prices to get a sale. So even though it was a lot less than we had wanted we accepted the offer. Our buyers engaged the same estate agent that we were with and had an offer on their property within 2 weeks. Lucky buggers.

We wanted to exchange in mid march but they wanted to exchange at the end of April. After some too-ing and fro-ing they verbally agreed to our date so we were delighted. Our legal guy sent their legal guy the missive with the agreed date on it. Then they changed their minds again and refused to go with our date insisting on April. This means another wasted mortgage payment for us but as there is no choice other than pulling out all together we've had to accept their date. So the missive has been sent off for the second time and we are waiting to see if his and ours get concluded this time.

So thank God and I hope I'm not too premature but I think we might have done it and actually sold our house after all this time - we're so close now!!!

JK1

Hi
we are in exactly the same position we have been on the market for 5 months 3 viewings last one November 2007 and have dropped the price by £40k! now lost 2 jobs as we can not afford to go to NZ without selling. Approached a house buying company who wanted to drop the price another £85k I do not think so! since the house has been on the market not only have we dropped our price but the exchange rate has plummeted so now we will need a much larger longer mortgage than originally planned! such is life

Tan0410

Sorry to hear that all's not going well...have you thought about handing over the property to a management company and renting in NZ?

Sure...may be a little more hassle but you stay on a ladder (albeit in the UK) and can wait until interest rates are a bit more favourable in NZ (have no idea when, or if this would happen just thinking out loud).

If you nominate someone as Power of Attourney back in the UK there is also no reason why you couldn't leave the house on the market, even if it was tennanted (to my understanding), and sell from NZ. Depends if you can handle the stress from that distance I guess.

Sure someone will be along to correct me shortly if I'm talking rubbish.

Appreciate that equity may be necessary for flights/shipping etc...so only a suggestion and a reflection of all the thoughts going through my mind as we too have a house to sell.

p.s. don't forget to get permission to Let from your mortgage provider if anyone happens to decide this may be an option. Ours charges £100 for this single sheet of paper from which they decide yay or nay!

May also mean you could cash in at a later date, given the predictions above and the potential for Polish to look for investment in the coming years!

Rosiebear

OMG! We must all be mental to be putting ourselves through all this. Good Luck and everything crossable crossed to you Scottish Family. This is just unreal. One of the girls at the school gates has dropped the price of her four bed detached to offers over 149k, it started off at offers over 210, then went on a fixed price. They are only moving to Hamilton (Scotland not even NZ)! When I lived in sunny Wales I had the removers in the drive only to find my buyers had gone awol without signing the contract! It took ten days of negotiating before they would sign on the dotted line, they really wanted the house I think it was just a power trip over dates. That's it, I'm putting a tenner on the lottery, it's usually just a quid towards what I think of as my pension plan, however things are becoming serious.....Gin running out....tonic gone flat...can't cope.........

Steve and the Dragon

Hi everyone,

First of all, deep sympathy with all “vendors”, you are not alone!!

We first sold our house in May 2007, (for the full asking price). After two months (of stringing us along) the buyer just disappeared off the face of the earth, even his lawyer didn’t know where he had gone. Probably sucked up into a spaceship and anally probed (very thoroughly I hope).

We sold again in July 2007. (Again – full asking price). One week before exchange they lost their buyer (due to the very large crack in their house). Duh!!!!

In September 2007 we sold for the third time. (£5k below asking price). Nice people and were desperate to buy our house. The DAY before exchange their buyer backed out!! Our tickets were booked, (for Christmas Day) the shipper was primed and raring to go, Nice People had their children registered at school – you can imagine (or have lived) the rest! Now we have dropped another £5k (for impact - according to e.a.) and …..Zilch! Nice People still want the house but have to sell theirs.

First Time Buyers are as rare as a Dodo egg in the UK.

Talk about stress! Oh, and isn’t it great having to live in a show home for months on end. I hate that bloody house doctor, I never ever want to hear the phrases “kerb appeal”, “de-clutter”, lightandairy” and “cream” in my life, ever again. As someone else said, MaccyDees must be making a fortune right now when people have viewings:-

In our house, phone rings, Sunday morning, it’s the estate agent, “can you do a viewing at 10.00am”
Looking at each other – yes no problem!!!
Bedlam hits: –

Get out of bed, bang on teenagers doors and shout “VIEWING”. Bump into husband several times and fight over the vacuum cleaner. Decide that husband is better off doing vacuuming and decide to sort kitchen. Go back upstairs and shout at teenagers.
Back downstairs, pick up teenagers S**t and put on stairs. (In the vain hope they will move it). Sort kitchen, go back upstairs and shout at teenagers again, this time using threats. Back downstairs and out into the garden. Hide ugly wheelie bin. Husband has finished vacuuming and is hovering. Tell husband to make sure car is ready to ship teenagers (and him) to MaccyDees out of harms way. Go upstairs, picking up teenagers s**t on the way, guide hungover teenagers into bathroom, quickly making their beds while they’re gone. Find cat (under bed) throw cat out, not everyone likes them. Suddenly remember to take down motivational picture of your house with sold written across it that it sellotaped to fridge. Teenagers and hubby all collect on the sofa, squashing all the carefully plumped up cushions. Shout again and they all leave for MaccyDees.

Have viewing and …..nothing

So fill up that gin lake……
The Dragon

ginabridget

I absolutely agree and can commiserate with you, I've been through a very similar scenario with our house. I'm off to top up my wine glass now.

Cheers,
Gina

Steve and the Dragon

For anyone who can’t sell their house and their PR visa is running out, we called NZ House yesterday to ask if there is any way we could extend our visas - and this is what they told us. Fly to NZ before your PR visa expires, this is to stamp and validate it, then return to the UK. You can then fly back into NZ using the RRV (the second visa in Passport), this is valid for two years from the date of issue of the first one. So, if we can’t sell the house in time it looks as though we will be popping over for a holiday sometime soon! Because our first PR runs out this year it will give us an extra year.

Wiz'n'Ton

Jeez... it all sounds like a complete 'mare for many people. My bro and sis-in-law fly out here on Sun for good without having sold their place. They are just leaving 3 months of mortgage money over there, along with power of attourney with her dad, and praying. They have been on the verge of selling 4 times in the past 7 months - I feel for them so much and it makes our situation look fantastic! I think they will be bringing max duty free allowance with them to make the nervous waiting a little easier.

Why are all our buyers so flakey? When we offered on a house we bought it, simple as that. We were meant to exchange last night, (Tuesday day in the UK) and I won't be surprised to get a call to say it's all gone to shit.

Good luck to all those trying to sell - may the force be with you