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View Full Version : Selling up - any advice?



Icey
24th-January-2006, 03:05 PM
I've put my flat on the market and have got a viewing booked for Friday already. Hopefully the place will sell in a reasonable time and I can start looking for somewhere to move to. As I've not done the buying and selling thing before can anyone post some tips / advice / warnings that will help me.

Thanks :flower:

under par
24th-January-2006, 03:14 PM
I've put my flat on the market and have got a viewing booked for Friday already. Hopefully the place will sell in a reasonable time and I can start looking for somewhere to move to. As I've not done the buying and selling thing before can anyone post some tips / advice / warnings that will help me.

Thanks :flower:don't expect it to be quick or smooth.

Property sales are rated 2nd to divorce in the stress stakes!

Good luck..... I'm sure you will get lots of positive advice too.:hug:

melb
24th-January-2006, 03:19 PM
Hi Icey,

I am a first time buyer and going through hell at the moment. fell in love with a house put an offer in, was highest offer BUT seller took it off the market and added an extra £10,000 to the asking price. :sad:

My best tips from a buyers point of view would be:

* Let the viewers free to walk around your propoeorty
* Be ready with any questions they may have - Council tax prices/Gas billing/contracts/recent building work etc
* Show the sellers your best bits of your property - (Window with a view etc)

I am sure everything will be fine!! :)

Melb

TheTramp
24th-January-2006, 03:25 PM
I've put my flat on the market and have got a viewing booked for Friday already.

So Miss Icey.... Where are you thinking of moving to then?? :rolleyes:

Icey
24th-January-2006, 03:31 PM
So Miss Icey.... Where are you thinking of moving to then?? :rolleyes:

Not telling you - it's a secret :na:

TheTramp
24th-January-2006, 03:35 PM
Not telling you - it's a secret :na:
So young, and with so many secrets already!! :na:

Katie
24th-January-2006, 03:44 PM
Hi Icey,

I've never had the experience of buying and selling (i'm too young!) but from what I can remember from studying property law I would advise instructing a solicitor who offers a fixed fee for buying and/or selling. That way you know the cost from the outset and won't incur unexpected costs, particularly likely if the solicitor charges by the hour. Also if you can afford it, a full structural survey is advisable if the house you are interested in, is of some age.

Hope that helps.

WittyBird
24th-January-2006, 03:46 PM
The smell of fresh coffee and home bade bread :D

philsmove
24th-January-2006, 03:54 PM
I am afraid, as ever, under par is right

The last move I made went fairly smoothly

I did not have to sell my old house, before buying the new one,

When it came to finally selling the old one. The trick was to also find a buyer who did not have to sell their house first

If a potential buyer has got to sell first and has an over priced house to sell you could be in for along wait

Have you considered selling at auction, moving to rented accommodation and then buying at auction

god luck

dee
24th-January-2006, 05:41 PM
When it came to finally selling the old one. The trick was to also find a buyer who did not have to sell their house first


god luck

I was very lucky when i came around to selling my house as the lady that brought it was living with her parents so there were not any problems of her trying to sell her house before buying mine the whole process took less than two months to complete. Hopefully Icey you will have the same luck as i did :flower: Plus she took on my cat that i had at the time.

David Bailey
24th-January-2006, 07:28 PM
I've put my flat on the market and have got a viewing booked for Friday already.
The best way to look at this is:

At the moment, you're on step 3 of 100.
Once you get an offer, you're on about step 15.
Once you set an exchange date, that's step 30.
Once you exchange, that's step 65.
Once you complete, that's step 95.
Once you move out, that's step 96
Once you get paid, that's step 100.


In other words, there's a heck of a long way to go, and things can go wrong at every step. Even at step 97, amazingly enough...

I assume you've got a solicitor, but how did you find them? Was it by recommendation? If not, beware, as unfortunately most conveyancing solicitors have all the speed and responsiveness of a dead sloth.

If you want speed, then get used to nagging everyone in the chain (estate agent, surveyor, mortgage company, your and their solicitors, etc.), because none of them care how long it takes to complete the transaction. Effectively, you pretty much have to do a large part of their job for them - sad but true.

A couple more tips to cheer you up (!):

Bear in mind that anyone can make an offer; it means nothing. The first real sign of commitment is when the contracts are exchanged - and that's step 65, remember?
The market is both fair and transparent. If you're getting lots of views but not offers, then it's overpriced, no matter what you think it's worth. If you're getting no views, it could be overpriced, or you could have an even-more-useless-than-normal estate agent.


Sorry, I know this sounds depressing, but the more planning you do, the less stressful it'll be.

I've also got lots of cheerful advice about buying a property too if you want? :)

ducasi
24th-January-2006, 07:36 PM
As I've not done the buying and selling thing before can anyone post some tips / advice / warnings that will help me. My best advice for you is to move to Scotland. We have a much more sensible system than in England (relatively speaking.) :flower:

Minnie M
24th-January-2006, 07:39 PM
Hi Icey,

I've never had the experience of buying and selling (i'm too young!) but from what I can remember from studying property law I would advise instructing a solicitor who offers a fixed fee for buying and/or selling. That way you know the cost from the outset and won't incur unexpected costs, particularly likely if the solicitor charges by the hour. Also if you can afford it, a full structural survey is advisable if the house you are interested in, is of some age.

Hope that helps.
:yeah: :yeah: excellant advice :flower:


My best advice for you is to move to Scotland
and cheaper :wink:

Missy D
24th-January-2006, 08:03 PM
I was very lucky when i came around to selling my house as the lady that brought it was living with her parents so there were not any problems of her trying to sell her house before buying mine the whole process took less than two months to complete. Hopefully Icey you will have the same luck as i did :flower: Plus she took on my cat that i had at the time.


I have a cunning plan! I could give Icey the Cat and Hamster to sell with the flat. :flower:

Icey
24th-January-2006, 09:51 PM
... encouraging stuff ...

That's about what I thought it would be like. As UP says, buying/selling/moving is probably the most stressful experience after losing a life partner or going through divorce :( Looks like I have a fun few months ahead of me then :rolleyes:

My flat is a shoebox so will (hopefully) be bought by a first time buyer which will reduce the chain effect.

MissyD - keep your stinky, noisy, puking pets away :mad:

under par
24th-January-2006, 10:05 PM
That's about what I thought it would be like. As UP says, buying/selling/moving is probably the most stressful experience after losing a life partner or going through divorce :( Looks like I have a fun few months ahead of me then :rolleyes:

My flat is a shoebox so will (hopefully) be bought by a first time buyer which will reduce the chain effect.

MissyD - keep your stinky, noisy, puking pets away :mad:

So it doesn't drive you mad try to treat it as a war.

Lots of small battles to be fought, you win more than you lose but see it as a war and the small losses won't seem so bad.

Treat a flat viewing as a small skirmish and try to use every bit of your armoury to try and get the advantage(smells of fresh coffee= hand gun fire or four poster bed = handgrenade)

it makes it more bearable!

Have fun:cheers:

Barry Shnikov
24th-January-2006, 10:16 PM
The smell of fresh coffee and home bade bread :D

Bit of a cold? Ah bless.:flower:

David Bailey
24th-January-2006, 10:36 PM
That's about what I thought it would be like. As UP says, buying/selling/moving is probably the most stressful experience after losing a life partner or going through divorce :( Looks like I have a fun few months ahead of me then :rolleyes:
It doesn't have to be - it's only stressful if your expectations are too high. If you anticipate the process having hiccups and setbacks, then you won't get stressed when they happen.

Just expect to be chivvying everyone on the phone for a couple of months...

Andy McGregor
25th-January-2006, 01:39 AM
Wait until up has come back from his holidays before selling. You'll get more for him when he's got a tan - even then it's worth having him tarted up a bit :waycool:

ElaineB
25th-January-2006, 08:29 AM
Don't attempt to buy at the same time! Sell, put your things in storage and rent for a few months - this will give you much less stress!

Good luck with it all,


Elaine

LMC
25th-January-2006, 10:20 AM
Just expect to be chivvying everyone on the phone for a couple of months...
If the estate agents are good (both yours and the people you are buying the house from), then they should be helping with moving things along - you're paying them enough, make them work for it! I've never sold a property, but I was very impressed with the estate agent acting for the sellers of the house I bought - they chased things along for me as well :D

Your solicitor is not your friend - hassle them if necessary. I was very lucky with mine as it happens, completed within 6 weeks of making the offer, and two weeks of that was the seller p***ing around changing dates until I threw a strop with them after the third time. It is possible to "move fast".

Of course, nothing is 100% certain until keys have been exchanged at completion! But I would say that the survey is a big turning point - if someone has paid a couple of hundred quid for a survey and it comes back OK then they already have an "investment" that they will be reluctant to lose, which means that they may be willing to be flexible.

Good luck :hug:

David Bailey
25th-January-2006, 10:37 AM
If the estate agents are good
Can I just say: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorry, couldn't resist. :innocent:

I've sold and bought 5 properties, and in that time (10 transactions, about 15 estate agents) I've never found an agent who was good for anything except bringing the buyer and vendor together - for everything else, you're much better doing it yourself.

Another important (and related) point is the issue of communication.

For example, to get a simple message to the other person (buyer or seller) in the transaction, you've got to:
- phone your solicitor
- Your solicitor will then usually write ( :rolleyes: ) to the other person's solicitor.
- The other person's solicitor will then contact the other person (hopefully by phone, but yes, it could be by letter :rolleyes: :rolleyes: )
- The other person will then respond - to their solicitor.
- Their solicitor will then write ... etc.,

This process can take a week or more, just to get a simple question resolved - typically it's something that could be sorted on the phone in 2 minutes. :eek:

Try very hard to persuade your conveyancing solicitor that these new-fangled inventions (telephone / email / fax) are indeed not the work of the devil, but may actually be useful. Better yet, try to find a conveyancing solicitor who already believes this.

(yeah, and gimme a pony too, I know...)

If at all possible, try to have as much direct contact and communications with all parties involved in the transaction - it'll speed things up a lot.


Of course, nothing is 100% certain until keys have been exchanged at completion! But I would say that the survey is a big turning point - if someone has paid a couple of hundred quid for a survey and it comes back OK then they already have an "investment" that they will be reluctant to lose, which means that they may be willing to be flexible.
That's a good point - when they start paying money for surveys, searches etc., you've got some indication that they're not just stringing you along. Call the "getting a survey done" step 25 out of 100 then.

Icey
25th-January-2006, 10:41 AM
I'll start practicing my :mad: :eek: :mad: :mad: :angry: :eek: :sick: :mad: :eek: :eek: :mad: now then.

LMC
25th-January-2006, 10:48 AM
I guess I just got lucky with my estate agent then :D

But seriously, they are making anything from £1500-£2K out of you (minimum)- they should be doing *something*. If necessary, hassle them and they'll do stuff to get you off their back :D

If the buyer/seller are willing and not too weird, there's nothing to stop you contacting them directly - but again, don't make friends of them (at least until after the deal's done). I phoned my sellers direct when they came through with a third new completion date to tell them that if they moved it again I would pull out of the exchange - I knew from chatting up the lovely estate agent that they had already exchanged on the property they were buying and it was empty. So it was a fairly safe threat for me to make :wink:

EDIT: Icey, start with the motivational :nice: and :flower: and if those don't get you anywhere, try a bit of :innocent: and :whistle: together with :mad: (but not :angry: - keep your cool) and you might also want the non-existent :makes demands whilst thumping fist on table: smiley.

Dreadful Scathe
25th-January-2006, 11:05 AM
I only recently found out that the bidding for property in England and Wales is transparent to other bidders. So you know what you're up against and people can still put in better bids at the least minute. The Scottish system is more difficult as you have no idea what other people would have bid and houses always go for more that the asking price, but at least you cant get gazumped. :)

philsmove
25th-January-2006, 01:59 PM
No I’m not suggesting you do this :devil: but

I know at least two people who wanted to buy houses

And got temporary jobs in estate agents too help things along :whistle:

Icey
9th-February-2006, 06:06 PM
The best way to look at this is:

At the moment, you're on step 3 of 100.
Once you get an offer, you're on about step 15.
Once you set an exchange date, that's step 30.
Once you exchange, that's step 65.
Once you complete, that's step 95.
Once you move out, that's step 96
Once you get paid, that's step 100.


Achievement update: Step 15
Offer accepted this afternoon, now I get to start seriously looking :D

LMC
9th-February-2006, 06:09 PM
FANTASTIC NEWS :waycool: - congratulations!!!

Fingers crossed that the rest goes well :hug:

WittyBird
9th-February-2006, 06:10 PM
Congratulations sweetie :grin:

ShinyWeeStar
9th-February-2006, 07:01 PM
Achievement update: Step 15
Offer accepted this afternoon, now I get to start seriously looking :D
Congratulations and happy hunting! :hug:

ducasi
9th-February-2006, 11:16 PM
Nah, I think you should just take the money and run!!!!!! :wink:

Icey
10th-February-2006, 09:14 AM
Nah, I think you should just take the money and run!!!!!! :wink:

There is NO way I would go back to living at my parents. As much as I love them they would drive me insane :sad:

ducasi
10th-February-2006, 09:41 AM
There is NO way I would go back to living at my parents. As much as I love them they would drive me insane :sad:
Nor me, but I didn't say anything about stopping once you've started running. :)

Sorry, I was being flippant. :o

David Bailey
10th-February-2006, 10:26 AM
There is NO way I would go back to living at my parents. As much as I love them they would drive me insane :sad:
If you do have somewhere you can stay / rent temporarily, and if you're prepared to put up with the hassle of such an arrangement, then you have the obvious advantage of only having half the hassle (i.e. only one set of 100 steps instead of 2 sets).

In addition, then you have a very enviable position for selling and buying:
- You're not in a chain as a vendor, so it's more attractive as a "chain-free" property for selling purposes (and you've not sold it yet, remember you're on 15 out of 100...).
- You're not in a chain as a buyer, so you're the attractive "cash buyer" for buying purposes.

Both of those are great positions to be in, both from a stress point-of-view and from a financial point-of-view; i.e. you're able to drive a better deal for yourself.

So don't knock living with the parents for a couple of months, if you can do it.