Whiskers Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 We've been trying to sell our UK home (to move to our place in France) for over a year and a half now. Buyers pull out because of broken chains, personal reasons, fluctuating interest rates, acts of God, etc. I am so frustrated, I could chew my own foot off. Is this some sort of record or are there others out there will similar problems? Friends have married, divorced and remarried, had children and seen them off to University in the time its taken us to get this place flogged. ARGGGH. Somebody please tell me I'm not alone.........Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_B Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Annie, you're not going to like this but if you haven't sold your house after 18 months the price is probably too high.Take the average of all the offers below asking price that you've rejected and that'll give you a very rough idea of what the market values your house at.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 James, thanks for that but....... its nothing to do with price!!! (we took 15K off the price last year for a quick sale) and there's nothing wrong with the house - I was talking about the bad luck in finding a buyer who didn't have problems their end. One buyer's solicitor had a fire and all documentation was lost just hours before exchanging contracts - all had to be done again (taking 3 months) and by then HIS buyer pulled out. Its just the luck of the draw - not a problem with our house.Just had to make that clear, sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 [quote]We've been trying to sell our UK home (to move to our place in France) for over a year and a half now. Buyers pull out because of broken chains, personal reasons, fluctuating interest rates, acts of G...[/quote]We sold our house in about 2 hours and got the asking price. Painted and decorated in neutral colours all New England style, wooden floors seem to go well. Cream covered suites. Coffee and bread machines firing away, white curtains, fresh flowers, hanging baskets and tubs outside, newly mowed lawn. No ornaments or pets anywhere. Seemed to do the trick.Can I come round and charge you about £200 for this advice??? : Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 Thanks Georgina, but have done all that. (I'm an interior designer and have sold many properties over the years!). My original point was that I'd been unlucky with the buyers - one had a fire (as mentioned before), another's mother fell down a hole in Australia so he had to rush out and help her through several months of convalesence (understandably, of course), another lost his job and couldn't afford to buy it, etc., etc., I'm of course grateful for the helpful suggestions, but its more about the bad luck I've had, rather than the house/price, etc.By the way, whats the weather like in France at the moment - radiators full-on in NW England!Thanks again.Envious, bitter and twisted of UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 Thanks Georgina, but have done all that. (I'm an interior designer and have sold many properties over the years!). My original point was that I'd been unlucky with the buyers - one had a fire (as mentioned before), another's mother fell down a hole in Australia so he had to rush out and help her through several months of convalesence (understandably, of course), another lost his job and couldn't afford to buy it, etc., etc., I'm of course grateful for the helpful suggestions, but its more about the bad luck I've had, rather than the house/price, etc.By the way, whats the weather like in France at the moment - radiators full-on in NW England!Thanks again.Envious, bitter and twisted of UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny29 Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Poor Whiskers!I did have to laugh about the mother falling down a hole in Australia - shouldn't she have come up the other side in England!!!!!My friend had similar experiences a few years ago - with three buyers pulling out over a period of about a year and each time she lost a house she had set her heart on. Most of her buyer's problems seemed to stem from the fact that they hadn't done their homework properly and were looking at houses they simply could not afford - their offers were accepted but then they couldn't get anyone to supply the mortgage.I absolutely hate the English system of selling - when we sold our house in the UK I didn't sleep easily until the day contracts were exchanged - there is very little in the system to stop someone pulling out right at the last minute and all they will have lost is a few hundred pounds at most on solicitors and survey fees.Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 Spot on, Penny! Thanks for your comments. I (sort of) feel a tad better now..... in that I'm not the only one on this planet to have suffered this.Thanks et bon weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 We put an offer on this house, the owner (a middle aged single man) walked round to the pub to celebrate the sale, and dropped dead !Luckily unknown to us his brother nearly decided to move here. (he hadn't seen his brother for 20 years but inherited the lot)Lots of nail chewing, with our solicitor eventually suggesting we exchange and move on the same day, even though I had a toddler and a baby plus a father in law moving in We got there in the end, 10 months later.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 No whiskers you are not on your own...though we did eventually sell and move to France 12 months ago,you say you are in the North West,perhaps you are using the same Solicitor and Estate agent as we did,they were at the root of a lot of our problems! like you we had people traipsing through our home on a daily basis,price was right,then the buyers couldn`t raise the cash,or they then decided that the rooms that `they loved` were now not quite right! or they came by at a different time of day and didn`t like the rush hour!! Keep your chin up...wellno,keep muffled into your collar as you say it is chilly, it is 18.15 now and him indoors is on the roof terrace enjoying a sundowner.....except the sun is still shining at about 27 degrees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchy Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Whiskers we had a very similar problem to you when we sold our house here in the UK to downsize and buy our house in France. We had three buyers pull out on us for various reasons and each time we took the house off of the market. It was absolutely heartbreaking as well as expensive, we lost a couple of properties we were after as well as Solicitor fees and the cost of a survey on one. All I can say is that I don't think it is that unusual and just hang in there. If it makes you feel any better all of the heartache we went through we feel worked out for the best in the end and for us at least, fourth time lucky (buyer wise). Best of luck. P.S. I apologise for the font size on my post , I don't know what is going on and how to change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwenhwyfar Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 Hi Annie Sorry it's taking you so long to sell This probably wont help but we sold ours in 12 days *but* the negative aspect of this has been that it's left us panicking to get ready for our move as we had been told the market was very quiet etc. so we were expecting to wait a while, at least you'll have lots of time to prepare for your move? but I'm sure that doesn't make you feel any better sorry.You could specify that you only want Buyers who are in a position to proceed? but then it is limiting your market. Perhaps it's time to change Estate Agents and find one that will 'vet' your Buyers better although they couldn't have forseen all those problems.Hope your luck improves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 I don't think Whiskers' experience is at all unusual, knowing the English house sales system and how it works. I don't know what's worse - not getting serious buyers at all, or getting buyers that drop out at the last minute for various reasons (often connected with solicitors or estate agents that seem unable to do their jobs).It sounds as if Whiskers would be a prime candidate to speak to Channel 4 (see 'Property Chain' and related topics) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haventgotone Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 Hi Annie,I really feel for you - had a similar situation about 20 years ago - three prospective buyers all fell victim to acts of God - did eventually sell that house and then sold the next house (about 3 years later) to a solicitor who somehow managed to offer full asking price, do searches, draw up contracts and complete all in ONE MORNING!! Luckily for me he wanted the house for visiting barristers so allowed us to remain in the house for three months until we relocated to another part of the UK.Don't know which was the most stressful to be honest!Did come to the conclusion that both situations happened for a reason although I can only see that in retrospect.All the best - Hope the right person comes along SOON. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinemj Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 no your not alone but i must say i havnt had quite a s much bad luck,having renavated my house to a good standard i am at the one year mark for selling.one buyer pulled out 2 weeks before completion (may 04) due to some fairy story rates had gone up a few days before and as they wanted to rent out the house ,they got scared off i think.new buyer in august complete late oct up till today all ok.but not thinking or getting exited about moving until i know they have the mortgage offer from bank.a least having bought our house 2 yrs ago and waited all this time i have been able to do my homework on moving to france and those rose tinted spectacles have long gone ,martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 Ooohhhh..... thank you Opas, French, Jennifer, Will, Val and Martin et al for your responses. I really DO feel better now - and I'm grateful for your good wishes. The Forum is like a big, snuffly-wuffly, snuggly family - all looking out for each other. (I can't believe I wrote that).I'm sure I'll get a buyer soon - I hope to be in France BEFORE I need a bath-chair and ear-trumpet.Thanks again and good luck in your lives.Whiskers x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 Actually, although I said we sold in two hours, it did get a bit hairy with the paperwork, there was a lot of misleading information coming between solicitors but knowing the house buying process, I knew someone was taking the .... So, after about 3 weeks, I bit the bullet and told them if they did not sign within 7 days, the deal was off. They signed one hour before the deadline!! I had to get some new trousers... but it was that close . Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill<br><br>Jill (99) Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 A few people have commented on the speed of solicitors. They seem to take ages - perhaps to justify their charges. But we found that they could really move when they had to. We passed this house one day and saw it was for sale and unoccupied, and that part exchange was available. We had no plans to move, but were inspired by the idea of moving to a bigger house without all the hassle of putting our house on the market. A few days later we viewed the house and it was arranged for the builders involved in the chain of part exchange to look at our house to make an offer. We agreed the offer on a Thursday, and two weeks and one day later we moved in! I can only assume it was the builders who had built the house at the top of the exchange chain who had the clout to get things moving. In fact, on that Thursday, my Mum went on holiday, so we told her nothing. 3 days after we had moved, we held a barbecue at the house and my sister pretended to take a wrong turn and arrived on the drive of our new home. The bewildered photo of my Mum was so funny. We also didn't tell our friends who were coming to stay for the weekend - they arrived at an empty house! It had all happened so quickly!So - how do you get solicitors to get things moving? They clearly can do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 "how do you get solicitors moving"Well actually Jill, some solicitors are quite unperturbed by the hassles of us moving and therefore either do not inform their clients properly of the process due to be sheer volume of work or their client is a timewaster or worse totally fails to understand. In the latter case, it is difficult for the solicitor to tell the other party this without breaching confidentialities so he often gets the blame for doing nothing, when his hands are tied. In my case, I knew someone down the chain was timewasting so I felt I had little to lose by giving a deadline. It worked though. I also think buyers are a bit like boyfriends, (if I remember that far back) they don't like to smell desperation, if you excuse the analogy. Conversely, if they think someone else is interested, they go into a panic. Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunder Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 [quote]"how do you get solicitors moving" Well actually Jill, some solicitors are quite unperturbed by the hassles of us moving and therefore either do not inform their clients properly of the process due t...[/quote]It certainly is a nightmare selling houses and you have my sympathy. The system in England is dreadful and must cause many a breakdown! When we sold ours in Suffolk to come to Australia we had had it up for sale for a few months with no luck, took it off the market for 3 months then changed to a different agent, Seemed to do the trick but could have been sheer luck. What I wanted to mention though is that we used a Conveyancing clerk from a company in Ipswich. This young lady was absolutely fantastic and did more for us than anyone could have asked. We were transferring our house money to Aus and it was crucial we met a deadline. She pulled out all stops and even went into her office on a Sunday to clear all other work so she could give our business her undivided attention on the Monday. We were charged under 300 pounds, nothing extra, unlike our purchasers whose solicitor was an absolute pain, paid 800 pounds. Needless to say we sent this young lady a huge bunch of flowers. I just thought I'd mention our experience as everyone is mentioning solicitors and by using a clerk maybe could save themselves a heap of money.:wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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