House Prices #4 Property market, buying and selling

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Not me but my son put his house on the market in September, offer accepted three weeks later and completed the week before Christmas. No chain though as he has moved in with his g/f and his buyer was a FTB.
 
whoonearthisalice said:
Out of interest how long have the posters here been going through the process?
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Only just started but have very tight deadlines. Reserved a new build Friday just gone, instructed estate agent and conveyancers yesterday, mortgage in principle was done Tuesday, have the surveyor coming to do the home report today and the photos will be done for our listing on Tuesday. Needed to get our house listed within 10 working days of our reservation and we need to have accepted an offer within 6 weeks otherwise we lose our reservation. Builders want to complete end of March. To add to the stress, I'm pregnant and due beginning of March 🤣

Edited to add: We had already spoken with a bunch of estate agents May/June last year as we knew we wanted to sell this year. That gave us a rough idea of our budget for what we could realistic move to. Fortunately the value of our property hasn't really moved much, if anything it's gone up a smidge, so that was a bonus!
 
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whoonearthisalice said:
Out of interest how long have the posters here been going through the process?
Click to expand...

House on market end of of June '23
Accepted offer from buyer end of August '23
Had our offer accepted on house we're buying October '23
Hoping to exhange and complete this month!

We had our first quote through yesterday for removals. JFC!! I can't believe how much it was. Our last move was 6 years ago and we moved from one end of the country to the other. This time we're only moving 20 mins down the road. And the quote we recieved yesterday was about £700 more than what we paid for the cross county move. I wouldn't say we have that much more in the way of belongings/ furniture either.
 
So from summer to now-ish seems really common then!

I reckon our house will be away within a week of being on and I just know we are going to struggle to find somewhere. So like I said in a post the other day I need to probably be open to losing buyers even multiple times.

There are new builds we can buy but tbh I am hoping something else comes on in Jan that we can go for instead. The developer here insists you have an offer accepted before you reserve one then it’s up to 9 months before your house is ready and moving elsewhere first just isn’t an option for us.
 
whoonearthisalice said:
There are new builds we can buy but tbh I am hoping something else comes on in Jan that we can go for instead. The developer here insists you have an offer accepted before you reserve one then it’s up to 9 months before your house is ready and moving elsewhere first just isn’t an option for us.
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We put our house on the market with the intention of buying a new build but then the house we are buying came on the market at the start of September. You never know what might crop up and tick all your boxes (although push the budget slightly). So grateful we were already on the market though as we had such a head start and had just dropped our price too so were suddenly getting genuine interest in selling ours. Good luck! And keep browsing all the property websites :ROFLMAO:
 
epl000 said:
We put our house on the market with the intention of buying a new build but then the house we are buying came on the market at the start of September. You never know what might crop up and tick all your boxes (although push the budget slightly). So grateful we were already on the market though as we had such a head start and had just dropped our price too so were suddenly getting genuine interest in selling ours. Good luck! And keep browsing all the property websites :ROFLMAO:
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I sincerely hope similar happens to us!
 
We originally went on the market in March 2023, got fed up and came off in August (with the idea of going back up in the spring)

A few weeks later got a phone call from our estate agent to say the house we loved (also up with them) fell through. So we went back on the market, dropped the price by 10k and sold a day later… for our original asking price 🤣 we then completed 10 days before Christmas.

Sometimes I really do think it’s luck and timing!
 
Beyondthebrink said:
House on market end of of June '23
Accepted offer from buyer end of August '23
Had our offer accepted on house we're buying October '23
Hoping to exhange and complete this month!

We had our first quote through yesterday for removals. JFC!! I can't believe how much it was. Our last move was 6 years ago and we moved from one end of the country to the other. This time we're only moving 20 mins down the road. And the quote we recieved yesterday was about £700 more than what we paid for the cross county move. I wouldn't say we have that much more in the way of belongings/ furniture either.
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This worries me so much. We had really low moving costs when we moved into our house as we just hired a van and did it ourselves, including a cross country collection. We had the luxury of being a new build and coming from a rental where we had a month overlap. Won't have that this time 😬
 
We sold in May 2022 in one day of being on the market. Had an offer accepted on a property in June 2022… all fell apart September 2022. My husband is an accountant, suffers majorly from anxiety, and tends to be overly cautious. So when autumn 2022 came around and interest rates were rising, and there was uncertainty around the cost of heating and electricity, we (mostly he) decided we should stay put, so we locked in our rate for two years… and here we are!
My husband is adamant we are not moving unless the interest rates come down. With the rate of inflation dropping more than expected just before Christmas, he is uncharacteristically optimistic that interest rates will follow… oh god I hope so!
We’ve been in our current property 10 years. Which was never the plan, we outgrew it years ago. For me, I’m done here. I want to live in a nicer area, with nicer neighbours, with a property that doesn’t constantly have things wrong with it (granted I might be asking too much on that last point).
I wonder how those of you that have moved the past couple of years, when interest rates have been much higher have faired? Did it affect your budget for the properties you were looking at? How long have you locked your rate in for? Are you still comfortable, and able to pay all bills, and have a life?!
These are all things I know my husband will want almost 100% certainty on (even though that’s not realistic). He is due a pay rise, and seems to be in the running for a promotion - so that might help my cause come spring time!
Also - any experience with new builds/buying from developers? There’s a new estate being built the other side of town, that we would love.. but unsure if it’s realistic/worth it.
 
Calmyourtitsdown said:
We sold in May 2022 in one day of being on the market. Had an offer accepted on a property in June 2022… all fell apart September 2022. My husband is an accountant, suffers majorly from anxiety, and tends to be overly cautious. So when autumn 2022 came around and interest rates were rising, and there was uncertainty around the cost of heating and electricity, we (mostly he) decided we should stay put, so we locked in our rate for two years… and here we are!
My husband is adamant we are not moving unless the interest rates come down. With the rate of inflation dropping more than expected just before Christmas, he is uncharacteristically optimistic that interest rates will follow… oh god I hope so!
We’ve been in our current property 10 years. Which was never the plan, we outgrew it years ago. For me, I’m done here. I want to live in a nicer area, with nicer neighbours, with a property that doesn’t constantly have things wrong with it (granted I might be asking too much on that last point).
I wonder how those of you that have moved the past couple of years, when interest rates have been much higher have faired? Did it affect your budget for the properties you were looking at? How long have you locked your rate in for? Are you still comfortable, and able to pay all bills, and have a life?!
These are all things I know my husband will want almost 100% certainty on (even though that’s not realistic). He is due a pay rise, and seems to be in the running for a promotion - so that might help my cause come spring time!
Also - any experience with new builds/buying from developers? There’s a new estate being built the other side of town, that we would love.. but unsure if it’s realistic/worth it.
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We're in the process of buying our second new build. We didn't have a great experience with our first house, we had a lot of struggles trying to get snagging fixed that culminated in having to get lawyers involved so that tarnished the house for us. The house we're buying is actually already completed so we've already been able to assess the build quality plus this builder has a process for dealing with snagging, including allowing a snagger to access the property, prior to completion. One thing to note with new builds is you have to budget for all the additional purchases, everything from flooring, fencing, outdoor tap, appliances, bathroom fittings etc. A lot of developers are struggling at the moment so you may be able to get some good deals.
 
We're about to go to market, had one estate agent round and another coming on Monday. I only just sold my house in early 2022, had back to back viewings and several offers the same day and went to best and final. Market was crazy then! Moved in with my now husband and we're selling up his house to buy somewhere together. First time ever I'll be selling and buying at the same time and the thought is already stressing me out.
 
I know I am going to be in for a shock this time when selling. I think it will still sell and quickly but not like it did when I had it on the market in 2021. So many viewings and offers at closing date. If we get even a third of the interest this time I think it will be ok.

Anyone else who also tried to buy/bought around 2020/2021 will know how much of a kick in the teeth it is comparing what you could have got then with what you can get now but it is what it is. There’s no point dwelling too much on it.
 
Was hoping that we would have exchanged contracts today but no word from the solicitors. Don't want to chase them too much as they are waiting on our buyers solicitors who were waiting on signed paperwork, but just getting impatient now. Literally been checking my emails so much to see if there is any update ugh!
 
epl000 said:
Was hoping that we would have exchanged contracts today but no word from the solicitors. Don't want to chase them too much as they are waiting on our buyers solicitors who were waiting on signed paperwork, but just getting impatient now. Literally been checking my emails so much to see if there is any update ugh!
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Friday is completion day, it's the worst day to try and make progress on anything else.
 
Just got our home report through and it's £50k less than we were expecting based on the conversations we had with agents over the summer 😳 It's not even in line with the pricing of homes with the same number of bedrooms that are smaller and in the same area! Also found out that we aren't eligible to get government funded hours for our son's nursery until August because his birthday is two weeks too late for the earlier cut off. Think we're going to have to pull out 😭
 
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