Are you moving house?

We were much the same M0nica so now with the downsize I am trying to distinguish between the hand-me-downs, those we won at auction, the carefully chosen from junk shops and one or two bought new.

I've arranged for another auctioneer to come in a couple of weeks. He's on
the lower end of the scale! The last one only takes things valued at over £300. I don't have much of that.

Our first (new)house was full of teething issues.

Three days before Christmas and off work with a nasty infection, I sat in the site hut looking as if I might pass away at any moment, refusing to move until someone came and repaired the bathroom loo that was unuseable because it was leaking. It was a 3 storey house and the alternative loo was 2 floors down. The builders had said they would repair it '.in the new year'. They mended it that day.

All our furniture was bought in auctions, donated by family members or bought in junk shops and renovated - and 56 years on - still is. This traait goes down the family on both sides - DH's grandfather was an antiques dealer. It is clearly an inherited gene because DD wouldn't know how to buy new furniture and DS's daughter, aged 17, is already buying and renovating furniture for her bedroom.

Our first house was a year old and had no teething issues.

We had to go to auctions to buy furniture!
Oh that I had that problem now 😅

as they were building nearby.

Our present house was new when we bought it, tanith but that was years ago.

There were a few minor problems but we had been asked to write out a Snagging List so they came to put things right as they building nearby for some time.
There should also be a 10 year New Build warranty.

Gardens tend to be smaller now than when we bought ours but are a blank canvas so you can be creative. There should be fences and a patio laid by the builder.

Has anyone bought a new property? I’ve not had much luck house hunting since I lost a really nice house, so I’m now also looking for new properties as well. I’m just wondering if they are fraught with teething problems? and I assume gardens are very basic.

I'm still waiting to hear if I have planning permission Barleyfields
If not, the plot will go with the house.

Are you factoring in the value of the potential building plot Gramaretto, or looking to sell it separately? If the latter, sell it before the house to avoid CGT.

Thank you OldFrill that's helpful.
My solicitor sent me to a surveyor.

We discussed HR and surveys and she, the Surveyor has now said she
thinks I should get back to my
solicitor!

My potential buyer says he's happy to pay the price I ask, (I would be happy with a midway point between the 3 valuations I've already had)

I've seen a house I like in my price range, in the area I want. It has a flat roof which the EA says was refurbished in Nov 24. It's the flat roof which is making me hesitant, but I know it will get snapped up if I dither for too long.

Advice from anyone with experience of a flat roof house would be very welcome.

Grammaretto

I'm inclined to agree with you M0nica. The EA has offered and will know his job.

Have you got a solicitor, they should be able to handle the negotiations and tie the deal up. You'll need one anyway, l wouldn't use an EA as well.
I'd tell your potential buyer to make an offer if he wants it. It's not worth getting a Home Report for the valuation, it may work against you. The home report surveyor won't have any more relevant info to go on than your EA who said it was hard to value. If they go in lower than you think you're more or less stuck with it.

DD hopes to exchange tomorrow on a house she had an offer accepted on a year ago. The seller had failed to mention that there was a tenant in the hosue with a fixed date contract running to 28 February 2025.

The house was her dream house and she could only afford it because it is rundown, so she held on, so miraculously did her buyer.

Tomorrow at 2.00pm DD and us will be outside the house with the EA to go in to confirm that the tenants have gone and the house hasn't been left a tip. We will then phone her solicitor, and, hopefully exchange will take place. Completion will be dependant on the house being completely cleared. Having been round the house while the tenants were in occupation. I suspect the sellers may need to get skip in after they have gone to dispose of everything they leave behind.

Ask your solicitor to get confirmation that they are using the funds the EA has seen proof of to buy your house Sago. Our last buyer had the funds but actually wanted to use the proceeds of sale of another property that he told nobody about. Lying b*stard.

Personally, tanith, no as I am a person of my word - but I think you might have been hasty accepting the developer’s offer. No harm asking if he will match it but if he does, be prepared for him to chip the price at the last minute because paying full asking price means he will get less profit.

Our supposed cash buyers are messing us around, they will not communicate!
Our solicitor is beyond frustrated.
We are all ready to go!

The EA has apparently seen proof of funds but I’m not so sure.

I went to my local cancer research charity shop yesterday with clothes, shoes and decorative china it’s not easy letting some of this stuff go.
Just a question regarding my sale would you consider a higher offer once you have accepted a cash offer? I may be in this position today. I was thinking I’d ask the the cash buyer to match the higher offer but if it’s a substantial amount and he won’t what would you do? and yes I know it’s ‘bad form’

Grammaretto

Thanks everyone.
I had 2 valuations a couple of years ago when I first decided I had to downsize but they were both very vague with £200k between the upper and lower.
I spoke to an estate agent this morning and he is coming on Monday to give me a verbal valuation, as you've described.
This way I can settle on the price I want. I hope. 🤞
I am in Scotland.
I have an added complication because I have applied for planning permission to build a house in part of the garden. This wouldn't impact too much on the big house but it means changing the title and could affect the asking price, if I get permission. I should hear soon.
Even assuming I get PP I'm not convinced I want to live in my garden but it could be an attractive selling point I suppose. .

It's so time and brain consuming isn't it. And that's without all the decluttering of a lifetime.

We’re currently in the process of downsizing to a two bedroom bungalow from a three double bedroom house and your quote about the declutterring of a lifetime made me laugh!

We’ve been in our house for 38 years so we’ve got lots and lots of ‘stuff’ Every morning I wake up thinking ‘where / what am I going to tackle today’ and it’s so hard. There are so many memories in every room and I haven’t even tackled all the family photos which I know we haven’t got room for. I’ve put enough stuff on Vinted and EBay to actually open my own shop and we’ve given bags and bags of things to the charity shops but there still seems so much to go at. Part of me wishes we hadn’t started the whole thing at all!

I'm inclined to agree with you M0nica. The EA has offered and will know his job.

Best thing to do, despite agency costs is to put it in the hands of an estate agent and get them to do the negotiations for you. negotiate a lower fee because they have not had to pay for any publicity or expend any time finding you this buyers.

Not sure what to do now or in what order. Do I just go ahead and book a home report? Do I discuss with my private buyer? Should I share with him the suggested valuation I have just received from the EA?

I'm inclined to sleep on it.

I wish we had an offer, our three potential buyers have all been in touch with our estate agent to say that they want the house and as soon as they get an offer themselves they will be back.

In our case we are willing to move out whether we have somewhere to go to or not. Short term we can stay with DD, longer term we would need to rent, but our requirements for a property are quite constrained so we know, having lost the house we really wanted that ticked every box, some compromise will be necessary, but there isn't much wriggle room.

Well I had another lower offer today and found out the house I really liked is sold not to me. So I decided to accept the cash offer but making it clear I’ve not found a house yet and he will have to wait till I’m ready as he seems in a hurry and I definitely won’t be moving out to rent take it or leave.

You're not wrong Gramarretto no more more viewing yet but the agent expects more. It can't be easy to find that out if they don't want to tell you.

It's so fraught with decisions tanith.
Are there more viewings?

I had an EA today who has told me my house is very hard to value. I knew that already. He did say I should get a home report but also find out if my private buyer has the funds to pay!

Thanks Monica one of my offers is cash offer from a developer and hes just asked for chainfree as a condition of sale I'd have to rent. The other is subject to sale of a property. I don't want to rent so I've said no.

tanith well done. We have one offer and two more hovering, but each one is dependent on the people concerned selling their own house, an offer chain rather than a selling chain.