Took us 6 years to sell the kennels and bungalow in the West Midlands. Seems no one wants 2 acres of land and a business on the property.
An eventful afternoon - and more than a little annoying!
The owner of the house that we went to see has had just one offer - ours - and he went back to the agent saying he might accept £215,000!
We have offered £213,000 tops as it’s what was the agreed price with our buyer BUT that’s still subject to contract.
Her surveyor came this week so we have yet to find out if the accepted offer for our house still stands, although my wife says the surveyor wasn’t negative about our valuation.
It turns out that the vendor of the house we went to see has made an offer on another house of £230,000 and added £10,000 on top for “expenses” and then told the agent he wanted £240,000 for the property because he thought that’s what you did!
Unbelievable.
We have reaffirmed to the agent that we will go no higher than £213,000 and that’s still dependent on our buyer and subject to any survey that we instigate.
We will NOT over-stretch our position no matter how much we would like that house as we are no longer financially secure in as much as we could get extra finance!
What you see is what you get! stevmk2
Well we got a refusal as we more or less expected so that’s that. stevmk2
Hi Steve what a trama this all is .
Just got a call today from a house agent on one property which we were interested but someone else bought .
Now they have changed their mind so do we want it?
The fact is having resigned myself to not getting it I am no longer sure I do want it ! It’s fairly isolated which worries me.
Meanwhile the house we did really want has declined our above
Asking for price because they hadn’t seen anywhere they like ( they say) I think it’s because they want to ramp the price up.
Pity we don’t adopt the Scottish way. Once an offer has been made it is a binding contract so I understand.
Worst is if you are in a “chain” of buyers and sellers. All it needs then the one at the start of the chain to back out and everyone afterward collapses as well, which I think is totally out of order.
Spring and Autumn is the main house move seasons I have found having moved 5 times
Were still waiting for a buyer Steve, i think it’ll after Christmas or into Spring, it’s all a long waiting game. We don’t want to look at houses as were not in a position yet to buy. But hopefully that day will come 
Steve you’ll have to get back to the drawing board or come and buy mine… It’s a 3 bed semi at £105,000 there cheaper up north you know
Hold that thought Muddy!
We’ve decided that if the vendor comes back at us after failing to get a buyer, (we know he’s getting nowhere!), we’ve told the agent we just might be interested - @ a lower figure than we offered before!
Don’t want it now; he’s just a greedy bastard! stevmk2
Today a house we viewed on the 31st of October came back on the market.
We were tempted to try again but decided against it as it was a beautiful house but just too far out of town for us.
We told the agent and he understood but 15 minutes later a colleague of his from another agency rang to tell us of a house about to come on the market not far from the 1st house we viewed.
It’s supposedly still being refurbished and the price will reflect that but it sounds promising!
I really do hope it comes up and we stand a chance as it is going to be marketed at the top end of our budget.
Won’t be much change left but if it’s as good as we’ve been told, well, we are hoping!
Could be as early as this Friday, which happens to be the 13th! :shock: stevmk2
Steve, not sure I understand here. If the first house was too far out of town, won’t the second one be too, if its near the first?
Don’t let Frid 13th worry you, I prefer to think of it as lucky!
Yes, I know that reads a bit odd but it’s also the area too Mups; it’s an estate that is about 20-25 years old now and it’s attracted a lot of buy-to-let business over the past ten years so there’s a constant change in ownership or owner.
That means there’s not much in the way of a community, you never really get to know the neighbours and we’d prefer a more fixed population.
I know all about the area as I know people that live or have lived there, one my former colleague at work.
The distance though is relevant because my wife’s had a hip replacement and I have a lot of arthritis problems now so we are looking for somewhere within a reasonable walking distance as I may decide to give up the car in the next few years; it’s getting too expensive to warrant keeping a car and driving standards are appalling now!
The other house is on an estate half a mile closer to town and has it’s own parade of shops nearby and the bus stop is there too! stevmk2
That could be handy then Steve. Handy to be on a bus route, especially if you get your bus pass.
I’m lucky like that as well.
Gotta wait 'til Monday apparently Mups!
Agent says it’s not quite ready but we drove past it and are a teensy bit concerned.
The adjoined semi is still Council and there are blankets up at all the front windows. 
We have Indians and Bangladeshi’s in our street and others nearby and they tend to do that for “curtains” too.
Nothing wrong there but my wife’s a bit of a worrier about neighbours.
It’s not their race or colour but their habits; my wife lived in a flat above a nice Indian family but the block stank of boiled Onions all the time!
We get a whiff here now and then but it’s only in passing but if it was next door it could be a bit over-powering!
I’ve told her that if the garden’s a tip that’s a bad sign too and we will take it no further, regardless of how good the property we view is as we will have to live there until we “go” so it has to be right. 
Still worried myself though - Romanians in the next street have ruined a lovely garden by using it as a tip! stevmk2
Been to look at this house twice now and having more doubts - the exterior of this house is tatty.
These vendor are apparently asking for £210,000 for this house when that’s about £25,000 more according to Zoopla than the most recent asking price for a similar house nearby; August!
Zoopla’s generally a bit low though but you get the idea!
I’ve asked our agent and he agrees with me - over-priced but if the interior has been completely refurbished and that means kitchen and bathroom both, to a high standard, £210,000 is still a bit steep for a house that could need £800+ spent on the exterior!
Getting a headache now! 
Roll-on Monday and we can get this over with! 
stevmk2
Well we got it over with and we’ve bought a house! :shock:
This place is beautiful though and my wife’s bouncing around like a ping-pong ball with excitement 
, even though it’s a bit further out of town than she wanted. 
Me, I was easy on that but I had to bear in mind her hip replacement and my arthritis, which is getting worse plus my thoughts on continuing driving a car.
The lady of the house we’ve seen also doesn’t drive so she told my wife all about the bus service so she’s happy now!
We’ve had to offer the full asking price - we did try to knock it down but then offered £210,000 on condition that they did not put it on the market, because it wasn’t on - we got a sneak preview!
They agreed!
That’s all a bit of a long story but I contacted the agent when they ridiculed our agent, assuming they’d not sold our house and I challenged them to find us a house - and they just did! 
stevmk2
Congratulations Steve, I hope everything goes smoothly and you and your wife will be very happy in your new home.
Well done !
Good luck, stevmk2. I hope the transition is as stress-free as it can be.
Some hopes orangutan!
Couldn’t sleep last night because all sorts of things were going through my head!
How do you fit the contents of a 3-bed house into a 2-bed house - you don’t of course and the vendors are leaving things that make our own redundant!
We already realise we cannot fit three beds in or three wardrobes and five chests of drawers and all sorts of accumulated clutter we kept “just in case” but luckily all of it is actually quite old and in some cases probably won’t withstand another move so some is going to the tip.
Our fridge freezer a problem, so’s the washing machine and our tumble drier as this new house has all sorts, including a dishwasher and it’s staying 'cos it’s fitted to that kitchen - getting it all out would ruin all that refurbishment.
Both of the bedrooms are big though and can take a double bed in the smallest room and our 5 footer in the bigger room but we have problems with our lounge furniture as we have 3 IKEA shelving units, complete with boxes that won’t fit in the new house’s lounge as it’s standard size - ours here is two rooms knocked into one!
Anyway, we are starting all the work now and may have to ditch some of our stuff but if there’s no room it’ll have to go!
stevmk2
That’s why I said ‘as stress-free as it can be’. It’s always going to be stressful. Just been there, and got rid of a lot of stuff, and still getting rid of more. Still have a surplus washing machine, but I might have a taker for that tomorrow. Actually I have found getting rid of stuff rather therapeutic. Hope you might too!
You can’t do everything yesterday, so one step at a time.
Very VERY angry today!
We had a quote from Premier Solicitors for what we thought was the total costs of our move - it even said TOTAL!
Today, going onto the bastards’ website, we found that the “estimate” was bollocks and they want £2000 more!
We put in a bid for the house on the understanding that we had our costs covered, after withdrawing £8,000 for that purpose, from our savings.
Now we have made an offer, which has been accepted, on the assumption that our total costs were £8000 only to find they are £2000 more for the Solicitors so we are effectively £2000 short!
My wife’s in tears and I don’t know what we do now 'cos we have misunderstood the fact that the Solicitors have put TOTAL costs yet produced a Buying and Selling quotation, the 2nd of which they didn’t bother to send us!
I’ve sent an email to them but my wife was on the 'phone for an hour too and although the bint she spoke to said there seemed to be an error, that won’t come through on any kind of explanatory letter.
My wife’s in tears again - we’ve spent £200 on new stuff for house today and have another £200 yet to pay-out to collect what we have ordered online.
What’s really sad is that today we treated ourselves to a meal out too and had such a nice day and all this has descended upon us.
My wife’s saying withdraw our offer now. 
stevmk2