Monday, February 27, 2006

Is it Sold - or not!

I have been trying to complete on the sale of my house for 4 months. As a previous seller of numerous houses I can say with knowledge that this sale has been very unpredictable.

My buyer has gone from being a) not involved in a chain to b) there may be a small delay as I am now getting divorced to c) my buyer has promised to exchange in two weeks so I will be ready to exchange contracts the day after.

Did I pull out of the sale? Did I heck! Not one for quitting I decided to stick with it, the smell of success seemed so close. Re-marketing was in my mind however, so I invited 3 new estate agents to view the property, now empty, freshly painted, clean and dressed in a minimalist fashion. If my worst fears materialised and my buyer let me down completely, I would be ready to put the house up for sale quickly.

Estate agents are not everyones cup of tea. I once had a brief foray into the business of being one myself. Two years was all I managed before deciding the life wasn't for me. The business would be okay if you didn't have to deal with the prospective sellers and landlords, which of course is what I am at this moment, an irate seller angry at my agent for finding me a rubbish buyer.

True to form my 3 new agents arrived, viewed the property and gave me their expert opinions. Have you noticed how there seems to be no 'standard' for valuing a house for sale? My 3 agents gave wildly differing opinions. There was £25,000 between the top and bottom estimate. I realise that when you are selling a £1million property £25k is neither here nor there, but at the bottom end of the market £25k is a lot of money. They all saw the same house, on the same day with only a half hour between each visit. The only comment they had in common was that they loved the house, would love to have it on their books and felt sure they could do it justice - and get me a quality buyer quickly - for their realistic recommended price! Now I am not stupid but really ....

For several reasons, e.g. Christmas/New Year break and my annual 2 week holiday which is always taken between December and January, I decided to stick with the existing buyer, but I would set her a deadline. That was 4 weeks ago and the deadline I gave my buyer was 28th February - tomorrow.

My solicitor updated me 4 days ago. The 2 other solicitors involved in this small chain of buyers, are now ready to go. The first exchange will happen on Monday 27th. My exchange will happen as I planned on 28th. Let's see how long I can hold my breathe......

Fiona 27/2/06

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