jami dodgers

An update for anyone interested who is following our house selling saga. The cashed up couple who veiwed the weekend before last have been looking for 3 years and said ours ticked 90% of their boxes. The following Monday they booked a second viewing...........on the Thursday they cancelled, saying they'd decided there wasn't enough grazing for their horses. Since then, zero interest, still loads of new hits on the Rightmove page but no-one clicking thru'. We have booked an appointment with a rep from English Country Cottages with a view to putting it on their books for short term rental whilst we wait for sales enquires to materialise.

Thanks Bold as Brass, that's a very useful insight. I'll see how this viewing on Saturday goes and there's another one bubbling. If no joy, I'll give a go.

Indeed. Mine cost the equivalent of 2 pints of beer which I've given up anyway as part of my New Year resolutions.

See the link in wee Jinky's post above.

Just coincidence ?! Four hours after ordering our St Joseph we had a viewing booked, the first by this estate agent and the first viewing for four and half months! They are a cash buyer and it seems ideal for them, but we'll know more after the viewing on Saturday at 3pm. I must make sure I've got St Joe planted correctly by then

Well "Cuthbert" a publised author like yourself ought to be able to buy it out of loose change

Thanks, some good ideas there. Cheers, jami

Indeed, you never know, St Joe is winging his way to us at this very moment Apparently I have to bury him head down, face out by the sign and say a heart-felt prayer, that bit should be easy

Van, I can't say much, except I agree with every thing you say! It's all a house of cards looking for an excuse to implode, IMO. From my reading, here and elsewhere for the last 5 or 6 years I wish I was out already, but I couldn't do it sooner and that's all there is to it. When it finally sells, only half of it is ours, the other half has to be invested for my mother who's now in a local nursing home with dementia. Out of our half, the plan had been to give each of the kids a substancial deposit to buy their own homes, but that depends on what we get and the way things look like they might be going, I'm inclined to invest it for them, rather than rush straight out and spend the money. They're both renting and seem happy enough, they certainly don't make efforts to save or better their circumstances. I don't really see why we should beggar ourselves to give them a leg up when both have said we can go whistle when it may come time for them to do for us what we have been doing for my folks for the last 6 years.

The property is so hard to value accurately because it's unusual. Two detached houses, (proper houses, not a house an annexe). A number of outbuildings with full commercial / retail planning permission. We ran a car conversion company for 10+ years (luxury limos for arabs) and a Rolls Royce wedding hire fleet. Recently the wife (who's a professional watercolourist) and I ran an art gallery and picture framing business, hence the retail permission. 8.8 acres including a pony paddock. Half acre lake. Rural location. It's not for everyone! We need 2 parts of the same family who want to get together to run a small to medium sized business, who have kids that want a pony or two and whose dad is a keen fisherman. LOL. The potential downsides of the property are:- The original farmhouse, which is now 2 houses and 3 flats is a near neighbour, behind our property, although ther's never any hassle from there and at least it means our property isn't isolated. There is a public footpath running diagonally thru' the grounds. It doesn't worry us but I can see some potential buyers being put off. We ran a tea room in the art gallery and the path used to bring in customers! When it sells we're going to buy a narrowboat and travel the canals and rivers of the uk during the summer and a small house in NZ to stay during our winter (their summer). Well, that's the plan LOL.

Actually, now that I have seen the follow photo, I want to develop a thread around your property. Are you willing to allow that? Yes, I'm happy for you to do that if you wish Looks like a good spot for farming.There is good farm land all around it.Both houses and all the outbuildings are ex agricultural, built from local stone. How much land have you got there? It comes with 8.8 acres, enough for a couple of ponies. What are the transport links? Excellent. It lies North East of the M4/M5 interchange by Bristol and is 8 mins from Junc 14 of the M5 and 12 mins from Junc 18 of the M4..Bristol Parkway railway stn is 25 mins away on the main London to Swansea line, with London Paddington an hour and a half by hi-speed train. Bristol and Cardiff airports are an hour away and Heathrow is an hour and a half. Why do you want to leave it? The wife and I have lived there for 27 years but our needs have changed . Kids have grown up and left home, my parents who lived in the smaller of the 2 houses (the one on the right as you view it from the lake) are no longer with us and we're rattling round in a property that's much too big for us.

1. Thanks Bubb, I'm trying not to lose heart, but it's difficult when one just wants to get on with the next exciting chapter in life Before I put it on the market, I arranged viewings/valuations from all the "big players" with reasonably close offices. Not one could tell me honestly that they had a suitable buyer on their books. Not one came up with a decent marketing strategy and they valued it at anywhere between £1M and £1.5M. In the end I went with what I thought would be the best of the bunch, but as soon as the 12 week initial contract period finished we shifted to a local co.who have sold properties for me in the past. They have three offices and we are right in the middle of their triangle of offices! They haven't been able to arrange a single viewing since, but they're trying and I'm hoping it may just be a dead time of the year. Good luck with your viewing 2. Van. Yep, guilty! I do have a typical non forced seller's atitude, but wouldn't you? Everything I own is in the property except a bit of fizzical I bought a number of years ago, which has done me proud, after reading energyi on ADVFN, a good poster but he doesn't post on there very much any more, I wonder where he could have gone? . I'm nearly 60 and the house represents our entire retirement pot. I'm trying to be realistic in what I believe to be a toppy/topped market but I still owe it to me and mine to get as much as I can. You might well ask, why did we leave it so late? The answer is, we didn't have a choice because of personal circumstances. 3. The Fox. As I think I've inferred already, if I thought that just slashing the price would bring about an immediate sale I would be very tempted but it's a niche property and will only appeal to a very limited number of buyers. Have a look and see what you think, the link is posted further down. Yes, greed and fear are playing a very large part in this, but don't those 2 sentiments play a part in everything we do? The open day is a good idea and the E.A is already suggesting that for around or just after Easter time. I've been reading and hearing alot about the migration from the the capital to the west country, but targeted marketing in the south east seems impossible. It was one of the reasons I originally set up meetings with the Savilles and Hamptons etc of this world, with their many London offices, but there seemed no structured cross feed between their various offices and no way they could suggest of targeting London specifically. For all their fancy corporate-speak, it seems to me, without exception all estate agents nowaday rely on just one thing, the internet. Am I allowed to post a link Bubb? Here's the house in question. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36720124.html We had a meeting with the EA yesterday and agreed a further reduction in price. We're getting plenty of hits on the ad, but no-one is clicking thru' to request further details or viewings. We agreed to change the lead photo once a fortnight to try to keep the ad fresh, so the first three photos will take it in turn to be the feature photo. Thank you for the suggestion about Fulfords, I'll keep it in mind. Any way, there you go, enough of my troubles, but thanks, it's good to chat it over with you guys. Cheers, jami

You need to define interest I'm very interested in the state of the housing market, because I have ours on the market. We're in a rural location, int the S.W. of the UK and have been on the market since late July 2012 So far 3 veiwings early on, but none since September. Moved from a national agent to a good local agent after the first 12 weeks. Not sure the particular agent makes much difference, as they all admit that 90% of enquiries now come thru' portals like Rightmove (we're listed with 200 portals apparently!!) . 360 hits on the R.M. page but no one's clicking thru' for details or viewings. Dropped the price from £1.5 to £1.375M when we changed agents but it's made buzzer all diference. Tried promoting it in specialist magazines (we have outbuildings with retail and commercial planning consent which would be ideal for a car restoration company or similar), but not one enquiry. Getting desparate now, would drop the price further if I thought it would make a difference. It's not an average house so there are no direct comparables. Local estate agent has said it could take up to two years to sell, but I worry about the train wreck coming down the track at us......I don't think we have 2 years!