How long to sell your house in the UK

[nickydwuk]

We have just put our house on the market. The biggest decision we had to make was 'when is the right time?' Sell too early and you have no where to live - too late and you end up flying round the world and still having to pay a UK mortgage on NZ wages. I just wondered how long your houses took to sell and if my time scale of 8 months from first on the market to completion is reasonable?

[Maggiemoo]

Hi Nicky, our whole selling process was 7 weeks from putting house on market to completion (this was back in May/June 06) - we flew off to NZ 5 days before completion so we gave mother-in-law power of attorney to deal with the final bits. Not sure how market is really doing at the moment here in UK as we are renting now, we have just put our house in tauranga on the market, so fingers crossed that sells quickly too so we can get back on the property ladder here!! Good luck with your plans.

Maggie

[ebianca]

Hi Nicky.

I would say ours was about 7 months once things were sorted proporley with estate agent until we completed 2 weeks ago.

Ours was an unusual property though and quite small.

I'm sure 8 months should be fine and if you get an offer sooner than you thought then you could get the solicitor to drag it out a bit longer until you are ready- they are very good at that

[Ginabridget]

Hello, we had two properties to sell and put them both on the market last April, changed agents on our main house after six months with only one viewing, finally got another viewing in November and went from offer to completion in 6 weeks. Have moved into our other house which went on the market at the same time, have just re-marketed and received an offer last weekend. One house took 8ish months and this one is taking 12 months (keeping out fingers crossed that the sale goes through).

[kokopeli]

I guess it all depends on being in the right place at the right time. We sold our first house about half an hour after we signed the contract with the estate agent. When we moved to NZ, the house went up for sale in May. We accepted an offer on 1st September and completed on 15th October.

FWIW, it might help to have a Plan B just in case the house sells really quickly and a Plan C in case it takes longer. Be imaginative and let us know what you come up with.......

[zummerzet_lou]

Well we're not having much luck - we put our house on the market in Sept 2007, and still waiting for an offer :-(

Still no real urgency for us, as not expecting our residency visas until at least April 2008 .. but that's not really that far away now is it?

Hope you have more luck than us,

Lou

[nickydwuk]

Had a re-view today (they came on Sunday first) and have a different viewing on Saturday. Only our second week on the market so who knows .................

[zummerzet_lou]

Oooohhh sounds promising!

Must be something in the water - had an offer (a bit too low but hopeful they will upp it) yesterday AND we also had another couple come for a 2nd viewing!!

Lou

[nickydwuk]

The second viewing family decided not to put in an offer - not enough off street parking for their taxi's but we still have the viewing on Saturday. A board also went up yesterday and within 2 hours our neighbours knocked on the door saying they were interested in buying it (or rather their son was). They have made an appointment with the agent for Saturday as well. Saturday could be our lucky day - they will probably put in a ridiculous offer but it's a start.

[keeweegal]

I think every area is different too, as well as being in the right place at the right time. We put ours on in Aug 07 & had 2 viewers until we took it off the market in December. We're hoping to have sold by July 08 & think we'll put it back on in the next 3-4 weeks. If we're not gone by August 08, will have to have a holiday in NZ (oh dear, how sad!) to activate OH's visa.

Good luck, Nicky!