Worried -NO HOUSE SALE AND WANT TO GO

[grants]

Hi don't post very often but always on the site reading others comments.

We have our visas and was hoping to go between January and March. The big problem is we have still not sold the house. It has been on the market since end May and we have had 2 offers one early on, 30K below asking price, which was quickly rejected. We then had another offer, 25K below asking and we asked them to come up slightly but they refused so we declined that offer.:arghh::mad:

Then the Northern Rock thing happened and it has gone very quite. There is another prospective buyer who is keen on the house but they have also got to sell. The media is predicting gloom and doom in the property market and saying the market is going to crash which is fine if you are buying and selling but when you are trying to release your capital it is a total nightmare and we could see all our equity go down the pan.
The Estate agents have assured us the price is right at present and it is well presented etc but there are just no buyers around at present.

Is anybody else struggling with house sales? It just might make me feel better to speak to others in the same boat.

Jan Midwife
Shane Insurance Loss Adsjuster
Oliver 13
Gabriella 9

[Roo1]

Hi Jan,

I know how frustrating it is! I'm here in Adelaide and have my 3 bed house still to sell in Manchester. The day I put it on the market, someone offered 18 thousand below the asking price and I declined. In hindsight, I wish I'd accepted.
It seems the market is dead through out the U.K, which is totally opposite to here. If a house isn't snapped up within the week, you start to wonder whats wrong with it!

At the moment I have my U.K house tennanted. But that too hasn't been without problems. My last tenants took my washing machine and lawn mower, blew my electrics and flooded my bathroom. This new tenant has been in 2 weeks and already snapped my light switch and buggered up the lock on my front door. My house was perfect when I left and now I believe looks sad and tired, so no wonder no one wants it!

I'm sorry I couldn't have been more positive with this post! But I guess you can take solace that its happening to others around you, not just you.

Good luck and I hope you get a break through soon.

Judi x

[dglamoore]

Wow Jan cannot believe that house has not sold - both the house and the area are gorgeous :shocked:

Fingers crossed that things pick up for you soon and a buyer comes along for you so you can get out here for a bit of summer so you don't have 2 winters on the trot like we did :huh:
(even if winter here is lovely in the day!)

Lisa:cute:

[sarahsmartiepants]

I always say...you think the getting the TRA and visa bit is stressful, the house sale bit is far far far worse!
sarah

[grants]

Thanks for your replies.

All we can hope is that the market does not crash and the interest rate reduces soon so that people are given more confidence to buy.

If not we will be coming soon for a reccie to validate visas which will be good but will also eat into any capital we have. Still I have got to try and think positively as it is driving me mad with worry. After going through all the stress of obtaining the visa the house selling is definitely worse. :arghh:

Jan Midwife
Shane Loss adjuster
Oliver 13
Gabriella 9

[cormcvcr]

Hi there,

sorry to here your stresses about your house, so close yet so far away!

Hopefully things will sort themselves out for you, there will be a buyer out there somewhere!

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[Skittle]

:confused:I agree - the house selling process is most definitely the worst part. We are now on our 3rd sale of our house in the UK. I suppose we are fortunate in a way as we had 3 people who wanted it but all had to sell their houses first. We've managed to get the full asking price too - but as they say 'never say you've sold it until you get the money in your hand'.

We're crossing fingers, toes, anything really, that the sale really will go through this time.

It's a decision you have to make Jan - do you leave your house empty in the UK and hope you sell, rent it out, or sit tight until you have the money in your hand. It's a decision only you and your family can make.

I wish you well.

Karen

[JulieG]

Hi Everything you have said is the same for us. house been up for sale since July only had 1 viewing this is the most stressful part of the whole process. There is nothing happening on the property market here (Nottingham). We are going to rent out as we want to go as early in the new year as we can. Hope this is a little comfort you are not alone. Good luck

[ceri]

hi Jan, sorry to hear you cant sell....that makes me really worried, as we are just putting finishing touches to our house before putting it on the market in dec/jan. we hope to sell and go into rented untl we move to oz in Jan 09. we have to sell our house just like you to be able to go . Good Luck and keep us updated.
Where are you thinking of moving to in Adelaide...any favourite suburbs?

[grants]

Hi everyone.

Feeling much better today as believe it or not we may now have sold our house. :jiggy::jiggy:

However there is a catch. We are doing an exchange with a couple who are really keen on ours but have also not been able to sell theirs. This means we buy their house, release our capital but keep our mortgage which is tied in with Northern Rock for 10 years at a rate of 4.75%. This will enable us to avoiding the £12500 early redemption fee we were going to have to pay back to Northern Rock. It does mean we will have a little less to bring but we should be able to rent the property which is a modern 3 bedroomed terraced and should bring in enough income to cover the mortgage. We will initially move into it and just tell Northern Rock we are downsizing (hopefully none of you are Northern Rock Employees!!).

There is always the worry we will not have a tenant and mortgage would not be paid but long term I think this could be good move as I really don't think properties will crash horrendously, as it is predicted by the middle of this century this country will have 75 million people so demand is going to be too great for properties to fall long term.

If anybody else is in the same position and having difficulty selling maybe you should think about doing a similar thing.

In answer to Ceri we are hoping to move end of March and hope to live in Blackwood or Eden Hills area. Our friends moved early September and are living in Hallett Cove in rented as they had not sold their house before leaving. Their children aged 13 and 15 are going to Blackwood High school which is going well so they are now lookinhg o move to this area as they have said it is a good place to live.

Cant wait to go so fingers and toes crossed now this property sale goes through without any hitches. We need to speak to Northern Rock and then decide on sale prices. Of course we are going to have to pay solicitors fees estate agent fees and stamp duty but still not as much as the £12500 early redemption fee. Tying ourselves into a 10 year deal was a good idea at the time but 12 months later we had an even better idea of emigrating to Australia. just a shame the Australian idea didn't come before the mortgage deal.

Jan Midwife
Shane Loss Adjuster
Ollie 13
Gabby 9

[Richard & Amanda]

Hiya,

We are in the same boat as many of you here.
House has been on the market since 5th Sept - just got in there before I needed the dreaded HIP pack!!!! Had 1 viewing so far with no feedback obtained from the agent....they can't contact him apparently! Warrington is flooded with 3bed houses at the moment!

Anyway we are trying to get out of the contract with our estate agent now, don't feel he is offering the service promised. I reckon we have another 3-4 weeks before the market well and truly dries up for Chrimbo.

If we don't sell this year we had thought about taking it off the market completely and starting again in the spring. My winter pansies are looking a little sad now, must start thinking about planting the daffs just in case!

It really is stressful trying to keep the house minimalist just in case!!!!!

[Leanne & Mark]

We are putting ours up straight after x mas. i think we might go with mutiple agents from the off set so as to up their enthusiasm with any luck!! Just hope we don't look to desperate!!

Grants thats a bloody good idea, it may just be a great selling point on our house, that we are willing to buy some ones smaller property, plus gives us something to come back too if we really have to.

[cribber]

Like many people here the house sale is our last major hurdle.
Things were going great, the house was sold at near asking price until the chain collapsed last Wedneday!!!!

We now find ourself going through it all again, keeping the house immaculate and having to disappear for viewings. Has 3 viewing in 2 days which was great but the feedback wasn't so good.

Very mindful that Christmas is approaching and guess that if we don't sell before the end of the month we'll be out to Adelaide around Christmas without offloading our place, and then what do you do????????
Reluctant to rent it out but unless we have an offer and a firm chain we may have no choice!!!!

Paul.

[Hayshake]

I guess we are another couple caught in the house selling process,
Since we put our house on the market at the start of July, we had 2 viewings and then the disastrous floods in Gloucestershire, (we didn't get flooded by the way) August was dead, 5 viewings in Sept & Oct, 2 very positive and agent thought we would get offers, but not forthcoming, Northern Rock, and the announcement this week that the whole UK market is overvalued by 25%, just great!!.
I left booking flights until the last minute, hoping for a sale, and had some difficulty getting a flight. Finished up with Royal Brunei Airlines. These fly into Perth, where some Aussie friends, who we are staying with for 3 nights before flying onto Adelaide with Virgin Blue.
All this to validate our Visa. Having said that we are on a one way ticket, and will book a return from Aus. when hopefully a buyer comes along for our house.
Not an easy time as we fly out on Sunday 28th, and there seems so much to do and organise.
However I am confident that all will work out well in the end.

[laurajarrett]

Hi Jan & Shane

Unfortunatly we are in the same boat, the house market is c*&* at the mo.
We have to validate our visa's by the 14th Nov 07.
We could have spent $9000 on a 3 week holiday but we thought it better to keep the money as a mortgage fund and let our house out for 1 year to a company called Northwood. They have a package that will pay your rent/mortgage reguardless of a tenant. So that is what we are doing. We also applied for the meet & greet service and goverment rental, which takes the pressure off of our money situation a little as it will cost us between $160 - $220 dollars per week all inclusive of bills and furniture for a 12 wk only rental.

Keep your chin up there is help out there if all else fails.

Good luck and maybe see you in Oz

Laura & Jarrett

[swampo]

We are alos in the same position, almost there with our visa approvals, house on the market and the market has gone DEAD. I agree, this is more stress full than the waiting bit. Lets hope that this interest rates are lowered and that there will be a new interest in the housing market very, very soon.

[Blackcat]

Hi, we arrived here nearly 3 weeks ago and have also not sold our house, very worried, but glad we have still come. We have only had two viewings since May and were fed up waiting and decided to book the flights anyway and hope. It is now up for rental and for sale, going to be sooo frustrating as not going to be able to buy here for ages, but just have to hope that it will sell, is there any news of an interest rate reduction yet? Hope so maybe that will help. Good luck to everyone in the same position and yes it is very stressful, Gina

[jill wright]

Hi Ceri

Sounds like we are at the same stage as you,putting finishing touches to house and for sale sign to go up in New Year.Lets hope we are both lucky and sell quickly .Good luck to everyone else who are in the same boat

Jill Phil Lucy Daniel Thomas (west yorkshire)

[rockola57]

Hi Jan,We too have house for sale here,only had one viewer,we need to go out end of july o8,as its now march i cant see this happening.reluctant to rent house out till sale,and we need to sell to buy in Adelaide.The only solution i envisage is for me to stay till sale is completed ,whilst my wife Sue (who has a job to start in july)goes out with the rest of the family.So to sum up,we are in a similar vessel,however ,i think we know deep down that all will end well in the long run,dont despair,its just a price you sometimes have to pay for a better life. GOOD LUCK AND ALL THE VERY BEST.Billy and Sue.

[grants]

Hi all,

We have now sold the house but bought a smaller one so we are living in this until we go. The people who bought ours were really keen on ours but did not have a buyer. We decided to buy theirs which was a small 3 bedroomed modern terraced and one that will easily be easy to rent.

We intend keeping this house and renting it out as it meant we avoided the £12500 early redemption fee we would have had to pay on the mortgage. We have released the equity and just transferred the mortgage. We are off for a reccie on 17th May for 17 days and then will hopefully move in September before the start of the Uk school year. This may well be an option for all of you struggling to sell houses.

Will let you all know how our reccie goes. :jiggy:

Jan Midwife
Shane Insurance loss adjuster
Oliver aged 14 (not keen on going!)
Gabriella 10

[Nicky&Andy]

:unsure:hi were just waiting for an ok with our visa, before putting our house on the market,
now very worried, as we planned to go aug time 08, (depending on a sale)
personally, i wouldnt go with out sellin my house, i would do a recci to activate my visa, and return to sale, i dont want any loose ends left behind me. but good luck with whatever you decide, its one of those things where only you know whats right for you

[the garnetts]

we recieved our visa last april 2007 house on market since we have have even reduced it by £15,000 still no takers, told alot of 7 yr old 4 bed detached in area and not selling does any one know if anyone wants a lovely house in wakefield west yorks

:mad:

[sprayer]

We are about to send our visa application off and have just put our house on the market. We were going to wait until visa passed but thought as the house market has slowed down we would put up early. If we sell we will move in with MIL.
It has been on market for 1 week and we have had alot of people drive past and stop but only 1 viewing and they havent sold there house yet.

[nickey and neill]

hello there!

just going off track a bit but just wanted to say hi to the grants as noticed on your signature that you have a 14 year old boy who is not keen on going!

we too have a nearly 14 year old boy who is exactly the same and making life very difficult at the moment! i appreciate its hard for them but you also know that in 10 years time they will turn round to us and say why didnt we move and why didnt you just make me go!!!!

i havent even put the house on the market yet as still sprucing it up but this bit seems easier compared to the problems with teenagers!!

good luck to all you house sellers... im sure yo will et there in the end!!

[helen & co]

Hi, I'm a newbie on this site, but read it nearly every day. Just want to add my views to this thread.

We've sold the house, Hurrah :jiggy:, but trying to get this guy to exchange contracts is turning into a marathon, when he came to view I told him that we wanted to come out to Oz in January and that we wouldn't drop the price any further (we'd already come down 10k) he was fine with it. But trying to get this chap to exchange contracts is so difficult, in January he had a few queries about the sewers!!!!!, no problem everything was resolved. In Feburary he tried to get us to drop the price, after much discussion (we said no) that was resolved. At the end of Feburary we had all set a date for exchange and on the day his solicitor realised he hadn't paid his deposit.......... which he then did the following week by cheque (which had to clear)......then last week a date was set for exchange, I thought its going to go through today there was nothing outstanding and for the first time in ages I allowed myself to get excited and look forward to our new life............. but we didn't exchange guess why!!!!.......... because the idiots mortgage offer has expired and he has to get a new one:mad:

So we are back to waiting, and putting all thoughts of Australia out of our heads, once again living in limbo, until this house exchanges.

Sorry for the rant but sometimes you've just got to get it off your chest. I agree with everyone this is the worse part of the whole emigration process.

[louiesmum]

Hi, I'm a newbie on this site, but read it nearly every day. Just want to add my views to this thread.We've sold the house, Hurrah :jiggy:, but trying toget this guy to exchange contracts is turning into a marathon, when he came to view I told him that we wanted to come out to Oz in January and that we wouldn't drop the price any further (we'd already come down 10k) he was fine with it. But trying to get this chap to exchange contracts is so difficult, in January he had a few queries about the sewers!!!!!, no problem everything was resolved. In Feburary he tried to get us to drop the price, after much discussion (we said no) that was resolved. At the end of Feburary we had all set a date for exchange and on the day his solicitor realised he hadn't paid his deposit.......... which he then did the following week by cheque (which had to clear)......then last week a date was set for exchange, I thought its going to go through today there was nothing outstanding and for the first time in ages I allowed myself to get excited and look forward to our new life............. but we didn't exchange guess why!!!!.......... because the idiots mortgage offer has expired and he has to get a new one:mad:So we are back to waiting, and putting all thoughts of Australia out of our heads, once again living in limbo, until this house exchanges.
Sorry for the rant but sometimes you've just got to get it off your chest. I agree with everyone this is the worse part of the whole emigration process.
Just wanted to say hi welcome to pia, I know what you mean this part is sooo stressful

[helen & co]

Just wanted to say hi welcome to pia, I know what you mean this part is sooo stressful


Thanks Michelle, we should hear this week if we've got another date to exchange....... I'll be so glad when this is all behind us.

[Guzzler&Sas]

Hi, I'm a newbie on this site, but read it nearly every day. Just want to add my views to this thread.

We've sold the house, Hurrah :jiggy:, but trying to get this guy to exchange contracts is turning into a marathon, when he came to view I told him that we wanted to come out to Oz in January and that we wouldn't drop the price any further (we'd already come down 10k) he was fine with it. But trying to get this chap to exchange contracts is so difficult, in January he had a few queries about the sewers!!!!!, no problem everything was resolved. In Feburary he tried to get us to drop the price, after much discussion (we said no) that was resolved. At the end of Feburary we had all set a date for exchange and on the day his solicitor realised he hadn't paid his deposit.......... which he then did the following week by cheque (which had to clear)......then last week a date was set for exchange, I thought its going to go through today there was nothing outstanding and for the first time in ages I allowed myself to get excited and look forward to our new life............. but we didn't exchange guess why!!!!.......... because the idiots mortgage offer has expired and he has to get a new one:mad:

So we are back to waiting, and putting all thoughts of Australia out of our heads, once again living in limbo, until this house exchanges.

Sorry for the rant but sometimes you've just got to get it off your chest. I agree with everyone this is the worse part of the whole emigration process.

Hi Guys,

You've found your way to PIA at last, hope besides the house sale everything else is okay,

Keep your chins up IT WILL HAPPEN,

See you soon, love

Guzzler & Sas

[helen & co]

Hi Guys,

You've found your way to PIA at last, hope besides the house sale everything else is okay,

Keep your chins up IT WILL HAPPEN,

See you soon, love

Guzzler & Sas

Hi,

I know it will happen eventually just when 2008....2009....210!!!!!!

Will email you with an update, by the way congrats on the job and belated Happy Birthday to Keith.

speak soon
Helen

[cornish Busdriver]

We know how you feel.
We are in Cornwall and must sell before we can make the move.
We have de-clutered, been very busy on ebay getting rid of lots of stuff, been intouch with the container people and got the dogs injections and meds done.
Now just need to sell, how-ever the house has only been on the market for 2 weeks but we are hoping to move out in june.

Best of luck
Matt N mandy + bilbo and kerra (westies)

[Greg & Dani]

Hi Jan, we are having a simular problem here in Sunderland. We are hoping to leave in August and had our house on the market since last October. We had 4 couples viewing since, but no offers. All estate agents said the price is right and the house is nice presented, great location, etc... but still nothing. Frustrating. Media and interest rates not doing us favours either. We are going to have an open viewing, hoping that will generate some viewers, as well as taking the price off the fact sheet, to get people offering.

We wish you best of luck and hope you get selling soon. Stay possitive.

Greg & Dani.

[suejohndan]

Hi Grants Family,

We are in the same position as you.:wacko: Got our visas in January and are desprate to go but the house hasn't sold. We have reduced it by £10k and still nothing. We have decided that if it hasn't sold by September we will have to go and activate the visas. This is an expence we could do without but what else can we do. If we do this we will then have plenty of time to sell.
Fingers crossed it will not come to this and we will be there soon.

Good luck hope you sell soon.

[swampo]

Hang in there everyone, we had out house on the market from last September and managed to finally move into rented at th beginning of March. It is such a stressfull time, I think it is worse than waiting for the visa and meds, and that is bad enough. The market should start picking up now the good weather is hopefully coming.
We are having to do a validation visit, like Sue & John we can ill afford it but timing for the final move means that we have to.

Keep your chins up and we will all laugh about this when we are having a BBQ and a few bevvies together in a beautiful location in Adelaide in the very near future.

Kev & Mall

[Aussie pat]

Our house is also on the market and are having the same delays as everyone else. We have been in contact with the immigration assistance officer at the Commonwealth Bank in Adelaide re other practical matters and she has warned us not to take any risks. She is seeing an increasing number of clients who made the move before they sold their UK houses and they are now struggling.

We have had 21 viewings in 4 weeks and only 1 low offer. I might start selling cream teas to the passing parade of people coming to snoop through our house to help fund the move!

[Rachiegarlo]

get in the Aussie spirit and get a sausage sizzle going, with onions and bread n sauce all for $1 or $2. the smell will get em in

[Aussie pat]

Great idea. Perhaps I should serve wine and spirits as well. That way I might get them drunk enough to put a decent offer in on the house!

We all just have to keep pedalling and not give up. Thanks for the support.

[LOUISE HANNAH]

Hi everyone,
We are also in the same boat, we have a company coming to ship out our stuff in June, we fly in August but still no joy on the house sale, very daunting situation but nothing we can do about it, if push comes to shove we will just have to go without the sale & keep our fingers crossed.

Louise:sad:

[cornish Busdriver]

Hi Jan & shane.
We know how you feel !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Were in Cornwall, in a great area and only 15 minutes from the beach but still only had one veiwing to witch the prospective buyer was dreaming.
The left the Uk 10 years ago and move to belgium and now moving back again.
They are after a 4 bedroom house in cornwall for around £100,000 when a 1 bed flat cost that here.
We have a 3 bed mid terrace with garage in block, new double glazing, new centeral heating, new bathroom, updated kitchen and put it on the market for £150,000 for a quick sale; well under what the estate agent recomended but still no house sale.
Hang on in there, your not the only ones with house selling woe's.
Matt and mandy

[Aussie pat]

We're keeping our fingers crossed that the moves by the Bank of England this week to support the banks might eventually filter down to all of us who are trying to sell our houses. Often there is an over reaction when the media latches onto a topic such as houses and then things settle down again i.e. I'm still waiting to die of Avian flu. Hopefully things will start moving again. We've all got to keep our chins up.

[The Hadleys]

Hi Jan

We had our Visa granted March and like you can't wait go. Our house was put on the market the day after we got the Visa, had loads of viewings but no offers, the viewings we have had, I swear to god they are just nosy neighbours. We just want to go, we did a reccie in November and absolutely love it, the worst part is we have seen some fabulous houses on the net, well within our price range (we think) but we just need to sell. Its so frustrating.

Hubby has just given me a nice glass of the red stuff so I'm off to hit the bottle.

Dawn
:arghh:

[Aussie pat]

I think I may have found the recipe for getting viewings

1. Make sure it's raining
2. Strip all bedlinen, pile up in utility room with dirty towels. Make sure it won't all fit in one load.
3. Start washing
3. Wait for phone to ring

This formula also works if you wash your biggest, oldest underwear (the stuff you dry indoors so the neighbours don't see it and laugh) and have the house looking like a chinese laundry.

It works for us every time. Two viewings booked for today. Why doesn't anyone want to view when I'm all organised!

[louiesmum]

I think I may have found the recipe for getting viewings

1. Make sure it's raining
2. Strip all bedlinen, pile up in utility room with dirty towels. Make sure it won't all fit in one load.
3. Start washing
3. Wait for phone to ring

This formula also works if you wash your biggest, oldest underwear (the stuff you dry indoors so the neighbours don't see it and laugh) and have the house looking like a chinese laundry.

It works for us every time. Two viewings booked for today. Why doesn't anyone want to view when I'm all organised!
Hi
Made me smile!!! My house was in asimilar condition when our (fingers crossed) buyers saw our house!! washing & toys etc etc everywhere!! But hey they saw passed that thank god!! Hope you get the offers rolling in!!

[skimbles]

Hi don't post very often but always on the site reading others comments.

We have our visas and was hoping to go between January and March. The big problem is we have still not sold the house. It has been on the market since end May and we have had 2 offers one early on, 30K below asking price, which was quickly rejected. We then had another offer, 25K below asking and we asked them to come up slightly but they refused so we declined that offer.:arghh::mad:

Then the Northern Rock thing happened and it has gone very quite. There is another prospective buyer who is keen on the house but they have also got to sell. The media is predicting gloom and doom in the property market and saying the market is going to crash which is fine if you are buying and selling but when you are trying to release your capital it is a total nightmare and we could see all our equity go down the pan.
The Estate agents have assured us the price is right at present and it is well presented etc but there are just no buyers around at present.

Is anybody else struggling with house sales? It just might make me feel better to speak to others in the same boat.

Jan Midwife
Shane Insurance Loss Adsjuster
Oliver 13
Gabriella 9

Hi

We are struggling to sell also! went on the market beginning of March and have had no viewings!! We have stripped 15k off the asking price! Have job offer at the royal adelaide hospital coming on a 457 visa

Kimberley: Respiratory specialist nurse
Carl: Engineer in the power industry
Daniel 12yrs
Natalie 10yrs
George 8yrs.

[ffi&dyl]

Hi

We are struggling to sell also! went on the market beginning of March and have had no viewings!! We have stripped 15k off the asking price! Have job offer at the royal adelaide hospital coming on a 457 visa .

Hi we are also struggling to sell. House on the market at the beginning of March with no viewings yet. We are hoping to be in Adelaide around September, before our youngest starts school full time.

Good luck with the house sale.

Ffion.

[Aussie pat]

Hi Ffion,

I'm sorry you're in the same boat as us. Don't know if this helps (you probably already know) but in Adelaide the new school year starts in Feb 2009. Will this buy you a bit more time? I know it's traumatic having to start school twice but I've found our kids are fairly resilient. Besides in the long run they'll be better off. We moved into our current house the day our daughter started school 3 days after turning 4. We had no choice and were worried. She has no memories of it being traumatic and is now a well adjusted 11 year old.

Hedy

[dunnarunna]

its the same for us too, we had our visa in july but we had extension to finish, now we are ready to go this happens, our house is in a great location, all newly decorated, price reduced etc, but that makes no difference at the mo! so we now have to go (in 2 weeks time!! !!) without selling, so we will have everything crossed that things pick up soon.
donna

[ffi&dyl]

Hi Ffion,

I'm sorry you're in the same boat as us. Don't know if this helps (you probably already know) but in Adelaide the new school year starts in Feb 2009. Will this buy you a bit more time? I know it's traumatic having to start school twice but I've found our kids are fairly resilient. Besides in the long run they'll be better off. We moved into our current house the day our daughter started school 3 days after turning 4. We had no choice and were worried. She has no memories of it being traumatic and is now a well adjusted 11 year old.

Hedy

Hi, It does help, but I don't want her to get settled in school here September and then have to start her at a new school again February. Anyway we still have a couple of months to sell the house yet, keeping our fingers crossed.

Ffion

[Aussie pat]

Came across a really disturbing website called Property Snake. It tracks drops in house prices for individual properties. I felt quite uneasy when I saw it. Just thought other members should be aware it exists if they haven't found it already. They are being taken to court as they were trying to offer hyperlinks to individual property details from their website.

Hedy

[KandC]

Hi Folks,

well we have been cautgh up with the market as well, just hope it eases. One friend an estate agent has told me that the agents are hurting because of no commisions so be wary when they offer a sale at lower rates.

Snakes eh.

[Kazz07]

Hi, I was prompted to join on the back of reading this thread! In truth, I am an interloper so hope you don't hold this against me!I am an Aussie married to a Scotsman who has just been granted his visa to Oz, and we are moving to Adelaide in September/Oct we hope. But we too are having dreadful problems with the house market in the UK. One viewing in 6 weeks, now nothing is happening. We have been told the rental market is bouyant, so think we will have to grit our teeth and go down this route if we can. I am glad to see though it is not just us having these problems, and seeing the odd one or two of you who have managed to sell has given me a glimmer of hope! But our dreams of moving and having a good solid amount of money to use to buy our home looks to be on the slide, and instead I am resigning myself to a small flat somewhere for a while. Not the homecoming I wanted!

[KandC]

Came across a really disturbing website called Property Snake. It tracks drops in house prices for individual properties. I felt quite uneasy when I saw it. Just thought other members should be aware it exists if they haven't found it already. They are being taken to court as they were trying to offer hyperlinks to individual property details from their website.

Hedy
Hi,

thanks for this, just found one of our properties on this site, we reduced by £5000 on advice from agent.
Talk about a level playing field, he knows we want toemigrate and has only found us investors to view. He is getting sacked tomorrow.

keep smiling and keep the dream alive........ fair go!

Kris

[serena]

Hi Jan,
I've just been scouring the Poms in Oz site to see if anyone has difficulty selling their house. And there you were!
Very similar to you, we cannot sell our house, which is priced and presented well and renting is not an option for us, as we need the money from the sale to pay off debts and buy tickets. I'm tearing my hair out as our visas validation date is this 9th November. To top it all, there is no work at all for my husband, and I have no work here either.
I've been looking for loans to pay everything off and buy tickets to see if we should go anyway and rent out the house (the rent would cover the mortgage - just). Only thing is I'm not great with stress, and am not sure if I could stand the pressure of having loan payments ontop of everything else.
I know how you feel, we probably will just fly out to validate the visas and come back and pray we sell the house. (Whoopie, more debt!) I'm a right miserable cow lately, I feel sorry for my gorgeous 2 (soon to be 3) year old son. But I've come to realise whatever happens, I might as well cheer up and just get on with it! We are the lucky ones really, loads of people in this world would kill to have the choice of living in the UK or Oz.
Best wishes on a speedy sale for you and your family. If I come up with a cunning plan - not terribly likely, I know, but I'll let you know!
I hope 've made you feel better!!

[cornish Busdriver]

Were in the same boat as everyone else "NO HOUSE SALE" and visa's have to be validated by mid december.:arghh:
We are flying out in mid november to vaildate the visa's but im only buying a one way ticket for me as i will be staying to sort out a rental, cars and all the other stuff plus start my job until our house sells and missus & dogs can come out.
I dont like the fact that i will be leaving the missus to sort out the house and moving all our stuff out and it will be hard being apart but this is the best solution for us.
Probally wont work for everyone but worth thinking about

[serena]

Hi Cornish Driver,
Thanks for your reply.
I wish you all the best luck, that is so brave of you all!
I couldn't bear to be left behind, our son is so small - and such a daddy's boy too, but mortgage payments are so high it's not really an option for us.
I've just watched the news about the US govt. taking over their 2 biggest lenders over there (Fannie Mae & Frankie Mac?!)- should be good news for the housing market - eventually anyhow.
Fingers crossed for everyone in the same boat!

[paula yiatrou]

hi jan shane & family, im glad its not just us!!! we had our application accepted at end of feb 08 & was hoping to be gone by now! we put our house on the market march & and have had a total of 5 viewings, we have changed estate agents because the first one wasnt marketing right, but the market is just not moving, we dropped 45k to try and get intrest going but nothing. our trouble is that we are at the high end of the market and the market has got to move from the bottom up so it doesnt look like we will be going to adelaide any time soon. we are taking our 2 beloved dogs with us, so to be honest we would rather sit tight now till march onwards because he dogs will suffer if they have to do quaranteen in the heat. so it looks like we are going to have to have a trip down under to validate our visas. so its not just your family thats being unlucky & the market is predictedto be worse next year!!! we may have to reapply for a retirement visa!! ha ha ! best of luck to you all regards paula andrew alex & lillie x

[cornish Busdriver]

Hi Serena.
Were not sure if its being very brave or very stupid yet.
Luckly my and the missus family are close by so if she needs any help theres always plenty on hand.
I know that we will only be a phone call, email or webcam away from each other but it will still feel strange when i cant give her a cuddle when she's had a bad night at work.
But we have to keep thinking that hopfully it will only be for a few months before her and the dogs will be joinging me.

[Ellie]

We are just putting our house on the market. Not got visa's yet but we are going to rent here in the u.k. Things are getting worse in the building trade so either way it will help us a bit. At least if and when we get granted a visa we hopefully won't have anything to sell. According to the estate agents there are lots of people down sizing but not buying. Renting seems to be a better option. I haven't told them we are hoping to emigrate otherwise that will not work in our favour. Fingers crossed it won't take long. I'm amazed that we have to spend out to sell!! Thanks to our Government again. More money we got to find.

Hope all goes well and you won't need to validate you can just go yippeee!

[serena]

Hi All in the Same Boat,
We've just decided to throw caution to the wind, and are going on the 5th November. Just put the house on with the letting agent, borrowed money from the bank to fund move, and now are trying to get OAA and sort out sending the cat over - haven';t got a clue how to do that. My brain is so fried with the pressure of it all, I've read and re read the details on how to sort out sending our little Mini (cat)!, but it's all too much. Is it so difficult, how long does it take, anyone know?
I'm off to driible quitle in the corner with a bottle of sherry, and wait for 'Rock of Love' on TV to escape the paper work........

[ozziespurs]

Hi would like to add myself too this thread, we too are in the same situation, can't sell the house either had it on market since Jan knocked 27k off price, I want to knock another 5k off but oh doesn,t want to give it away. I don't know how we're going to validate as their are 7 of us altogether and we can't afford to rent and go as we need cash from sale to fund flights etc. We have to be out by march, I know it seems a long way off but when you thin how long it takes to for sale of house to compete it isn't that long. It doesn't help when you watch wanted down under, but still not giving up yet.

[vikkiann]

I'm going to have to join this club, as we are all in the same boat. We need to sell, renting isn't an option for us.
I'm just pricing up flights for 6 of us to do an activation trip in December, not a nice thought. I'm playing with figures to find £7000 to do it! Not sure how it will work though, i think I'm going to cash in endowments and we are owed money so I'm chasing every penny at the moment.
It's so depressing we wait months for the visa and when you finally get it you can't sell the bloody house. We've dropped £20,000, decorated throughout and still all we get is time wasters through the door. We had 1 offer but £50,000 under the asking is a p**s take.
Regardless we will go to oz cos anywhere has to be better than here. I'm not wearing rose tinted glasses i know everywhere has their problems.
All i keep saying to my hubby is what will be will be and with regards to buying out there at least we'll still have a decent deposit just 40k less than we anticipated.
Good luck everyone in the same boat.

Vikki

[Denise]

Thanks for your replies.

All we can hope is that the market does not crash and the interest rate reduces soon so that people are given more confidence to buy.

If not we will be coming soon for a reccie to validate visas which will be good but will also eat into any capital we have. Still I have got to try and think positively as it is driving me mad with worry. After going through all the stress of obtaining the visa the house selling is definitely worse. :arghh:

Jan Midwife
Shane Loss adjuster
Oliver 13
Gabriella 9

Hi Jan

It seems there are lots of us in the same boat and its awful seeing your equity get less and less.
We actually had an offer today after 4months on the market and it was pretty reasonable but to get there in the first place we have reduced it so far that we are nearly at our mortgage!!!
We just want rid now, we will end up going to Adelaide with hardly anything and have to start from scratch renting ( If this sale does go ahead)
It just makes everything 10 times harder, we just keep looking on the positive side that we can actually escape this country, even if we live in a cardboard box in Aus!
Hope something happens soon, it cant go on for ever

Denise

[Denise]

Hi All in the Same Boat,
We've just decided to throw caution to the wind, and are going on the 5th November. Just put the house on with the letting agent, borrowed money from the bank to fund move, and now are trying to get OAA and sort out sending the cat over - haven';t got a clue how to do that. My brain is so fried with the pressure of it all, I've read and re read the details on how to sort out sending our little Mini (cat)!, but it's all too much. Is it so difficult, how long does it take, anyone know?
I'm off to driible quitle in the corner with a bottle of sherry, and wait for 'Rock of Love' on TV to escape the paper work........

Oh my god, Rock of Love!!! How funny, I thought I was the only saddo out there watching this sh**e. Who is this guy anyway??
Maybe its just us desperate house sellers who need to watch this to make ourselves feel better about our lives!! Although it does make me want buns of steel like the rock chicks in that mansion!!!!

[grants]

Hi to all trying to sell houses at the moment.

We fortunetely managed to sell ours back in January but only because we did a house swop. We fly out to adelaide on 18th september and will rent our house out to tenants.

We did manage to extract the equity from the house sale so are going with a good deposit to buy in Oz. The rental income of our UK property and will just about cover the mortgage. We will be initially renting in oZ for at least 12 months as we are going to watch the market over this period just incase the recession hits and the house prices fall. if the house prices look like they are still increasing we will then buy.

I am a midwife and have a job in Flinders commencing 13/10/08. My OH is an Insurance Loss Adjuster and he has a job to commence on 14/10/08.

We are currently sitting amongst our boxes as the packers from Bishops move have been in today and our 20 ft container leaves on Sunday.

If you are able to rent your house and have money to finance the move I would recommend you go for it.

We have been granted OAA at Oaklands Park. Has anybody stayed in this area. On google earth it looks OK. Luckily we have secured a rental and hopefully will be moving in only 8 days after we arrive so OAA will be for 8 days only.

Will keep everybody posted of how it is going

Jan Midwife
Shane Loss Adjuster
Olliver 14
Gabby 10

Visa grnted 07/07
reccie 05/08
emigrating 18/9/08





Hi Jan

It seems there are lots of us in the same boat and its awful seeing your equity get less and less.
We actually had an offer today after 4months on the market and it was pretty reasonable but to get there in the first place we have reduced it so far that we are nearly at our mortgage!!!
We just want rid now, we will end up going to Adelaide with hardly anything and have to start from scratch renting ( If this sale does go ahead)
It just makes everything 10 times harder, we just keep looking on the positive side that we can actually escape this country, even if we live in a cardboard box in Aus!
Hope something happens soon, it cant go on for ever

Denise

[LOOBYLOO]

Like everyone else...got our visa but got to sell the house. We are fortunate and don't have a mortage. OH wants to book flights and leave house in hands of estate agent. I don't want to leave the house empty but desparate to start our new lives. House only been on market for 2 weeks so who knows??

[Chelseadownunder]

The whole market is very quiet. The fact that first time buyers now suddenly need a 10% deposit to get a good deal isnt helping. Nothing seems to be moving fast here. I think now oil has gone down hopefully interest rates will follow which will help. (May not help exchange rates though). I think the stamp duty issue being resolved helped and I am getting some first time buyer enquiries now. I havent known a time like this in my 16 years in the business. Good luck I hope you sell soon and I also hope the exchange rate keeps going up for a whille more.
Scott UK

[Aussie pat]

Hi Jan,

Oaklands Park will be fine as a practical starting off point for you. It is close to FMC. Marion Shopping Centre is also in the area and very handy for accessing Medicare, Centrelink services etc. The area is flat, fairly non descript and suburban. To the best of my knowledge it's not known for major problems. It's also not far from Seacliff and Brighton beaches. Hope you enjoy FMC, I worked there for 15 years as a nurse (not in midwifery though).

[Matt & Suzi]

Not posted on here for a while now, Its been too hard everyday thinking will the house sell today, it was stressing us out too much, so we have made a hard decision. Our visa needs validating mid Nov and we cant sell the house, we cant afford to validate the visa so we are going to let it expire and wait a couple of years until the dog is no longer with us, we can hopefully then sell the house instead of giving it away, go into rented and reapply for the visa. I know its sounds a bit mad, we will get there one day just not this year unfortunately. I thought getting the visa was the most stressful part, but for us its definitely not being able to sell the house.
Good Luck to the rest of you
Suzi

[angiestaff]

i know EXACTLY how ur feeling!!, our visa was granted in july and we still need to sell the house, we also want to go in jan. we have our 2nd offer and hope so bad that this one goes through (she seems keener and more proactive than the last one but u never know do u?)
i am sooooo sick of having air fresheners every-where and buying fresh flowers each week lol, i have been impatient and have packed some boxes up already, and have shredded loads of stuff! lol, we're just so keen to get out there, bet ur the same?

angie and andy +
ronnie and reggie (2 staffies who will be making the long journey 2!)