Feeling Deflated / Rant
8 years ago (2018), my boyfriend and I purchased a starter home. A small two bed mid-terrace on a nice street, five minutes walk from a main line station into London. It was on for £295k, we viewed and loved it, offered below asking and eventually settled on £292k. At the time we were both commuting 5 days a week, so our second bedroom was guest bedroom / man-cave with gaming system.
We've maintained it well, replacing the boiler, updating the flooring, the garden. It's been our home through a pandemic, through redundancies, he carried me over the threshold when we came back from our honeymoon. But we reached a point where it was time to move on.
We've been trying to sell on and off for a while, and I'm just feeling absolutely battered by the whole experience.
Late 2023 we accept an offer for 340k from a landlord. They pull out two weeks later. We decide to take the property off the market over Christmas and focus on wedding planning / getting married.
Autumn 2024, we're ready to come back on at 340, new agent. Viewings, but no nibbles. We drop to £330k, no luck. We come off the market early Dec.
Jan 2025 we relaunch with a new agent at £330k. They get four viewings in as many months.
May 2026 we see a house we really love. We tell our agent to drop to £320k to be more competitive. At this point it's the lowest priced house on the street, and within half a mile of the train station. We don't sell in time, the house we like finds a buyer. We serve notice to agent number 3.
July 2026 we relaunch with agent 4. They book five viewings in six days and get us our asking price of £320k, first time buyer. Our dream home loses their buyer that same week - we view again and put in an asking price offer, which is accepted. It feels like it's all coming together.
Less than a week later, our buyer drops out. Our agents push hard but we can't secure another one. We drop to offers in excess of £300k to try and push a quick sale. It doesn't happen, our dream home goes back on the market again at possibly the worst time of year for any of this to happen. More viewings, and finally one offer from a no chain cash buyer... of £270k. All calculations for our next home were based on at least getting back what we originally paid.
I'm 33. I want a family (and our current home can't accommodate one, our spare room has to be my husband's office as he is fully remote, and I'm now WFH 3 days a week - both under NDA from different places so we can't share a workspace). We've been messed around so much already, we've lost two buyers. This is exhausting. We did everything 'right' - we worked hard, we saved, we didn't overextend ourselves on our first home. And now I'm just expected to eat £20k in lost equity? Is anyone else experiencing this?
This is a rant - I know this is reddit but please don't be snarky or unkind because I am absolutely at my limit