I'd rather put in my own kitchen and bathroom and have that reflected in the price tbh. Most houses with new kitchens have nowhere near enough units so I'd be faced with tracking down where the units came from and hoping they are still current or refitting the entire kitchen.

Same here - every time. Always rather have a doer upper (nothing structural - just decoration and units and such). And have the buying price reflect that. Remember for every £1K you add to the price of your house you are losing a big pool of potential buyers who just cannot borrow that extra 1, 2, 3 or however many £K it costs. Lenders are quite strict on max lending figure.

The first question buyers are asked when househunting is what's their maximum price.

Azz, a couple of thoughts:-
1) If the house you want to buy is in a chain I would say there are almost certainly going to be delays. This means you will have to look for 'No onward chain' type sellers and this will restrict your choice considerably and anyway there could still be delays if the survey throws up problems.

2) Bank rate might be at an all time low right now but that does NOT mean that banks & credit card companies can't raise their rates which they might have to do since it looks like banks will be forced into having bigger reserves and the only way to achieve that is to make more profit on their loans.

If you pay the minimum then you just see that on the statement plus a whacking big 'Interest' charge, if your near the max limit on the card the monthly interest will soon take over the limit and then you'll not be able to use the card anywhere and that could be a pain in the back side if you need to fill up the car or whatever and have no cash on you.

Have you thought about asking your bank for a personal loan You may be able to get one with a fixed interest rate or some other form of guarantee that the interest will not rise more than inflation or whatever.

What you need in your situation is:-
a) Certainty about what the loan will cost.
b) A fixed term to the loan e.g. two years or what ever.

If the term and rate are fixed you can accurately budget for it, if you just 'bung it all on the card' you'll be at the whim of the banks and all the other people who control interest rates and house sales.

Not a good idea, but that is just my opinion

Hi Azz, do you know anyone who'se solicitor has done the conveyancing inside 3 months

Well OK there are firms that specialise in fast conveyancing but even if you use one of those firms, and even if you go for a place with no onward chain, I personally think that time scale is ambitious to put it mildy

I can't remember offhand how many house moves we've made but it must be in double figures. What I do most clearly remember is how our initial enthusiasm quickly turned to frustration with all the delays, to be honest I reckon our average total time from putting house on market to finally moving into new place is about ten months.

Thanks again for the help guys

Re the Kitchen, unfortunately, it was dated when we moved in, now it's ancient also, because half the house is done, when you go into the other half it's like a time-warp. So prospective buyers would see it as a project atm, and that would mean a too low a price and we can't really afford to sell it at that sort of price. Gonna get the estate agents in to ask them what they think tho.

Harvey, you are scaring me I think getting some new credit cards at 0% interest might be the way to go. Just desperate to get out of this house and area now tbh, as I think it is just not a healthy place to live and is affecting my health (there have been a few studies linking certain diseases to people living either side of the river that flows at the end of the garden )

Oh heck that's the last thing I want to do 0% interest cards might be the way to go, I've never had one of those so I can't really say.

All I really wanted to get across was that somehow house selling and buying are full of things that can take longer than they should.

If you feel it's not a healthy area to live then of course a move is the only solution, Wales has many rural areas where I personally would love to live, but it looks like I won't get the chance now

I called the estate agents, and they have said we'd be an 'upgrade house' for someone moving out of a terraced... but that means they would need to sell their house first.

I said all the furniture was staying, and they said that could tempt some first time buyers

So I think it might be an idea to go for something that might appeal to both, which is good cos it means being less ambitious with the updating - just good enough to sell and with plenty of potential for the prospective buyer.

Next step get some builders in for quotes. I am preparing to be 'd

If its a slow market id not risk it personally. If it takes a while to sell then that could get very expensive very quickly. Id go and have a look round what other properties for your asking price in your area are like inside and that should give you a good idea what if anything you can look at improving. I used to work at an estate angent and first impression is everything, they had a nightmare selling this house because the carpet on the stairs was looking a bit worn and some wallpaper on the ceiling had come away ever so slightly. Its odd what will/won't put people off haha. Also how old is it? If its Victorian or older with the odd nice fireplace/ bit of plasterwork really get the agents to ham that up a bit!

I was told by my estate agent not to bother doing anything to my house and sell it as is at a reduced price. To have everything done to it that's needs doing(replastering Walls, ceiling, roof, central heating, fitted kitchen would come to at least £15000 so this is about what I have reduced it by. But I am finding although I am getting a lot of viewers a lot of them expect it to be in perfect condition, and have just come to see if it's a bargain.

When I look at houses I am looking for something that doesn't really need anything doing to it but I must admit I have been put off a lot of houses by their style of kitchen. It's probably really nice but everyone has such different tastes.

AZz, what did you decide to do. I am in a similar situation now but I have decided not to sell my house now as offers were too low, and have my house done up instead.

Trying to work out whether to get a remorgage although I haven't actually got a mortgage at the moment or use savings.