not many viewings

chartreuse_2

ad9898 wrote: »

I have no agenda, people are in denial, 197k at peak for a detached less 25% ( CEO of the Nationwide) is 147k, that is a semi so take off another 10k, I was being kind at 155k.

No, you weren't being kind. You were doing something I've seen you and others do several times - misrepresenting the figures and hyping up that 25%, deliberately fudging the timescale it's over. You know full well that the (hypothetical) 25% includes both drops that are already accounted for and projected drops that might occur between now and 2010. To suggest that anybody should reduce the price by 25% today is nonsense.

Look, let's use the Nationwide's own house price calculator. Take the semi that went last year for 188k. By the Nationwide, 188K in Q3 2007 becomes 178 in Q2 2008. A drop of 5.15%, not 25%.

Except it completed on July 7, so really we should use Q2 2007, which gives us 180,500. A drop of 4% - still not 25%, you'll notice. Then, as the OP says, it was likely a 3 bed, hers is a 4 bed. Add, say 20K, being conservative. That gives us a minimum value today of £200K.

Maybe, if she wants a quick sale, that's where she should price it. But, given the prices and other info she's given in her most recent post, £210K doesn't seem too silly, as an opening price. Your £155K does seem silly and, as I said, nasty.

tomstickland

bride_on_a_budget wrote: »

as for the shed in the driveway, it is a bike shed that will be coming with us if we move, the whole point of it is so the bikes dont have to come through the house.

Take it away for the photo then!
The front photo only seems to show half the house.
Oh, just looked at the floor plans; that is the whole house.
4 bedroom because one in the attic.

There are houses on Rightmove that have been on the market for 8 months now and showing 25% reductions in asking price.

The house looks fine - don't mess about trying minor cosmetic changes. On the down side, it's quite small, not detached, cannot go into garden without going through house, garage converted to dining room etc. My personal feeling is that ti's priced too high. It's a gamble you take - someone might buy it at current price, then again they might not, in which case you'll be chasing the market down.

If you want to sell it then drop the price. If you went below the stamp duty threshold at £175K you'd probably hook someone.

chartreuse_2

poppy10 wrote: »

Sorry, I could sugar coat it like charteuse would like us to do, but that won't help you when you are still trying to sell 6 months down the line and are having to chase the market down.

Drop the price by at least £20k.

Poppy10 - I'm not trying to sugar coat anything. You might even be right about £20K - I thought £10K, but who knows?

What I was saying, is that ad9898's £155K bears (no pun intended) no relation to reality and is part of a refrain that's becoming rather tedious and unpleasant.

tomstickland

I've had a look on Rightmove for 4 bed houses within 5 miles of Chaddlewood.
Loads are coming up for around £190K.
Eg:http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16047697.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

12 July 2008 08:19:29

* Price changed: from '£199,950' to '£189,950' [Found by firesale]

03 June 2008 09:04:59

* Price changed: from '£214,950' to '£199,950' [Found by max]

16 April 2008 20:19:34

* Price changed: from '£229,950' to '£214,950' [Found by max]

23 January 2008 16:16:45

* Price found: £229,950 [Found by Rooster]


This has been on the market since February
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-10082877.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-9587979.rsp?pa_n=3&tr_t=buy
15 July 2008 18:28:00

* Price changed: from '£246,950' to '£229,950' [Found by max]

23 January 2008 18:41:52

* Price found: £246,950 [Found by firesale]

ad9898_3

chartreuse wrote: »

No, you weren't being kind. You were doing something I've seen you and others do several times - misrepresenting the figures and hyping up that 25%, deliberately fudging the timescale it's over. You know full well that the (hypothetical) 25% includes both drops that are already accounted for and projected drops that might occur between now and 2010. To suggest that anybody should reduce the price by 25% today is nonsense.

Look, let's use the Nationwide's own house price calculator. Take the semi that went last year for 188k. By the Nationwide, 188K in Q3 2007 becomes 178 in Q2 2008. A drop of 5.15%, not 25%.

Except it completed on July 7, so really we should use Q2 2007, which gives us 180,500. A drop of 4% - still not 25%, you'll notice. Then, as the OP says, it was likely a 3 bed, hers is a 4 bed. Add, say 20K, being conservative. That gives us a minimum value today of £200K.

Maybe, if she wants a quick sale, that's where she should price it. But, given the prices and other info she's given in her most recent post, £210K doesn't seem too silly, as an opening price. Your £155K does seem silly and, as I said, nasty.

Listen ok, I am one of those rare breed of people, a FTB with a hefty deposit, no debt of any kind, a credit rating of 976/1000.

Talking on this board is not going to talk the market down, it is already happening, I sold my house a few months ago, I know what its like to take a huge hit on your expectations (a £30000 hit, ouch), do I blame my buyer for not giving me "peak" price, NO. Why the hell should she, who wants to buy something that in a months time is going to worth £3000 less than it is now.

I have no agenda, I took the hit because I was realistic, thats all, no denial, no "prices only go up crap". Now when I look back my realistic assumption is " christ if I hadn't sold then, I would have lost 60k by christmas" and buyers are as rare as rockin horse s**t and its getting worse.

The big headlines are only just starting to filter through now (Nationwide 25% down etc) but if you have been anywhere near the market in the last year you will have known that this has been happening for the last 8 months.

The lady in question who started this post, is not stupid or naive, she is just unaware of how bad things are until now, as is alot of the population who don't or haven't had a "for sale" sign outside their house until now.

Its happening ok, the more people resist, the longer its going to take.

Just one last thing, you mentioned "quick sale" at the bottom of your post, that is precisely it, if you want to hang on for months or years (i was up for 13 months, sold 4 times, 3 fell through), then drop your price from peak by 4% and don't budge from it, there will be cobwebs on it and your EA will have probably gone to the wall by the time it sells.

Bf109

bride_on_a_budget wrote: »

Hi,
the difference between our house and others on our street is that ours is a 4 bed and all the others are 3 beds,
there are 3 on our street for sale, one is a 3 bed detached that has just gone under offer in a private sale at £ £235, the other is a 3 bed semi up at £185.
looking on right move plenty of houses in this area are selling just below the asking price
the house that sold for £197 went at aution last year for a quick sale as the owner died.

OK, the first thing is that everyone who comes on here with an "I cant sell my house" thread always insists that their house is somehow different or special thereby justifying the fact that the asking price is a ceiling buster for the street despite being in the middle of the worst property crash in history.

I'm not trying to be nasty here, but your house obviously isnt special. Otherwise it would have sold already.

Price:
My advice is to lower the price to within bargaining distance of £175k with a view to selling at that figure. This also places you neatly between the 2005 and 2007 selling figures which matches the haliwide house price indexs. (According to Nationwide, prices are now the same as May 2006)

Presentation:
The house itself looks a bit old-lady. Artex ceiling and 70s style gas fire set in faux stone. Maybe your could do something about that.

The front - get rid of that messy gusset-shaped bit right in front. Hide it under potted plants or something. At the moment it really messes with the curb-appeal of the place. Makes it look very discombobulated and unattractive.

At the moment its very hard to imagine onself relaxing in that garden with a glass of wine after a hard day at work, watching the sunset. You arent just selling a house, you are selling a lifestyle. Get rid of the monstrosities in the garden. Wahing line thing and jungle gym need to go. Put plants over the pink gravel bits. Maybe a table and some chairs out.

Good Luck.

IHS88

Hi bride on a budget

As discussed above, offering great value for money in these tough times is so important.

Another trick I've used when selling a property is to offer a little bonus to the person in the estate agents office who finds the buyer. Offer say £500. Cash incentive focuses the mind. I guarantee you will see an increase in viewers.

I'm hearing of a number of vendors taking matters into their own hands and advertising on a private sales website and online estate agent. Buyers seem to be using these as they seem to be a great way of picking up a realistically priced property.

Some conversations on here making recommendations on such companies I'm sure.

Best of luck!

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

The Nationwides figures of a 25% drop are not strictly true of the whole country. Certain areas may have dropped by that, some by more (large areas of matchbox size apartments Salford Quays/Leeds) that have gone to repossession due to Buy to Let price fudging etc. distorting the national average, but some areas are stable. Wilmslow in Cheshire for example.

Anybody using the Nationwides house value calculator on their website is deranged, it covers entire regions, Counties and even Countries! Where is North or South West for example? That covers a massive area of completely different hamlets, villages, Towns and Cities!

brightonman123

clearer / brighter pics might help- also include the bathroom, & back garden?

Mutton_Geoff

bride on a budget - don't read too much into the replies here. I find these posts some of the most amusing on the MSE forum. Someone posts a link to their property and the armchair advisors crawl all over it .. "declutter", "wrong colour", "potted plants", "move the bed" etc etc. The well intended advice is coming from people who have watched too much property !!!!!! on TV and it wouldn't surprise me if some didn't even own their own home or had even bought or sold one.

There is only one reason a place won't sell and that is price. Everything has a value and just because it's tough now, no amount of "photos on a sunny" day are going to get you a buyer unless the price is right (those techniques might get one or two more window shoppers). If you're thinking stamp duty incentives, just knock it off the price, if you really need to sell, be aggressive with the price. Unfortunately as the stats tell us, there are far too few people getting loans and buying at the moment, so the only way you will sell is being cheaper than the competition. No amount of coffee or fresh bread aroma will change that.

I sold a flat earlier this year. Five agents valued the place at or just below £250,000. It sold 6 months later for £201,500. I am about to bring another house to market. In the good times, it would have got £170k+. I plan to market it at £129k or even less to make it the cheapest house in the road by at least £25k. The £125k residual in my bank will earn me over £8k a year whilst empty I earn nothing.

Location was always important. Now it's price, price, price.