What would you do? Selling our house.

KellyC_4

Hi All

I've browsed these forums from time to time but this is my first post as I'd love some advice.

Our house has been on the market since last April (good timing eh?!). We started out at at £315k which was realistic at the time but of course not anymore. We're now at an asking price of £269,950, with of view to getting £250k.

Our initial plan was to downsize to allow me to give up work (we have a young family) and we were looking at houses at around the £250k mark back in April - so a difference of £50k.

We've now had a tentative offer of £235k. I really don't care what price we get for the house so long as we can buy again at a relative price, so I called the agent of the house we've seen and would like (it's the right style in the right area, too small but with potential to extend in the future) which is on the market for £235k (so much for the £50k differential!) and asked whether she'd accept £195k but she's said the lowest she'll go to is £210k.

Now, I've suggested to our agent that we may consider £239k if these potential buyers could stretch a little. It's what we paid for our house in 2004 (does that seem about right?) and would leave us with £50k after fees. I think we'd make a formal offer on the house above at £200k - I know she's said no less than £210k but I wonder if she'd feel differently if we were ready to go - but our second option is renting.

Renting feels scary to us as we've owned our own house since we were 18! It would be easier if it were just the two of us but with young children we feel a responsibility to get it right iykwim. We're worried about selling for less than anybody else is prepared to (if we can't buy at a comparative price then surely that's what we're doing?) and then finding that the market recovers and we can't ever afford to buy again. What are your thoughts on this? A search on the internet or listening to the news just makes us even more confused as there's such a mixture of 'expert' opinion on what house prices are likely to do over the next couple of years and of course I realise nobody has a crystal ball.

My instinct is that if we can get back what we paid for the house and walk away with £50k and possibly save something in the region of £800 a month for the next couple of years (our current mortgage v rents in the area we want to live) then that's not a bad option but my hubby is less inclined to do that.

Of course with interest rates being so low our current home is actually quite affordable now but we'll still want to move to this new area over the next few years as it's where we want to bring the children up and I'd rather do it now before they start school etc.

Thanks so much in advance.

Kelly

Mutton_Geoff

asked whether she'd accept £195k but she's said the lowest she'll go to is £210k

Bear in mind that most agents lie. They are also acting for the vendor, not you, so I would put forward an offer close to your £195k but not exactly a round number (eg £195,800) so that it looks like you've thought it out.

They are obliged to pass the offer on. They will probably be telling the vendor "we've got this potential buyer at £195k but I know we can squeeze them up to £210k).

Don't link your selling price to the purchase price, they are not related. Put yourself in a strong position by getting a sale on yours underway or exchanged before looking/offering on other places.

From experience there are very few buyers around at the moment.

spuds_2

I don't see houses going up significantly for a couple of years at least. Short term, they will probably fall some more. In the current climate, you have done well to get an offer at all - most people are holding off for further falls.

Are there plenty of houses around the £200k mark in the area you want? If so, I would accept the offer - try to get a bit more out of the buyer if you can, obviously. I can understand your reluctance to rent - you would usually have to get a minimum of 6 months tenancy. But once you have sold your house you will be in a very strong position to buy.

You are right to move area whilst the children are young.

KellyC_4

Thank you for your reply.

I guess our biggest fear is going ahead and accepting a low offer and not being able to buy at a relative value so moving into rented and feeling that we'd sold too low and lost out somehow.

If the purchase price isn't a good indicator of what the selling price should be, what is? An identical property sold for £268k at the end of October and we're now looking at £240k which doesn't compare well but maybe they were just lucky? It wouldn't be too bad selling at a little less than what we actually think it's worth (say 5-10%) if we could be fairly confident that prices would go that way over the next few months/year anyway, but can anybody actually be confident of that? I guess not.

Decisions, decisions!

Kelly

KellyC_4

Thanks Spuds, I didn't see your reply until I'd posted.

The problem is that no, there aren't plenty of houses around the £200k mark where we are (Dorset). The houses we feel should be around that mark if we're selling for £240k ish are still on the market for around £240k and the couple of calls I've made to EAs so far suggest that they're not up for 'large' (10-15%) discounts on their asking prices. Maybe they'll end up taking their houses off the market and won't move (it's unlikely if they're unwilling to budge right?) but there's always the worry that we're the fools here and not the 'others'!

Kelly

JF77

I think this is a problem we are going to face when we get an offer (only been on a week!) I think we are on at a realistic price but, having looked at what else is on offer it just does not compare.

I think if you are prepared to accept a certain figure then others should be to and if not then don't be pushed into offering too much. The chances are that other's will be forced to reduce in time so be patient and stand your ground.

cranezoe

we had a similar problem, its very hard! we were offered a low price for ours and so started trying to negotiate a comparative discount on houses that we felt should come down too. I told agents I was only able to go to £150-160k based on my offer and then of course they were trying to get me to view things priced at 150-160 which wasnt what we meant! anyway, it took 3 weeks of so for agents to understand the type of house we expected to get but eventually we got there when vendors realised we were in a good position. Not exchanged yet but all seems to be going through ok at the min.

Whats the position of the people who offered?

JayZed

Just a thought: the price that you're willing to accept (239K) on yours is 89% of your asking price. An offer at the same percentage of asking price on the house you want to buy (asking price 235K) would be 208K.

Of course I don't know whether both houses are fairly/realistically priced to begin with, but it's a guideline at least, and suggests that their target of 210K is not unrealistic. However, I should think that an offer of 200K (85% of asking price) would not be considered unreasonable - you don't know until you try.

zone

If your house is on for £270k at the moment your offers are going to be less than £250k because of the stamp duty bracket and current climate. So £235k sounds about right. It will depend on how desperate you are to downsize. If you have told the buyer you want £239k they probably wont budge unless they really want it.

Are there any similar properties for sale in your street? And do you know how long they have been on the market? Because if you have been on the market nearly a year you might have to slash the price heavily to get a sale.

bristol_pilot

Why not sell then rent for a year?

mrgerrard

I am in the reverse position as you are at the moment, I am a FTB and looking to get a home at maximum 75% of peak price. That would value your house say a 240K so that IMHO the offer you have for 235K is a good one. It is a buyers market out there and you have done well to find a potential buyer in these troubled times. I would take the offer on your current home and then negotiate hard on the property you are looking to move to. You are then in the reverse position, a serious buyer in a buyers market.