To those selling in these difficult times Part Deux. AKA sellers support network!

vet8

Orpheo wrote: »

"Can't sell" really means "won't sell" with the added benefit that "can't sell" shifts the responsibility.

I think that you and shupufski are over simplyfying things here.

This does not apply to us now as we have lived in our house for years, but in the early 1990s when the base rate reached 15% :eek:and our mortgage payments more than doubled over three years, we realised we could not afford the house, so put it on the market. We had bought for £194,000 and put it on for £190,000. I did not mind that we would lose a bit, I was just keen to get shot of the unaffordable mortgage, BUT I knew we could not go much below £190,000 as any lower and we would not have enough deposit left to buy anywhere else.

So I made that very clear to the EA. We had one offer of £175,000 which we just could not afford to sell at. We would have been lucky to afford a flat with the deposit we had left, so we took the house off the market and struggled like mad for years. In fact, we have never really got over the struggle which is why we are selling now.

People genuinely can get into a situation where they CANNOT sell, not from greed, but because you need somewhere else to live and you have to have enough money left to pay for that. Where I live it costs more per month to rent than pay a mortgage. A one bed flat, unfurnished costs at least £600 pm. A 3 bed house about £1,500. Paying rent is just suicide so those who can't sell their houses for as much as they need will not sell.

That is why I think all this talk of house prices tumbling drastically is unlikely to happen as those who will only sell at a huge loss just cannot afford to sell, so they won't, they will stay put.

Chiaroscuro

wherediditallgothen wrote: »

Just thought I would post here. Been on the market 4 weeks, no viewers at all, (not even any enquiries by all accounts) and I appear to have the world's most useless estate agent.

My partners' friend mystery shopped them, and she's still waiting for the e-mail of suitable properties they promised her. They say things are slow, but things might not be so slow if they got their finger out!

Just about to ring them, someone's going to get a rocket :mad:

I wonder if we've got the same agent...

I've been told there's interest but they're having trouble getting their people to make appointments to view (they're all investors so far). Can't be that interested then can they?

azkaban420

Orpheo I think at the end of the day the price discussion has been done over and over. We're all on this thread as we need a place for support/rant/raving....we all know our limitations of what we can/can't/won't/whatever sell for. Sometimes whilst the answer may seem obvious, individual circumstances don't permit people to simply do a big price drop and move on. Don't want to get into it, but I suggest if you want more on the house-pricing debate that you take it up on the relevant threads. Otherwise tempers are going to flare and accusations will fly.

JMHO.

Az

Sphynx

Seconded Az and there is a whole separate board for debating house prices and the economy as well if anyone fancies that

Davesnave

Sphynx wrote: »

Seconded Az and there is a whole separate board for debating house prices and the economy as well if anyone fancies that

You're right to point this out.

There are very few sources of opinion on the economy and the property market where vested interests don't have undue influence, so the fact that we have that here is something to celebrate. Be warned, however, it's a rough house, which is why Martin has hidden it from casual viewers. You have to be logged-in to see it.

While this thread in its earlier incarnation helped me a lot from the support POV, it didn't bring me closer to understanding what was going on when the economy began to melt down in '07. It was better to share with those in a similar situation, but on its own, that camaraderie was not enough.

Going to the 'other channel' took me out of my comfort zone, but it gave me a better understanding of what was going on. Ultimately, it shaped what I'm doing now. The Savings and Investments Board also taught me all I'd stupidly never learned about that, so I was soon thousands of £ better off. Can't praise them highly enough.

Two for one pizza deals? Forget them. This site can do more than that, but you may need to work hard to find the real gems here.

elona

We spoke to EA dealing with relative's bungalow for sale and he is showing someone round today - they have their house on the market so fingers crossed they like the property and sell theirs quickly. Why do I get a mental image of a flying pig?;)

Spoke to the surveyor who looked at the house we are buying (we hope) who says it is built to higher specs than normal and he had problems finding anything wrong with it !!!!:j

DH says he is getting pitying looks when he goes out for a pint as "people" think he is mad for having originally wanted to "downsize" and now going for a much bigger and more expensive house instead.

He does not feel like justifying himself by saying we fell in love with the house, it has everything we want, detached, garage, garden, bedroom for each DD should it be needed etc. More importantly- it is well designed and not "extended" or cobbled together and should be much easier to live in and to heat than the Edwardian house we were in for over 20 years.

I reminded him that we have always done things differently to everyone else (paid off mortgage, saved like crazy, me as stay at home mum, further education even as professional etc) and it has always worked out for the best.

He did cheer up a bit when I said he could blame me and say it was all my idea lol!!!!!!

If possible he loves the place even more than I do and we feel we can all be really happy there and can afford it as long as we stay being sensible.

Davesnave

I agree with you about the house price debate board- it's fascinating.

Must have a look at the saving and investing board once things settle down . We did have investment trust ISA s but cashed them in a few years ago just before the market collapsed (intuition).

shupufski_2

vet8 wrote: »

I think that you and shupufski are over simplyfying things here.

This does not apply to us now as we have lived in our house for years, but in the early 1990s when the base rate reached 15% :eek:and our mortgage payments more than doubled over three years, we realised we could not afford the house, so put it on the market. We had bought for £194,000 and put it on for £190,000. I did not mind that we would lose a bit, I was just keen to get shot of the unaffordable mortgage, BUT I knew we could not go much below £190,000 as any lower and we would not have enough deposit left to buy anywhere else.

So I made that very clear to the EA. We had one offer of £175,000 which we just could not afford to sell at. We would have been lucky to afford a flat with the deposit we had left, so we took the house off the market and struggled like mad for years. In fact, we have never really got over the struggle which is why we are selling now.

People genuinely can get into a situation where they CANNOT sell, not from greed, but because you need somewhere else to live and you have to have enough money left to pay for that. Where I live it costs more per month to rent than pay a mortgage. A one bed flat, unfurnished costs at least £600 pm. A 3 bed house about £1,500. Paying rent is just suicide so those who can't sell their houses for as much as they need will not sell.

That is why I think all this talk of house prices tumbling drastically is unlikely to happen as those who will only sell at a huge loss just cannot afford to sell, so they won't, they will stay put.

I simply asked a question about the mindset around selling prices - which you have kindly answered.

My intention is not to discuss house price per se (i.e. debate whether they are going up or down) but instead to understand the seller’s view of price as part of the process of selling.

However, having read some of the posts I am very surprised that some still refuse to believe that lowering price will generate a sale. Taking it to extremes and dropping your price by 50% would guarantee a sale. I am not suggesting that this is a sensible option but it illustrates the basic point that you can attract a wider pool of buyers by lowering your price.

The psychology of sellers interests me especially those trying to buy a house at the same time. I suspect you would find many that would accept a lower offer if they could guarantee getting the same from the vendor. This suggests that sellers are concerned at not being taking for mugs alone – but if everyone is taken for a mug simultaneously then that is more acceptable. In other words, you don’t want to feel that you are the only person having to sell at a “low” price.

NEH

shupufski wrote: »

I simply asked a question about the mindset around selling prices - which you have kindly answered.

My intention is not to discuss house price per se (i.e. debate whether they are going up or down) but instead to understand the seller’s view of price as part of the process of selling.

However, having read some of the posts I am very surprised that some still refuse to believe that lowering price will generate a sale. Taking it to extremes and dropping your price by 50% would guarantee a sale. I am not suggesting that this is a sensible option but it illustrates the basic point that you can attract a wider pool of buyers by lowering your price.

The psychology of sellers interests me especially those trying to buy a house at the same time. I suspect you would find many that would accept a lower offer if they could guarantee getting the same from the vendor. This suggests that sellers are concerned at not being taking for mugs alone – but if everyone is taken for a mug simultaneously then that is more acceptable. In other words, you don’t want to feel that you are the only person having to sell at a “low” price.

I explained my feelings on this subject yesetrday if i thought lowering the price would make a difference i would but we have researched this option and the lower priced flats aren't getting anymore interest, let alone a sale, it si a a SLOW market and in our case there are now 4 other flats for sale within 200m so high competition...

If we did as you said and dropped the price by 50% we would be selling at the price they were many moons ago and if we go below £40,000 it wouldn't be worth it so yes if we dropped it to that we would sell it but could never recover the loss again and never buy be able to buy anywhere ever again...

We are not refusing to drop the price if you read the posts correctly, some of us have so i think that is an unfair judgement to make...

NEH

Can i just point out that two people that have come on here and wanted to debate house prices are relatively new members?!

Just considering the possbility of trolls around...;)

shupufski_2

NEH wrote: »

I explained my feelings on this subject yesetrday if i thought lowering the price would make a difference i would but we have researched this option and the lower priced flats aren't getting anymore interest, let alone a sale, it si a a SLOW market and in our case there are now 4 other flats for sale within 200m so high competition...

If we did as you said and dropped the price by 50% we would be selling at the price they were many moons ago and if we go below £40,000 it wouldn't be worth it so yes if we dropped it to that we would sell it but could never recover the loss again and never buy be able to buy anywhere ever again...

We are not refusing to drop the price if you read the posts correctly, some of us have so i think that is an unfair judgement to make...

I am not making a judgement of anyone nor am I suggesting that anyone should drop their price by 50% - I hope that is clear from my earlier post.