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

harz99

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,


anyway, what do you think we should do? change agents? drop the price? (my husband thinks we should drop the price - but also I didn't say that the house we like has said they WON'T accept any offers below 475 (it's up for 495) - so every penny we drop takes us further away from our new one.

any advice appreciated - perhaps there's a financial advisor out there that might know when the housing market is likely to pick up again? Is autumn / winter a good time or bad - I thought bad?


Angela.

If you do decide to change agents adopt the procedure I described in #5026, and see what sort of prices come out of it.

Also which EA, if any, in your area has achieved recent sales of a similar property to yours - what did that go for?

tyllwyd

angela_k wrote: »

...
My estate agent is now telling me that I have to drop my price and I am getting p#ssed off - it was HIM that gave me the price of £425k! in fact I think he said "it'll sell EASILY at that price".

He wants me to drop to 375k - but here's exactly what he said... "TO TEST THE MARKET AT THAT PRICE". in other words, he doesn't know - and will keep telling us to drop the price until someone buys it for peanuts. Surely he's only worried about getting some commission?
...

Well, in our area some houses are selling very quickly, but in our price bracket there are lots of houses that haven't sold in 4 months, and we are in a very similar postion to you, although we are debating a price drop from £315 to £295. But we've seen other houses make that drop and still haven't sold - the problem seems to be more a chronic lack of buyers than the actual prices of the house. The EA seems to be out of ideas, so dropping the price is the easiest thing for him to suggest.

So you have to weigh up how much you want to sell, how quickly you need to sell, and whether you will be able to afford a decent house in the new area. When do you need to be in the catchment area of the school - this academic year, or next?

brit1234

tyllwyd wrote: »

the problem seems to be more a chronic lack of buyers than the actual prices of the house.

There is a chronic lack of buyers purely because prices are too high. Drop the price and the pool of buyers will increase.

Remember potential buyers will be put off by properties that haven't dropped their prices as we know prices are falling and set to fall well into next year.

Mortgaged lending has been tightened and if your selling price doesn't reflect that then you are going to have very limited buyers. Lending won't go to stupid levels again for a very long time.

Buyers are out there. I have a 20% deposit, a good salary but just stuck waiting for people to drop to affordable levels.

tyllwyd wrote: »

The EA seems to be out of ideas, so dropping the price is the easiest thing for him to suggest.

Its also the most logical

fizzystutter

harz99 wrote: »

Yes, always good to look at the house sold boards in your area for an indicator of which EA is best likely to get a sale for you!

WHB is a large chain; I assume Waite & Co are more of a local outfit?

Yes, Waite & Co are local. I fell for the sales speel of "We've got over 200 people looking for a house in your area in the price bracket".

RedTomato

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,



any advice appreciated - perhaps there's a financial advisor out there that might know when the housing market is likely to pick up again? Is autumn / winter a good time or bad - I thought bad?

Thanks for reading all, good luck with your sales,

Angela.

I'm not a financial advisor but I can tell you that traditionally the best selling season is the Spring, known as the "Spring bounce". Unless you are in a part of London or second home county beloved by City Bankers who tend to have their bonuses announced and paid in the Winter. IMO it is highly unlikely that next Spring will see a bounce higher than where we are now. I'm sure you don't need telling the poor economic news and that interest rates will have to go up again one day so there is nothing to suggest that house prices will rise.

I would agree with your husband - lower the price to sell if you need to get out of that area - then you can at least rent to be near the schools you want. The house you want to buy might not lower as it might be people downsizing in no hurry to sell but others will be open to offers and you will be chain free and in an excellent position to proceed. As someone else said, do some research on sold prices in both areas - make sure you are not being unrealistic about the prices in the new area - a good state school does command such a premium.

jw2003

Our buyer has just backed out said it was something in the survey even though we'd agreed to rectify the issue once we'd found out if there even was one but they still pulled anyway (survey said the central heating had cause for concern but it's new and was installed by a corgi registered plumber with a really good reputation - I'm going to get it checked anyway just in case it comes up again and if there's nothing put a rocket up the behind of said surveyor)

Blodwen

Hi all,

Hope everyone's doing well. Just back from 2 weeks holiday (staying with family), so having a sneaky catch up in work before the day really starts. I left the house spotless just in case on any viewings while we were away but nothing

Maybe it would be useful to have another catch-up thread where everyone posts their situation? It was helpful last time we did it. I'll start:

Blodwen: On market for 13 weeks, 3 viewers (and buyer who then pulled out) in first month. No viewers or contact from agent in last 2 months. Planning to change agent at 16 weeks.

NEH

Blodwen: On market for 13 weeks, 3 viewers (and buyer who then pulled out) in first month. No viewers or contact from agent in last 2 months. Planning to change agent at 16 weeks.

NEH: On market 29 weeks, 3 viewers,1 ridiculous offer soundout, useless Solicitor who can't find the bed or the flat itself. Planning to rent it out from November.

NEH

Jw2003 so so sorry to hear that, sounds like they weren't really serious in the first place if you'd offered to fix the central heating. Either that or their circumstances changed and they made up the excuse of the central heating to get out...

Blowden hope you had a nice holiday. Shame no viewings

Brit1234 please remember this is a support thread and if you want to debate house prices there is an appropriate place to do elsewhere on this board...

brit1234

NEH wrote: »

Brit1234 please remember this is a support thread and if you want to debate house prices there is an appropriate place to do elsewhere on this board...

Just trying to say there are plenty of buyers out there with deposits. Seller just have to be realistic with prices due to the mortgage tightening. Many sellers are pricing themselves out of the market due dodgy valuations of estate agents trying to get business. No viewers or offers for weeks then drop the price. Things are only going to get worse in October with the public sector cuts. Out price the completion to get people through the door.