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

NEH

salousunrise wrote: »

Hi, I'm in need of some tips please!

We need to sell a house in need of modernisation with a small bit of land with it. Next door is a business who wants the property and land real bad. We have yet to have the house valued as we are only just starting the process so its not listed with any agents or anything yet, but next door want to come asap to discuss.

My husband is of the opinion we should see them asap but I think we should get the valuation done first, what do you think? Also, should I still get several valuations done?

There are advantages to skipping estate agents which selling to these people would mean but I am nervous about entering into negotiations with business types who may railroad us into something. Any advice on how to hold our own would be great!

Thanks

Agree with Davesnave...

Don't rush into anything, if they want the land that badly they'll hang on and i would get someone trained in negotiating to act on your behalf to get you the best deal possible.

Emy1501

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,


I phoned two more agents today (there are really only three agents in this area) and told them the price I have it up for AND that I'd been advised to drop the price down another 20k. I thought they would fight to get me on their books, but one said that 375 was "worth a try" and the other one said he could put it on his books at 395 but he hasn't got anyone lined up for it. Not exactly encouraging stuff.

Probably means that 375K is a reasonable price to market it at. You could try higher till the end of Sept but as advised the market drops off in Nov and does not pick up normally till Jan.

My husband is panicing (is that how you spell it!?) that the market is going to tumble and wants to sell at any price (well, not any price, but certainly he's willing to drop even more than the agent has suggested).
Someone here suggested going in to rented but we have two kids and I don't like the idea of renting.

Agree about renting especially in a market which could turn at any time and mean prices start to rise. If you are upsizing then properties you want to buy should become more affordable if prices drop.

I've read so many conflicting reports in the papers I don't know what to do. One day they say that prices are going down for 10 years and it's all doom doom doom, then they say property is making 90 pounds a day
Which is it? they can't be going up and down at the same time, but looking at this blog surely we need more buyers to get things moving, where are they going to come from?

Who knows? i would pay attention to you local area rather than national figures. Are properties selling quickly in your area?

If my husband is right and the prices of houses tumble down and down then I'm never ever going to live it down.

Can't see why as said before should be easier to upsize

myhouse_2

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,

I've read so many conflicting reports in the papers I don't know what to do. One day they say that prices are going down for 10 years and it's all doom doom doom, then they say property is making 90 pounds a day.

Which is it? they can't be going up and down at the same time, but looking at this blog surely we need more buyers to get things moving, where are they going to come from?

This is one of the problems with relying on the papers for anything to do with business (housing, shares etc). With anything to do with the economy, you can ALWAYS find "experts" who have different opinions (Interest rates will go up/down, mortgages are getting harder/easier to get). Even clear data (house prices went down by 1% last month) will have one reporter crying doom and gloom while another will point out some silver lining somewhere for everyone to cling to.
Best thing to do is read it all, analyse it and decide which arguments make sense and which are based on poor assumptions. Then price your house accordingly.

not_loaded

angela_k wrote: »

hi all,
thanks for all your advice, I've looked on zoopla.com (or .co.uk I forget which) and had a drive around last night to take a look at whats sold. The problem is that very little has sold, the last house that sold near me was 1 bedroom less and in January, so I can't figure out a price from that.
I phoned two more agents today (there are really only three agents in this area) and told them the price I have it up for AND that I'd been advised to drop the price down another 20k. I thought they would fight to get me on their books, but one said that 375 was "worth a try" and the other one said he could put it on his books at 395 but he hasn't got anyone lined up for it. Not exactly encouraging stuff.
My husband is panicing (is that how you spell it!?) that the market is going to tumble and wants to sell at any price (well, not any price, but certainly he's willing to drop even more than the agent has suggested).
Someone here suggested going in to rented but we have two kids and I don't like the idea of renting.
We need to sell and move by next summer for school - we can do a school run, but the timing will make it really hard…

I think I’d focus on that asking price. You have to get it right. Have you looked at https://www.nethouseprices.com? It’s quite user friendly compared to the purely statistical sites. Also, go for what you need to move on with your life, not for any kind of profit.

I was talking to a seller (or rather, a non-seller) recently who mentioned that her price was to cover her hubby’s ‘pension’. Although I appreciate what she meant, it’s madness looking at the selling situation in that way.

You have internet agents as well don’t forget. HouseNetwork will get you on RightMove and their commission is about 10% of the shiny suited brigade. We sold through HouseNetwork. You do your own viewings with them, which we liked.

We have been sadly let down by the ‘professionals’ though. The High Street EAs have been dismal at best, and as for the solicitors, I wouldn’t mind their ludicrously high charges if only they’d get on with it instead of shelving it.

Unfortunately everybody in the UK seems to be on the ‘money for nothing’ bandwagon nowadays.

Good luck, and keep your spirits up!

brit1234

rosered100 wrote: »

Land Registry figures are for July 2010 completions, so as up to date as you can get. London prices did not drop last month (up 1.6% on the month, 12.1% pa) - it was the rate of increase that dropped.
You should check your facts before scare-mongering. As has been said before - this is the support thread.

" The actual drop in house prices could be worse as the Land Registry figures are based only on those properties which have actually been sold and so lag other indices based on mortgage approvals by about three months. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/houseprices/4862011/House-prices-fall-to-lowest-level-on-record-says-Land-Registry.html

That 3 month lag is on about another 2 month lag of Halifax and Nationwide. So we are talking about a 5-6 month lag.

Other indicators without the big land registry lag show London falls now. This isn't scaremongering, this is really good news for the majority of young people struggling to get on the housing market.

I was actually surprised that land registry showed a couple of drops this year and was expecting last months rise. Should go negative this month or next if following the others trend. They also don't include auction prices which are down at moment.

Good luck with selling your houses, wish you all the best. Us first time will just wait till prices fall to affordable levels and keep making these deposits bigger in the mean time.

Chyna-s

Morning all. I have the EA coming round tomorrow to photograph my flat tomorrow so had a fitful nights sleep last night worrying about it's presentation. Don't know why I am worrying as it's been completely decorated and de-cluttered to within an inch of its life . Can't believe it's finally going on the market though.

Not so good is that I have to extend the lease as its down to 75 years so dreading how much that is going to cost. Ah well, get's it off my hands as we are already in the process of buying a house(needs restoring so able to buy without waiting for the flat to sell but need to sell to use money to do the new house up).

monkeys_bunny

in my very humble opinion. i think that the FTB's should realise that they need to be looking to buy the smaller houses that are within their budgets and not the grand detached houses, then the people who move out of the smaller starter homes come along to buy our family homes and the families move into the larger homes and so the process works

its not for us sellers to decrease our property asking price to that of the smaller houses cos you are being greedy and want to jump a stage.

hope every one is ok today and September turns out to be a good month for us. lots more sold signs up in my area i have noticed

sshaw101

We are in the process of selling our in-laws (plan is to move in together, them in an annexe and us the main part of a house). The house was listed using an online estate agent last week.

Just wondering how long we should expect to wait until we have any interest before lowering the price? when should we expect our first viewers?

tyllwyd

sshaw101 wrote: »

... Just wondering how long we should expect to wait until we have any interest before lowering the price? when should we expect our first viewers?

I don't think there is a sensible answer to that - it is going to depend so much on your property, the price band its in and the local market. Sensibly, last week was probably likely to be quiet even in the best market because of the bank holiday & schools starting, so I'd give it till the end of September, at least.

sshaw101

tyllwyd wrote: »

I don't think there is a sensible answer to that - it is going to depend so much on your property, the price band its in and the local market. Sensibly, last week was probably likely to be quiet even in the best market because of the bank holiday & schools starting, so I'd give it till the end of September, at least.

Thats what I was thinking.

At the end of the week I was going to ask the estate agent to send through details of how many times it has been viewed on rightmove etc