Need advice for quick sale please!!

karenthemummy79

Catblue wrote: »

Karen, have you thought about an Open Day to tempt in some buyers? Seems to be getting a bit more common round here and it just might be worth a shot. The Open Days just tend to be a two hour slot, either 10 - 12, or 2 - 4 on a Saturday.

Might be worth trying this with the EA before you give em the boot.

You could even invite a couple of friends around to make it look as if there is interest in the house. Even if it is a flop, you could have a party afterwards.

It has crossed my mind but I just cant help but thinking that it will just mean that every tom, !!!!!! & harry can come and have a mooch with no real intention of buying anyway! I will mention it to the EA though to see what they think but I am not convinced and havent heard of any open days in this area.

karenthemummy79

ILW wrote: »

No worries then, put the price up, should be sold by the end of the week.

Oh yes just what I was thinking!! As soon as I read the article I thought 'Karen you have nothing to worry about!'

I am joking by the way!

Another useful comment - Thankyou!!! :mad:

dopester

You are trying to rent it, I see.

Good luck 2-houses. Your outlook for house prices is soooo different to mine.

sirhan_sirhan

ILW wrote: »

No worries then, put the price up, should be sold by the end of the week.

Hi,

I would not be so positive about that if I were in your position.

If the average house has had four viewings in the last month, I would question what it is about your house, that has caused it to have no viewings.

I don't know the area at all, but I would wonder about the price.

Imp

karenthemummy79 wrote: »

I cant believe people are suggesting I drop the price to £120k!!!! if I was to drop it by 17% then that would be £135k!!! To drop it to £120k would be over 25% - Surely that isnt best advice in a market that is supposedly starting to pick up?!

I sold a flat recently for 2/3 (that's 33% off) the initial asking price. It ended up being advertised at 25% off the intial asking price. I was emotionally detached from the house, and saw it as a shackle around my neck, stopping me from getting on with my life. I made sure it was always the cheapest 2 bed flat in the area. It was the only way to get anyone through the door, let alone buy it.

At the low price, we had several offers, rather than getting them to bid up, we went with the most proceedable buyer.

So 25% off asking price does not seem bad to me, just sensible if you really want to sell it. If you don't want to sell it, then keep it and rent it out.

GracieP

karenthemummy79 wrote: »

It just gets my back up when people start saying that 'it will all end in tears' & that we will end up losing both houses!! I WONT let that happen!!

Karen, I hope you don't think I'm trying to get at you, but I'd imagine most people who have had their houses repossessed felt they would never let that happen either. Nobody bites off more than they can chew because they believe it will all end in tears, they do so because they believe they can handle it.

You have stated that you don't believe prices will fall much further but have you covered the possibility of how you will be affected if you are wrong? Have you worked out how you will cope if interest rates hit 8% in a few years time and you are still covering two mortgages? Have you planned financially for the up keep of both houses if you have them both for a very prolonged period? What do you intend to do if you still have the house two years from now and prices have fallen 30% more, interest rates have risen significantly and you are having trouble finding a tenant? If you are taking a risk you should follow the maxim; "Hope for the best but plan for the worst."

And seriously, look to other economies like Ireland and the US, who went into this recession ahead of the UK. Nobody has a crystal ball, but watching economies who are further into this cycle is the next best thing. I've found this thread from an Irish money advice site which isn't a million miles from your situation: http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=89954

Most pertinent quotes;

August 2008
We bought the investment property in 2004 . It was our original home , then we moved closer to our workplaces , which is the new house we currently live in .
As for negative equity , we had it revalued for the 60k remortgage in march , i did a check on myhome and daft and it is still at about the market rate ..................

.............I have no problems sleeping at night .. not that stressed out about it , if it comes down to it , we simply sell , or hang on to it at a loss ... our combined wages are in excess of 90k , the bank not only gave it to us . they recommended it ... We were very unsure about keeping the original house as an investment , but he reassured us that we would be fine and explained that there would be no problem renting it out for the value of the mortgage............

...............keep in mind that the house is no where near negative equity , it has 290k left on it and it is worth 350k ( it is a 4 bed fully detached house )....................

.............The value would need to drop by around 55k to put us in negative equity , and houses in the area of this standard are going for this price. Vacant periods would be a big problem , we are flying by the seat of our pants as it is , but if there is a strong possibility that things will even out in the next year i think we would be willing to hang on to it and weather the storm , but maybe we are being too wishful ..................

...................ok so we have decided to sell , spoke with estate agent and he will put it on the market if we wish ..............

June 2009

I am now in serious negative equity on both houses , one is up for sale ( with three viewings since christmas ) we have dropped the price to below what we paid for it in 2004 and it is still not selling .
I have just recieved an offer from my employer to relocate to the US with my family , I have two small children .
At the moment I am paying two mortgages and struggling to survive , both children will be going into creche in a couple of months and we simply will not be able to pay for it................

...................in short I am considering handing the keys back to the bank at this stage , they will survive , we wont if we continue as we are .

karenthemummy79

dopester wrote: »

You are trying to rent it, I see.

Good luck 2-houses. Your outlook for house prices is soooo different to mine.

It has been up for rent on rightmove for a few weeks but we havent taken any viewings and still wouldnt to be honest - I am just testing the market to see if I get any interest - it isnt costing me anything! No I FULLY agree with you that renting it out is NOT the best thing! Your words of wisdom have been taken in!!

silvercar

House on my road sold after an open afternoon. It had been on the market 6 months, not many viewings and no offers. It had an open weekend 2 hours sat PM and 2 hours sunday AM, sealed bids requested by the Thursday of that week. Apparently it had 4 bids and was sold (ie completed) within 6 weeks.

So what if you get the world walking through; much easier than having separate viewings at all sorts of times.

sirhan_sirhan

dopester wrote: »

You are trying to rent it, I see.

Hi,

We have just agreed a lease on a property, so can perhaps offer some advice.

If we saw a house for rent, that was also up for sale, we completely dismissed it.

Most renters (at least the ones that I know) are not transient, and are looking for some sort of security of tenure. Moving house is a big ordeal, and most renters will not want to move to a property in the knowledge that they might be moved on again after six months.

Most tenants will alos be reluctant to have potential buyers vieing the property.

Prosepective tenants might also question your financial position. The nightmare scenario for a tenant is a landlord that is out of their depth, that ends up having the house repossessed.

One other consideration - does your mortgage co approve of you letting the house, without compromising the deal that you are currently on?

Hope some of this helps.

silvercar

There was a thread on here a while back from someone selling a property in Crouch End or Hornsey, North London. Loads of people said reduce the price, they stuck to their guns and sold at a higher price.

Just because people on here think they wouldn't pay anything other than very low prices, doesn't mean people in the real world wouldn't see a property and buy it.