Nice house in wrong area

Doozergirl

I'm not sure if I should duck for cover but £250,000 for a 2/3 bed property in an ethnic area of Birmingham certainly sounds like a lot, having recently sold a 1930s 3 bed in Harborne (albeit outside the town centre) for quite a bit less than that. £200,000 does sound a little nearer to the mark though I don't think that being on the market for a long time has helped your cause much (not your fault obviously).

Why don't you ask one of the auctioneers to come out and look at the property and tell you if they think it is suitable. They will happily tell you if they think it is still better suited to the open market than to auction. Valuation would be free, as usual, so you would have nothing to lose.

Try Cottons, Bond Wolfe or Bigwood.
http://www.cottons.co.uk/auctions.asp
http://www.bondwolfe.net/property-auctions.asp
http://www.bigwood.uk.com/auctions.asp

HTH

Doozergirl

After reading dander's post, I think I found your house too. It's lovely and your garden is to die for!

I think you need to, at the very least, change agent. Firstly, your current agent was completely wrong to value your house at £245,000 when looking at comparables - you can get a 4/5 bed in Moseley for that figure. £199,000 does look more acheivable but whilst your house looks beautifully symetrical from the outside, it is very quirky inside and you are going to find it hard work to find the right person at that price. There's period features in abundance in different styled houses which may give a better use of space. You're absolutely right that your target market is an affluent couple with no children and probably no plans for children in the near future.

Please change agent. I'd go for one where you're between two of their offices - Moseley and Acocks Green maybe so they can work in tandem for you? Having seen the house now, it's probably not the right type of house for auction, though you could give them a try for another valuation?

I feel for you

DA_Jennings

Things move on apace!! I have had the house valued for auction at a guide price of £160,000-170,000 and buy a company that I saw on the net who would buy my house for £125,000 ( 80% of £156,000). Basically, they say that I have a 2 bed cottage and that it has been vastly overpriced for the area it is in. Nevertheless, everyone on this forum has been very helpful.

Lady_S

I know the area, and must admit it isn't somewhere I would move to for that price of house. I would look and think while it is very lovely, I could buy a house with a little less character in a nicer part of town for less cash.

dander

Gosh, that's one hell of a drop! What are you going to do? Will you market at one of those lower prices or just give up? It must be absolutely gutting for you.

Doozergirl

DA_Jennings wrote:

Things move on apace!! I have had the house valued for auction at a guide price of £160,000-170,000 and buy a company that I saw on the net who would buy my house for £125,000 ( 80% of £156,000). Basically, they say that I have a 2 bed cottage and that it has been vastly overpriced for the area it is in. Nevertheless, everyone on this forum has been very helpful.

:eek: Eh? I'd buy it myself for a bit more than £125,000!

gallygirl

Can I give you the benefit of my expert knowledge (watched every episode of Property Ladder.......and read the book). In cases where access to a bedroom is via another bedroom it seemed the best option was to section off part of bedroom to extend landing & make a separate entrance. This was ALWAYS commented on by estate agents, either saying it HAd added value if they had listened to Saint Sarah (all hail:smileyhea ), or it WOULD have if they had done what they had been told. For a lot less than you'd think you may be able to increase the value AND sell it!

PS am v nosey, and can't find house on RIGHT MOVE - help someone!

bob2

Use the following link to find out what houses on your street and in your postcode have actually sold for (not asking prices).

http://www.houseprices.co.uk/

DA_Jennings

I think the true value of my property is somewhere in the region of £180,000 ,taking into account the vested interests of the auction house and the internet company willing to purchase the property. Needless to say, I am undecided about what to do.

Doozergirl

Auction houses are quite sensible and I would trust them, really. A sale is a sale to them; they never know what their commission is going to be and they can't set the sale price low themselves because the house will always sell for what it is worth if it is worth more. Which firm did you speak to? Did they think the house was suitable for auction?

If you do go for it, I'd see about getting an ad in the local paper (which you will pay the agent for) with your house and AUCTION written all over it to attract a more traditional that mightn't ordinarily be able to buy at auction, but might be looking for a bargain and will come to your open viewings. For some reason, auctions have a tag as where you can pick up cheap property, but the truth is that the cheap property has problems of some sort which have to be rectified and the profit made is generally payment for a lot of hard work and/or risk.

If you do want a more traditional buyer, you can ask the auctioners to be clear to viewers that you may be prepared to accept an offer beforehand.