Selling my house

debpeb

I think that's the problem we've had all along to be honest. The price before the open day was at £185k and no-one was interested but since putting it in at offers over £151k that day we've had really low offers and I don't blame the viewers at all, I blame the EA. They knew what we needed, knew the house is worth more than £171k, but put the advert in at too low a price and now I think this has ruined all chance of us getting a reasonable offer because as you say, people see it at one price and wonder why it's shot up again.

shellstar

I'm not really sure I can add much, except to say that I understand your furstration and think a lot of people are in similar situations.

If you are desperate to sell at any cost then you have done the right thing in dropping the price. After we lost our 2nd buyer, we just priced to sell, but it still took another 5 months, there just isn't a lot happening out there.

Maybe you could advertise the house at offer over £171K and leave it at that.

I think that you are right the error the EA made on the open day pricing may make it a bit harder. We did turn down a few very low offers, all from investment buyers out for a bargain. Nothing wrong with that, and if we could have sold to them we would. We couldn't, they didn't want to pay more and so no sale. We waited and sold our house a month later to a family willing to pay what we wanted. When I checked our house against others in the area, there were 2 bed flats on for more than ours (3 bed end terrace) and the only houses cheaper were wrecks.

I'd make it offers over £171K and just hope things go you're way. Do you need that amount to not be in negative equity? One thing I found, when working out our minimum offer was that it was worth reviewing things with the banks, as their policies seem to change a lot. We could borrow, then we could only port our mortgage, then we could borrow again but not so much. All related to equity, but they do change things as things improve/worsen in the economy. Just a thought? A lot will depend on your reasons for moving as to whether it's worth the stress. For us, it really was.

debpeb

I get a set settlement from the sale of the house so to be honest I wouldn't care how low the price was if my ex accepted it. He wants to clear his debts etc. and has insisted he won't go lower than £171k. Like in your position, i've looked around at what other places are going for and like our estate agent said, ours is a bargain but we seem to be getting people who want to knock £20k off the price and that would mean a negative equity for the ex so he's not prepared to do that knowing the house is worth more than what we've put it on as. The area is nice, it's a detached house, but people tend to rent a lot down here, and money and jobs aren't that great. Three of the houses in our road already have been bought as investments and rented out or used as holiday homes. As you say though it really is frustrating, especially as we've done everything our EA advised thinking they'd know what they were doing. The only time I wasn't consulted was when the ex and EA decided to advertise it as offers over £151k and that's when I blew my top at the EA and said it was wrong. His excuse was that that was the way to get viewers in but getting viewers wasn't the problem, it was getting offers, and after the open day the only offers we've had are up to £163k.

pimento

telfordwhite wrote: »

. Just because you need a certain amount to be able to sell doesn't mean the house is worth this.

The sooner you get realistic about what price you are going to realise for your property, the sooner your frustration will dissipate.

I agree with this. If you're that desparate to move, drop the price.

00ec25

debpeb wrote: »

IHe wants to clear his debts etc. and has insisted he won't go lower than £171k.

Three of the houses in our road already have been bought as investments and rented out or used as holiday homes.

OK so a bit more relevant info at last - its not you that won't move on the price, its him, and for understandable reasons as you now say

are these 3 houses similar to yours or are they totally different? If similar then anyone doing their research would note the pices they sold at and base their offer to you/your ex on that basis. So that is probably more relevant than your current asking price, unless of course your house is totally different
an offer for a house in a road which has a proven record of being a renter's area, and coming from someone who knew what they were doing in the BLT market, would not necessarily be a bargain offer nor necessarily less than a family would offer, it would be based on what the rental business is worth from your house.
So as far as I can see you house is "worth" £163+ in todays market

stokesley

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Sliding scale for first, second and third attempt. If you stick to your guns they will learn very quickly.

No sliding scale - we're in the same boat. I agreed to clean/tidy the girls' bedrooms properly once, when we went on the market. After that, any stray items went into black binbags, and into the shed: only had to do it once...

To the OP, I'm sorry about your problems, and hope they are resolved soon - unfortunately, a property is only worth what someone will offer you for it - valuations are worthless until a purchaser actually stumps up the dosh. Unfortunately, you can repeat the mantra of "I need £171,000" until you are blue in the face, but until someone believes it to be worth that, it isn't.

As for looking at properties before one's own has gone to SSTC, I'm with the poster who doesn't wish to look at anything in case they fall in love with it, neither do we wish to raise anyone's hopes - we're looking constantly online, but have no intention of crossing anyone's threshold until we're part of the way there, and then no offers until we've exchanged - they are meaningless.

House buying/purchasing was ever thus - fraught with pitfalls.

stokesley

debpeb wrote: »

I get a set settlement from the sale of the house so to be honest I wouldn't care how low the price was if my ex accepted it. He wants to clear his debts etc. and has insisted he won't go lower than £171k.

Um, do you think some of your negotiations should be with your ex?

not_tonight_josephine_2

debpeb wrote: »

The only time I wasn't consulted was when the ex and EA decided to advertise it as offers over £151k .

It sounds like your ex has to share the blame for this, he gave the EA the go ahead to market in this way?

You are in a difficult situation, and I can imagine you are desperate to move on with your life, but maybe you need to try and get out of the mindset that your house is "worth" a certain amount - in a free market any commodity is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, and it doesn't sound like people are prepared to pay £171k for your house right now. Have you sat your ex down and gone through the figures with him ie how much it is costing him paying towards the house every month right now vs how much it will cost him to sell at £163k rather than £171k? It may not take that long for this to add up to £8k!

pinkshoes

debpeb wrote: »

Thanks for your replies there. Can I just point out the EA still thinks the price is reasonable and not overpriced at all for what it is, so can people stop saying that as it's just not true.

You say that, but after 8 months on the market and such low offers, are you SURE you're not being tunnel visioned over this?

IF you're feeling brave, post the rightmove link to the property on here, and let people tell you what they think. Perhaps some honest objective feedback would help?

stokesley

not_tonight_josephine wrote: »

It sounds like your ex has to share the blame for this, he gave the EA the go ahead to market in this way?

You are in a difficult situation, and I can imagine you are desperate to move on with your life, but maybe you need to try and get out of the mindset that your house is "worth" a certain amount - in a free market any commodity is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, and it doesn't sound like people are prepared to pay £171k for your house right now. Have you sat your ex down and gone through the figures with him ie how much it is costing him paying towards the house every month right now vs how much it will cost him to sell at £163k rather than £171k? It may not take that long for this to add up to £8k!

Hear hear. The OP is in the house, I imagine with no real incentive to sell, except to get it over and done with. The ex is (presumably) renting, and debt-laden. The house, as at 1520 on 27 August, is worth £163,000, assuming that this prospective purchaser is still around. The EA wants his commission.

Set up a meeting between the three of you - little tip: my OH once persuaded an EA to chip in out of his commission when there was a shortfall years ago - it involved nothing harder than a couple of hours in the pub to thrash it out. The way things are going at the moment, no-one is going to get anything, and the only winner is you, perched in the property...