Renting a House

tara747

To mcclim and lorryar

If it's not attracting interest, drop the price. It really is that simple. It will attract interest at the right price. And the more viewers you get through the door, the more chance you have of getting an offer. Price too high = no viewers = no offers. Buyers have a HUGE selection of houses these days, they set their search criteria below a certain price and that's that.

Why are you wanting to hang onto it and for how long are you prepared to? Is it in the hope that prices will rise? Not such a good idea, as:

1. Prices are likely to fall in the short term and will take YEARS to get back to 2007 levels
2. In those years, you will incur lots of expenses related to being a landlord (research this carefully), including letting agency fees, maintenance, void periods, possible damage, possible non-payment of rent, safety certs etc etc. Not to mention rates! 99% of rentals in NI include rates so deduct that from your anticipated rent. Would a possible rise in value in the next ten years compensate you for all this?

My colleague is renting her house out - she refused to drop the price when it was for sale last year and decided to rent and hang on till the market recovered (she was looking at maybe a 3-year time frame). Her house has now dropped even more in value and she bitterly regrets her decision.

This is just my tuppence worth. Drop the price, you will get an offer eventually and if it's a good enough house you might even get your asking price.

Check this website out too:

www.treesdontgrowtotheysky.com

Do your own research as always. And good luck.

crusty_toenail

Have to agree with Tara747, house prices will not be going up to peak levels for many years, you would be better to drop the price and get rid of it now whilst interest rates are low.

When interest rates start going up people can't afford to borrow as much and house prices will fall further. Coupled with the fact that house prices are still totally unaffordable to first time buyers, we have a very unhealthy housing market here - this is your last window of opporunity to sell!

If you don't drop the price and sell now, prepare to be a long-term landlord! There really isn't that much left after rental income tax, council tax, agecy bills, maintenance etc etc... the numbers don't stack up!

tara747

Yes, forgot about the interest rates. A feww peeps are thinking of buying right now as IRs are still v. low, watch them rocket when either the economy shows some signs of growth/there is a sterling crisis/the world markets start dumping UK govt debt, and your current potential buyers will evaporate.

I'm waiting it out. But then I do my own research and I am anticipating what is coming next. If you want to sell, do whatever it takes to sell. If you want to be a landlord, go for it. Good luck, as ever.