Home selling advice

Yousef1983

Hello,

My wife and I are moving to Canada around late summer so we put our home on the market in October last year (3 bedroom flat for 91,000 bought for 88,000). We work abroad and just got home. The estate agent said they had no viewings when we were away and we should think about the asking price. I've got it priced to break even from when I bought the place in June 06, I'm not being greedy here. There is a 2 bedroom flat for sale in my estate for 87,000 for reference but it doesn't have a garage like ours. The estate agent suggested lower the price by 10,000! We can't afford to take that much of a hit especially with the pound so weak against the US dollar so I told the agent that I wasn't willing to lower it by that much.

So I guess I'm looking for advice/reassurance that I've done the right thing here. Also, is it maybe worth renting it with the current economics?

Any thoughts and advice will be greatly appreciated,

Yousef

pie81

Are there other properties comparable to yours around (not necessarily on your estate but which would compete with yours)? Ask yourself, if you were a buyer with say £100k to spend, would you buy your flat or the other flat? Be objective (most of us are biased in favour of our own place!). If you are finding competing properties which are equally desirable and cheaper, or more desirable but the same price, then you're overpriced. If not then I would suggest a new agent.

Renting is possible (if your mortgage lender agrees), but your mortgage rate is likely to go up, and you will need to pay a hefty chunk to a managing agent, and will have little control over maintenance etc, as you'll be out of the country.

Fire_Fox

What price you paid or what you still owe on the mortgage may be relevant to you, but it is not relevant to a prospective buyer and does not have any bearing on the property market. What are the land registry sold prices (NOT for sale prices) for other flats in the building?

If you are not getting buyers through the door then either you estate agent is rubbish, your flat is overpriced for the market conditions or your flat is poorly presented, most likely a combination of factors. If you are willing to post up your RightMove link we can comment on the particulars.

If you wish to let the flat you will need consent to lease from your lender: this may necessitate a hefty fee or you may need to go onto a higher interest rate. Can you afford to pay the mortgage whilst the flat is empty between lets or if you get a non-paying tenant? Have you factored in income tax and letting agency management fees?

kinglewis

I'm not being greedy here. There is a 2 bedroom flat for sale in my estate for 87,000 for reference but it doesn't have a garage like ours. The estate agent suggested lower the price by 10,000!

Has that property sold? That might be overpriced too???

If you have had no viewings the house is overpriced. I appreciate you are trying to break even.. but if you really want to sell.. you may need to consider taking a loss.

If you can't.. you will have no choice really but to rent it out.

nollag2006

What rental yield could you get on it? If it breaks even on a rental basis, it might be worth holding on for it for a few years while the UK property market picks up

However, sterling will never strengthen until we raise interest rates above the eurozone and the US again. The scenario is at least 2 - 3 years away

Yousef1983

Hi Fire Fox,

I think our home is in good condition and so did the home report surveyor. As for the other comments, I think we're reasonably priced for our area. There have been flats sold here for 95,000 last year. As for renting I think we're in the 500-600 bracket going by others in the area.
Because I'm new I can't post a link but our home is on our property. It's 14 Ashvale Crescent, Glasgow, G21 1NE

Fire_Fox

This one?
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27188564.html?pageNumber=1&premiumA=true&fromSummary=true&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2FSpringburn%2Fflats.html

Fire_Fox

OK First impressions are that the estate agents are not doing much to sell your flat - where is the floor plan? Why no dimensions of the THREE hall storage cupboards or the garage? Why no photo of the third bedroom, is it dressed as a double or a junk room?

According to Zoopla, four properties have sold in your postcode recently:
29 Ashvale Crescent January 07 £65K
30 Ashvale Crescent September 07 £92K
32 Ashvale Crescent May 08 £75K
14 Ashvale Crescent May 08 £96K

You will have to advise us if these are the same size as yours or smaller? Number 14 and 30 are the same council tax band as yours, number 32 is a band lower. Apparently Glasgow house prices were still falling right up to Q4 2009:
http://www.gspc.co.uk/news/latest-gspc-house-price-report/

Yousef1983

Hi Fire Fox,

You make some good points about not having pictures and floor plan. The 3rd bedroom is used as an office. We have shelves up on one side and and desk on the other so it doesn't really look like a bedroom but you could fit a bed in there if you took out the office stuff.
As for size, its about the same as numbers 14 and 30. The rooms vary a little but total floor area is about the same. Don't know if they had the garage though.
The more I'm reading the more I'm thinking about renting but I'll be talk to my estate agent about putting more on the advert.

Thanks

brit1234

Best advice I can give you is to drop the price before the majority of people realise that prices have started falling again. Asking prices have been down the last 3-4 months and now halifax/nationwide are leveling off or down without the adjustment.

Got to sell fast or you will chase the market down.