advice needed - flat on market for 5 months and 3 viewings

TheCountOfNowhere_2

Hi,

Sorry, I wasnt trying to be funny.

The housing market is a joke. A lot of people have been conned. The bankers must be laughing up their sleaves at us.

The BBC keeps telling up house prices are rising but if you look at the land registry figures along with inflation then they never went up last year, down slightly in real terms, and that's after a 20% drop. if you look at the land registry sales volume figures the sales numbers are at their lowest levels EVER.

The media ramping property prices should be illegal, it's certainly immorral, people buy into it.

If no one is coming to view, the price is too high. If no one can borrow that amount of money, the price is too high. When the valuers come round they wont be saying its worth what you or the agent think.

My advice would be to cut the price, sell as soon as you can for the smallest loss possible and rent.

Go stand outside your flat and really look at it and ask yourself would I want to pay 150K for it in the current economic situation ?

Dont vote labout every again and prey that this mess only lasts another couple of years rather than the 10 or so of the last great depression.

Im sorry to hear about your personal situation but you need to be pro-active. If you dont like what you hear done shoot the messenger. It's the bankers/estate agents/Medias/governments fault we are in this mess.

Sorry and good luck.

Konfety

Just extend the Lease. (Mortgage / unsecured Loan / Family / savings / haggle with Landlord / mix of all the above)

THEN Leave it on the market, with reputable agents and make sure it is well advertised. 155 / 150 or 149,995 for some reason it may help.

1 / If two people want it, then they may go to sealed bids and you will get the correct price for it.

2/ If one person wants it then he will make an offer and you will get the correct price for it.

If it still hangs around lower the price and then think about points 1/ and 2/ again.

At the moment No One wants it!!!!

stellaforstar

apology accepted, Count . We stopped listening to media hype about house prices ages ago.

Konfety

OH, and I agree with the Count as above.........

guitarman001

Excellent comments from Count - I'm a member of MSE, HPC and motley fool, so I spread it around a bit lol. But property in this country is a joke - best things we can do is NOT buy and hope prices tumble. If I were you I wouldn't worry about making a bit extra, I'd sell ASAP even if it makes you a loss, because IMO, the loss will be much greater if you leave it for too long.

£150k for a one-bed flat is insane and I personally would warn anybody I knew off it. Hell, I almost faint at the thought of my student loan never mind a sixth of a million pounds (not taking into account interest over the years taking it to nearly half a million pounds)!

I'm not having a go - but 'property' really gets me hot under the collar. Investment my backside, let's just call them houses and live in them. One thing's for sure, if prices do keep rising (which wont happen any time soon) by the time your baby comes to buy, he will never be able to afford. It's happening to everybody my age I know - even if on a good wage of £40k+ nobody can/is willing to buy in to what is a financial black hole. A generational disadvantage.

ANYWAY! Rant over... will be interesting to hear how you get on, but I wouldn't hold out on a buyer if you're hoping to make more money as you could be in even more of a mess in the immediate future when prices crash (Barclays did a presentation recently showing how property is the one bubble yet to fully pop, having been propped up by the government for so long).

For comparison: My girlfriend bought a 4-bed house with conservatory, front + back garden, etc etc for just £95k 8 years ago (now 'worth' £280k). Wages haven't kept up with the sort of price rises we've seen... unsustainable.

Bomber07

I haven't posted on here for maybe three years. Here's my advice, and I warn you it's not sugar coated like most on here.

The flat is way way over valued, you need to reduce the price. I'm sorry, but thats the harsh reality for you.

Also, as other posters have asked, why do you need to 'walk away with a profit'? More importantly, why do you feel someone should take on a greater mortgage in order for you to do so.

This isn't 2007 any more. In terms of offloading that flat for a profit, you've missed the boat I'm afraid.

Good luck.

doire_2

Its not the boom years anymore! People need to realise this. The flat isnt getting any viewers.....because its overpriced!

doire_2

stellaforstar wrote: »

googler -

its a one bedroom flat.

its a small bedroom.

we are two adults and one year old in a cot squeezed in beside the bed.

the baby doesnt sleep very well because we are disturbing her when we come to bed at night.

we are each living out of one draw of clothes.

the baby has no room to play, just one small ish living room and the landing.

we cant buy her alot of toys or anything to help her development because we have no room to store it.

the new neighbours that have moved in down stairs keep us up all night with banging doors and arguing.

i feel worried and anxious on a daily basis because this flat is not selling and i feel guilty about raising my baby in a one bed flat.

just several of the reasons why its taking a toll on my health.

Potential viewers/buyers could no doubt google your address and might end up at this thread. So why on earth post that comment?

stellaforstar

'Also, as other posters have asked, why do you need to 'walk away with a profit'? More importantly, why do you feel someone should take on a greater mortgage in order for you to do so.'


well, we feel the need to walk away with some sort of profit because we have invested 6 years of our money into the property. we didnt buy it as an investment in the first place, but it is the only asset we have. when youre short of cash and need to pay off debts, or change your circumstances, what do people tell you to do (including this website?) - sell your assets. well, this is our only asset so we need to sell it and theres not much point if we walk away with a loss.we would be better off renting it out. if we sell at a loss we are left with nothing - no money to pay off debts, no collateral for another property or even savings to help us rent for a while.

i also do not expect someone should take on a greater mortage just so i can make a profit - thats an absurd comment. i simply expect someone to buy it who can afford it - or come on in and make us an offer. thats what went wrong with our original offer last year - she was too over streched and it fell through. well - she never should have been looking at it and never should have agreed to the offer if she couldnt afford it.

i am fully aware we have missed the boat on selling the flat for a wild profit. thats not what i am expecting.

stellaforstar

well doire - if any potential buyers are viewing this thread they are highly unlikely to buy it anyway with comments like 'why would anyone want to pay £150k for a one bed flat' and ' i would warn anyone off buying this property'

if i thought that was a serious threat i never would have posted the rightmove link in the first place.