Should I reduce the price of my cottage?

LillyBeth

ladymarmalade1970 wrote: »

…How remote is yours? The reason i ask is that the EA told us remote properties were much harder to sell…

It’s 5 miles from a small market town in open countryside.

TOBRUK wrote: »

…LillyBeth, only you know your bottom line on what you can afford to accept if you get an offer. Do you know what you are going to do if you sell ... are you looking to buy another property?...
…Are you desparate to sell and move? Your circumstance will probably have an influence on whether you drop your price or not. Good luck but don't sell it for less than you can afford - do your sums...

Thanks Tobruk . I’m not looking to buy another place (thank god!) and I don’t have a particular date I want out. However I’m selling the place because my partner left and he wants his name off the joint mortgage; the only way I can do this (and I’ve had professional advice) is to sell unfortunately. I feel bad that he’s trapped in this situation, but he caused it and I’ve been left with doing the place up so it was more attractive to buyers (possibly a complete waste of my time, money and energy). I really don’t want to go into any more details about my personal situation though.

brit1234 wrote: »

You better try to find the right price soon as I predict this summer we will have continuous prices falls going into next year.

Have you a rightmove link?

Yes, I’m on Rightmove but I’m not posting a link, sorry.

serious_saver wrote: »

I think the thing you need to do is thoroughly research the prices that properties are actually selling for rather than looking at the prices that houses are marketed at. As a few others have mentioned EA's seem to have tendency to over value...

Good idea, thanks. Of course the issue is that my place, unlike the houses you mentioned, can not be compared like for like as it’s a one off. OK, there are other old cottages with land, but not easily comparable as they were individually built and not out of the same mould as surrounding places. My last property was the opposite so really easy to price.

WelshNic wrote: »

Smallholdings are an in thing these days but you need to be marketed by someone that knows what they're doing - oh and don't listen to brit1234

It may be the dream of many to live off the land but these same people have to be able to afford to buy into it and be into turning dreams into reality.

Seanymph wrote: »

…To successfully run something with paddocks and ground takes time, someone who has the money behind them and can cut back hours, or not work.......... i would say that's probably a depleting pool of purchasers…

…Personally I'd market furiously - there are magazines 'farming at home or smallholder' ones like that - write to them and ask if they want to do an editorial on selling a smallholding in these troubled times, or feature yours because it's lovely. Period home do 'readers houses', country living do a section on readers houses for sale if you are a subscriber free, or £50 I think if you aren't.......... get on pony forums, smallholding, veggie growing ones and talk about how hard it is to sell with land - look for tips from people who may have experienced it, and will be interested.

Market it with specialist agencies too 'equestrian property' 'rural scene'........ dont' give anyone exclusive rights, and know you will pay slightly more in agents fees - but you can't pay it unless it's sold right? So it will be gone and that will be worth the extra couple of thousand…

Thanks for your input and advise, Seanymph. You’re right about a smallholding being a lot of work, and I do think it needs people with the money to be able to “play” at being farmers. I also think I made a mistake with the EA and should go with specialist companies so I’m hoping I’m not contractually tied solely to this one

Davesnave

You say it's a smallholding, but you haven't once mentioned outbuildings, which are a significant extra cost for anyone buying into a landed property that lacks them. You also don't say whereabouts in the country you are, but certainly in Wales and East Anglia, two of the largest smallholding hot spots, prices have been dropping for some considerable time.

On the one hand, the smallholding 'dream' is as strong as ever, with several magazines peddling the desirability of it as a lifestyle choice on a monthly basis. On the other, the reality is that having 2.5 acres will never make anyone rich. Indeed, having good quality land that is used, rather than some boggy field laughably described by agents as a 'wildlife sanctuary,' will cost the owner money in machinery and/or contractors' fees.

So, if I were coming to view your property today, I'd be looking at outbuildings, the state of the fences, the quality of the soil and the considering the best potential use. Then, I'd maybe look at the Aga or the inglenook!

I'm familiar with the Welsh market, though I ended up somewhere else, having spotted an opportunity I couldn't refuse. Right now, there is a plethora of properties over in Wales suitable for smallholding, so the prospective buyer has plenty of choice. Some of those have been on the market for years, but no one is buying them, because they're not realistically priced. However, my Rightmove alerts show occasional well-priced properties that come to the market and sell within weeks, simply because their owners have pitched them right and appear to have dealt with the issues which often beset property of this nature.

I don't think it's hard to value smallholdings at all, but maybe that's because I've seen rather more of them than I'd have liked! On smaller places with, say, 3 bedrooms, £400k is pretty much top whack, unless there is something really special about the place/area. That's how much my budget would have stretched to, but to be honest, I never found anything at that price which didn't have issues of some kind. For that reason, I eventually set a ceiling of £350k and stuck to it.

LillyBeth

Dave, I’m in the West Midlands. I’d prefer not to be more specific on here. There are plenty of outbuildings – garage, workshop, shed, 2 lock-ups, “chicken house” – plus a stable (and water trough) in the 1 acre paddock. The fencing in the smaller 1/3 acre paddock is pig proof but the big paddock will need better fencing on part of it. However, sheep are fine in it and horses have been OK with electric tape as back-up. The gates are good. You’d need to be the judge of soil quality but I certainly don’t have issues with it. It’s a level site, not prone to flooding. There are lots of pros to the place; it’s just a shame I never got feedback from viewers. They looked round the cottage first then the land, but were in and out in 15-20 minutes so clearly not interested for some reason.

What issues have you found with smallholdings?

DannyboyMidlands

Loanranger wrote: »

Don't patronise me.

Minus 2.3% YOY is hardly a crash, is it? More like a minor bump.

I'm not patronising you. Just injecting a few facts into the debate and asking whether you can back up your tired old statement with some facts. I don't think that quoting the national average is sufficient.

Like I said, it depends where you live. As you can see from the report, some areas are most definitely experiencing a crash in prices.

Having said that, even using your prefered figure of -2.3%, with inflation running at around 5% the average national real terms fall is around -7%. That seems crash like to me. Particularly as the rate of fall is incerasing.

brit1234

LillyBeth wrote: »

Yes, I’m on Rightmove but I’m not posting a link, sorry.

Shame, most users do and can get better advised by other users with certain skills.

Loanranger wrote: »

Don't patronise me.

Minus 2.3% YOY is hardly a crash, is it? More like a minor bump.

I think you need to get you head screwed on right. This is just the start of the second part of the crash.

Let me repeat, just the start of the the second part of the crash.

The falls will increase in size as we go along, don't expect giant falls from the start. The simple economics are with price falls what ever you say. There is no money available from banks or buyers to maintain this overvalued property bubble.

Davesnave

LillyBeth wrote: »

What issues have you found with smallholdings?

I have to caution that one person's issue can sometimes be another's plus point, but long 1/4 mile drives (needing maintenance), shared accesses, public rights of way and steepness of land are a few of them.

Then there are the properties with 5 acres, but with the house right on the edge, shaded, or with the view blocked by someone else's 100' trees! (surprisingly common) There's also a proportion that will be on a north facing slope (not great, particularly in the winter or for solar panels)

Also, there's many a Welsh farmhouse that has a barn/carthouse suitable for conversion to a holiday let, except that they tend to be bang up against the main building so you'd lose your own privacy. Oh, and Welsh farmers are great at building thundering great general purpose buildings right next to the farmhouse, blocking light and views. Not a deal breaker, but an expense to remove/rebuild.

Shall I go on? The general standard of building can be an issue too. For example, Welsh farmhouses of the 19th/early 20th century were almost built to a formula, and not very well, while many English smallholdings created after WW2 were based on concrete pre-fab bungalows of Woolaway design, so they now suffer concrete cancer. In both cases, the EPCs tend to be down in the red area. Often, people come along, tart-up both kinds, and then expect top dollar. There's an ex Woolaway near me languishing at £450k at the moment. Over in Wales, a farmhouse I otherwise quite liked, is still there at £395k, (down from £450k) because the owners 'improved' it, Essex rancho style.....;)

Finally, something that doesn't affect you, is the distance from a decent shopping centre. Yes, we all have massive freezers and a stock of tins etc, but it's amazing how often something still runs out. I am in a nice quiet place here, but in five minutes I can be in the butchers or the bakers, and that is a huge bonus.

CloudCuckooLand

LillyBeth wrote: »

I’m in the West Midlands.

Find when you bought on the graph, or go to http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/house-prices and complete details for an earlier date if required, then see how the price you are asking compares to what you paid.

However difficult it may be to compare to other places, which may or may not be valid if you've picked a knowedgable/relevant EA, the price you paid is likely to be based on the same sort of thoughts that other buyers will apply.

Except that if you bought before/around the crash, everyone can see stats like demonstrated in the graph, so they will adjust the real value to reflect that...

As will Lenders, so any buyer needing a mortgage would be wasting their time trying to pay what you want if it turns out to be overpriced for market movements, however much the buyer may like it.


[IMG]http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/Apps/house-prices/house-price-index-custom-reports/hpi_report.asp?g=1&gt=1&a=West+Midlands&s=01 January 2005&e=01 March 2011&t=1[/IMG]

dan_l

brit1234 wrote: »

You better try to find the right price soon as I predict this summer we will have continuous prices falls going into next year.

Have you a rightmove link?

Is this prediction going to go the same way as your 50% falls prediction?

JonnyBravo

brit1234 wrote: »

My prediction is based on studying risk at university and understanding the economic fundamentals.

House prices are falling slowly with 0.5% interest rates, banks have no desire or simply no money to irresponsibly lend to support todays prices. Without that funding the market will fall to the level which banks can support. Rises in interest rates will increase this speed.

:rotfl:

Didn't help you much with your first set of predictions though did it?

Remember those "50% off by Christmas 2009" predictions?

peld

Conrad wrote: »

I've been a broker 20 years and always always the truism applies that if a property is priced correctly for the current market, it will ALWAYS sell within a couple of weeks.

If the price is right, purchaser will find the property quickly and want to view, just as applies to selling a car, it really is that simple.

I guarantee if you set yours at MARKET PRICE, the market will have you a buyer within days. However nice you consider your place, 99% of incommers will strip it and start over. Delluded sellers never get this.

We have been looking for a house and wish someone would drill some sense in to the sellers!

We went to see one house after it had been on for over a year, then they reduced the price in to our price range as they wanted to sell to try and get another house. We went to see it, came out the door, rang the estate agents and offered the asking prices. A few days later we find out they hadnt got the house they were after, so are now wanting what it was originally up at! Its still for sale now. We were the only interested party and have now found somewhere else (mortgage approved today!), I cant wait to tell them we arent interested when they look to sell quickly again!