Trying to sell this country cottage, any advice?

globalds

Is it welsh enough that you get free prescriptions and cheap university education for the kids ?

johnnyredgate

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Estate agents will give pretty much any value to try and get a property on their books.

Then they'll suggest reducing the price later ...

You also have to get the Map and Streetview sorted; going by centre of postcode location is useless for a rural area. When I click on Streetview I want to be looking at your house. Not something two miles away.

Yes I understand that, and especially for a unique property an accurate valuation can be a bit harder, but I don't understand that if they think you are signing up with them why they would then tell you that you need to increase the price to amount higher than you would be prepared to go with and itially discussed, not much point them spending a lot on advertising if it is unlikely to get a sale. One of the agents that came out was Expressproperty, they work the otherway and want you to go with a low price on the basis that people will bid up the price, even there low price was well above what some people are suggesting on this topic. As stated pricing will be reviewed in due course following a period of better advertising/pictures etc, and obviously we are open to lower offers. We may certainly consider the offers over approach if we get to the point where the property needs to be sold quickly.

I guess now might be a good time to see about getting the Council tax banding reviewed (band E)

johnnyredgate

globalds wrote: »

Is it welsh enough that you get free prescriptions and cheap university education for the kids ?

Yes it is just inside the Welsh border so free prescriptions for all!!
Also if there is cheap university for kids in Wales then you would get it as it is in Wales, I didn't know ther was cheap university education in Wales though, thought it was just Scotland?

girl_withno_name

johnnyredgate wrote: »

I guess now might be a good time to see about getting the Council tax banding reviewed (band E)

Information here about tax bands: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change
Tax bands in Wales were re-evaluated in 2003, much later than the 1991 in England and Scotland... so there'll be less chance that mistakes are still in place.

Maybe take a look at this property, as a local comparison:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35448119.html
Or an extra couple of bedrooms:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22748169.html

Snippet of information here about Welsh uni fees:
"Universities in Wales: Welsh students' fees above £3,465 are paid by the Welsh assembly wherever they study in the UK. But students from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will have to pay the full cost."

Graham_Devon

johnnyredgate wrote: »

At the moment we will stick with expert advice on the pricing for this specific property, would obviously consider any serious offers. It was mainly the other issues we were seeking opinions on.

That's fine, and your perogative, however, in this situation and knowing the area, I'd be inclined to let it out now, instead of wasting months trying to sell it. It's overpriced for what it is.

You may aswell make something out of it instead of hoping someone will come along and want to essentially pay over the odds for it and then start doing it up.

johnnyredgate wrote: »

Yes I understand that, and especially for a unique property an accurate valuation can be a bit harder, but I don't understand that if they think you are signing up with them why they would then tell you that you need to increase the price to amount higher than you would be prepared to go with and itially discussed, not much point them spending a lot on advertising if it is unlikely to get a sale.

Who are you more likely to do business with? The person who states you can get more for the property, or the person who states you will get less?

Who was the person you chose?

Trouble is, as a buyer, do you, when buying a car for instance, look for the most expensive one? Or do you find the cheaper one first and ignore the same specification cars at higher prices?

They state to aim higher as their comission is higher. You can also accept lower offers. However, if you can't get the punters through the doors as your house ends up buried in the listings in low to high values, no one will offer you anything. And the house isn't really costing them that much to advertise, not unless aggresively marketing it, which they obviously aren't. Even the photos you took yourself! Any EA trying to market this and get it sold would have been out there taking new ones to market the house better

johnnyredgate

girl_withno_name wrote: »

Information here about tax bands: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change
Tax bands in Wales were re-evaluated in 2003, much later than the 1991 in England and Scotland... so there'll be less chance that mistakes are still in place.

Maybe take a look at this property, as a local comparison:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35448119.html

Snippet of information here about Welsh uni fees:
"Universities in Wales: Welsh students' fees above £3,465 are paid by the Welsh assembly wherever they study in the UK. But students from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will have to pay the full cost."

Thanks for the info re university fees, I had no idea about that, this house is certainly a good address to have if you have kids coming up to uni age.

Interesting that the Wales revaluaton of Council tax bands was more recent, it does sound like little chance of changing it then. Presumably the Valuation office have put a fairly high value on the house then, which I guess backs up the local EAs valuations.
The house in the link is quite a bit further West and more into Wales, where prices are a bit lower, if you were to travel in the other direction from the house by just 2 or 3 miles into the Shropshire Hills AONB you would find prices significantly higher than this (even though you are without the fiscal benefits of being in Wales), it is a funny area to value in around here, so not easy to do comparisms.

girl_withno_name

johnnyredgate wrote: »

Thanks for the info re university fees, I had no idea about that, this house is certainly a good address to have if you have kids coming up to uni age.

Interesting that the Wales revaluaton of Council tax bands was more recent, it does sound like little chance of changing it then. Presumably the Valuation office have put a fairly high value on the house then, which I guess backs up the local EAs valuations.
The house in the link is quite a bit further West and more into Wales, where prices are a bit lower, if you were to travel in the other direction from the house by just 2 or 3 miles into the Shropshire Hills AONB you would find prices significantly higher than this (even though you are without the fiscal benefits of being in Wales), it is a funny area to value in around here, so not easy to do comparisms.

Unfortunately potential viewers/buyers will compare and these are the types of properties they'll come across and hence which you're completing against. Especially as I'd imagine that in a rural area, buyers might set quite a wide search area (if you're practically in the middle of nowhere, does it matter if it's in the middle of nowhere here or in the middle of nowhere? maybe, if one's a lot closer to a train station!)

johnnyredgate

girl_withno_name wrote: »

Unfortunately potential viewers/buyers will compare and these are the types of properties they'll come across and hence which you're completing against. Especially as I'd imagine that in a rural area, buyers might set quite a wide search area (if you're practically in the middle of nowhere, does it matter if it's in the middle of nowhere here or in the middle of nowhere? maybe, if one's a lot closer to a train station!)

Yes hear what you are saying, but if people are looking around this area they will soon see what I mean, certainly we noticed it last year when we were searching on behalf of the parents. It probably does mean that we need to emphasis just how close to the AONB it is but with the benefits of being in Wales!Interesting though the house in the link is actually with the same local EA that valued this house at £165k, they cover a large area around here and should really know the local differences well.

StumpyPumpy

Just had another thought. What are the page view stats like? I know the estate agents get them, they might be an interesting read. You'd need to discount the ones after you started this thread as it will skew them, but if the page hits are negligible then it is not your photos and description that are putting buyers off because they won't have seen them, so it wouldn't matter how persuasive they are. I've no idea of the granularity of the stats, but a simple hit count could give you a good idea, average time viewing would be even better.

SP

johnnyredgate

Thanks SP, the EA did forward these to me so I will see if I can find the emails and check, definately not nil though. The EA have had 5 electonic requests for more details but not heard anything further from these, so def need to sort pics etc out a bit more.
I think what has surprised me is that I have also advertised the cottage privately just on gumtree/preloved and have had 6 enquiries from this, although yet to hear back from any of them. Really thought that being on the main property portals would have generated a significantly higher level of interest than the private ad, anyway at least the interest is there so will see about improving the details. cheers