How quickly should i drop the price?

Better_Days

Charitymanager wrote: »

The problem with this local area is the diversity of properties. There are very few the same, and on the same street you can pay £100k or £300k quite easily. My benchmark has been that sqft wise, ours is much bigger than anything in the area at either 130k or 140k and most at 150k.

I know exactly what you mean. I have the same problem - in this area it is so difficult as there are very few comparable properties sold recently. I tried going down the square foot route, but some properties don't even have a floor plan let alone total sqft.

If the market is slow then you could hang on until you find a suitable property, and then reduce if you haven't sold by then. Funnily enough all the EA's I have spoken to agreed on the AP for a quick sale, but there was variation of £25k on AP if not in a hurry. (my property is in the £200k to 250k bracket)

So, to find out exactly where you are would it be worth having some EA's round (if you can bear listening to all the hard sell) and find out what your 'quick sale' AP would be?

Finally if your property offers good space for the money, then would it be an idea to emphasise the square footage in the 'Key Features' in the description?

puddy

i think the square footage thing can sometimes be a red herring because its about useable space, not just space

but, what about simply converting the cellar to a lounge, leave the kitchen where it is, then you go downstairs to relax in front of the telly rather than all the way to the top floor, surely thats cheaper than a full kitchen installation downstairs?

namecheck

puddy wrote: »

i think the square footage thing can sometimes be a red herring because its about useable space, not just space

but, what about simply converting the cellar to a lounge, leave the kitchen where it is, then you go downstairs to relax in front of the telly rather than all the way to the top floor, surely thats cheaper than a full kitchen installation downstairs?

Surprisingly few people obsess about square footage, and I agree that it is useable space that really counts.

I have no idea about prices/demand in the OP's area, but having had a quick look at the Rightmove link I too would get rid of the (2!) photos of the stairs and also tone down the pink AND blue bedrooms.

puddy's idea of converting the cellar seems worth considering? However, I agree with other posters that you should not invest too many £s in alterations.

Kynthia

Unusual properties sometimes take longer to find a buyer that loves it. Lowering the price might not speed things up at all, other than to maybe find an investor looking for a buy to let.

When you have viewings make sure the place is in show home condition, try to highlight the positives like the views and size and then show how flexible the space is. You can tell them about other ways to use the rooms like swapping the lounge and master bedroom, converting the cellar to a kitchen and making the ground floor the lounge, etc. Can you have plans drawn up that show this to viewers and maybe a quote from a local builder on how much it would cost?

I agree with the above about having less photos showing the stairs in the middle of the lounge. Also couldn't you include a photo that shows that the lounge has the views?

phoebe1989seb

I agree that having plans drawn up to show alternative layout(s) may be a good idea. We were selling an unusual property (in Essex) last year - it was an original Tudor house that had been not only added onto in the 1930s, but had actually been moved to a new location at the same time!

It had 9 rooms (including 3 potential bedrooms and two shower rooms) downstairs and only 3 rooms upstairs and it was smack bang in the middle of a much later estate full of bungalows mainly owned by OAPs. We had spent in excess of £40k restoring it to its former glory and were very aware that (especially due to its surroundings, the demographic of the area and potential buyers looking in that area) it was a *marmite* house.

We did manage to sell very quickly - within the first two weeks - but took a £60k hit although we were expecting this as we had deliberately priced low to sell fast. Our EA said the money we had spent restoring it merely made it more saleable, but added no value - despite being high-end handbuilt kitchen/bathrooms etc and essentials such as re-wiring.

Therefore I would definitely advise exercising caution before throwing money at a property you are intending to sell.......

Good luck and hope you find a buyer very soon

DannyboyMidlands

I'd drop it to £120k sooner rather than later. What are you waiting for? It'll be winter before you know it.

Winkle1908

I agree with Dannyboy, If you are happy to sell at £115k I would reduce to £120k, why wait if its worth about that and the EA is a good negotiator they will hopefully acheive around about that!! I think that you should be able to get something around that for this property. Its lovely but poorly laid out in my opinion. Maybe if you have FTB coming to look round you could let them have white goods or a sofa as part of the sale if you get the £120k asking price and you get to buy new with the 5k equity. A lot of FTB's don't have the available cash for expensive furniture at first so would be grateful for some help in the beginning. We did that with ours and I think it made our house stand out from the others. Don't forget that you can't do do much though or it looks like stamp duty avoidance.