Cant sell my house and desperate to move...

nattyb1982 · 7 August 2012 at 10:43AM

Hi, I am 29 years old and have recently got married to my husband Lee in May in Las Vegas, we had a beautiful wedding and honeymoon and then reality hit home when we got back…
We have been trying to sell our house in Weedon, Northamptonshire for the last year and 7months as we wanted to relocate to Whitely Bay in the North East where my parents, sister and nephews all live (even though we are from Coventry originally!). We have had a few close sales with our house but it still remains unsold. Unfortunately or fortunately (!) I was offered a job up in Newcastle so took the difficult decision to leave my husband down south with our 3 dogs to try and sell so I could secure work up here. This was 5 months ago and we are still no end in sight in selling.

When we returned from our honeymoon my new husband went back down south and I stayed up north with my parents so I have never lived with him since we’ve been married! There are 215 miles between us so only get to see each other 2 times a month at the most. It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done and if/when we eventually sell it will all have been worth it but we’ve hit a real funk with viewings and we cant understand why. In 2008 we bought the house for £194k, when it was valued last year it was valued at £220k, we have been at different prices with our agents until we eventually sold at £213k, the sale fell through when the survey was conducted and too many red areas showed for the buyers who back out, it was only valued at £203k in its present condition so we offered to do all the work and reduce the price but they weren’t interested. This meant we lost a house we were buying up north, we had used our wedding savings to fund the sale and purchase so we left very out of pocket a few months before our wedding so we had to scale that down!

Since then we have been on with about 6 estate agents and have reduced the price many times, it now stands at offers around £199k, we took all the information out of the survey and did as much as we could – the only things we cant do are the repointing and the woodworm treatment but we had quotes for both and reduced the price accordingly. It’s a 200 year old, 3 story, character property so it has its charms but also its draw back!
We live on a main road (although a bypass has been granted but will take 5 years) and we live next door to a pub, there is also a pub across the road that will now be turned into a Tesco so all of these factors are things we cant do anything about and its heart-breaking.

Reducing the price has meant reducing our expectations up north, we thought we would have had a budget of around £180k but now this has reduced to £150k – we can just about find these properties in that price range but they are snapped up without us being able to do anything about it. The whole thing is so depressing and so stressful for us as we just want to sell and I want to live with my husband!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35057176.html

DannyboyMidlands · 7 August 2012 at 10:58AM

"The whole thing is so depressing and so stressful for us as we just want to sell and I want to live with my husband!"

So stop messing around. Come on, a year and 7 months? Simply drop the price until it sells. Job done.

nattyb1982 · 7 August 2012 at 11:02AM

we've dropped from £220k to £199k, we cant afford to drop more as there will be no money for a deposit on a new place as 20% (£30k) is the minimum deposit the banks will lend out.

DannyboyMidlands · 7 August 2012 at 11:07AM

That's your problem then, right there. The value of your house is not based on what you need to do whatever with in future. I'd sell it for whatever I could, move husband in with family up north, save the extra deposit required and then buy the next place.

I reckon that if you hold out for a bubble level price, in the east midlands, you could be waiting for a decade.

nattyb1982 · 7 August 2012 at 11:15AM

problem is my parents live a in 2 bed flat and i would have him, 3 dogs and a 5 bed house full of stuff to fill. I dont mind selling and renting but the prob is we would never earn enough money to save more towards the deposit as our mortgage is quite low at the mo and rent would be more so would actually be out of pocket and would have no extra cash to cover a deposit fund. I know i have said im desperate but i probably should rephrase as i really cant afford to sell for less than what we paid for it as we have no chance of being able to buy something in the future then. I think i am just puzzled as to why when we were on at £220k we had loads of interest but since we have reduced and reduced we have had hardly any.
The value of the house has been reduced in line with what an independent surveyor who was working for the 1st buyers valued it at - £203k so we went even lower than that to sell.
We had an offer of £195k but they wanted us to leave ALL of our furniture, so that would involve giving the house away for less then its perceived market value, giving all our belongings and renting a place up there and sitting on cardbord boxes and sleeping old towels as they even wanted our beds! selling for £195 would leave us with no money to buy any new furniture, especially when most of ours is still currently financed! So yes i am desperate but not stupid or irresponsible enough to do that!

Brallaqueen · 7 August 2012 at 11:25AM

A 5 bed sold in 2009 for 195,00 and the market has dropped since then.

nattyb1982 · 7 August 2012 at 11:27AM

we bought it in 2008 at £194k but have completely renovated it - mouseprice and zoopla dont take those things into consideration

Brallaqueen · 7 August 2012 at 11:31AM

nattyb1982 wrote: »

we bought it in 2008 at £194k but have completely renovated it - mouseprice and zoopla dont take those things into consideration

If it the one I am looking at, it has been very nicely done out - however renovation usually only adds value if it as a ) a shell or b) included an extension of some sort. The fact that after 1 year and 7 months you have not had the offer you wanted, leads me to think that you need to compromise somewhere?

Also are 3 agents advertising? This can make you look desperate which might be feeding lower offers?

DannyboyMidlands · 7 August 2012 at 11:33AM

That's all totally understandable but doesn't alter the fact that after 1 year and 7 months on the market nobody has been willing to pay what you need.

So now there is not much choice but to sit it out as you have been or think again about what you need. Asking for more than you paid just seems pointless to me.

I imagine the views at £220k were because it was new to market. Now people looking locally know it's for sale, have probably viewed already and think it is over-priced. They won't show any more interest until the price falls to something reasonable.

StuC75 · 7 August 2012 at 11:33AM

Does seem a difficult if not impossible position. Maybe need to weight up emotional needs above material possessions.

All these belongings are down south at the moment and all that your missing from there is Husband and Dogs (is the house full of stuff really essential?)..

A new tesco on your doorstep may further hinder your chances of selling; what else has actually sold in your area? Is there scope to become an 'accidental landlord' in this (does equity support a switch?)..

The painfull truth is that you may need to knock relocation on the head and move back to original 'home'..