Is it worth putting our house on auction?

shullen

We are in a dilemma here so any advice would be much appreciated.

We bought our house in 2002 and finished paying off our mortgage this year. My husband has got a job offer in the US so we will be moving there in the beginning of next year. Our house has been put on the market since in beginning of June this year. However, so far we haven't managed to sell it. We did get an offer 4 weeks after the house was put on sale but turned it down as it was 10k lower than the price we asked for. Now nearly 5 months in the market and we only had 5 viewings in total. We are regretting not taking the offer at the time but that buyer has since then gone for another property.

We really need to make the sale prior to our move to the US as my husband refuses to rent the house out instead. Our house is in a good condition just not in the desirable area. Our town is also on the rock bottom of the property market which makes it a very bad time to sell. The problem is also that the house was built in the 1920 so we are not that confident something might have gone wrong in the survey. If we still can't make the sale next month, we might have to put it onto auction though I am strongly against that idea. I have just added up all of our mortgage payment together and we have paid 25k for all the interests alone, and that doesn't include the upgrading we've done in the house for the past ten years including a brand new roof and condensing boiler system. My worry is that to put the house onto auction, we might not even get all the costs we put into the house back.

Has anyone here put their house in the auction? Can you set a minimum price? Or what does other people think about our situation? Is auction really the only way to go, or should we leave the house on the market?

Many thanks for the advice in advance!

Notmyrealname

Work on around 70% of market value as what you'll receive for it. If you bought in 2002 you probably paid less than half of its current market value.

Yes you've paid interest and yes you've done upgrades but these are normal running costs for a homeowner so whilst it may grate with you not to come out on top overall, many people don't. When people sell a car you don't see them complaining that they've not recouped all the money they've spent in servicing, petrol, tax, MOTs in the time they've owned it.

You can usually set a reserve but reserves tend to be set by emotion and are set too high which usually results in a no sale.

shullen

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Work on around 70% of market value as what you'll receive for it. If you bought in 2002 you probably paid less than half of its current market value.

Not really. House price in our town has dropped 30-40% in the current recession and is not showing any signs of recovery. I guess the golden days of property as investment are long gone.

Fire_Fox

Why on earth are you including the mortgage interest in your calculations? That is the same as paying rent, it's how you got a roof over your head. With property there is rarely any guarantee you will get your money back, if you want certainties you put your money in an interest bearing bank account not a games of snakes and ladders. This is far from the first property price crash.

Have you researched land registry sold prices for the street and area and are you competitively priced? Have you decluttered, spring cleaned, finished all those little DIY tasks, sorted the garden, neutralised and lightened any dark or strong paintwork?

shullen

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you researched land registry sold prices for the street and area and are you competitively priced? Have you decluttered, spring cleaned, finished all those little DIY tasks, sorted the garden, neutralised and lightened any dark or strong paintwork?

Our house is the only three bedroom semi-detached in our street and surrounding few blocks.
Yes the price is already 10k lower than the valuation we get.
Yes we hired a painter to fresh up before we put the house on the market.
Yes we have already put about 10 boxes of clutter into storage.

Still, all the for sale signs out there tell you there aren't many first time buyers/young families who can get a mortgage.

The question here is, is auction really the only option we get left?

kmmr

shullen wrote: »

The problem is also that the house was built in the 1920 so we are not that confident something might have gone wrong in the survey.

Why don't you get a survey done yourself to see what it would say? You can get one for £4-500 and ask them to be very picky. Better that you know and be ready for questions rather than fearing the unknown. It may put your mind at rest - the house has lasted almost 100 years, it can't be that bad!

Fire_Fox

shullen wrote: »

Our house is the only three bedroom semi-detached in our street and surrounding few blocks.
Yes the price is already 10k lower than the valuation we get.
Yes we hired a painter to fresh up before we put the house on the market.
Yes we have already put about 10 boxes of clutter into storage.

Still, all the for sale signs out there tell you there aren't many first time buyers/young families who can get a mortgage.

The question here is, is auction really the only option we get left?

What valuation, the estate agent? Many will argue all the 'for sale' signs say that many vendors are unrealistic about the value of their home in a recession, like you they still think they can break even or turn a profit. As stated you need to look at land registry sold prices - the wider area and larger or smaller properties if needs be. This is what any lender's surveyor would do when valuing. If your home is presented well and priced competitively it will sell, you only need one buyer with funds in place to think that your home represents the best value for money.

go_cat

You could always post a right move link for us to critic!

shullen

Fire_Fox wrote: »

What valuation, the estate agent? Many will argue all the 'for sale' signs say that many vendors are unrealistic about the value of their home in a recession, like you they still think they can break even or turn a profit. As stated you need to look at land registry sold prices - the wider area and larger or smaller properties if needs be. This is what any lender's surveyor would do when valuing. If your home is presented well and priced competitively it will sell, you only need one buyer with funds in place to think that your home represents the best value for money.

I had six valuations with both big national estate agents and small independent ones. I have checked the land registry's price but as I said, our house is surrounded by two bedroom terrace houses so the price is not comparable. Here is the link

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38070986.html?premiumA=true

Mallotum_X

How much is it for sale for?

Turning down an offer 10k below asking seems a little strange if you have no mortgage and are keen to move to another country.

shullen

Mallotum_X wrote: »

How much is it for sale for?

Turning down an offer 10k below asking seems a little strange if you have no mortgage and are keen to move to another country.

Link as above. If the property is over £200k, then 10k is a piece of cake. However, when our house was on the market for only a few weeks, we thought we could have get a better price and was asking the estate agent to negotiate. The other concern at the time was that they wanted to move straight in, which would leave us have to rent somewhere else to live for three months. As I said, we are regretting it now.