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It's all about being realistic...
becominganobsessivesaver
Posts: 827 Forumite
So we've finally exhanged contracts:j, therefore I thought I'd put together a bit of a lessons learnt from my perspective, as they may be helpful for others going forward.
We bought at the height of the market for around £130k (first time buyers - 95% mortgage) and initially marketed our house for £120k in August. Our agents generated very little interest (you may have seen my thread back then) but we did get one viewer through a friend of a friend - no offers, but we hadn't found anywhere we particularly liked. We started browsing to see if there was anything and found a lovely house with everything we needed (except the perfect location) up for £220k. Anyway we got a random knock at the door and a potential offer of £105k from an old lady who used to live nearby. We said we couldn't afford to drop so low, but put a cheeky offer of £192k on the house we'd viewed, as that could potentially work. Offer refused, but told we would get it at £200k. We did our sums, could just stretch that bit further, then the lady changed her mind!:mad:
So we dropped the asking price, resigned ourselves to staying put, when I was speaking to a friend who's parents were looking for a BTL. I asked her to send them round as we'd worked out we could take £105k, and guess what they loved it! Said they'd pay the £105k and a mutual friend is becoming their tenant:j.
I have learnt though that buyers are very, very savvy now and thinking that a new boiler and bathroom will help maintain value is just never going to happen. Luckily we have spent years saving, so are able to put down 20% on the new house, and port our base rate tracker. We did find that there are so many people out there who just aren't willing to take a drop, and especially where we live you just won't be able to sell. Luckily for us our vendors also see this, so they have taken a 20% drop from what they paid in 2006.
Also please don't anyone enter into a sole selling agreement, at least if I'd been sole agency I could have avoided the estate agent fees, but sole selling left me with no way out (it could have been a private sale). I did manage to negotiate a 25% reduction though.
Anyway in 2 weeks time we should be in our new home. I just wanted to write this as there has been so much invaluable advice on this forum, and at the end of the day I think sellers need to learn that it's much more than the decor to sell the house, it's about being realistic with the price.
We bought at the height of the market for around £130k (first time buyers - 95% mortgage) and initially marketed our house for £120k in August. Our agents generated very little interest (you may have seen my thread back then) but we did get one viewer through a friend of a friend - no offers, but we hadn't found anywhere we particularly liked. We started browsing to see if there was anything and found a lovely house with everything we needed (except the perfect location) up for £220k. Anyway we got a random knock at the door and a potential offer of £105k from an old lady who used to live nearby. We said we couldn't afford to drop so low, but put a cheeky offer of £192k on the house we'd viewed, as that could potentially work. Offer refused, but told we would get it at £200k. We did our sums, could just stretch that bit further, then the lady changed her mind!:mad:
So we dropped the asking price, resigned ourselves to staying put, when I was speaking to a friend who's parents were looking for a BTL. I asked her to send them round as we'd worked out we could take £105k, and guess what they loved it! Said they'd pay the £105k and a mutual friend is becoming their tenant:j.
I have learnt though that buyers are very, very savvy now and thinking that a new boiler and bathroom will help maintain value is just never going to happen. Luckily we have spent years saving, so are able to put down 20% on the new house, and port our base rate tracker. We did find that there are so many people out there who just aren't willing to take a drop, and especially where we live you just won't be able to sell. Luckily for us our vendors also see this, so they have taken a 20% drop from what they paid in 2006.
Also please don't anyone enter into a sole selling agreement, at least if I'd been sole agency I could have avoided the estate agent fees, but sole selling left me with no way out (it could have been a private sale). I did manage to negotiate a 25% reduction though.
Anyway in 2 weeks time we should be in our new home. I just wanted to write this as there has been so much invaluable advice on this forum, and at the end of the day I think sellers need to learn that it's much more than the decor to sell the house, it's about being realistic with the price.
0
Comments
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So true...Buyers have so much information today that kite flyers are soon found out..It is nice to see the value of your house going up'' Why ?
Unless you are planning to sell up and not live anywhere, I can;t see the advantage.
If you are planning to upsize the new house will cost more.
If you are planning to downsize your new house will cost more than it should
If you are trying to buy your first house its almost impossible.0 -
Price is by far the most important factor!0
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Some vendors are just too unrealistic. There was one house the same type, same estate, as where we have bought for £245k. I asked if they were likely to be flexible with price, given the asking price of similar properties and was told not a chance. How they will ever sell, I just don't know!0
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Someone who prices a house waiting for a mug to come along..In essence it is a person who overprices something hoping to catch the unwary out..
Is this just a local saying or do others know it?It is nice to see the value of your house going up'' Why ?
Unless you are planning to sell up and not live anywhere, I can;t see the advantage.
If you are planning to upsize the new house will cost more.
If you are planning to downsize your new house will cost more than it should
If you are trying to buy your first house its almost impossible.0 -
Is this just a local saying or do others know it?
Google does:
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fly+a+kite0 -
The other thing I really noticed was that there are so many people out there who expect to get back what they paid for their house, but assume they will get a bargain on their purchase. I was probably slightly guilty of this in the first place, but luckily established reality pretty quickly.0
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